VW Corrado purchase advice
19.04.2016
This text is dedicated to my old speci Gerhard. He was a VW fan dyed in the wool in the 70s, 80s and 90s. He drove the first Golf GTI in our clique, later rose to V W Scirocco around. First the one, then the two.
Standard? Nope. As soon as they came in, the boxes came to Nothelle in Mülheim. 1.9 instead of 1.6 liters displacement, i.e. up to 170 hp in the Scirocco I. And in the two-person Scirocco, which somehow came across as girlish compared to the angular one-wedge, it was 2.1 liters and around 190 hp. The ingredients: a compression that was increased to the last minute, made head, manifold and a camshaft that made idling so jittery that at the traffic light you thought the rumbling engine would jump out of the car at any moment.
So it was almost foreseeable that Gerhard would hit the Corrado change. Because the G60, with which the series started back then, already had 160 hp as standard. The tuners were already pawing their hooves, and Gerhard was pawing along like many others.
The VW Corrado was not a bargain
VW originally intended the Corrado as a replacement for the two-seater Scirocco, but somehow the Wolfsburg-based company had run out of costs in the development. When the G60 came onto the market, it cost 42,500 Marks around 10,000 Marks more than the most expensive Scirocco, the GTX 16V.
In return, there were 160 catalyst-cleaned instead of 139 non-catalytic converters and that significantly more masculine car. The Scirocco was allowed to live on until 1992 and serve the less generous coupé fans. Then he passed the baton of the affordable VW coupé on to the 16V version of the VW Corrado with 136 and the good two-liter two-valve engine with 115 hp, which appeared in 1993.
The two-valve engine in particular was, so to speak, the basic supply, taken from the corporate shelf without any changes also wandered into the Passat. A good puller with manners, but without the slightest fireworks display, which somehow belongs to a sports car. The VW Corrado 16V offered a little more and is a well-engineered car even by today's standards. After all, the 115-hp two-liter engine already managed a top speed of 200 km /h.
It all started with the VW Corrado in 1988
But let's go back firstto the beginning, back to the year 1988. The VW Corrado also triumphed as a more modern design, because it was based on the platform of the Golf II, while the Scirocco II was still an offshoot of the One-Series Golf from the early 1970s. More wheelbase, more sophisticated wheel guides, larger brakes, more space in the interior, plus a tight power steering and ABS - that spoke in favor of the new coupé, which was developed under the name 'Hurrikan' and later 'Taifun'.
The designers under Herbert Schäfer had succeeded in creating a 2 + 2-seater, in the second row of which there was noticeably more space than in the Scirocco - and which nevertheless looked like power with its relatively tight overhangs and the beefy side line that did not reveal any thought of frills .
The front with the two broadband headlights and the rear with the spoiler, which extended at 120 km /h and retracted at 40 km /h, were just as playful and also showed aerodynamic efficiency: with a cw Value of 0.32, the VW Corrado even undercut the slim Porsche 924S, which still managed it to 0.33.
Corrado and Scirocco were the tuning objects
The over-Scirocco was an attractive coupe that doesn't need big wheels to please len. Especially on the multi-spoke BBS wheels, it was only 15 inches and it still does today. Yes, the VW Corrado seems a little sober to one or the other. But it was a refreshing car from the VW Group, whose products, scoffers, were always happy to attest a deadly boring heather design.
Technically, the Corrado was capable of doing it anyway. As in a small 500 series of the Polo, a mechanically driven scroll charger worked on the G60, which VW had worked on for many years before it was ready for series production. Audi had long since had turbo petrol engines at the start. Why not just have this know-how ...? Anyone who asks this question has not understood the Volkswagen world from back then. It would be even better if technology developed in the group were simply taken over more often than necessary.
So G-Lader. A small loader with a spiral width of 40 millimeters (hence G40) was installed in the Polo, and one with 60 millimeters in the Corrado. The G60 brought the 1.8-liter long-stroke engine, which had celebrated its premiere a few years earlier in the Golf I GTI with 112 hp, thanks to 0.7 bar boost pressure 160 hp and a peak torque of 225 Nm. Over a wide speed range, more than 200 Newton meters were always available, and apart from a tiny hesitation when you press the gas pedal, the G60 engine tackles as willingly as a much larger vacuum cleaner. A forged crankshaft, sodium-cooled exhaust and armored intake valves are part of the durability package of the engine, as is the Digifant engine management system developed by VW and - of course - a charge air cooler.
Consideration for the charger
One The G60 wasn't a greedy speed junkie. It stopped at 6,300 revs, because this oneThe loader rotates at 11,000 rpm. VW did not want to expect much more from the filigree part in the long run. But that didn't stop tuners from experimenting with the diameter of the pulley to drive the loader. And bang: there was already a G60 with 190 hp and more. And of course: Gerhard, the performance junkie, was among the first to indulge in the extra portion of performance.
It is also clear that the increased speed of the loader does not always work well in the long run. The G-Lader, which was not without its problems in production, often smoked up after 80,000 kilometers even without tuning and became a sought-after spare part. With a tuned G60, a flat rate charger would not have been bad for guys like Gerhard. There are now improved parts on the market.
The VW Corrado has smoke in its voice
But why the tuning? In the fall of 1991 the VR6 came with 190 hp from a 2.9 liter six-cylinder. The enlarged engine, known from the Passat, is narrow thanks to the cylinder bank angle of just 15 degrees, but VW still had to adjust the front suspension, fenders, grill and bonnet. This gives the VR6, which takes a second off the G60 up to 100 km /h and drives the speedometer needle over the 240 mark, an even more beefy look.
At that time, all models were also enlarged from 55 to 70 liters Tank, which speaks for the purchase of a later built copy. The interior, on the other hand, only got into the leather a year later, in autumn 1992: rotary controls replaced the slide controls and pressure switches on some of the rocker switches. There were new door panels and better placed window switches, and the round instruments behind the steering wheel, which can be height-adjusted if required, have since shone with new typography and red pointers.
Rust is not a problem with the VW Corrado
Nothing has changed the smooth-running, but jerky cable control when shifting quickly and the good rust prevention, including galvanized sheet metal on the doors, bonnet and tailgate. It is largely responsible for the fact that the survivors of the tough used car years who have not been tuned to death or finally deformed are pretty well together today.
It's amazing how well and firmly a Corrado still handles itself today. If he was not mistreated by one of the popular lower-wider-harder chassis, no squeaking and chirping disturb the good quality impression. Okay, the central locking system likes to go on strike, as do the buttons on the electrically adjustable Recaros, which were later optional.
And yes, the door handles on some models tend to wobble. Peanuts all in all. Basically, the Corrado is a very solid type that can bring fun to everyday life for relatively little money. A great daily driver that can also cope with snow and ice, but is basically too good for that because there aren't so many good ones anymore.
Buying tip: VW Corrado G60 orVR6
In any case, the VR6 with its electronic differential lock would be ideally suited for winter. But it might make more sense to keep the Corrado for the nice days. Even good pieces are not really expensive, but the G60 and VR6 are likely to rise rapidly in value soon.
Each of them is a solitaire and therefore highly worth collecting. Since then there has not been a supercharged four-cylinder in any VW coupé, and neither has a six-cylinder - if you rightly punish the boring Eos convertible coupe and its V6 version with disregard. Corrado? Just do it, and it's good.
Frank Herzog
The Scirocco successor Corrado is slowly but steadily developing into the sought-after youngtimer. The active fan community provides help with problems with the sporty coupé
