Friday 7th September 2007

SOTW: VW Corrado

The VW Corrado, amazing handling from a front-wheel drive

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The Volkswagen Corrado comes recommended to me by a man whose opinion I trust. John Stevens was the head of the Audi Quattro performance driving school, and chief instructor at Brands Hatch. He recommended the Corrado as a fine handling car and expressed regret that VW discontinued it.

The Corrado was a three-door hatchback coupe, built between 1988 and 1995. A successor to the Scirocco, it featured a rear spoiler that rose automatically at around 50mph. All Corrado models were front-wheel drive, and this version comes with a 1.8 litre naturally-aspirated 16 valve engine. A little down on power: it only produces 136bhp, it compensates with engaging handling. ‘Car’ magazine listed it as one of the ’25 cars to drive before you die’. A very balanced car, the Corrado has plenty of grip and traction and responsive steering, giving you plenty of driving enjoyment for your money.

Another benefit of this car is the interior. For a coupe, it’s quite spacious, with a deep boot and ample room for your rear passengers. The adjustable steering column means you can find a good driving position as well.

This model is far from the quickest of the Corrados out there, and perhaps won’t live up to its name, which means ‘running’ in Spanish.The later models with superchargers and bigger engines deliver more performance, but this one should still be good for about 125mph. When new, this model could get from 0-60 in a little under 9 seconds, and could do 30mpg. This one has had some modifications, namely 280mm Audi TT brakes and TT wheels. Unfortunately, it comes without tax or MOT, and with 185,000 on the clock. Still, for £1000 you could do a lot worse.

 

The advert reads: 'VW Corrado 1.8 16v. Nice car but need quick sale to pay the bills no stupid offers as this car is nice! 280mm audi TT brakes, Audi TT Wheels and a few other mods.

Bad points- No Tax No Mot but only needs about £100 to pass MOT.'

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/230803.htm

[smele]

If it takes £500 to get an MOT it will make it expensive. But that's the gamble you take with a shed.

Good choice for shed of the week.

[Accelebrate]

Not usually a fan of 'mods' but the TT wheels really suit it.

[bob1179]

Would be an interesting gamble.

Any takers?

[neil_bolton]

Accelebrate said:

Not usually a fan of 'mods' but the TT wheels really suit it.

Yep, I had those wheels on my Mk3 Golf - they certainly suit the chunkier VAG cars.

Not so sure about the '280mm' discs - I was assuming that it had 280mm anyway - my Golf did - the later Golfs were 288mm discs.

[neil_bolton]

neil_bolton said:

Accelebrate said:

Not usually a fan of 'mods' but the TT wheels really suit it.

Yep, I had those wheels on my Mk3 Golf - they certainly suit the chunkier VAG cars.

Not so sure about the '280mm' discs - I was assuming that it had 280mm anyway - my Golf did - the later Golfs were 288mm discs.

Also, its bloody leggy for something at £1000 and no MOT or Tax.

I'd be wondering what it needed - most likely new brake lines, bushes and shocks all round etc...

[Strawman]

neil_bolton said:

Also, its bloody leggy for something at £1000 and no MOT or Tax.

I'd be wondering what it needed - most likely new brake lines, bushes and shocks all round etc...

If that is true, then the sellers estimate of "£100 to through the MOT" is a tad optomistic, even fitting the parts yourself

[oagent]

I would be worried about the milage too.. at 185,000 its gotta be nearing new engine and gearbox time I would have thought. Especially if its been ragged like it should be.

[Accelebrate]

If the seller is being honest about the amount of work required for the MOT then it'd be a great car to buy and run till it died, then split any valuable parts and scrap the rest...

[collateral]

Very hard to find one of these without 100k+ on it

Wicked cars though, my uncle had a new black vr6 back in the day

Remember sitting in those deep back seats hitting roundabouts at silly velocities

[pdV6]

neil_bolton said:

Accelebrate said:

Not usually a fan of 'mods' but the TT wheels really suit it.

