Vr6

[devsgolf]

Hey guys. Have a golf GT-TDi 130 but am looking for some weekend fun. Was thinking along the lines of a Corrado VR6. And where better to look than here? Can you guys tell me the pro's and cons of these cars and what to look out for? Are they easily tuned? I was flicking through the inkys during the week and came across a corrado 2.9 Storm. Is this a completely different car or just got to do with extras on the car??

[mikecb1]

I bought a VR6 Corrado 8 years ago, and it is undoubtedly one of the best cars I have ever owned (my list spanning 40 years, starting with Mini Coopers, Lotus Elans and a Scimitar, then more recently Sierrras, two Porsches, the Corrado and most recently a Passat TDi 170 Sport).

The Corrado was beautifully hand-built by Karman, but panels and trim are difficult to get, and expensive. So make sure you get one which doesn't need any repairs, and try to keep it that way. Bodywork was well protected by heavy wax injection, so today rust is less of a problem than on cars of similar age. They did get crashed though........

The car handles very well, and the steering is light and very precise. The gearchange is ok, though sychro is a bit weak on 2nd gear if you rush it.

The engine is a joy. It is very torquey, sounds lovely, and pulls like a train. If you're lazy you can drive in 5th from ridiculously low speeds. Fuel consumption, as always, depends on where you drive and how you drive. I live in the country, and drive fairly sensibly, and I regularly get 32mpg on short runs, and 35 on longer trips. On a 1000 mile continental holiday, mainly cruising autoroutes fulled loaded at 80-90 mph with aircon on, I got 32 mpg overall.

Tuning is possible, but expensive if you want big power increases. My car had a rolling road ECU remap at AMD which cost just £250. This gave a useful mid-range torque increase, and upped the power to 200 bhp. Other mods to my car which were worthwhile (IMHO) were a short-shift gearchange, uprated Vibrasonic front engine mount (to increase engine rigidity and improve gearchange), and uprated headlamp wiring loom (to reduce the voltage drop in the wiring, and increase lamp brightness).

The car was technically quite complicated in its day, with lots of electrically operated features which can go wrong (the sunroof is just one example). Inevitably these can be expensive to fix, so make sure everything works when you look at potential purchases. Any work in the engine compartment is difficult because there is so little space. The exhaust system has a catalytic converter, and 3 boxes. They last very well (mine is still original after 12 years), but if you need a new one be prepared for a £1k bill from VW (though aftermarket stainless steel cat-back systems are much cheaper at around £300)

The Storm was an option built specifically for the UK market. Athough good Storms fetch a premium, they have only minor trim differences from the regular VR6. From memory the main differences are that they have 16 inch Solitude alloy wheels rather than 15 inch Speedlines, a painted rather than a matt black front grille, and a CD player as standard fit. Corrados had a very long options list, and many VR6s had better specs than standard Storms. My own (non-Storm) car has a spec which includes a leather interior with heated front seats, air conditioning, and face-off stereo with 12 disc CD changer.

Hope this is of some help

Mike

[mikecb1]

I bought a VR6 Corrado 8 years ago, and it is undoubtedly one of the best cars I have ever owned (my list spanning 40 years, starting with Mini Coopers, Lotus Elans and a Scimitar, then more recently Sierrras, two Porsches, the Corrado and most recently a Passat TDi 170 Sport).

The Corrado was beautifully hand-built by Karman, but panels and trim are difficult to get, and expensive. So make sure you get one which doesn't need any repairs, and try to keep it that way. Bodywork was well protected by heavy wax injection, so today rust is less of a problem than on cars of similar age. They did get crashed though........

The car handles very well, and the steering is light and very precise. The gearchange is ok, though sychro is a bit weak on 2nd gear if you rush it.

