New to the Forums, and Non-American cars

[Niclas Westlake 10]

First of all, HELLO all the sexy peeps who drive Corrado. Just signed upp on this forum, and I plan to stay for a long while!

(BTW I love typing and talking, it's part of my job)

 

Now to the fun bit =)

 

I'm planning to buy a Corrado VR 2,9.

I never actually seen/heard the car in real life. (Only exists about 150 of them in Sweden)

But ever since a night at my friends place we started talking about cars (of course) and he told me he had an Corrado when younger and how much he misses it. I being six to eight years younger (Being born 1990) then him had no clue of what he was talking about. An European car sounding like an American engine? STOCK? This was all new to me. So we ended up on YouTube Looking and listening on some Corrado's, I instantly fell in love with the car. The stylish boxy lines of an older car (I hate new cars with their 'smooth edges and lines' ugh) with sound reminding me of an older American car. So now I'm working my ass off and saving up for a Vw Corrado. Sure I don't own one yet. But being who I am I'd like to do some research and get to know the car (Also kinda short on cash so can't' buy it right now =( Donations are welcome! :bonk:)

 

I've only had older American cars my whole life.Sure I might be young, but dam do I buy cars. American cars are simple when it comes to repairing, replacing parts and finding faults. Every time I open up the hood of and European car I get overloaded with the amounts of Electronics and plastic covers everywhere. It's like a brand new world for me, and because of this I've always stayed with American cars. Why go out of my comfort zone when I know the cars already and can fix almost everything myself. Sure I might not be and trained Mechanic. But being young I do learn very quick and have evolved my own car skills through mistakes and fixing stuff myself. I've always taken good care of my cars. Washing and polishing them at least once a month (I know it's allot, but I love doing it) Tiding the engine bay, polishing every part , I want my cars to feel good and be clean. It makes me an proud car owner. That being said that doesn't' mean I don't have fun with them, getting them dirty and all. After all whats there to clean If you can't make it dirty once in a while.

 

Keep on reading for millions of questions!

 

How is the Corrado to own and work with? Anything special I should keep and eye out for when buying one? Are Original parts hard to come by? (Not just in Sweden, but importing parts from around the world, seeing only about 100 000 was made?)Do they break often? Lay ALL the handy information you have on me! I want to know as much as possible. Any typical Electric problems? etc etc

 

Sorry for the first long post. But I deeply thank you for reading this far

[Jim 2]

Welcome to the forum :)

 

This may be of interest to you: http://wiki.the-corrado.net/the_corrado_buying_guide_checklist.html

 

In terms of reliability, keeping these cars on the road, working on them, etc. Well you have to understand that even the newest Corrado is now approaching 20 years old. That said I've always found Corrado's to be exceptionally reliable and it's a rare day that it won't get you home or leave you stuck at the side of the road. But the flip side of that is that they benefit from preventative maintenance - regular servicing, fixing problems the second they appear.. if / when you buy one, get to know how it runs, how it behaves and the minute anything deviates from the norm (temperatures, noises, etc) investigate them immediately.

 

Parts are, generally not too bad as the Corrado shares a lot with Golfs, Passat's of the same era however stuff specific to the Corrado is becoming difficult to find with parts being marked obsolete fairly steadily. At this point it's not impossible to keep them on the road, using parts from other models and breakers, or getting parts remanufactured but if it carries on as it is, it could get difficult in the next 5+ years.

 

Working on them is pretty good. Earlier models (G60, 1.8 16v) have basic electronics and indeed the 1.8 has mechanical fuel injection. The VR6 is also pretty good to work on from what I understand though does have more advanced engine management than the earlier cars meaning VAGCOM diagnostics are essential when fault finding.

 

Good luck. I'm sure we've had other members from Sweden on here.

[Niclas Westlake 10]

Cheers! Very nice checklist you sent there! I am planning on getting an VR6! But the way I see it the current Corrado owners are taking well care of their cars already!(Hopefully) I just hope that when the time comes to finally get one. They won't' all be ruined!

[Jim 2]

I would strongly advise if you have any questions and you're approaching this as someone new to Corrado's, there's a good chance your question has already been discussed on the forum already as obviously the Corrado is not a new car ;)

 

The forum search function is pretty useless but if you go to Google and search:

 

"site:the-corrado.net "

 

so for example:

 

"site:the-corrado.net VR6 timing chains"

 

You'll get a much better success rate in finding information. Of course post up any questions you may have too as folks are happy to help, but always search first :)

 

Cheers.

[Niclas Westlake 10]

I would strongly advise if you have any questions and you're approaching this as someone new to Corrado's, there's a good chance your question has already been discussed on the forum already as obviously the Corrado is not a new car ;)

 

The forum search function is pretty useless but if you go to Google and search:

 

"site:the-corrado.net "

 

so for example:

 

"site:the-corrado.net VR6 timing chains"

 

You'll get a much better success rate in finding information. Of course post up any questions you may have too as folks are happy to help, but always search first :)

 

Cheers.

 

Of course! The golden rule of forums! Search first! But I'd' thought I'd throw a couple of questions in this thread seeing it's my first thread =D