Newbie here - Corrado G60 convincing and help!

[mushy 0]

Hi there, newbie here and have to say there is some amazing cars on here! Ive been more of a Golf mk1 and 2 nut to date, owning two mint mk1s, a clipper and a sportline and also a mk2 golf gti which was the business. Had to sell it about a year ago due to buying my first house and invested in an Audi A4 Tdi for obvious reasons.

 

Now after a settling in period, my head has been turned again to maybe buying a Corrado G60 that has come up for sale! As cars go early VWs have always been my passion, except for a wee blip when i went and bought a scooby RB5(enjoyed every second of it) but the Corrado remains one of the cars i still need to to tick off my list!

 

Anyways im just looking for a bit of advice and perhaps a little bit of convincing! The car ticks all the right boxes in the ad, it has full service history, looks in great condition, 12 months MOT, 6 months tax, its done 120k, j reg so would take it the supercharger has just been done. Am i right in saying that the G60 would get about 25MPG roughly? I drive mainly motorway miles to work and this is one of my main concerns thats maybe holding me back a bit from going for it. Obviously with the Tdi its cheap and cheerful, im spending about £20/week on 150 miles a week. Any ideas what id be looking at with the G60? Also what dyou think i should be paying for it? and will it cost me a lot to maintain?

 

any help much appreciated!

 

mushy

[n3p 3]

Hi,

 

Not sure about the MPG of a G60 - but would you be selling your TDI and using the C to travel the 150 miles?

And yes - it costs alot to maintain in my personal experience..the second one thing gets fixed, somehting else buggers up!Still loving it tho!

 

You should search the forums for more info :)

[mushy 0]

Yeah, it would be my only car. Cant say the TDi has been too kind on the purse strins either, spent about £800 in the last year maintaining it so why not spend it on a car ill enjoy more ay! :D

[tonytiger 0]

Hmm - £20 for 150 miles in a TDI doesn't seem great to me - I reckon that's about 32mpg. Not sure what a G60 is like for mpg, but I do 80 miles a day in my vr6, at least 60% of which is on the motorway, and with reasonably steady driving I get about 32mpg - of course, if I hammer it then I average closer to 27mpg.

 

I can't see you getting any worse economy than that in a G60 - but does obviously depend how you drive.

 

Don't assume the charger has been done though - find out if it has, when and by whom.

 

Maintenance costs may or may be high - obviously depends how well it's been looked after in the past - but it's never going to be as cheap as a Golf, but may not be any worse than your Audi. Also depends whether you're going to be doing work on it yourself when possible or always handing it to a garage.

 

I'm sure someone with a G60 will reply soon.

[mushy 0]

Thanks for that TonyTiger, i have always wondered about my TDi and if i should be getting better fuel consumption out of it, although i guess about 100 of they miles are m'way and the rest about town, even at that though i have always thought it should be slightly better.

 

Yeah wil defo be checking out the supercharger and it has an extensive history, so hopefully all good!

[JMC 0]

I can get 30mpg keeping it around 80 (on private roads of course - no one on here would advocate speeding on public highways). Round town its near 20-24 depending on congestion. Chargers are fine as long as they been looked at by somone reputable. Ideally G-Werks, and steer clear of Jabba as they charger work has gone downhill these days. Sevice intervals for the chargers are dependant on how heavy your right foot is and the size of the pulley. Expect to service it every 20k miles for the 65mm pulley, and 30k miles for a 68mm one, at about £500 per time, and definately do it straight away if you don't know its history. Other than that as long as they are kept healthy (oil change twice a year) there should be no reason why they are any less reliable than anything else. If it doesn't have an aftermarket chip you'll want an SNS chip - that will transform the car even without doing any other work to it.