The engine is a joy. It is very torquey, sounds lovely, and pulls like a train. If you're lazy you can drive in 5th from ridiculously low speeds. Fuel consumption, as always, depends on where you drive and how you drive. I live in the country, and drive fairly sensibly, and I regularly get 32mpg on short runs, and 35 on longer trips. On a 1000 mile continental holiday, mainly cruising autoroutes fulled loaded at 80-90 mph with aircon on, I got 32 mpg overall.

Tuning is possible, but expensive if you want big power increases. My car had a rolling road ECU remap at AMD which cost just £250. This gave a useful mid-range torque increase, and upped the power to 200 bhp. Other mods to my car which were worthwhile (IMHO) were a short-shift gearchange, uprated Vibrasonic front engine mount (to increase engine rigidity and improve gearchange), and uprated headlamp wiring loom (to reduce the voltage drop in the wiring, and increase lamp brightness).

The car was technically quite complicated in its day, with lots of electrically operated features which can go wrong (the sunroof is just one example). Inevitably these can be expensive to fix, so make sure everything works when you look at potential purchases. Any work in the engine compartment is difficult because there is so little space. The exhaust system has a catalytic converter, and 3 boxes. They last very well (mine is still original after 12 years), but if you need a new one be prepared for a £1k bill from VW (though aftermarket stainless steel cat-back systems are much cheaper at around £300)

The Storm was an option built specifically for the UK market. Athough good Storms fetch a premium, they have only minor trim differences from the regular VR6. From memory the main differences are that they have 16 inch Solitude alloy wheels rather than 15 inch Speedlines, a painted rather than a matt black front grille, and a CD player as standard fit. Corrados had a very long options list, and many VR6s had better specs than standard Storms. My own (non-Storm) car has a spec which includes a leather interior with heated front seats, air conditioning, and face-off stereo with 12 disc CD changer.

Hope this is of some help

Mike

[erico]

Hey guys. Have a golf GT-TDi 130 but am looking for some weekend fun. Was thinking along the lines of a Corrado VR6. And where better to look than here? Can you guys tell me the pro's and cons of these cars and what to look out for? Are they easily tuned? I was flicking through the inkys during the week and came across a corrado 2.9 Storm. Is this a completely different car or just got to do with extras on the car??

Hi,
Here is the Wikipedia link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Corrado) to info on Corrado models (including the Storm). My own Corrado was a US spec 1992 VR6 SLC. It had less horespower than the Storm edition. Yes...they can be chipped!!

a few pros: Fast (you can light the front tires if ya want to) and luxuriously comfortable...outruns non-tuned (stock) Mustang 5.0 GTs and many(most) new cars on the street (not bad for an old ride:) )

Con:
Electric moonroof may leak so check to make sure that it works well and the seal is good and the sliding clips and assemblies is not broken/cracked.

Inside heat exchanger leaking...make sure that it was repaired when the recall was put out by VW. VW replaced mine for free.

Make sure that the fog lights work and the lenses are not cracked.

Here is a link to the Corrado Club of America (http://www.corrado-club.com/). There is a wealth of info in the website's FAQs on mods,upgrades and problem areas. The site was invaluable to me while I owned mine.

BTW...did you see the Top Gear episode where it was called a "buy one while you still can" Classic?

A link to more VW sites (http://www.vwsites.com/corrado.php).

Enjoy,
Eric

[daimatt]

www.the-corrado.net is as good as it gets for a corrado specific site, lots of international members but based in the UK, good people and lots and lots of info to look through.

[Robin K-S]

www.the-corrado.net (http://www.the-corrado.net) is as good as it gets for a corrado specific site, lots of international members but based in the UK, good people and lots and lots of info to look through.

Totally agree, check out the knowledge base, what a wealth of info

[daimatt]

watch it Robin, all this agreeing on a forum and people will talk ;)

[erico]

www.the-corrado.net (http://www.the-corrado.net) is as good as it gets for a corrado specific site, lots of international members but based in the UK, good people and lots and lots of info to look through.
Nice Forum. Is the first time I have visited or even seen this one. Well done surfing. :)