Faults:

Clutch went soon after purchase despite my mechanic checking it. £420.00.

Starter motor. £130.00.

Idle stabilization valve (ISV), ow! Bad mph, cold starting and diminished performance. £230.00.

Front bushes. £256.00.

Coil pack needed replacing, along with a full set of HT leads and plugs. £130.00.

ABS sensor on brake pedal, with the agent orange dash board light staying on! £230.00.

Radiator, I was relieved that it was fixed for under £150.00.

Head lights switch. A snip for £80.00. It runs hot.

Having to go to the main dealer to decode the error messages! Then having to keep going back three times, and over £750.00 later to finally find out what was really up?

I hate moaners, but this car was sold to me by a smiling dealer, who affirmed that my car was, "as sweet as a nut". Hmmm. It is now seemingly worth less than I bought it for despite the extensive repairs.

General Comments:

My car the mad VR6 quickly became known as "The Beast" on account of its feral howl and time-travel like acceleration.

Apparently as you accelerate close to the speed of light, (186000 mph),the world seems to bend in towards you. This is the case with the VR6 when you go from 5th to 3rd with plenty of slammin' right foot.

With this true grunt, the VR6's traction control can be all, but ignored, as the wheels have spun, in the dry up too and including 3rd gear. I am no test pilot, but the effortless verve of the car makes any journey either effortless or dazzling.

It's a car that really should never have left the drawing board, with its too big to fit under the bonnet engine. Hence transverse mount. However I am so glad it did, because on song the VR6 can leave most things dead. Notably except a 500 SL.

The handling is bumpy which I like, and the VR6 will hold its line around fast corners with stoic grit. In the wet, well thats not for me to try.

Faults:

Exhaust system continues to give me problems, despite replacing parts at £150 a time.. needs a whole new system I think.

Engine seems to be running badly, but cannot diagnose why.

Quite severe amounts of water coming into driver foot-well when it rains.. this is being looked at soon though.

Bad stone-chipping on bonnet & front of wings.

General Comments:

I had wanted a Corrado for quite a few years.. when I went to buy this one it seemed ideal, but since then I have had a few problems with it. I am slowly trying to put them right, but I will be honest and say its costing me quite a lot of money.

The car is surprisingly economical if you don't treat it like an idiot - I generally try to avoid racing people, and on longer drives you can expect to see figures around 40MPG.. not bad really. Around town, provided you aren't stopping and starting, you can expect to get around 26MPG..

The car is still quite stunning to look at.. for a design that is essentially the best part of 14 years old, people STILL look at my car, and I have been asked about it many times. Quite flattering. I think the quite attractive Blackberry Metallic paint helps :)

Performance wise.. it is really quite quick. The response of power you get when you are sat at around 3000RPM and you put your foot down is really quite excellent.. and it makes a wonderful noise as well :)

Handling is good.. though I don't plan on testing the car to its full potential. The ride is very firm.. a bumpy road can result in quite loud bangs and jolts.

These cars seem to he holding their value reasonably well too..

I would strongly reccomend these cars to anyone.. but make sure you have a full and detailed service history with receipts for everything - it is so easy to get caught out on these cars, as many people do not look after them. And make sure you join the VW Corrado Owners Club.. their advice has been a great help, and has saved me a fortune.