Corrados the most unreliable VW?

[Welsh g60 0]

Having owned 4 VW's in the past I have found them to be well built reliable cars and refused to be tempted away from the marque. Then I got my dream VW, my beloved G60. I've now owned it for about 4 and a half months in which time I have spent more on it than all my previous cars put together. Amongst other things the list of problems so far includes:

 

*Front wheel fell off (bit scary that one)

*Bumper nuts sheared off - had to destroy the slam panel to remove the bumper

*Big end bearings started to go

*Melted a hole in a piston, spraying oil everywhere and engine caught fire

*Cat cracked (nice straight pipe instead now)

 

There are at least a dozen other small problems that I've had to fix, the latest being a dodgy ignition switch, it seems to be off the road more than on it, and I swear that I dont think theres been 1 day that I've driven the car that I havnt had to lift up the bonnet at least once.

I realise theres a price to pay for owning such a cool car but there seems to be a huge difference between the reliability of corrado's (G60's at least) and all other VW's, does anyone know the reason for this or have I just got a dog of a car?

[randal 0]

Maybe we should rename this thread to the "Corrado - To Do list"

 

Clutch Slave Cyl

Front engine mount

Change brake fluid

Replace wing and passenger door + respray

Sort out annoying sqeak from glove box and rear nearside door card

Replace rad (top mount corroded through)

Replace oil (warmer) cooler inlet hose

Replace rear bushes

 

That'll do for starters - that doesn't include the other engine/exhaust work planned!

 

Still, all that considered I love my Corrado - wouldn't trade it for the world - well maybe a Storm. :D

[Nick_Micouris 0]

bloody hell! How did the wheel fall off?? Was that at speed?? :shock:

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Two Corrado bashing threads on the same day, wow things must be bad!

 

Poor cars :cry:

 

I know they're a pain but you'd miss it if was gone...... unless you step into something a lot more exotic!

[Welsh g60 0]

To be fair that wasnt really VW's fault. I bought the car with TSW's on it not realising they were held on with bolts for steel wheels so the taper was all wrong, bolts only gripped in a tiny spot, eventually sheared through. Luckly wheel started making almighty vibrations first so I slowed right down just trying to limp to nearest garage, still scary, must be terrifying at speed.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

bloody hell! How did the wheel fall off?? Was that at speed?? :shock:

 

That's happened to a few people on here.

 

I think the VW quoted torque figure for the wheel bolts is too low. I always jump on the wheel brace and not had a problem. The VR6 spark plug torque figure is too low aswell as they've been know to eject themselves from the head!!

 

I don't think a lot of the car's faults are down to poor design, but rather old age and neglect.

 

K

[Welsh g60 0]

Two Corrado bashing threads on the same day, wow things must be bad!

 

Poor cars :cry:

 

I know they're a pain but you'd miss it if was gone...... unless you step into something a lot more exotic!

 

Dont get me wrong, I love my car, it just seems to be so unreliable to all other VW's that I've owned

[Welsh g60 0]

 

I don't think a lot of the car's faults are down to poor design, but rather old age and neglect.

 

K

 

You could well be right, I'd like to drive a well maintained G60 to see the difference and see what I'm missing, but for now this is all I can afford although it really was false economy to buy a cheap G60, the money I've had to throw at it could and should have been spent on getting a better example to start with.

 

Oh well, we live and learn

[Linus Van Pelt 0]

Things to consider...

 

When new, the Corrado was a £20K car. The youngest examples will now be at least 9 years old. A large proportion of them will have started life as company cars and motorway cruisers (since VW sold them at such a high price), which whilst good for the engine, will be hell on the mechanicals ('0,000's miles of salt and grit at 80++ is going to corrode most things :lol:). As can be seen on this forum, a high percentage have had some sort of fettling/tuning and there's always the risk that when you mess with the original balance, stuff is going to stop playing nicely (my CAT died within weeks of fitting the S/S Milltek :lol: )

 

Anyone want to hazard a guess at how many '000's of components make up a single car? Realistically, all components are engineered with a lifetime, and most components either fail almost immediately or after a certain length of time. Could just be that major component failure is around now.

 

Whilst the C was made by raiding the Golf/Passat parts bin, there's still quite a lot of bespoke kit on the C, hence the extortionate prices to fix them.

 

Adding all this together, and you're chances of getting a "C in need of attention" vs. a "C with next to no maintenance required" is more acute than it might otherwise be.

