New to Cars want a Corrado

[Gaffgorion 10]

Hey everybody, so long story short, I had a lot of shady stuff happen to the cars I've owned by local mechanics. Now I want to be able to all auto work myself. However, I haven't spent any time under a hood yet, and I'm looking to get a car that I want to fix up and learn as I go. After searching for 6 months trying to decide on RWD/FWD, engines, looks, manual, auto, I actually went from having no clue how an engine works to understanding all the basics. There is nothing left to learn but finally getting my hands dirty. I've ended up wanting a VW Corrado, I think they are incredibly beautiful fun looking cars. The only problem is I'm finding answers all over the board as far as its reliability, how easy it is to work on, however I 'really' want this particular car.

 

I've looked around several forums and I just never get a direct answer. Or rather the answers are direct but they are 50/50. Parts are cheap, parts are expensive. Parts are easy to find, parts are impossible to find. Etc, this site looks pretty active and I want to start building a knowledge base. I want this to be the car I start out with, don't really want a car everybody is driving on the road I want something unique. So the questions;

 

If I really wanted to turn this car into a 'fun daily driver' how much would i be looking to build one up to a reliable DD? Are the engines reliable, what sort of problems am I going to be looking at down the road. I understand I'll have my problems as does any car. But I'm a little afraid this car is going to be more trouble than its worth, some people have given me that impression and I'm hoping that feeling is wrong.

 

Help me out guys :)

[Sean_Jaymo 0]

These cars will test your patients and potentially your wallet. Parts are available on the whole but are a bit more pricey than maybe a modern Focus for example. Engines tend to be reliable and so long as it has had the chains done by 140k or so and it doesn't puff oil on the over run, you tend to be alright with them. Sometimes sensors will go like any engine and it can take some diagnosing to figure out what is actually wrong. There are plenty of active people on here who will help and guide where needed.

 

Problem areas;

 

Some cars are rot boxes and others or similar age or mileage can be absolutely straight, it's one of those things and only a through look around a car will help.

The cooling system is pretty over complicated and not really up to spec so make sure the car doesn't run hot, IE above 100 when sat in traffic. Fixes tend to be cheap enough though.

The cabin HVAC is weak and prone to failure and a new control panel for instance is £80 second hand or double that new.

The window wipers are pretty useless and most upgrade to Lupo aero ones

The lights (like mk2's) are crap but its £40 or so from a member on here for a plug in yourself upgrade loom

The sunroof is prone to failure. Usually the slide will fail but the tilt will remain working.

 

There are other problems but these tend to be the most talked about ones. Don't let this put you off, it's a great car, unique and quite fun to drive, even by modern standards. Hell, the VR6 will even do 30mpg if you drive it gently! I'm on my second, plenty are on their 5th and considering I've had a 911 and Lotus Elise since I last owned one, this is the only car I've ever bought 2 of!

 

Be patient in your search and don't buy a nail or it will cost you in more ways than you realise!

[mic_VR 3]

To echo Sean, there are good one and not so good ones. That's the danger of a hand finished low run car.

 

Buying guide! http://wiki.the-corrado.net/the_corrado_buying_guide_checklist.html

 

My recommendation is to check that all the basics are up to code. Good running gear, suspension, non-smoking engine, chains ideally but look at the mechanics above bodywork. A lot of it is a mix of golf and passat parts but thing are becoming obsolete now.

 

That said, bodywork can be tricky on them. No such thing as replica panels/fenders etc with these I'm afraid so it's repair or a trip to the scrapyard to find parts if you've got body damage.

 

Reliability wise, mine have always been 100% reliable they can be a little sensitive with temp senders and MAF's but generally they'll do big miles without huge amounts of issue.

[Gaffgorion 10]

Thanks for the quick response! Thank you for that buying guide I'll look into it. Btw I'm from US(unfortunately) would you know off hand what a Corrado worth buying would cost in this market? One that is not a nail? If not I'll just use your prices. Also once I buy one would you be able to give me an approximate cost of making it a Daily Driver, assuming it just had the standard problems? In the end I plan on restoring it 100% however in the beginning what would the ballpark cost to make it reliable DD? I'm going to add up all the stuff on that buying guide an assume thats the fix up costs. But if there is a better assumption I'd love to have it :)

[Reca 10]

US Market seems to vary betweeen $3500-5000 dependign on where about you are looking. Some are worth the asking price but most are not. As far as a ball park figure with making it DD worth, that really depends on your buy/luck; you may find one that has zero issues and will last you 2 years before you need to do any maintanence, outside of oil and breaks; or you can find one that breaks down with-in a weeks time. Price for that also depends on if you go Vr6 or G60, I would say keep about 1k handy for "just in-case funds". In regards to doing a restoration.. expect to spend money; depending on how deep you really intend on going, it will go over 10k... ask me how I know.

 

Where in the states are you located?

[Gaffgorion 10]

Just threw in literally a bunch of the items on that checklist that had a price, making the assumption that is what it costs to make it a DD(I am not really making this assumption thou, I'm assuming this number is actually WAY OFF) would be £1,852.5 or $3103.31 not including purchasing costs. I like to set up a budget though so I know what I'm getting myself into

[Gaffgorion 10]

Hi Reca, thanks for the reply. I'm in Arizona however I'm probably going to have to go out of state to find one I like which I am willing to do. Currently I'm broke, but that should change soon starting a business so I should have cash flowing in if everything goes as planned. So is that 10k the total price of the restore(Including the car price, or $5k+$10k(15k)) or just to make it a DD?

[Reca 10]

That 10k is more of a minimum for what to expect to spend. So far, I am a little of 13k and still have another 3k, or so, to spend on parts and machine work for the block/head. I am doing more of a resto-mod build, though. If you intend on having it factory restored, you may be able to get away with a few things by pulling parts from scrap yards; otherwise, custom interior, aftermarket lighting, performance parts, etc. expect to hit that 10k mark really quick.

 

May I know what drew you into the Corrado? Do you know if you want to go with the G60, Vr6, or swap another Motor in all together?

 

Edit:

Wanted to speak on your last question. Making it a daily, should be less than 1k after buying a running vehicle with mileage under 170k; but again, I stress that this all depends on the car and how well it was maintained.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Reca

[seanl82 23]

Depending on which part of the States your in (Climate), all you'll really need to think about are upgrade headlight loom and either audi tt, or VW Lupo wiper arms and blades. Dependant on climate again, ac is probably a must. If this is correct, then your in warm climes, and rust probably isn't a major issue. Remember, these are around 20 years old now, so it'll never be as refined as a newer car. That said, lots of people the world over still use them as daily drivers, so there are no major things that need to be done. Within your budget, buy the best you can afford, and don't jump at the first you see. Do your research, and as said, have a little aside for replacement of common failure parts. The key here is that preventative maintenance is better than corrective maintenance. :thumbleft:

 

Edit: just seen your last post, I think you should be ok as far as rust goes!

 

I only paid £1200 for my car (less than $2000). Mines not strictly a daily, although I use it quite often, but my car has never failed mechanically. It was pretty rough on the interior, and the paintwork needed a lot of attention, but a rattle can and a good machine polish made it a lot more respectable. There are bargains about, but you need to be prepared to travel a little.

Edited June 3, 2014 by seanl82

[Reca 10]

Just threw in literally a bunch of the items on that checklist that had a price, making the assumption that is what it costs to make it a DD(I am not really making this assumption thou, I'm assuming this number is actually WAY OFF) would be £1,852.5 or $3103.31 not including purchasing costs. I like to set up a budget though so I know what I'm getting myself into

 

I some how missed this post; may I know what sort of items you have, may possibly, have on there? That seems a bit high. even with worn suspension, you should be able to replace axles, bushings, brakes, oil, plugs, belts for less, or about, 1k (assuming you are doing the work yourself).

 

Edit:

Sean makes a good point, my figures were based on drivability, not comfort lol. A/C and heated seats is something to look out for. Also, the numbers I gave are all in parts; if you are looking to pay a shop to do the work, that number may double if not triple (depending on how far you really want to take it).

Edited June 3, 2014 by Reca

[Gaffgorion 10]

@Sean oh that would be awesome if I could find one in a ready to go condition(Mechanically) for that price. I'd take that any day. But I'll be sure to stay away from people who have not maintained their car.

 

@Reca I can look at that list to find out specifics but its in this list Checklist compliments to mic_VR. I literally just used the browser search function to pull the numbers for me. I'm at work atm so I can't read anything in great detail until later so I just use Tech to speed stuff up for me.

 

I actually got here in a very strange way... I was originally looking at strictly RWD cars and after extensive researching and listing about 20 platforms in which I would like to work with it kind of dawned on me that I'm not going to be able to drive the RWD cars on my budget at the moment, (I wanted it for drifting purposes) however as time progressed it seemed like less and less fun and more and more work. However i must add if I had an abundance of time and money, I'd still get a drift machine. What happened was it dawned on me that I simply want a car that CAN go fast when I want it to, the rest of the time I drive normally. So I ended up wanting a great handling car and didn't care how power got to the wheels I simply wanted the power to be there. I also wanted respectable economy for that power. So the list ended up being, great handling, lightweight, fast, reliable, and decent mpg that I can use as a DD, not to mention, it requires devastating good looks ;). Anyway I looked at alot of lightweight cars I actually have that list, however at the top of that list is the Corrado. It is the most appealing to me, first thing I am into ecomodding, so two important things as a base platform is lightweight, and aerodynamic. Well the Corrado aside from looking awesome, has a drag Coefficient of 0.32 which is not amazing but its better than most! And is light!

 

I do not plan on making any extensive mods to this car(As far as drilling extra holes), however like you I do want to resto-mod it. If I can I don't want to put in any extra holes into the car that aren't already there stock. But I don't know what engine I want in it either. I'm not a diehard fan of any brand. A car is just a car to me, if it was a well made machine I respect it. Doesn't matter if its VW, BMW, Mercedes, Ford, Chevy, Honda, Toyota etc. Now certain brands have there consistencies but I'm open to any great car. And in my opinion the Corrado is one the the great cars that fit perfectly into what i want right now. So that said, I'm open to anything, which engine is easier to work on G60 or VR6 and which one more reliable? I plan on messing with things like A/F ratio and programming the computer myself. Like i said I'm into ecomodding, I have an idea on how to give the Corrado(Any car) variable drives that change the A/F ratio and other things to actually radically boost MPG(lose speed) and switch back to normal driving for speed. So whatever engine can take the most beating while staying reliable(I don't plan on personally beating it up but what I do might need some extra leeway before I know exactly what I'm doing) So if the G60 or VR6 is recommended to me, I'll get it, if another brand or engine from VW is recommended I'll throw that in. In the end, if I ever get sick of the car I'm rebuilding it to factory stock and then selling cause I respect the car and their enthusiasts. I haven't worked on cars yet and I'm already sick of people ripping apart once perfectly good cars or letting them rot.

 

So what engine would you recommend for a crazy person like myself? Based on what I'll be doing, the engine will take extra heat than stock under normal driving conditions, I have a few ideas on how to solve this issue but I have several ideas I don't know which one I'll stick with yet. Lets just say I've done extensive research into my idea.

[Gaffgorion 10]

Just wrote about 3 paragraphs it said waiting moderation, don't know if its because of its length or what but I can't find a history of it. I will rewrite it if it doesn't get posted(Writing this just so you don't think the thread died if its a length issue)

[Reca 10]

Lol, understood. Appreciate the heads up. I am stuck at work until 730pm (2.5 more hrs) eastern time. I am free to talk till than.

[Gaffgorion 10]

Cool thanks Reca, I plan to be posting on the forum for a few days, but typically only during my work hours lol. I work 8:30-5:00 Arizona time. Another 3 hours for me. From the looks of it my last post must of got lost in Cyberspace. Looks like I'll be needing to rewrite it in a bit here.

[Jim 2]

Sorry - found and approved your post. For some reason lately the forum won't tell us when there are posts needing approving so they pass us by :( I need to prod the admin about it!

[Gaffgorion 10]

No prob thanks for the feedback! Yeah it told me initially it would await moderation, but then in my history nothing was there so I wasn't sure if it was pending moderation or lost. Anyway see post #11 that is my missing post :)

[Reca 10]

A car is just a car to me, if it was a well made machine I respect it. Doesn't matter if its VW, BMW, Mercedes, Ford, Chevy, Honda, Toyota etc. Now certain brands have there consistencies but I'm open to any great car.

 

As much as I do agree with you on the point you made here, I must offer a fair warning; While it is true a car is just a car, one must take into consideration the groups that associate with specific brands. It is not about whether you fit into that group or not, but more of a "heads up" as to what group you know you don't want to associate with. A prime example of all this would be the Honda guys; on the east coast, they are known for stealing from one another and causing mischief. While not everyone in a particular group of enthusiast share the same qualities, it is important to know what groups do associate with what brand. Enough about that, though lol.

 

What you are listing is a little tough. I personally am a bit bias and prefer the older stuff based on availability of parts and known issues; new motors may have available aftermarket parts but there may not be as many manufactures developing those parts, aka no competition in the market, aka high prices. Same goes for the motors, people have done x, y, or z to them yet and therefore don't know what will happen when something new is done or when a certain mileage is hit.

That said, for daily driven with immediate power, on demand, I vote the Vr6. The old saying goes "there is no replacement for displacement" than, as technology advanced, the replay was "forced induction" but in the end, the larger displacement motors started going FI as well... Shut every lawnmower up lol.

 

I Vote Vr6 mainly because you have stated you want to add power; however a G60 with a 16v head will do some serious damage too. I will tell you this, the fastest/cheapest way to make power is boost. I know people who have spent over 5 grand on there N/A Vr6 and can barely keep up with a tuned S/C Vr6. In the end, there is a lot to consider.

 

Do you intend on maintaining a full interior?

[Gaffgorion 10]

As much as I do agree with you on the point you made here, I must offer a fair warning; While it is true a car is just a car, one must take into consideration the groups that associate with specific brands. It is not about whether you fit into that group or not, but more of a "heads up" as to what group you know you don't want to associate with. A prime example of all this would be the Honda guys; on the east coast, they are known for stealing from one another and causing mischief. While not everyone in a particular group of enthusiast share the same qualities, it is important to know what groups do associate with what brand. Enough about that, though lol.

 

I actually agree with you entirely, there are definitely certain 'groups' that often associate with a particular brand. I've heard things like that about honda owners, and you sound like you are from the US so you are probably aware of diehard chevy and ford fans that hardcore bash eachother until the sun sets(And maybe sometimes they stay up to continue bashing eachother) I originally came from Pennsylvania, and the Chevy, Ford wars get a little out of hand there. There are the odd balls, like myself though that have no preference.I have never actually owned or considered owning a VW car before I started looking into cars. I've ended up appreciating several VW vehicles. If I can't find myself a Corrado my next choice is a VW Scirocco Mk1 or Mk1 Golf I just love the body style. The only car I liked as much is when I was looking at RWD and I was loving the Porsche 944 which is funny because the Corrado was originally conceived to be the possible successor of the 944.

 

What you are listing is a little tough. I personally am a bit bias and prefer the older stuff based on availability of parts and known issues; new motors may have available aftermarket parts but there may not be as many manufactures developing those parts, aka no competition in the market, aka high prices. Same goes for the motors, people have done x, y, or z to them yet and therefore don't know what will happen when something new is done or when a certain mileage is hit.

That said, for daily driven with immediate power, on demand, I vote the Vr6. The old saying goes "there is no replacement for displacement" than, as technology advanced, the replay was "forced induction" but in the end, the larger displacement motors started going FI as well... Shut every lawnmower up lol.

 

I actually am with you in preferring older stuff. I'd actually prefer an engine I can build up cheaply and learn a lot as I go, I'll probably eventually replace that engine down the road and get something more challenging and with more potential eventually.(I plan on keeping this car for years and keepin her pretty) So keeping with cheap parts and wide availability and capable of upgrading is there something you can recommend?