[StuartFZR400 0]

Mushy, did you read the buying guide? Thats a lot of what you need to know. From what I've seen, a lot of G60's get driven hard and soooped up; say down Jabba Sport or somthing and therefore servicing of the supercharger is regular, from anywhere 40k miles and less, pending how its driven. You'll get mixed views here, as everyone drives differently. Does the purr of the VR6 not appeal? (also know of a mint 16v going too, lol)

 

mpg - i agree 30 seems low for a deisel; on motorway I want 50 to 60. And I hear the new polo will do 70!!??!!

[mushy 0]

I can get 30mpg keeping it around 80 (on private roads of course - no one on here would advocate speeding on public highways). Round town its near 20-24 depending on congestion. Chargers are fine as long as they been looked at by somone reputable. Ideally G-Werks, and steer clear of Jabba as they charger work has gone downhill these days. Sevice intervals for the chargers are dependant on how heavy your right foot is and the size of the pulley. Expect to service it every 20k miles for the 65mm pulley, and 30k miles for a 68mm one, at about £500 per time, and definately do it straight away if you don't know its history. Other than that as long as they are kept healthy (oil change twice a year) there should be no reason why they are any less reliable than anything else. If it doesn't have an aftermarket chip you'll want an SNS chip - that will transform the car even without doing any other work to it.

 

The supercharger needs done that often? I read on Parkers that it was every 60k? Does it have to be a specialist that sees to the supercharger and not your experienced well known mechanic mate!? Excuse my naivety on the chip front, what would this do to the car, increase the BHP?

 

thanks for that.

[mushy 0]

Mushy, did you read the buying guide? Thats a lot of what you need to know. From what I've seen, a lot of G60's get driven hard and soooped up; say down Jabba Sport or somthing and therefore servicing of the supercharger is regular, from anywhere 40k miles and less, pending how its driven. You'll get mixed views here, as everyone drives differently. Does the purr of the VR6 not appeal? (also know of a mint 16v going too, lol)

 

I do like the standard look of the G60 with the BBS alloys and ill not beat around the bush that i dont have a big amount of purchase money to splash! I think the VR6 may just be out of reach money wise, 16v ive been looking at too, its just this one has come up 5 miles from where i live(Edinburgh) although i have travelled all over Britain buying cars, went down to London for my mk2 golf! If you have details of the 16v pass them on.

 

cheers

[IrishG60 0]

it costs alot to maintain in my personal experience..the second one thing gets fixed, somehting else buggers up!Still loving it tho!

 

 

so so so very true... still on those days where everything is running perfect... you'll find yourself smiling like a lunatic... people always asking 'what is it?'... wouldn't change it for the world...

[StuartFZR400 0]

If you have details of the 16v pass them on.

cheers

It was a cheeky sales pitch and probably too far to travel. The said 16v, 2.0L, 1994, with BBS rims (ins group 17 - ie the lowest)(one of the lowest) is in the sale section of the forum... mine; also does more than 400 mile to a tank at £60-ish (that works out just over 100 mile per £15). Cheap as chips , but you're bound to find other, closer C's for sale.

 

I'd buy the local G60 as long as its mechanically sound - think about all the expensive items... exhaust, supercharger overhall, suspension, engine work, buckled alloys, etc.

[g164rge 0]

If you have details of the 16v pass them on.

cheers

It was a cheeky sales pitch and probably too far to travel. The said (ins group 17 - ie the lowest) is .

 

Ins Grp 17????

[StuartFZR400 0]

thought twice about mentioning that - different insurers state different levels for the same car - a tad confusing. Some say 16. Either way, its less than a VR more to the point. Maybe being a '94 helps too, not sure.

[g164rge 0]

think with Swiftcover my g60 is a grp 15

[Jay2 0]

Hello mate, had a G60 for just over a year and really enjoying owning it, even with all the costs that I've had to cough up for. But then again the cars are knocking on a bit. Mines got high mileage and the previous owner did scrimp a bit on servicing, but as soon as I took a test drive I nearly took his hand off.

 

If you've had a Golf before then don't expect the parts to be the same price or be as easy to source. Although it does drive, handle better than a MkII, (still regret selling my MKII Gti a few years ago though). You also get far less Corrado's on the road.

 

Your going to struggle getting 150 miles from £20 worth of juice in a G60, but not far off, as its alot better on fuel on the Motorway. Usually get 60-70 miles from £10 worth of V-Power, although this will plummet if you drive like a loon.

 

As everyone else has said, make sure the charger has been serviced and you should have no problems with it.

 

Did think of a VR6 as well, but as mentioned above their are higher costs when owning one, as I was quoted an extra £200 for insuring a VR6 over a G60! If you have the money then do consider a VR6 as they are seen as the more desirable car for re-sale but if not then a good G60 will give you all the smiles per mile you need. Then when you start getting used to the power you can up the bhp with a chip and pulley for a couple of hundred quid. Simple as that. :D

[mushy 0]

Hello mate, had a G60 for just over a year and really enjoying owning it, even with all the costs that I've had to cough up for. But then again the cars are knocking on a bit. Mines got high mileage and the previous owner did scrimp a bit on servicing, but as soon as I took a test drive I nearly took his hand off.

 

If you've had a Golf before then don't expect the parts to be the same price or be as easy to source. Although it does drive, handle better than a MkII, (still regret selling my MKII Gti a few years ago though). You also get far less Corrado's on the road.

 

Your going to struggle getting 150 miles from £20 worth of juice in a G60, but not far off, as its alot better on fuel on the Motorway. Usually get 60-70 miles from £10 worth of V-Power, although this will plummet if you drive like a loon.

 

As everyone else has said, make sure the charger has been serviced and you should have no problems with it.

 

Did think of a VR6 as well, but as mentioned above their are higher costs when owning one, as I was quoted an extra £200 for insuring a VR6 over a G60! If you have the money then do consider a VR6 as they are seen as the more desirable car for re-sale but if not then a good G60 will give you all the smiles per mile you need. Then when you start getting used to the power you can up the bhp with a chip and pulley for a couple of hundred quid. Simple as that. :D

 

 

Thanks for that mate, most helpful! I must say, i am having a few niggling doubts now about the supercharger/maintenance costs, that coupled with the fuel costs. As i know from having my vw's, there the kind of car you have so much fun driving you end blowing a fortune on fuel, being a bit right foot heavy and all and surely surely my 15 minute drives to work would start to be 10 minute drives and my fuel bill will be £40 ones instead of £25!

 

Can i just ask jay2, roughly what have you forked out over the last year on essential maintenance cost for the G60? Thats if you dont mind me asking of course!

[JMC 0]

The supercharger needs done that often? I read on Parkers that it was every 60k? Does it have to be a specialist that sees to the supercharger and not your experienced well known mechanic mate!? Excuse my naivety on the chip front, what would this do to the car, increase the BHP?

 

thanks for that.

 

On the original pulley it's fine for 60k, however most have had smallers pulleys fitted to increase the speed of the charger. This leads to increased wear and tear though, so the service interval comes down. Some people do it themselves, but I'd recommend an expert for that - more for peace of mind than anything else. G-Werks can do them mail orer if you can bear to be without it for a few days. If it goes then it's a lot of money for replacement (£1k for a new one, 600 ish for a decent second hand one). The original G60 chip suffers from a bit of lag when you stick your foot down. The SNS chips are coded to get round that so they feel more responsive. Also if you have had a smaller pulley fitted it will cope better with teh right upgraded chip. SNS chips are better than Jabba ones as the Jabba's tend to over fuel hurting economy and giving you a nice black sooty exhaust. Hope that helps.

