How much for a '93 Corrado

[scirocco-al at insight.rr.com (Scirocco-al)]

No Problem.  I loved the car, it was just really a money pit.
I bought it with 58,000 miles and sold it 3 years later with 68,000 miles on
it.  Almost immediately after the purchase I had to replace the clutch.  I
also replaced both the master and slave cylinders first hoping it wasn't the
clutch.
Then in the summer I discovered it had major cooling problems.  I replaced
the thermostat and that helped.  Every plastic part I touched was brittle
and broke when I removed it.  It was still running too hot.  I checked
everything with a meter and discovered that the metal fuse in the fan
control relay was dead.  I fixed that and it was a little better, but still
would overheat in traffic.

Soon after that the main cooling fan died on the radiator.  $480 was the
best price I could find and you have to remove the whole front core support
to change it.  Some on the later cars had the fan as a recall item but my
car didn't. about 4 months after I replaced the main fan the bearing in the
aux fan died and I had to do the hole thing again, except the aux fan was
"only"  $180.

The thing would still overheat in traffic.  The battery died in it and when
I replaced it I cleaned the battery area before putting the new one in.
While doing this I discovered that battery acid had eaten through a harness
that was under the battery (due to previous owners crash).   I repaired it
and low and behold the cooling fan had many more speeds and the
non-functioning AC now worked.  Bonus!  The car didn't overheat anymore and
I was cool in the inside.

After this it ran pretty well for a while, except it would blow radiator and
cooling hoses occasionally because of their age.  Then it started to leak
coolant from the passenger side rear of the head gasket.  I drove it for a
while with stop leak and then replaced the head gasket.  Of course all the
plastic chain guides broke on the timing chain on disassembly. The head
bolts were $240 and the gasket something like $80.  The plastic cooling tube
on the front of the motor broke and when inspecting the head I found all the
exhaust valves were bent.  This was caused by the failure of a $20 chain
tensioner that required me to remove the tranny again to replace it.  So, 6
new valves, new valve seals, all new lifters, new race valve springs and
professional rebuild later I put the car back together.  During this time I
had a stroke and was in the hospital for a month.

When I put the car back together the chain was rattling at RPM in it's
housing, so I bought a new hydraulic piston/tensioner assembly to cure that
($60).  I would recommend anyone with a VR6 buy one of these every 4 years
as cheap insurance.  After the stroke I wasn't allowed to drive for a year
(seizure issues) and my wife was about to deliver our first child, so I sold
it.

Other thing done to the car during the time I owned it but I don't remember
exactly when:
Front and rear motor mounts, front and rear pads, and a headlight switch.,
replacement of both the front wheel bearings, heater hoses and oil cooler
hoses (a bitch to get too)

Other things that happened to the car that were not really the car's fault.
2 broken windshields, 3 break ins (2 windows and 1 screwdriver in the door),
theft of the front grill assembly and a 2" ding put in it by my old roommate
during a windstorm.

In the three years I owned it my monthly payment was $350.  With insurance,
parts, and deductibles paid my average upkeep on the car was $340.  My
insurance was around $500 a year and I paid 2 $500 deductibles and the rest
at $100.

I really liked driving the car, but there was always something wrong with
it.  A lot of my problems could be traced back to negligence of previous
owners and bad mechanical repairs.  If I could find another one with about
20,000 miles that is in pristine condition I might consider it, but never as
a daily driver.  It just took to much effort and money to keep it going.

Later,

   Alan


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brad Sterling" <bgsterling@earthlink.net>
To: "Scirocco-al" <scirocco-al@insight.rr.com>
Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2003 8:31 PM
Subject: RE: How much for a '93 Corrado


> Alan,
>
> If you don't mind me asking, what kind of problems have you had?
>
> - Brad
> '86.5 Volkswagen Scirocco 16v
> '76 International Scout II
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Scirocco-al [mailto:scirocco-al@insight.rr.com]
> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2003 2:12 PM
> To: Brad Sterling; Scirocco List
> Subject: Re: How much for a '93 Corrado
>
> After all the problems I had with mine I wouldn't give $.02 for it.
>
> Alan
>
>