Is it a waste of time.......

[skinnyman9000 0]

.......attempting to move away from corrado ownership?

 

Im moving into my own place within in the next 1-2 months, and various people in my life are trying to convince me to sell the corrado, they make the fair point that trying to stick to a tight budget AND run a corrado is just asking for trouble, and that being a corrado it'll throw a big repair bill in my face when i have the least amount of money.

 

Im under no illusions as to the condition of the car. The sunroof is broken, the spoiler doesnt work, the paint is beyond help, and i currently have no warm air coming out of the heaters, but mechanically its sound. Ive owned it for 3yrs now, and its had things like full engine rebuild, new starter motor, new ignition switch, new throttle cable, new alternator, just had a new battery, its running on stainless Eibach coilovers, etc etc. So IF i were to sell it i'd take all the aftermarket gadgets off and sell the car as standard, probably for around £500-£600, which is upsetting when i look back at the thousands ive spent on the bloody thing. Then i would end up in something Japanese no doubt, due to the reliability factor.

 

Now, is attempting to do this just pointless? Am i really going to get away from owning one of these things? Ive tried several times to convince myself to sell and i never do.

 

The way i see it there are 3 options.

 

1) Break and sell my rado, buy summert boring, and then buy another rado in VGC in 1-2years time, when money is better and hopefully i'll have more time for it.

2) Treat my rado as what it is (a 20yr old car worth sod all) and have some fun in it instead of fighting the losing battle of maintaining it, then sell it for peanuts when im done and buy one in VGC in a few years, same as above.

3) Attempt to move away from corrado ownership altogether, and dip my hand in my pocket for something along the lines of Honda S2000/Integra etc.

 

Some people on here will know that i tend to have a thread like this once a year, but my situation is changing this time and im struggling to decide the best course of action.

 

Thoughts?

[rolex 0]

yes.

Mod please lock.

 

 

:)

[mrbeige 0]

yes.

Mods please lock. ;)

[millerman 0]

depends on a few things like how much you can afford to put buy for a newer car each month and is the corrado gonna cost

that much a month to repair and run ?

funny thing is when i was younger and purchased me a flat i brought the corrado 2 months later as it was only 5 years old and was considered a reliable

and good car :lol:

[skinnyman9000 0]

Well its the money side, but also the convenience.

 

Like my heaters throw out cold air, which in this weather makes my car a pretty driveway ornament. And there are umpteen things that could be causing it, and if it ends up being something like the matrix then its 1-2 days of being stuck outside taking the dashboard apart, again in this weather thats just not summert i wanna be doing.

[coullstar 0]

What you have to look at is how much money you will save by running another type of car? Do you do a huge amount of mileage, I suspect not because you wouldnt be running a Corrado.

Unless you feel it as a massive financial drain at the moment I dont see a reason for selling.

[Philmo 0]

Agree with Coullstar!

How could you ..sniff.. forsake your idol?

You're officially rated a C Nutter - how could you possibly think such things!

It sounds like you have a sound foundation.

Thinking logically - what exactly is the matter with yr heater? Be analytical now, not symptomatic! etc

Always look on the bright side of life! [i'd do it to music but can't sing!] :D

[vornwend 0]

Keep it!

 

It may be a devil at times but its the one that by now you really know (and probably love?). Besides which the really, really big cost of ownership is long gone - namely depreciation. Buy something newish for 5 grand and you'll probably lose a grand in the first year of ownership - in 5 years time you'll probably have lost £3500 and even newish cars can have things go wrong with them. How much are you gonna spend on keeping the rado going in 5 years?

 

If you don't do mega miles and don't need 100% reliability then I think you have no choice but to keep it :lol: Target 25 years ownership :nuts:

[millerman 0]

you mentioned that you wanted perhaps a honda s2000 or intgegra do you not think you will want to upgrade them ??

i thought that with my bmw i would not need to do anything and i need 3 grand to put carbon fibre parts on it and the performance back box

and the rado i could easly spend the same with a turbo kit from vince

 

just get yours fixed and you will forget all this selling rubbish and will be happy all over again :lol:

[Abdul 0]

I agree with Millerman, too many times i have looked at other cars but i know ill end up modding em and they'll also end up bein a financial fail for me... plus the money id need on top to buy the newer car and then the newer car modding costs mean if i spent that on the rado id end up with a proper minter... So thats what im doing!

[4eyes2wheels 0]

I've been doing this with motorbikes for years. Buy one, love it, ride it, tinker with it, leave it in the garage for a while, think I'm losing money on it, sell it, 3 months later I've bought another and back to square one. Done this literally 5 times and now have something a little older (so depreciation is long gone like with the Corrado) and it does the job - great fun when I want it to be, occassionally needs a few hundred quid spent etc.

 

As someone else said, if you are not doing loads of miles is it such a problem?

 

Costs more and never quite the same selling and buying again etc unless that is the joy in C ownership for you? Findong one, doing it up, making it yours etc . . . Like my very handsome friend who loves going on the pull but hates being in a long term relationship . . . .

[millerman 0]

I agree with Millerman, too many times i have looked at other cars but i know ill end up modding em and they'll also end up bein a financial fail for me... plus the money id need on top to buy the newer car and then the newer car modding costs mean if i spent that on the rado id end up with a proper minter... So thats what im doing!

 

blimey i just thought if i did not have my bmw and the missus french effort of a car i could spend an extra £600 a month on the corrado

turboed 4x4 r32'd carbon ceramic brakes all worth £2500 :lol:

[too hot 0]

Yeah buy a mIcra ---------------------------------------------------you know it makes sense :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[dbug 0]

i know exactly what your thinking - happened to me last year

 

bought a mk1 golf cab in may 09. it ran ok but needed work. spent over £1k sorting out engine wheels etc etc and got well :censored: off with it as was never right.

 

then a nissan almera came up for a song so i sold the goof and regretted it within 48 hours. at this point i was over £2000 out of pocket with a car that had no soul and had nothing that i could get my hands on.

 

christmas came and the Rado was made available to me. i sold the 'grandad smells of wee car' and snapped it up.

 

yes it needs some work, the heating didn't work ( sorted that as per your other thread ) and i am now working my way through the other bits.

 

you have put alot into yours over the years so i would be very loath to break her till its fails an MOT in a massive way. a rental car for a couple of months would be possibly a cheaper option than selling/breaking and losing all that money and time already spent.

 

remember its a 20 year old motor that has a soul, and can be easily fixed without computer or specialist tools at the side of the road. the heating is a cheap quick fix to test ( less than an hours labour to find out the management light on the dash means it needs a new set of plugs in the rice ).

 

now stop sitting on here and get them pipes sorted :wink:

[keystarG60 0]

Hi

 

I was in a similar position to you when i moved into my place 4 years ago - living alone in my own place etc.

 

There was no way i was gonna sell the Corrado but i had to accept that i would need to manage my finances well.

 

As a result I set up a monthly direct debit to pay £50 into a seperate account to take care of any bills above and beyond the normal running costs in case of an emergency. You soon get used to the money leaving your account as if it was any other kind of bill. And at the end of the year you have a lump sum to splash out on other non essential work.

 

Andrew

[junkie 0]

Life comes 1st im afraid, hence why i had to break mine so i can keep my house, had a huge change in circumstances so it had to be done, am i sad about it, no, do i miss it, no, do i still wish i had it, yes, but only as a toy for something to use and abuse.

 

Personally i would just sort out the house move, sell the car and get something else reliable, then at some point in the future if you fancy another then pick another up.

[B41LEY 0]

Keep it! I saw it parked up a couple of weeks ago on Rolls-Royce 'D' site car park - looked pretty tidy to me!

 

I moved into my first house with the girlfriend last Jan, at the time i did worry about the cost of living and running a vr6! Secured a new job at the end of summer which pays an extra few quid which helps a lot! But then my engine had major major problems and set me back best part of 2K!

 

I'm now in a position where i have to keep the car for many years to get my money's worth back out of it.

 

I suggest keep it for now and only spend money fixing the essentials but be prepared to sell if you find living costs mounting up!

[-=Kris=- 0]

i agree with the 1st 2 replys... :D

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

keep it... declare it off road and reap the benefits of moving house and place her in storage. By the summer you wont car she has no heaters. Spend the small hours wittling away at minor things like internal trim and faulty switches. Then one day when you got the money, spend it on fixing her up. Just stopping dawdling and DONT brake her. There are too few Rado's in the world as it is

[Veearrhsix 0]

Cut in half front to back, disassemble and reassemble inside house and stick on lounge wall. :norty:

[biggrim 0]

Just sell it mate. Some things are more important than an ageing coupe. You can always get another one further down the line if/when funds allow.

 

In some respects I do miss my G60 but on the other hand my Passat gives me 45 to the gallon easily and the money saved on fuel/tax can go toward things like food etc.

[coullstar 0]

How much are you likely to get for it now? If its bugger all then whats the point in selling? Yes there are more things to life than cars but you also need your little slices of fun as well. Lifes too short :clap:

[skinnyman9000 0]

Well the paintwork is knackered, but mechanically ive spent a fair whack on it.

 

Rebuild engine

Starter motor

Alternator

Recent battery

Throttle cable

Ignition switch

Wheel bearings

etc etc

 

So i'd hope to see around £700.

 

Plus i'd strip the aftermarket bits off it, i spent £700 on stainless eibach coilovers, then there's the wheels which i couldnt really put a price too, and the sound system, all that kinda stuff would raise me a few bob.

 

Either way its not going anywhere just yet, its MOT time in March, fingers crossed it just needs one wheel bearing to pass that.

[moneypit23 0]

Get as much sorted as possible whilst you are still at home so you have fewer problems moving with you.

 

Then spend all the time you would have normally spent in the pub etc.. maintaining it since you won't be able to do anything else.

 

When i had my own place this is what i did and even though i ended up moving back home i never got rid of the car :clap:

[skinnyman9000 0]

I was talking to my mate about this dilemma today and he sent me this text:

 

"Dont sell that car, it looked so nice when you drove away, it made everyone turn and look".

 

Says it all really :grin: