Help! Tell me why I should keep my Valve!

[abrargill 0]

On average I spending approx £700 per year on repairs and servicing, to keep my 1990 16v Rado alive! Am I nuts? Should I bite the bullet and strip it for parts or keep going? My whole family and work colleagues think I'm nuts. For example, I just spent £560 to on some new wishbones, bushes, balljoints, anti-roll links last month. I may need to spend a further £225, on a replacement supersprint back box to pass next months MOT! Someone tell me I'm not crazy!

 

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[davidwort 0]

Thats running any car chap, and if you get a new car then depreciation will be more like twice that figure. It all comes down to what's important to you, reliability and comfort or driving something a bit different. Imo corrados are not that expensive to run, are relatively simple to work on and pretty tough and reliable if maintained well, plenty of people I know have big bills on some very dull and depressing cars.

[bristolbaron 10]

You could be spending £300 per month on a personal contract plan on a new car and not even owning it at the end.

£700 per year isn't too bad for maintenance on any car, but if you want to drive a 20 year old car you will have to spend money on it.

[Abdul 0]

£700 a year is awesome lol.

 

Do It for a few years running and there'll come a point where the car won't need half that every year I reckon.

[Wild-Animal 0]

They say your nuts.......... just ask them what the depriciation value is on their cars I bet it will be more than £700 a year.

[Jim Bowen 1]

I hate the people who tell me spending say £1000 a year keeping the corrado how i want it is madness, then they say you'd be much better off buying a brand new car??

 

so £300 every month for 3-5years to own a middle range ford focus. Yeah right!

 

Like my brother, bought a 6month old astra for £13500, never modded it as he too worried about resale value, now its worth less than my corrado. So thats £10k down the drain in deprication, and its needed new exhaust, brakes, and a few other bits.

 

At least you know your £560 means some important bits of your car are brand new, i like the feeling that i've improved something and still not spent as much as the guy in a standard middle range focus, golf, astra, ibiza yawn, yawn, yawn

 

any car will break/wear out and cost money, at least with a corrado your fixing something worth while imo

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yep. Old cars are what they are. You sprinkle a few bits at them every so often and they'll keep going forever.

 

£58 a month to keep a valver going is nothing.

 

It's odd really. Some people seem to think cars magically fix themselves and don't need any maintenance. All I can say to that is these people clearly have no concept of being a home owner because the monthly costs of running a house are massive compared to a car.... but you don't hear people on house forums moaning about having to pay £1000+ a year to heat it.

[Portent 0]

I bought my Golf around 9 years ago for about £17k I think. It is now worth somewhere around £3k. So that's over £1.5k every year in depreciation alone. Add maintenance to that, and higher insurance than the Corrado (because the Corrado is on a limited mileage policy) and it hasn't been cheap. I'm at the point now of keeping the Golf forever because depreciation has reached low levels and the maintenance cost is smaller than depreciation on a newer car.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Plus of course, as David said, we can actually fix our old cars. Anything newer than 2003 needs computer diagnosis before you can even figure out what bits you need to buy. And new cars are so good at sheltering the occupants from the road, you don't really notice things going wrong so easily.

[Critical_Mass 10]

Thanks, all the above has given me ammo for when my dad says "you've spent a fortune on that car" when ever i say somethign needs replacing on it.

 

When you put it like you guys have it puts things into perspective. Newer cars still need paying for whether thats the monthly payments or service/maintenance. Also as Kev says fixing a newer car isnt so simple as on an older car. Hey even changing something as simple as a darn headlight bulb can cost a small fortune if it means you have to take it to the dealers who have to remove bumper to get headlight out etc... ridiculous. Then there's prices of new parts - ok some Corrado parts prices are still as new, but least second hand/refurbished ones can also be sourced.

 

At least i know if my car breaks down, i can fix it myself or attempt to :lol: as opposed to having to get it diagnosed first.

[abrargill 0]

Guys, what an overwhelming response. I wasnt expecting so much encouragement. The points made about depreciation on new cars is so true. And the fact that new parts are nice for the car.

I appreciate your comments guys and don't feel so insane for keeping my Valver alive. I guess I just needed reassurance from like minded souls, and in the future I will just tell fellow Rado owners how much I'm spending instead of the average Joe.

 

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[abrargill 0]

Another question that I have been contemplating is shall I swap my Valver for a VR6? I've always wanted a VR6 but couldn't afford one at the time. However am a bit nervous as I know my Valver inside out, having owned it since 97. With the VR6 there is the joys of driving a bigger beast but also the uncertainty of further costs - dilemma! What would you guys advise, stick with the Valver or go for the VR6?

 

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[bristolbaron 10]

mo power mo problems..

[Portent 0]

If the valver is in good condition and the engine is strong then why not keep it and spend a little money on engine mods? Sure it won't be a VR6 but even a VR6 isn't that quick nowadays so in my view it's not really about speed. Also, parts for valver engines will be easier to get and simpler to maintain.

[abrargill 0]

The engine is good, 89k only. What kinda mods could I do?

 

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[Critical_Mass 10]

Keep the Valver.

[Jim 2]

Having owned several 16v's and having now gone up to a VR6, for me it's a no brainer - the VR is a totally different beast.

 

However there is a heck of a lot to be said for KNOWING a car when you've owned it for so many years. I owned my 2.0 16v for about 5 years and I felt like I had a real grip on what problems I knew existed, what needed doing, what I was happy with and all of it's little quirks.

 

You should really try and get out in a VR for a test drive and see what you think.

[scarlet_vr6 0]

Interesting thread and agree with all comments about cost of ownership, plus there's the emotional cost of driving something dull!

 

Keep the valver and buy a VR as well! :D

 

 

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[Abdul 0]

The engine is good, 89k only. What kinda mods could I do?

 

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2.0 bottom end, ported head, lightened flywheel, 4 branch, stainless system and a remap from stealth. It sounds expensive but keep your eye out for bargains and you can do the above for less then 1k easy.

 

Should make 170+ bhp and be a good laugh. It's not all about the headline figure though, the car will pull soo much better and have a fair bit more torque. I still want to do this to a valver.

 

When I get crazy/brave enough to own two corrado's I'm going to do the above to an early Helios blue valver. I hope lol.

 

Having said the above the VR will always be the one as far as corrados are concerned but being as you've owned yours so long I wouldn't even dream of getting rid. The valvers are so easy to work on too. Plus you probably won't get much for it in the current market. Oh and the VR will cost more to run unless your lucky. There's always hidden issues.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Abdul

[Critical_Mass 10]

However there is a heck of a lot to be said for KNOWING a car when you've owned it for so many years. I owned my 2.0 16v for about 5 years and I felt like I had a real grip on what problems I knew existed, what needed doing, what I was happy with and all of it's little quirks.

 

Indeed - you dont want to jump out of the pan and into the fire by buying a VR.

[Imgolfman 0]

4 years ago I sold my beautiful 92 G60 and brought a 2 year old Seat Leon FRTDI for £10000. 2 years later sold it and brought a 04 Nissan Navara for £6000 and 18months later sold it and brought another Corrado 16v then brought my g60. WON'T be doing that trick again......

 

 

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[abrargill 0]

Ok. Sounds like Scarlet summed it up. Keep the Valver and buy a VR6.

 

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[Jim 2]

Clearly the best idea :)

[Abdul 0]

Ok. Sounds like Scarlet summed it up. Keep the Valver and buy a VR6.

 

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Yep everyone needs both. Lol

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Hey even changing something as simple as a darn headlight bulb can cost a small fortune if it means you have to take it to the dealers who have to remove bumper to get headlight out etc... ridiculous.

 

My sister in-law's Fiat is like that. You have to remove the rear light cluster completely to change the rear bulbs. You never used to need tools to change bulbs in the good old days! And as for the bulbs themselves, some of them are upwards of £50 each these days for these Audis n things with the gay LED strips and what not.