Man Maths: Volkswagen Corrado VR6

Not my pithiest conclusion perhaps, but you get the point. But it seems no one else did: not 20 but 33 years later Corrado VR6 prices are nowhere near those of similar age late Mk2 Golf GTIs 16vs, despite its punchy, sonorous 2.9-litre six-cylinder motor and their puny little 1.8-litre four-cylinder engines. I think it’s just one of those cars we all forgot.

But I never did, so allow me to remind you. Putting that big motor in such a small space and then asking it to drive the front wheels could have spelled dynamic disaster, as it had for the Alfa 164 only four years previously. Instead it wrought a miracle: installed in a car weighing just over 1200kg, its performance put that of the near 1400kg BMW to shame. Perhaps that was to be expected, but that it would also outhandle the beautifully balanced BMW most certainly was not. But it did: the way it used its front end heft to pivot the car into the corner, with a degree of passive rear-steer which dialled out understeer the faster you went had to be felt to be believed. I don’t even recall the ride quality being that much worse, despite having very humble rear suspension compared to the BMW. I loved the way it looked inside and out too.

So what about one today? I think the problem is that rightly or wrongly – in my view entirely wrongly – these are cars that have never been cherished, which means that finding one that’s been properly looked after could prove a Herculean task. Most have six-figure mileages, the best I saw being an 88,000 miler for £7750. I did spot one with just 29k on the clock which looked perfect (and would have needed to be for the £17,500 asking price) until I clocked the fact it was a ‘rare auto’ version. An automatic Corrado VR6? Like finding a seagull just dumped in your gin and tonic.

So sadly I think it’s probably a stone best left unturned, not least because if it was going to transform into one of the aforementioned ‘all-time greats’, it’s hard to see how it would not have done so by now. So perhaps I’m best left with my memories, which is that of one of the best front-drive cars I’ve driven. And I’d hate to drive one now that’s been neglected and find nothing more than a poor shadow of its former, once genuinely great, self. Which I fear is probably what would happen.

Free Reads on The Intercooler are freely available for all to read. The vast majority of our stories, including all of our feature articles, sit behind the paywall, only available to subscribers who get unlimited access to our ever-growing library of more than a thousand stories and close to two million words. 

Click here to start your 30-day free trial and gain full access to The Intercooler’s multi award-winning website and app.