Newbie Alert

[Guest mudhut]

Hi all - hope this is the right place for this my first post. Been registered for a little less than a month so it's about time I emerged from the closet (so to speak). I suppose a little info would not go amiss by way of introduction.

 

I'm of an age when I can have most cars without worrying about insurance and I've just sold the roadburner that I bought on impulse just over a year ago. This car was my daily, so I'm running around using my wife's daughter's and son's cars as available - not a satisfactory state of affairs.

 

I'd hoped that a Delta Integrale might suit as a replacement but I always really knew they are too fragile to use in this way now so I'm looking to investigate the practicality of a Corrado as a daily driver. I've admired them from afar as for long as they have been around. Never having owned a VW or even driven one until my car search began this time around, I thought that I might try a Golf GTI of some description. A chance passing of a Corrado recently reminded me of my liking for the Corrado so here I am.

 

Reliability is the keyword with a bit of practicality and serious fun thrown in. Quite happy to tackle any work on a car of this age although I'd be looking for a car completely sorted, not a project (already have one of those ). Have seen plenty for sale on this forum in what appear to be cracking condition. It would also be interesting to have a front wheel drive car of moderate power again.

 

I'm sure loads of people run these cars daily, so would welcome opinions as to their suitability.

 

Cheers

[VR6 0]

Have a look through the classifieds. There's a couple of cracking supercharged and very well sorted VR's for relatively good value. Considering the money they've had spent on them, you could hopefully run them daily without too much extra outlay.

 

Or you could buy a bit cheaper but you should always consider that nasty little suprises may creep up on you. There's a thread in General (G60 or VR6) that has a few good points of view. Plus the search will throw up a million threads that will help answer your queries.

 

Hope that helps a little!

[CrazyDave 0]

Hi Peter,

welcome to the forum!

 

I've had my C for about 5 years now and it's great. Completely standard to begin with, but did some general replacement of rubber bushes, suspension, brake etc. Great fun and being a 2.9 V6 used daily 30mpg was pretty good. Not the kind of thing you want to use for a lot of miles though.

 

If you spend some time finding a decent example I'm sure you'll love it. As usual, quite a lot of rubbish around to filter out, but plenty of help on here.

 

Reliability is pretty good, they do have a few niggles to watch out for, sunroofs that don't work, idle problems, rear spoilers, coilpacks, cam sensors. But most things are easily fixed without major expense and obvious when you go to look at a car. High mile VR's might need timing chains, but you can usually hear impending trouble. Should run nice and quite, no rattles. High mileage isn't really a problem as long as it's been looked after.

 

Mines still used daily, and I've recently added a turbocharger, which is just fantastic.

 

 

Dave

[Guest mudhut]

Thanks VR6.

 

I've been monitoring the Classifieds for some time: some very nice cars here, especially that show-winning Storm owned by butterfly - so good that perhaps it's too good to run daily. I've also found the thread "New member - money to spend!!!!!" useful, especially and wendy's and tonytiger's breakdown of costs of running a VR6 in the thread "Newbie here - Corrado G60 convincing and help!"

 

I think that I'm most attracted to a VR6 judging by the comments I've seen in the forum, but as of now, I've never been in any Corrado so I must keep an open mind. Having just sold my 350Z, I think its the low-down torque and linear power delivery that I'll enjoy from the V6 even though I've noticed that some members have observed that this engine does not provide the "shove in the back" they first expected. I'll just have to try it - not expecting it to go like a Z though and to be honest, I don't need it to. I don't think I was a sufficiently good driver to really get the best out of the Z.

 

For me, having a more or less completely standard spec. car that has all the i's dotted and t's crossed is pretty imoprtant, although I might be tempted by a well-executed s/c VR6.

[Guest mudhut]

Hi Peter,

welcome to the forum!

 

[snip useful info]

 

Mines still used daily, and I've recently added a turbocharger, which is just fantastic.

 

 

Dave

 

Thanks for the welcome Dave. Have been ploughing through the posts for a while and this is the kind of user experience I need to hear.

 

The common problems you mention seem to affect other makes and provided they are easily accessible for fixing, then I'd not mind. The timing chain issue is clearly more serious in its potential consequences and I'd think about doing this too provided it did not require special tools and preferably not an engine pull. Don't know anything about actually working on any VW unit yet so would have to source a manual.

 

A turbo is an interesting idea - I'm sure it packs a punch that brings on a grin!

[CrazyDave 0]

Hi Peter,

welcome to the forum!

 

[snip useful info]

 

Mines still used daily, and I've recently added a turbocharger, which is just fantastic.

 

 

Dave

 

Thanks for the welcome Dave. Have been ploughing through the posts for a while and this is the kind of user experience I need to hear.

 

The common problems you mention seem to affect other makes and provided they are easily accessible for fixing, then I'd not mind. The timing chain issue is clearly more serious in its potential consequences and I'd think about doing this too provided it did not require special tools and preferably not an engine pull. Don't know anything about actually working on any VW unit yet so would have to source a manual.

 

A turbo is an interesting idea - I'm sure it packs a punch that brings on a grin!

 

The knowledge base on here has lots of guides for the common tasks, and even the not so common ones.

 

Chains is quite a job, but to be honest, I don't know anybody who's actually had a chain fail, they just get very noisy. I did mine mainly as a precaution on the drive, on axle stands whilst the rest of the car was in bits for turbo stuff. The biggest part was having to get the gearbox out, the chains are down the back of the fylwheel. But if your handy with the spanners it's not that bad. I've listened to VR's with 140k miles that are quiet, without a hint of rattle.

 

The turbo is great fun, and has been quite a learning curve as a DIY job. But yes, the grin factor is well worth it.

[vornwend 0]

Hi Peter,

 

I know next to nothing about mechanics but I can say that having owned Corrados for 10+ years (mostly a 16 Valver and latterly a VR6) I've found them to be ultra reliable and very well built. Don't know if that is a combination of regular servicing (every 6 months) or luck, probably both. The only breakdown I've ever had was a cam belt failure on the 16v the day before it was due to be replaced! For sure I've tempted fate now :? !

 

I use mine as daily driver covering about 9,000 miles a year and it never ceases to amaze me that on a 12 year old car everything works just as it should (air con, windows, trip computer, sunroof, spoiler etc). Never ever had a problem getting through an MOT. Always seem to spend more on the wifes car than mine and she has always had newer cars.

 

I'd say spend the time getting a well sorted one with full service history and chances are you'll be making a good investment. Great thing about this forum is that are always people willing to help out if you do get a problem and you can almost always source some of those more difficult out of production spares. Vr6s seem to take high mileages in their stride so I wouldn't worry too much about them.

 

They are great cars to drive but getting rarer and you can go weeks without seeing another. I kind of like the rarity value.

 

Hope you find a good un.

 

Vaughan

[Guest mudhut]

Thank you for the great info and good wishes in my search Vaughan. It's reassuring to know the VR6 cars stand up well to high miles and I think it's one of these I'd like.

 

I've been looking through the forum for a while now and had begun to form the impression that the cars might be problematic. TBH, this didn't seem to make a great deal of sense as although more complex than a Golf in some respects, the underpinnings are very similar (I ought to add that I know nothing about VWs in detail and the preceding comment is only what I've been able to surmise after browsing). I think that I simply misinterpreted the information and that the car is in general as reliable as any car of this sort of age, suffering the usual replacements as the miles increase. If it was an Alfa 164 or Lancia Beta I'd be much more sure of things...

 

Well I think there are two really strong VR6 candidates for sale on the forum right now. Trouble is one of them is is Edinburgh and there's me in Southampton. The other is much nearer and so less of a problem.

