Previous owners and leather seats

[kangaroo 0]

Hi there,

 

I've been haging around on this forum for a while now, slowly learning about Corrado's and gathering all kinds of knowledge. I think this place is great! And some of you guys seem to know a lot. My car knowledge isn't amazing, but I'm getting better... I've owned a Mk2 Golf (driver) for the last four years and everytime something breaks I get to learn about it. If I keep it for long enough I'll work my way round the every part in the car!

 

Anyway, I've got a couple of questions that Id like to ask, seeing as I'm now in the market to buy:

 

Firstly, is 5+ previous owners a lot for a VR6? Or average? I tend to think it maybe quite a few, but then I don't have much to base it on.

 

Secondly, (I'm not quite sure if this has been asked elsewhere, I searched but couldn't find an answer) but did standard VR6's (non-Storms) have a leather option? I've seen several about claiming to have a leather interior, from new, but they're not Storms. If it was an option should both front and rear seats (and door trim?) be in leather? And should they be heated? Or have these cars had leather seats fitted afterwards?

 

I appreciate any responses! Thanks :)

~Matt.

[OSV 0]

Leather was a factory option on the VR6, mine are heated but I'm not sure if thats a standard feature of the leather seats or a further option. I tend to think they came together as one option.

[jedi-knight83 0]

hi,

 

as OSV says, leather was an option on all corrados, and standard on a storm. black, grey or beige were the only colours (unless you unearth a campaign then it was brick red and purple). The front and rear seats, front and rear door cards were leather and i think leather was always heated. some have leather recaros but they are quite rare, the recaros were electric though

 

HTH

[kangaroo 0]

Cheers for the replies guys, that solves the leather issue.

 

How about the previous owners? How many is average for a VR6? Do you think it has any bearing on the overall condition of a car?

[Henny 0]

5s not a bad number of former owners... that's about 2 years each on a normal 'rado...

 

A lot of 'em were company cars when first bought, so they changed owners after about a year which adds one on pretty quickly...

 

Think I'm the 6th owner of my '92 G60... 8)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I am about 800th owner of mine.....nah not really, I am the 5th owner, which as Henny says is about right.

 

So long as the car appears to have been well maintained, don't worry about it.

 

Mine has a mint interior, has had the usual stone chips and worn sill paintwork done at some point but other than that, it's been well treated with a full VAG service book.

 

Mine has had an interesting life. Started out as VW's demonstrator, then a Doctor owned it, then Mr A.Nonymous, then a CCGB member and finally me.

 

K

[Henny 0]

...it's only when you get to the stage that my MKI golf's in that you should really be worried... I'm the 19th owner in 21 years! :shock: (and I've owned it 8 years!)

 

That's when you know that there's something odd going on with it! ;)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

...it's only when you get to the stage that my MKI golf's in that you should really be worried... I'm the 19th owner in 21 years! :shock: (and I've owned it 8 years!)

 

That's when you know that there's something odd going on with it! ;)

 

Yeah my MK1's owner list was double figures too.....and it showed!

 

My mate had a Cavalier GSi 2000 a few years ago which had something like 29 previous owners! The last 20 over the period of 5 years.......so Boy Racers in other words. Thrashing it until they get a bill to repair the independant rear suspension, and then flog it!

[VR6 0]

Does anyone know of a good leather treatment?

 

I know you're not supposed to over-feed leather.

 

Are there any that are colour specific ie like polishes can be specifically for red cars?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Does anyone know of a good leather treatment?

 

I know you're not supposed to over-feed leather.

 

Are there any that are colour specific ie like polishes can be specifically for red cars?

 

I think AutoGlym do a rather nice leather care set.

 

K

[Rado16v 0]

VW offered electric leather recaro's on all C's as option, on the VR they were heated but on the 8v and 16v they weren't - and it cost more!

 

You can actually trace all the previous owners of a car by writing to DVLA, think it costs about £5

[kangaroo 0]

Do non-heated leather seats get a bit chilly in winter? I can imagine it would be like sitting on a cold plastic chair (only made of leather, if you see what i mean).

 

Sometimes my steering wheel turns into a block of ice. When my Golf's heater went (in the middle of winter) I remember driving in wooly gloves for a few days... Perhaps a bit dangerous in hindsight.

[MT 0]

Um well when you first get into the car the seats are cold whether heated or not! it takes several minutes before you notice the warmth from below!! But its a nice feeling to have the warm seat and cosy cabin when you look outside at the snow drifts!! :D

[jedi-knight83 0]

Um well when you first get into the car the seats are cold whether heated or not! it takes several minutes before you notice the warmth from below

 

unless you have remote engine start....then just turn your heated seats on the when you last get out of the car, turn all the heaters up and simply lean out the window in the morning and bobs your uncle...warm seats when you enter the car...

 

....just dont leave it in gear :shock:

[PeterMunns 0]

I am looking at a Corrado 16v this weekend will be my first one it has half leather recaros ....is that i factory option...How can i tell if its been thrashed...??

 

cheers

[dr_mat 0]

I am looking at a Corrado 16v this weekend will be my first one it has half leather recaros ....is that i factory option...How can i tell if its been thrashed...??

 

cheers

 

Read the badge on the back - if it's been thrashed it'll say "Corrado"...

 

Seriously though, you can only tell by driving it, and checking the usual things - listen to the engine, look for smoke (blue or black), feel the steering (is it nicely weighted and precise) etc etc. As a general rule, assume thrashage unless you can prove otherwise!

[GazzaG60 0]

i wouldn't be too bothered about a valve thats been thrashed. it keeps the engine free. valves go real flat if you dont rev um.

 

my G60 has had 5 owners too.

i got leather but not heated. its fine in winter, sweaty in summer

 

12 month spans of ownership are common. thats when the repair bills come in as somebody previosly said

 

Corrados are not cheap to run or maintain.

 

its the age of the beast really. people used to say "theres a story behind every cossie" and the same is true of the corrado

[dr_mat 0]

More accurate to say "there's an RAC van behind every Corrado".

 

They come as standard fit with VWs now. Even the sporty VWs have them, they just fit a 2.0 turbo diesel in the RAC van, and he follows you around the country at a discrete distance...

[Supercharged 2]

More accurate to say "there's an RAC van behind every Corrado".

 

They come as standard fit with VWs now. Even the sporty VWs have them, they just fit a 2.0 turbo diesel in the RAC van, and he follows you around the country at a discrete distance...

 

Ahhh, Thats why the RAC don't buy VW vans... :lol:

[Fletcher 0]

:mad: Well reading this has opened my eyes again to the Corrado's, ive learned alot since i started coming on here, the lying tw*t who sold me mine said the leather was standard in it, (it wasnt) he told me it only had 5 previous owners, he lied again ive just checked and its had 11, my fault for not checking the V5 properly ( i wont make that mistake again ) i think it seems like its been looked after it says its only got 116,000 on the clock but after the other lies im thinking of getting that checked to, its got full VW history with it but my mate who works at a car garage said the history doesnt mean alot if the car has been owned by a lot of people with good car knowledge, (in other words people who know how to clock cars the right way) the lad who had it before me got banned on his R6 and left it in his garage for nearly 3 years, he hardly used it because he worked away as well, So Come on lads i want a true opinion, what should i do with it, i was going to fit a 2 ltr bottom end and get the head polished and ported, but after finding this out should i sell it?????????? it looks mint, drives well and i love it, but am i throwing my money away by doing this to it?????????????????? :mad: :mad: :mad:

[dr_mat 0]

...should i sell it?????????? it looks mint, drives well and i love it, but am i throwing my money away by doing this to it ...

 

You answered your own question.

 

Basically it's YOUR CAR now. If you don't like it, or have so many mechanical problems that it's costing a fortune, get rid by all means. But if it's going well, and you like driving it, the ONLY thing you have to be sure is that there's no outstanding finance, or a "written off" in it's history - as that might effect your insurance.

So if in doubt, do an HPI check and see what the result is.

[Linus Van Pelt 0]

...reminds of the independent dealer I bought mine from...

 

He said, "it won't cost you much to insure that you know"

 

:roll: :lol:

 

Fletcher,

 

If it has VW history, VW should have recorded the mileage at each service on their system, make sure they all correspond with what's written in your service book.

 

DtM.

[dr_mat 0]

Further to my previous comment and the good info from duncanthemad, however, even if you found out the car had been clocked - what then? Does it really matter? You know yourself the condition it's in. It's a 16v isn't it? So maybe you discover it's been clocked and you find that the book price goes down by £500. So what? That's nothing compared to the money you pay to insure and run the car...

[Fletcher 0]

Ok less the sarcasm, Dont now a great deal about cars, im into fixing bikes, so if i do find out its been clocked, is it worth me doing the engine conversion??????? (2ltr bottom end, ported and polished head) i dont want to sell the car but dont want to spend good money on it, to not even be able to sell it when im finished with it or have trouble selling due to this reason + it will also stand me £500 - £900 more than it does, looking for help on this 1 not sarcasm thanks,

[dr_mat 0]

I wasn't being sarcastic...

My point is that it's just a car. It's old enough that it's value is totally defined by it's condition, NOT some notional book price. If it's in good condition, you can get more for it than a lower mileage car in bad condition. Ask Henny, he just spent thousands rebuilding a G60 that now has 250k on the clock..

And if the engine is at all suspect, the work you're thinking of doing on it will give you an effectively *new* engine, so you should expect plenty of trouble-free driving for years to come.