[bristolbaron 10]

ive had my g60 for about 2 &1/2 years now and its hardly cost me anything. servicing costs are minimal if you do it yourself, and still fairly cheap going to gwerks etc..

charger service, yeah every 40k @ £400-500. however, even doing 20k per year thats only every two and a half years.

i blew up my charger this year, with a mixture of running a foam panel filter [not a good idea] and driving the car fecking hard back from MIVW in holland. :lol:

 

fuel economy? well i bought my g60 when i was doing 70+ miles per day. driving a fairly steady 50mph cross country i saw about 35mpg.. better than i got in my old 1.8 16v!

we averaged around 25mpg coming back from holland and that was with tough motorway driving.

 

the only costs i've incurred except for the above have all been things that ive wanted to do to the car. buy the right one, you've got nothing to worry about.

 

good luck with the search!

[Jim 2]

Out of 3 Corrado's i've owned, the G60 was by far the best. They're definately worth owning once, but the only thing to bear in mind is that tuning them results in significant fuel economy drops! My G60 never used to turn in particularly pleasing MPG values :lol:

[Tempest 0]

Love my G60, will have had it for 4 years end of this month.

 

Yes, it did have some frustrating teething and expensive problems to sort since the day I've owned it, but mine seems to have had a varied, not always good and looked after, life.

 

I do not use any of my cars as dailies, however, so that greatly simplifies any projects i wish or have to undertake on any of them. I could be working on all 3 at the same time, all 3 off the road without any problems, since I fortunately don't need a daily. So I can't comment on the reliability of a G60 C. So far, however, touch wood, mine's been reliable, both on short distance and long international trips.

 

The G60 definitely does not like town travelling as far as the fuel economy is concerned. Things do improve on the motorway though.

 

Tempest

[tonytiger 0]

Mushy, what do you actually want? Do you just want to own a Corrado, or do you want the fastest you can afford to run?

 

I specifically didn't want a G60 as I was bothered about service costs & reliability of the charger (doing 20k+ per year didn't seem a good idea in a G60), but I also didn't really want a 16v (or 8v) as I wanted a significant performance increase over my old Scirocco. However, knowing what I know now, I'd probably go for a 16v. Okay they're not the fastest cars on the planet (either 1.8 or 2.0) but then almost no matter what you've got there's always something faster on the road.

 

So, if performance isn't a major factor why not look for a 16v? I've not looked at prices for a while, but chances are you'll be able to buy one cheaper than a G60 and insurance should be lower too. And I'd expect maintenance costs to be lower. Though I guess fuel economy may not be noticeably different.

 

Which ever one you choose, I'm sure you'll enjoy ownership (well mostly anyway - apart from when it's broken and costs a small fortune to fix - but that's part of the joy of owning an old car :lol: ).

[n3p 3]

So, if performance isn't a major factor why not look for a 16v? I've not looked at prices for a while, but chances are you'll be able to buy one cheaper than a G60 and insurance should be lower too. And I'd expect maintenance costs to be lower. Though I guess fuel economy may not be noticeably different.

 

True, and the 1.8 16v engine is as tough as old boots! Its just everything else in mine that plays up :D electrics, drivetrain, and so on

[mushy 0]

well thanks for that, yeah Tony Tiger i just want to own a nice looking Corrado whether its a G60 or a 16V, im not too fussed. It was just this particular car came up for sale 5 miles from me and got me thinking G60 it is! Going to look at the car this weekend, so will see whats what. thanks for everyones input, much appreciated!!

[Pickard1 0]

I do 500 miles a week in my G60.

Economy is purely dependant on your right foot. Driven hard you are looking at 24 MPG, if you go carefully you can get early 30's.

At 3000 RPM in 5th your doing 70. If you go much higher than this the MPG really drops.

 

I dont have the willpower to go slow so have had to buy a diesel.

 

Either way its better than a 16v.

 

Also, check with an insurance quote before buying. I have insured my car with Tesco and Churchill. Both of whom quote cheaper for a G60 than a valver from the corresponding year. Not sure why.

[Walesy 0]

Either way its better than a 16v.

 

For sure! - I really wouldn't recomend buying a valver for any reason other than if you want a rado for an engine convertion and you find a valver with a great shell :lol: :wink: