Volkswagen Corrado

The Volkswagen Corrado is a hatchback coupé developed by German automaker Volkswagen and built by Karmann in Osnabrück, Germany between 1990 and 1995.

Conceived as a successor to the successful Scirocco, it is a three-door hatchback with a 2+2 seating layout. The Corrado used Volkswagen's B3 platform in the rear of the car, while using the A2 platform technology up front, which it shared with the then-current Golf Mk2 and Jetta. It shared many mechanical parts with other Volkswagen A platform cars as well. In 1990 the Corrado went on sale in the United States.

The Corrado offered exceptional handling for its time^{[citation needed]}, and was listed as one of the "25 Cars You Must Drive Before You Die" by the British magazine, Car. All models featured an innovative rear spoiler which automatically raised when the vehicle reached a set speed (45•65 mph depending on the region). Perceived^{[by whom?]} as too expensive, it reached a production total of just 97,521^{[citation needed]} vehicles.

Variants

All Corrados were front-wheel drive and featured petrol engines. It debuted with two engine choices: a 1.8 litre, 16-valve, inline-4 with 136 PS (100 kW; 134 hp) as the base model and a supercharged 1.8 litre, 8-valve inline-4, marketed as the G60, and delivering 160 PS (120 kW; 160 hp). The first engine was initially available only in Europe. The G60 is named for the G-Lader with which it is equipped, a scroll supercharger whose interior resembles the letter "G".

Volkswagen introduced two new engines for 1992. The first was a naturally aspirated 2.0 litre, 16 valve, 136 PS (100 kW; 134 hp) inline-4, basically a further development of the 1.8 litre engine; this engine was not made available to the North American market. The second was the highly-regarded 12-valve VR6 engine which came in two variants: a 2.8 litre 178 PS (131 kW; 176 hp) model for the US and Canadian markets and a 2.9 litre and 190 PS (140 kW; 190 hp) version for the European market. In the United States the VR6 model was marketed as the Corrado SLC (sport luxury coupe). With the introduction of the VR6 engine, the G60 engine disappeared from the North American market in 1992 and European market in 1993. The VR6 engine was revolutionary at the time because it provided a compromise between both V-shaped and straight engines, by placing the two cylinder banks at an angle of 15° with a single cylinder head. This design allowed engineers to fit a six-cylinder engine into roughly the same space that was previously occupied by four-cylinder engines, while closely approaching the smoothness of a straight-six design.

The launch of the VR6 in the UK was highlighted by the production of a limited run of 6 cars, these models are known as 'Campaign' cars, since they were produced for VR6 launch marketing campaign. They were painted in a unique dusty mauve metallic, had a complete interior retrim in red / terracota leather and were fitted with electric Recaro sports seats as standard. These 6 cars were given to the top 6 UK VW dealers in 1992, all the cars were sold for standard list price, 1 car is known to be written off and there is some information on the others still in use.

In a last-ditch attempt to popularize the car, a 2.0 litre 8-valve model was produced in Europe in 1995. Its uninspiring performance did not make up for the impressive standard spec and lower price, and production ceased in Europe, with the UK-only limited production model, the Corrado VR6 Storm. Some discreet "Storm" badging, a colour-keyed front grille, 15 inch BBS "Solitude" alloy wheels, and standard fitment of some previously optional items (such as the leather heated front seats) were all that differentiated this model from the base Corrado VR6. Only 500 were produced, 250 in Classic Green, and 250 in Mystic Blue (unique to the Storm).

A few other unique examples of the Corrado exist; the original builder, Karmann, have 4 Corrados in their private museum collection. The 1st one is a convertible concept that features a fully functional hood mechanism but no engine, the 2nd is a last of the line VR6 model that is fully working and has a selection of trim options from international markets. Wille Schwebe, the Karmann production engineer who supervised the Corrado project, was quoted as saying "we just put all the cool bits on it that we liked". The 3rd version is a pick-up truck variant that was designed by Karmann's in-house students as their final year project. This is a fully working vehicle with the later 2l 8v engine fitted; unfortunatley this vehicle is in use by the current museum curator and has been neglected. Finally there is a 16vG60 engined Corrado that was used by the chairman of the Karmann group as his daily car. The factory production sticker in the boot shows it to be a G60 engined vehicle in white, it is in fact a burgundy colour with a custom leather interior. There are some notable touches for the interior including an armrest fitting over the handbrake and an embossed VW logo on the centre section of the steering wheel.

Reception and reviews

The Corrado was generally well received by the automotive press of its time^{[citation needed]}, yet failed to capture the hearts of the general public^{[citation needed]}. A high price tag, coupled with a marque that was not known at the time for producing sports cars^{[citation needed]} caused the Corrado to be looked over in favour of the other similarly priced, better known sports cars of its time^{[citation needed]}.

As of more recent years, the automotive press have shown high regard for the Corrado and its capabilities as a sports car. On the BBC television show Top Gear, host Richard Hammond stated that the Corrado "... drives as well as if not better than a lot of current cars" and also described it as "...properly quick". A recent article on MSN Auto lists the Corrado as one of eight "Cool Cars We Miss".

In 1991, the price of the Corrado was very comparable to the BMW 318.

Trivia

• The Volkswagen Corrado SLC appears in the 2005 Xbox racing game Forza Motorsport 2, as one of the starting cars in Europe region.
  • The VR6 also appears in the 2009 Xbox 360 racing game Forza Motorsport 3, and despite a very high quality model (complete with an accurate interior) it is no longer a standard SLC car, as there are no running lights on the sides of the front and rear bumpers. At the same time it is not a standard European model, as there are no side repeaters fitted and the car sports a high level brakelight found on the SLC.
• The car can be bought in the 2005 game Juiced.

• Bugatti fitted Corrado door mirrors to the EB110.

• April 2010 a Mcdonald's fast food commercial began airing featuring a corrado getting tossed around and ultimately flipped.

References

Cool Cars We Miss - MSN Autos Article VW CORRADO Limited Edition Premier, Brooklands Books LTD. Surrey,UK. 2006.

External links

• Club-Corrado - Site based on all Corrado owners
• Volkswagen.com - international brand portal
• The Corrado Club of Great Britain
• The Corrado VR6 information site
• Corrado World - registry, technical, etc
• "THE" Corrado forum - an invaluable source of information and discussion for Corrado owners
• Corrado-database.nl - informative and friendly site based in the Netherlands
• The VR6 Owners Club - guides, forums, meets & events, club membership, benefits and discounts

Categories: Volkswagen vehicles | Front wheel drive vehicles | Sport compact cars | Coupes | Hatchbacks | Front wheel drive sports cars | Vehicles with VR engines | Vehicles introduced in 1988 | 1980s automobiles | 1990s automobiles