dr_mat

Erm.. the engine would have been the R32...

I think you need a smaller amp... Or a bigger alternator... ;)

Putting faith in VW was your first mistake.... If everything in life was as reliable as a VW nothing would ever work... :( Sounds like your oil cooler is gone, or the seals on it's fitting, at least. Oh hang on, yours is a 2.0 16V? Hmm, dunno if it's got an oil cooler in the same way as the VR..

Personally I think there should be automatic, annual basic testing for driving, if one of the following things happens: - you reach around 70 years old - you have a serious driving conviction (at any age) - tests for the next 5 years say for DUI - your doctor orders it (perhaps due to eyesight, diabetes, epilepsy, heart troubles etc etc) There should be no automatic license cut-off age, unless ill health causes it. IMHO. Compare to the pilot's license: you have to have a re-test every year anyway, regardless of your health, and you even have to show that you have flown the required number of hours each year to retain the license. Driving should definitely become more of a priviledge than a right... But for those that have earned that priviledge there should be more freedom (less stupid speed limits!).

Haven't check my VR's current drains, but I can tell you that 14 days is the MAX I can leave it without coming back to a flat battery. And then it'll be sluggish turning the engine over.. And mine's got a brand new battery (well 12 months old).. I was chatting to the RAC man when he jump started it last time and he reckons that most cars these days have trouble with anything over two weeks, so if you have extra current drain (such as your amps) on top of all the usual electronics then you can expect to see even less, IMHO. Don't forget that absolutely correct as the maths above is, car batteries are designed to provide 65 Ah on a high-current basis, the VR requires 150+ amps to start, and it's got to be able to do that on a regular basis. Low current trickle from a car battery will usually drain it sooner than you would otherwise expect... That said, if you've not replaced the battery in the last couple of years it could well be down a cell or two. When I got mine, 4 of 6 cells were completely dry..!! It would only hold 4V under load.. Amazing the car ever started at all, really! Make sure the battery pushes 12.5V constant when the engine is off.

You can't get whiplash from a side impact... And anyway, yours wasn't an "impact" as I understand it, as much as a crush.. Not worth it, mate. By all means get them to stump for the full costs of the repairs from a reputable repair place (get two quotes and ring them up when you have them). But leave it at that. One thing - make it clear to whoever you ask for a quote that this is NOT an insurance job, and chances are they won't inflate the quote to ridiculous levels.. (I had £200 worth of painting done to my C. One guy quoted me £600 and implored me to put it on the insurance. Needless to say I told him where to go.)

Rear VW shocks on late VRs were red, mine are too. Don't worry about it...

You mean you didn't RTFM?! ;)

With the clunking noise it sounds most likely that the wheel sensor is fouling on it's sensor ring. Does the clunk equate to a once-per-revolution type sound?

Personally I don't see why any VR should die completely. It depends how you define "dead". If you mean "uses a bit of oil and rattles a bit" then sure, but so does everything else. If you accept that it's going to get "past it's best" but still perfectly useable then you'll be happy enough. Having said that, I don't know what I'd do if I found it needed major (bottom end) engine work, probably look for a low-ish miles replacement engine I suspect... (And sell on all the anciliaries I can carry to fund it!)

Pearl paint will probably make the dent pull and respray around £250-300 all in. I'd suggest you give Tony Payne in Iver a call (use Yellowpages.com to find the number), but he might be very busy - depends how quickly you want the job done.

I can just about believe this. If it's on a highly grippy sprint track with very little weight in the car, yeah I can believe that. I've seen official figures for the VR6 of between 6.2 and 6.9 seconds 0-60, and they will have been aiming for "normal conditions", so no ultra-grippy racetracks for them!

That torque curve is certainly NOT from a "standard" 2.0 16V!! First off, it's torque is peaking at only 3.5k rpm and tailing off - standard 2.0 16V is definitely the other way about. Second - redline is too low for a "normal" 16V, iirc they go to 7.5k rpm. Looks more like a turbo 8v engine, or even a G60. Suppose it could be a 2.0 8V with G60 conversion, but there's no way that's a "standard" 2.0 16V... Tip: listen for a little whistling noise when it starts "really going for it"...

(The police are rarely interested in RTAs unless someone actually got hurt. They usually tell you to sort it out amongst yourselves and get on your way ASAP.)

Yeah, that's a bummer mate - no body shop can repair damage like that to the rear quarter. Your best bet is either to take the money and get another car, or buy this one back from (his) insurance and get the bits 2nd hand (or break it yourself and make some money off the good parts.) At least it shouldn't effect your no-claims as the other guy admitted liability (which he's not supposed to do!!! NEVER do that!). :(

I'd have said you may aswell do the lifters now, as they're relatively cheap compared to the time and effort required to remove and refit the head... Not that I've done this, just that seems to be the general consensus of people on the forum...

But surely the market price is by definition the amount of cash you will need in order to buy another car of the same type, spec, and condition as yours? If that's the case, then you won't lose a load of wedge even if someone else prangs your car. Sure, some insurance companies would try to offer you less, but that's all it is - an offer, you have every right to argue that it's worth more and demand they fulfil their contract. Having said all this, I did look into getting an AVP at last renewal, but was put off because my car is not truly mint. The agreed value is seriously effected by the condition... And anyway, frankly if I ever have to make a claim, it'll be the end of my Corrado ownership time, simple. Until I can get protected no-claims, that is...

How do you define "losing a lot of money"? Storms are not that rare that they *need* an agreed value policy, and they're certainly not worth *that* much more than a standard VR6 of the same age, spec and mileage. The only real value of an AVP is if your car has some significant modifications or is unique in some way. A lot of people think they can use an AVP to protect them from themselves - if you pay too much for your C, you just have to accept you're unlikely to see that money back when you sell it, no matter what your personal reasons for doing so were. I speak from experience here.... :(

Saw that a while back.. My guess is VW will stamp on it if it starts to become too popular.. So shush!! :)

They were released in 1992. That was VERY quick in 1992, for a standard production car. The small-engine-with-turbo brigade hadn't assaulted us with "the whole world has a 1.8T" at the time. I mean, it's good for getting spares I imagine, cos pretty soon every car on the road will be running a 1.8T, but really, some of us would like a little variation! :)

Wonder if these problems are anything to do with the recent solar storms? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3238961.stm This can easily have a bad effect on electronics. I work for a large computer firm, and some of our large computers have reported excessive hardware errors in the last couple of weeks too...

Mine *IS* a VR6 rear bumper. I'll send you a private message. I need to get some digi pics of the thing anyway. I'm in reading too, and I've no idea how much it would cost to ship to Cambs, but could meet you halfway. I'll send you a PM about it.

All the post-facelift Rado's share the same bumper. I have a spare black VR6 bumper by the way - needs a respray, and I don't really know what it's worth, but it's got to go, so get in touch if you're interested.

Problem. Old cars had instantaneous, mechanically operated, cable driven speedos. New cars have electronically controlled speedos. The electronic ones usually add a delay. Your reflexes will be so geared to hitting the button when you reach 60 that you'll usually hit it before you do. Also your speedo will almost always over-read, hence you're only really doing 55 or so when the needle sweeps past 60. Since it's illegal for a car to under-read, the manufacturers usually err on the other side.. Many reasons why it's impossible to get a representative performance figure without specialist equipment... My 2p. (I used to clock 0-60 in about 9-10 seconds in my ancient 1.6 cavalier. Book time is 12.6.) :)

The 18 gallons thing is for US cars. US gallon is smaller than the european gallon, by a surprising amount. You can buy some *more* UK-spec gauges off ebay usually, they come from Lockwood originally. They too have a problem - they appear to be designed based on the 16V cars - speedo to 160, but fuel to 12 and revs to 8k. No good for a VR6! (Or a G60.) 'Course they don't glow either, but...