I owned a corrado VR6 for over 4 yrs, was a member of the CCA and an old school GTi owner before that. The corrado WILL turn into a grenade in time. It is a rocket, and sheer fun to drive when everything is working properly, but the truth is, it was far less reliable than my dad's 75 911S was.
Oh sure, the engine is solid...but you need to watch out for pitted heads due to running pink coolant, tired timing chain tensioner mechanisms, terrible cooling system design, sloppy gearbox and soft syncros, motor mounts that break and wear out vy quickly, the ol' starter swtich and sunroof and rear wing not working etc.watch the heater core and the coolant hoses and the aux coolant pump. I put almost 100k on mine in 4 yrs, and I loved it to death, but it was the worst car in terms of reliability myself or anyone in my immediate family has owned in the last 30 yrs.
What do I drive now (after my sister totalled my CVR6 (it had 192k on it at the time and was probably in the best shape it had been in in the last 150k!)?
A 1995 325is.
rock solid, I've put 17k on it since november 02. It just turned 100k. Put some real suspension in one, sticky tires, get a chip, do the fan delete mod, pick up an M3 stock exhaust, and upgrade the brakes.If you really want to go fast, 240 hp @ the crank with the M50TU engine is as simple as a custom chip, stock cams from a 95 M3 engine, M3 exhaust, and intake. Add a 3.38 differential from an M3 automatic and you'll be faster than stock E36 M3s.
They do have some problem areas too, albeit easily fixable. thermostat, radiator, water pump, rear shock mounts.
Hold out for one with the sport package which includes the wider 16" split 5 spoke wheels, sport suspension, and those awesome sport seats. I've never had a problem in the winter w/my car even running 15" all season tires on stock non sport wheels in the winter...just turn that ASC on...it was the worst winter we've had in 10 yrs here too!
















That thing was getting fixed more than i was driving it.

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