A year with a VR6 !

[tonytiger 0]

Well, it's a year ago today that I bought my VR6 - and I was very, very happy then. :D Just thought I'd review the past 12 months - may be of use to others looking to buy, or for comparison against other figures, etc.

 

Car had 107k miles on when bought, and now has 129k miles on it.

 

Expenses for the past year:

Petrol - £2920 for just over 3,500 litres - at an average of 28.1 mpg
Parts, etc - £2990 - (this includes everything else e.g. service costs, vagcom, new stereo, etc except insurance and tax. Deducting non-essential purchases (I didn't have to spend £450 on ice) drops this figure to £1885.

I got the car for what I considered to be a good price, and knew that somethings needed fixing, though there were a couple more things than I thought. It also needed a service straight away. Here's what was wrong:

 

- ABS: knew about this, btu didn't fix this for 4 months as I waited until I bought vagcom rather than paying a garage to run the diagnostics. It turned out to be a front sensor, and straightforward to fix (though a bit of a bugger to get the old sensor out). Thinking about this now - I was very lucky that it wasn't something a lot more expensive. Cost £41.

- Rear brake discs / pads - knew about these too and these were replaced at the first service. Cost £82 + labour

- Rear ABS ring - think this suffered some damage when the rear discs were replaced as they were siezed on - replaced immediately - £12

- Rear engine mount - didn't know this was broken, but spotted and fixed

during the first service - £48 + labour

- N/S Headlight: knew that some clips were broken on the back of the unit, but turned out all were broken. Ended up buying a whole new unit for £106 (but not for 5 months).

- Foglight - Didn't realise this was an old style unit sealed into place. Replaced within 2 weeks for £75

- Indicator - knew this was cracked. Replaced within 2 weeks - £27

- A rear speaker was dead - didn't know about this, then accidentally ripped the plug and wires out of the working one to create a pair of dead speakers :mad: replaced with JBLs for £40

 

Other things that went wrong during the past 12 months:

- Nov '03 - Oil cooler seals needed replacing - £15

- Mar '04 - Front wishbones needed replacing and ball joint - £165 inc labour

- Mar '04 - Dashpot (throttle damper) replaced in a pointless effort to stop the stalling problems - £33

- May '04 - Rear suspension rebuilt (new vag shockers, stops, etc) - £140 inc labour

- Jul '04 - Purchased 2nd hand ISV in attempt to solve stalling problem (but with no effect) - £22

- Aug '04 - Lambda sensor replaced but possibly wasn't broken (see this thread) - £72 including fitting

- Aug '04 - Water leak through driver door (membrane) - £6 for new membrane + whole weekend to dry carpets, etc.

- Sep' 04 - New Cam Sensor needed - £33

- Sep' 04 - 2nd hand MAF (another attempt to stop stalling) - £37. In conjuction with removal of the ISV noise damper this HAS stopped the stalling.

- Sep' '04 - Driver side door handle broke - £72

 

There have also been numerous nuts, bolts, screws and assorted trim bits replaced - either due to broken part or occasionally just due to worn appearance.

 

I thought I'd researched reasonably well before buying a vr by reading buying guides in mags, CCGB info and this forum, but on reflection it wasn't thorough enough. It's only now that I feel I'm nearly on top of the problems - the most annoying problem having been the stalling which became almost constant. Almost all the parts I've bought have been genuine VAG, but have been discounted (I reckon it would have cost at least an extra £150 without discount).

 

Knowing what I know now, I'd have to say I'd think twice about buying a vr. When it's good it's good :twisted: but when it's not - it's damned annoying and usually expensive. And the quality doesn't seem to be a patch on the 2 sciroccos I had previously - they were much better built and gave relatively few problems - especially considering that during the 7 years of ownership they covered over 160k miles between them.

 

I think another problem, for me at least, is in the power delivery - the car is undeniably fast, but just doesn't feel as fast as it is.

 

It's certainly been an interesting year - I've learned a lot and couldn't have managed without this forum - but I hope other than the things that I'm already aware need doing, the next 12 months (if I keep it that long) are somewhat quieter (and easier on the wallet).

[dinkus 10]

Well I would say that sounds about right for the course. Good on you for sticking to it for 12 months though. I'd think yourself lucky, in my first 3 and a bit months of ownership my total is already over the £3k mark. In fairness if you take of the 'accidental' *cough* costs, then it's just under the £3k mark, but still it's rather a lot.

 

Either way, I love the Corrado and I'm extremely happy with her. As you say, when it's good, it's good :D

 

Keep up the good work for another year :thumbleft:

[DaveStorm 0]

Knowing what I know now, I'd have to say I'd think twice about buying a vr. When it's good it's good but when it's not - it's damned annoying and usually expensive. And the quality doesn't seem to be a patch on the 2 sciroccos I had previously - they were much better built and gave relatively few problems - especially considering that during the 7 years of ownership they covered over 160k miles between them.

 

Hmmm well I'd sort of agree there too, I have owned mine for almost one year and * touch wood *, it has been reliability personified with absolutely no problems, it passed it's MOT in July no bother, the full service charge was minimal and on the rolling road at Stealth this summer, it was bang on 191bhp so I'm well chuffed!

I'd agree about the build quality though, I've had both an H reg Golf 16v and a J reg Golf 8v and both did seem much better built, having that legendary late 80's Wolfsburg build quality about them.

However, comparing like for like, (ie Karmann built) I had an '88 Scirocco GTX and the dash switches, heater controls, door handles etc seemed much more solid than on the Corrado. The fuel economy was obviously better in the fuel injected 1.8 Scirocco engine, sometimes I'd get 44mpg on a good run however, I have had 38mpg on a careful run in the C although on average it's 28mpg which is pretty good for car of almost 3 litres! The delivery of the power in VR6 guise certainly makes up for it though, I mean 0-60 in 6.4 secs and a top speed of 145+mph plus THAT in gear noise?! What more do you need?! :D

[magicrat1 0]

This seems to be a famiar story, in some cases. With my VR I have suffered most of

the common rado problems, radiator, ABS sensor, clutch, door handle, headlight switch, Main Stealers

to the tune of 3000 in two years.

 

However others seem to report that their rado is/was as solid as a rock.

 

Mine stood in a garage for a year, before I bought it. Whoops.

[munkay 0]

I always find it best NOT to keep track of how much money is spent on cars :)

 

It's so much easier that way :lol:

[craigowl 0]

Useful and detailed report tonytiger. Will be of interest to several others, too, I expect. Without a doubt you are telling us things we are in denial of. Will have to expect some of these problems and expenses - or more! - in the next couple of years, assuming I keep the C that long. Not exactly the best car for a semi-retired person on a civil service pension! But hey, who needs sensible thinking, when it comes to a car like this!

 

(The pig let me down yesterday. I had been looking forward to going on a 130 mile round trip to Dundee in the C to pick up my mother. Found battery was flat. Should have known it. Hadnt been used for 3 weeks. I KNOW it only keeps its charge for a fortnight max at this time of year but blind faith made me think it would burst into life OK. Had to go in Pug 205 diesel - no probs - very trusty workhorse.)

Will removing boot lightbulb really help as some of you guys say?

[dinkus 10]

(The pig let me down yesterday. I had been looking forward to going on a 130 mile round trip to Dundee in the C to pick up my mother. Found battery was flat. Should have known it. Hadnt been used for 3 weeks. I KNOW it only keeps its charge for a fortnight max at this time of year but blind faith made me think it would burst into life OK. Had to go in Pug 205 diesel - no probs - very trusty workhorse.)

Will removing boot lightbulb really help as some of you guys say?

 

My boot light is the most pathetic piece of junk I've ever seen. It just about manages to glow orange :roll: You might as well disconnect it, it's not like it does anything useful and it's easy enough to plug back in if you don't want your retina's burning by it's blinding light :lol:

[GIXXERUK 0]

the corrado is not just for christmas its a 24-7 car

 

good write up , honest and to the point , the rado becomes more of a hobby than just transport and yes looking back on the mk1, 2x mk2 and the sorry i bought it mk3 golfs and obviously the mk5 the build quality is a bit ropey in areas on the rado but concessions have to be made because it is rather mature now

but its a good warning to prospective buyers - it isnt always plain sailing :shock:

[Scott 0]

Yeah some good points there.... my VR6 was excellent for the nearly 3yrs that I had her - cost me next to nothing in that time but then I got to a point where I had a list of things that needed doing that were going to cost me the wrong part of two grand.... (cylinder head, brakes, wheel refurb) and thats the main reason I decided to cut my losses and sell up... fair enough the new owner thinks its perfect and has no complaints but they are the items I would HAVE had to do if I was going to keep her... so I decided it was a good time to sell and try something new.

 

One day though I will defo buy another - just for the memories 8)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I always find it best NOT to keep track of how much money is spent on cars :)

 

Absolutely!

[vr6storm 0]

I always find it best NOT to keep track of how much money is spent on cars :)

 

Absolutely!

 

 

total agreement there :wink: .................makes it less stressful on the missus :twisted: .....what you don't know she dont know :wink: :twisted:

[tonytiger 0]

I should say, I never expected owning a vr6 to be cheap - far from it in fact, particularly as I do above average mileage - but it's the seemingly never ending problems that's really annoyed me. I don't believe I bought a particularly bad/rough car especiially as most, if not every thing, that's gone wrong, seems to be fairly common - and the list of problems above doesn't cover everything.

 

There's also been problems with the central locking (the wiring in the drivers door had corroded so I had to cut a section of wire out and replace it - fortunately another thread on this forum allowed me to pinpoint the problem almost immediately), having to fit lupo wipers so I could see in the rain (having already tried new bosch wiper blades twice but with no effect), the heater/blower direction control only works on 3 settings (has done since I bought the car and I really can't face fixing this at the moment), etc.

 

I accept that ongoing maintenance is required to some degree on a car that's 11 years old with 129k on the clock, but this just seems excessive. Considering the original price of the car when new, especially when compared to other dubs, I'm just amazed that it's needed so much attention.

 

I'm hoping that I've just been unfortunate in that everythings gone wrong in quick succession - and I'm optimistic that it'll be a lot better from now on - I'm just feeling a little depressed that I've had to spend so much so quickly and not had the benefit over the summer, especially now that the wet weather really seems to have set in.

 

As for the performance, on reflection I suspect it's probably just a case that I've gotten used to it. I still like the car, nothing comes close for style for the money (or a lot more money for that matter) so I'll just see what the next few months are like and see how I feel then. I really do hope that I don't want to sell it.