 

Me? Well I ended up spending a lot of cash on my C when I first got it. Mostly age related stuff and partly because it went from being used 'properly' to hardly at all for the 12 months before I picked it up. I admit I didn't know as much about them as maybe I should have, so I know I probably paid more for it than I should - note that I would still have got it. Anyway, now the work has been done, the costs to maintain are within normal figures. Yes I still have a couple of niggles, but nothing that can't be sorted (just finding the time.

 

A combination of this forum, good mates and couple of decent garages to take the car too (and not pay stoopid labour rates) and what started out as "oh my god I bought a lemon" turned into, "the effort & expense was worth it for the C I have today".

 

I fell in love with it when I took it for a test drive, and no matter how hard I try, I can't see any other car (new or otherwise) that I'd rather have.

 

Viva La Corrado! :lol:

 

DtM.

[Henny 0]

duncanthemad, I'm with you on this one... 8)

 

My C turned out to have been clocked (by over 120K miles! :crazyeyes: ) and I've had to replace just about all of the mechanical components in the engine bay and most of the brakes and suspension in the 20 months that I've owned it, and I've spent more on it than all of my other cars put together, but I love it to bits and would do it all again 8)

 

My car still turns heads on the street (even though the bodywork needs attention) and is now somewhat faster than people would guess and it keeps me happy when I'm sat in the drivers seat... 8)

[G-Lader 0]

randal 24, that noise from the glovebox area........have you tried tightning the bolts that hold the dashboard on......located on the engine side of the bulkhead,ones around the ECU if i remember right.......put your hand in there and feel for it.

[randal 0]

G-Lader - I'll take a look at the weekend, I'm half tempted to go around every panel on the interior with black felt and sort everything in one hit though. Cheers for the pointer

 

:D

[Kevin Bacon 5]

G-Lader - I'll take a look at the weekend, I'm half tempted to go around every panel on the interior with black felt and sort everything in one hit though. Cheers for the pointer

 

:D

 

Yeah it helps a lot. Did that to an old E30 325i Tourer, also renowned for squeaks and rattles! After a whole day's felting, the interior was totally free of rattles.

 

John Lewis do the best felt. It's sticky backed (mega strong glue!) and sold off a reel by the metre..... Otherwise any old habberdashery (what a stupid name for a shop!) will sell it.

[randal 0]

Superb, I'm off into Reading next weekend - I'll grab a metre or 3. Need to stop those cursed speaker bins too! Completely forgot about those. A Corrado owner's work is never done!

[Phil K 0]

it seems to be off the road more than on it,

 

People who know me will vouch for the fact that mine has deffo been off the road more than on... it's an abosoute nightmare! But for a 10 year old car with 5 previous owners I should have been prepared for this I suppose!

I still love my C though and wouldn't wish to be behind the wheel of anything else of the same age (super cars excluded)

 

Guess that I'm lucky that my C is only a weekend toy and I have a "reliable" modern car for everyday use :D

[chewys_vr6 0]

I am probably tempting fate here but the only real problem I have had with mine is a water hose burst on the motorway. I do have the little rattles and squeaks but I can live with them for now. If you compare this to my mk2 gti which was a nightmare, it is really quite good. On the golf I had 2 power steering pumps within a year, engine mounts popping out, bonnet catches failing at 80mph and other bits and bobs. I was really quite happy to sell that on :D

[stevemac 0]

duncanthemad, I'm with you on this one... 8)

 

I'll third that one.

 

My G60 is one of the last ones that was built and it's now 12 years old. Of course it's going to be unreliable.

 

The reason why Corrado's hold their value so well is because we all look after them & replace worn out parts when necessary. Only 6 weeks ago I was approached at a petrol station here in Birmingham & offered £4000 cash for my G60, I immediately turned it down. 8)

[chubbybrown 0]

I liked Duncanthemads opinions and when I think about it,All we have had to do to the car that was to replace the Ignition Amplifier (thanks henny) as it had been sitting so long ( 3 years )

everything else so far (excluding its service) have been updates such as wipers,wheels and headlight mods.

 

We had it at a vintage car fair today and made us laugh there were newer R.S.turbos being displayed hehe

 

Maybe we have been lucky so far,

but I reckon paying more for one upfront can make the differance.

 

I think keeping on top of trouble is the best way rather than my works 'let it develop' syndrome

the last let it develop cost them 8K when the Truck needed a new engine and me carrying 25 litres of oil a day to stop it from seizing,I wasnt giving them the pleasure in Blaming me :-P

 

regards

 

 

Roy

[corozin 0]

I have to keep telling myself that when something goes wrong it's 9-year old / 127,000 mile car stuff...

 

John (nursing the pain of a failed fuel pump from yesterday)