 

As a newcomer to the forum, I'm anxious not to upset anybody by breaking the rules. From the rules:

 

Buyers: DO NOT REPLY SAYING "YOU HAVE PM". Please communicate with sellers within the topic and not via PM until a sale is agreed. Only personal details should be exchanged via PM once the sale is closed. This is to give visibility to other members of the forum to whether the item is still available.

 

They prohibit any discussion or exchange of information outside the "For Sale" thread before a sale is agreed. I don't know how I can do this as I would not want to publish my phone number or address on an open forum, but this information would be needed by one of the parties to a transaction before the sale is closed. Am I being thick here, and have missed something? If a mod or anybody else can clarify this for me, I'd appreciate it.

[Walesy 0]

If you want to exchange any personal details such as phone numbers before agreeing to purchase an item, feel free to do so by PM

 

Best of luck with your search, i've been driving Corrados for a number of years and have never found them to be problematic, as long as they're treated properly. Remembering that these cars are over 12 years old now, they can't be expected to give maintainence free motoring. The idea is to try and stay one step ahead of them and make sure that they're serviced properly and looked after, and finding a car that has allways been treated properly to begin with is by far the best way of achieving trouble free motoring :) - both of the cars that you've singled out from the classifieds seem to be a very good start.

 

P.S - 350Z's are one of the very few new and jap cars I really fancy tbh, can I ask why you've given one up?

[Guest mudhut]

Thanks for the rules clarification Walesy.

 

I'm sure the right car will be just fine - I just have to find it!

 

On the subject of the 350Z, I bought the car having been for a short test drive and was seduced by its great exterior looks, comparative rarity, effortless grunt, interior styling (compared with the TT - too dated/uninspiring; Boxter - too slow except the "S" model; RX-8 - too quirky an engine and the rest of it for that matter; Crossfire - looks naff/cheap interior; S2000 - too frenetic all round). I've enjoyed the relaxed cruising but got a bit fed up with young punks wanting to have a go.

 

A year's ownership has resulted in the conclusion that:

* I'm not doing enough GT type miles in it

* Despite its reputation for good handling, it feels heavy (1600kg or so) and cumbersome on twisty roads

* I don't have sufficient skill to get the best out of it and not likely to develop it at my age

* Too chicken to take such a costly car to the limit

* Already have a mental two-seater that I'm still trying to learn to drive effectively

* I do have the need for a car I can put stuff in the back of

* A triumph of design over function: the interior, the ergonomics of which could just as well have been got right as got wrong

* Not using it for its intended purpose while money falls off it like it was going out of fashion

 

Just felt I had to call it a day. I'll be much more at home in a car rooted in the 1980's and 90's

[craigowl 0]

Re reliability of Corrado.

 

IMO I think anyone coming new onto this type of forum will get a poor impression of the car's reliability.

 

This is because so many people come on the forum to seek answers to problems they are experiencing with the car.

 

After owning the C for six years, albeit as a second car, and initially having a couple of minor things fail, I would say the car is as reliable as, if not more so, than many other models which ceased being made 12 years ago.

[M15 VW 0]

welcome to the forum :)

[Guest mudhut]

Thank you both. :)

[CrazyDave 0]

Re reliability of Corrado.

 

IMO I think anyone coming new onto this type of forum will get a poor impression of the car's reliability.

 

This is because so many people come on the forum to seek answers to problems they are experiencing with the car.

 

After owning the C for six years, albeit as a second car, and initially having a couple of minor things fail, I would say the car is as reliable as, if not more so, than many other models which ceased being made 12 years ago.

 

Yes, sure is a bit daunting. I don't think I've had anyware near the amount of problems that others seem to have had. But my car is one of the last few so this pretty new (even though it's 12 years old!). Think I'm starting to get a dicky sunroof though, must get that apart and sorted soon.

 

I've had almost as many problems to fix of my 7 year old mk iv Golf!