 

I Vote Vr6 mainly because you have stated you want to add power; however a G60 with a 16v head will do some serious damage too. I will tell you this, the fastest/cheapest way to make power is boost. I know people who have spent over 5 grand on there N/A Vr6 and can barely keep up with a tuned S/C Vr6. In the end, there is a lot to consider.

 

I definitely agree with you, though based on my research I'd preferably go for turbo over supercharger the reason being that any supercharger has a parasitic effect on the engine at all times which d. As opposed to a turbo where as if driven without engaging boost actually increases MPG(Which as an ecomodder is pretty sexy). However both deserve respect IMO.

 

Do you intend on maintaining a full interior?

 

I do, I want to shed some not needed weight if possible, but ultimately I want the car fully loaded. I may remove the back seats because my women will never drive with me in a manual car. Also means she won't be driving it... Muahahahaha

 

Anyway correct me if I'm ever wrong about any of my information. I literally went from knowing absolutely nothing about cars to where I am today in under 6 months. I've always been a fast learner so that strong suite is what I'm relying on right now to work on cars.

[Reca 10]

Your assumption is correct, I am on the East coast; born and raised in Bronx, NY but currently reside in Manassas, VA. It would appear as if we have a similar taste in vehicles; my main project is a Mk1 Scirocco S1, I was hoping to have her done by August but life throws lemons at you sometimes.. I have learned to make lemonaid with them.

 

I know all about the Chevy vs. Ford crap. Personally I admire any well made machine.

 

In terms of recommendation, I still stand with the 2.8 Vr6. You can do a mild and cheap build, the sound and performance will keep you satisfied until you're ready for more. When the time comes, you can swap in a larger 3.6l Vr6, and the rest is yours. You can also throw guru bucks at it and convert it to AWD, I know one day I may consider that swap.

 

Have you heard of the Lugtronic Stand alone engine management system? That is the last big purchase I need to make for my build.

 

As far as the Turbo vs. SC goes; both make great power and are good for there purposes. If you are after the numbers, I recommend Turbo, if you are after drivibility, I recommend a SC. Depend on where you go, who you talk to, and what you read, you can find supporting arguments for both sides. A lot of people go after Turbos to get that Cherp sound or the sound of the dwindling down after hard acceleration but both hurt performance and, more importantly, can damage your turbo.

I can speak on both forms of FI and N/A motors very well and honestly recommend both, based on build goals; just as long as they are being used appropriately.

 

 

You seem to be on the right track and I don't doubt, for a second, you will be able to tackle this with ease. Researching is your best tool, use and abuse that sucker!

[Reca 10]

Have you been able to find any in your area yet? I am going to be checking out my possible purchase this weekend.

[Gaffgorion 10]

I actually do not really plan on getting one for maybe another 6 months, funds will not be freely available till then and I may even have to put it off longer. I'm starting a business so that is the big variable so wish me luck! However I do watch the market and there has only been 2 Corrados go up for sale here on craigslist, looks like per month and in general looks like I'm probably going to need to travel a thousand miles to get a decent one on other sites. There is actually a really nice one here currently up for sale but its completely restore and modded(Very expensive) and I want to buy one cheap and build it up for both the education and experience. Is there a great site or sites to use when I begin searching?

[GlosterOx 0]

One of the things I've always liked about the Corrado is the lazy nature of the VR6 in a fairly (by modern standards) lightweight vehicle. It is happy to sit at 70MPH, our Motorway Speed limit, and still return around 35MPG on 99 Octane fuel but if you want to go fast to overtake etc it flies!

 

With some Cylinder Head work + Cams (I've got Autotech 262's as they idle like stock but give more power where it is useable) you should be around 200BHP or just over which in everyday use is fine.

 

Ian.

[Reca 10]

I know you said you are not in the market right now; I saw This and thought of you. Looks like, at the very least, there are at least people in your area you can talk to about your future corrado.