Yep, I had those wheels on my Mk3 Golf - they certainly suit the chunkier VAG cars.

Personally, I think they were a step slightly too far on your Golf, Neil. The style certainly suited the car but I think they were perhaps an inch too big to look truly comfortable.

The Corrado, being that little bit bigger, gets away with it well IMO.

[Ravell]

Really like the Corrado, but wouldn't have this for several reasons. Astronomical mileage first of all, too dear for no MOT car, white doesn't suit it and the 1.8 is increadably sluggish.

Still, for a shed...

[Kieran'07]

I've never been interested in the 'Rado's, they always seem so overpriced for what they are. This one is probably cheap for one of these but it's also probably knackered and needs dosh thrown at it. I think there's better motors out there for £1k, show me the barge's!

[neil_bolton]

pdV6 said:

neil_bolton said:

Accelebrate said:

Not usually a fan of 'mods' but the TT wheels really suit it.

Yep, I had those wheels on my Mk3 Golf - they certainly suit the chunkier VAG cars.

Personally, I think they were a step slightly too far on your Golf, Neil. The style certainly suited the car but I think they were perhaps an inch too big to look truly comfortable.

The Corrado, being that little bit bigger, gets away with it well IMO.

Ahem.

Have you recently stood by a Corrado recently? Not exactly the biggest of cars

Golf

Width 1710 mm
Height 1405 mm
Length 4020 mm
Weight 1115 kg

Corrado

Length 4050mm
Width 1690mm
Height 1320mm
Weight 1240 kg

But I take your points - I always troubled over it when I had it, but in all I liked the look

Besides, the poor things dead. Again. For the third time

Edited by neil_bolton on Friday 7th September 13:38

[kambites]

The suspension bushes on mine were dead after 130k miles, as was the steering rack but the engine was still going strong (despite me driving it five miles with no coolant once). Synchros were a bit iffy on first and second but otherwise the gearbox was fine. Suspension parts are largely the same as the Golf and/or Passat of the same era so pretty cheap, although things like brakes are quite expensive when they go.

Does look rather over priced though. I sold mine (needing a new steering rack and a suspension rebuild but quite capable of passing an MoT) for 300 quid to someone who wanted to rebody a G60.

[kambites]

neil_bolton said:

Have you recently stood by a Corrado recently? Not exactly the biggest of cars

Golf

Width 1710 mm
Height 1405 mm
Length 4020 mm
Weight 1115 kg

Corrado

Length 4050mm
Width 1690mm
Height 1320mm
Weight 1240 kg

Those figures can't be for a contemporary golf. The Corrado is huge in comparison to a mk2 Golf.

[Ravell]

kambites said:

The suspension bushes on mine were dead after 130k miles, as was the steering rack...

What is it with VW's from those years that they seem to consume steering racks? Mine's almost gone and needs replaced as well.

[pdV6]

kambites said:

Those figures can't be for a contemporary golf. The Corrado is huge in comparison to a mk2 Golf.

That's what I thought - but am prepared to chalk it up to optical illusion...

[corozin]

Well it's not really. The Corrado is based on a MkII floorpan, so it just seems a lot longer.

But Neil is right, if you park a Corrado next to a Mk5 Golf it looks about as big as a Lupo.

[neil_bolton]

pdV6 said:

kambites said:

Those figures can't be for a contemporary golf. The Corrado is huge in comparison to a mk2 Golf.

That's what I thought - but am prepared to chalk it up to optical illusion...

That's lovely and all...

Don't forget I had a Mk 3 and thats what I based the measurements on.

Granted I did have a Mk2 at some point, but that had 15" Corrado wheels on

Edited by neil_bolton on Friday 7th September 14:09

[pdV6]

neil_bolton said:

Don't forget I had a Mk 3 and thats what I based the measurements on.