looking to buy vr6

[phil08 0]

i'm looking to buy a vr6 as a 2nd car to my focus RS

Can anyone offer me any advice when i go to look at a few?any common problems etc.

Also can anyone tell me any stat and figures for them and what they're really like to drive and own? Previously i have owned a remapped mk4 golf and i have always loved the shape of the mk3 golf. 8)

If anyone knows of any for sale please let me know

cheers

[ Edited ]

[nickg123 0]

I came from an Evo 6, and have to say i've been very surprised with how "fun" this is to drive, it's so well built, and feels very solid.

Power is obviously down, but it's still got enough grunt to keep up with my old Man's Skoda Octavia RS, plus on a motorway run i've done 32mpg which is pretty good for a 2.8

I don't know that much about them as a car in general, but just stuck to what i've learnt about others when checking over this one, everything is fairly easy to see/get to so you should be able to spot any potential problems etc i would think?

Good luck anyway, i think you'll be surprised!

[binliner 0]

I know of one for sale... mulberry highline in the classifieds

[acf8181 0]

ok, a few cars seem to have weird rust problems, but generally its not a prob. if anywhere it'll rust on tailgate.

earlier obd1 (pre'96) cars really need to have their cam chain runners changed (or at the very least checked) at 100-120k...very few have had this done. the top tensioner runner is prone to wearing through and to replace it the gearbox has to come out 9and you may as well replace all the other runners and the chains at same time)...it will cost about £600 to get it done. on later obd2 ('96 on) cars it isn't likely to be a problem as they altered the design.

gearchange is always crap on them, and the throw is mega long. not really much you can do about it.

suspension, bushes and engine mounts all wear out at about 120k usually, uprated stuff is the way to go really (maybe not on bushes though).

the main problems on the vr6 are usually electrical, check everything functions correctly, and it may be a good idea to see if the owners willing to take you down to a vw dealers to get a diagnostics report (you'd have to pay £35-£50)...make sure they do the check with the engine running or you'll get one fault code, and make sure they clear any codes and redo the test...in case the code is an old one.

driving impressions....dissappointment at first i'd say. they absolutely have to be kept above 4000rpm, which is hard to do on a test drive really, they're a bit gutless below. this can be sured with a schrick manifold, but you'll need £1500 for one of those! other poor bit is that it will feel like a very big boat on standard suspension. uprated stuff really is a must. once you put a kit on, and increase the camber slightly the car will come alive.

with the obd1-obd2 changeover (which is manily different engine management) they also changed a few other bits...they lost the plastic wheel arches and colour coded the top bit of the bumper, they chnegd from rectangle to oval side repeaters, they altered the timing chains as mentioned above, but the biggest thing is that they put on bigger brakes (288mm as opposed to obd1's 280's). i'm not saying a later one is necessarily a better idea, as bigger brakes are easy to bolt onto an earlier one...just make sure its quite cheap if its an obd1..and make sure its fairly low mileage or had the timing chains done

[nickg123 0]

Also just so you know i paid £3700 for mine 2 weeks ago (1997, 3 Dr, Black, 81k Miles (FSH) so there are some bargains to be had! The market's always crap before Xmas so it's a great time if you're buying!

[Slim 0]

Once you've driven it, I'm sure your Focus RS will become your 2nd car to your VR...

[DundeeDub 0]

well said slim i was going to sa the same thing

[phil08 0]

doubt it mate the RS is chipped and modded slightly, anyone want to shed some light on the stats of the vr6 etc without causing offence you can't really compare a car that is ready for the track and cost 20k to a 2-3k high mileage golf. but that is what i'm looking for a cheap,good ,solid car. have found one in purple met? for 2995 with s/r etc dunno what the mileage is yet

[ Edited Mon Nov 22 2004, 04:21PM ]

[nickg123 0]

Mileage will probably be high at £2995, i'd ring around a few nearer the £4k mark and see what you can barter them down to over the phone - a lot of people are desperate for a sale!

I think it's just the build quality you'll be impressed with coming from a Ford, i don't think anyone seriously thinks a VR6 is going to be a car you prefer - but it'll be better then you expect i'm sure of that!

[phil08 0]

oh i know what vw build quality is like i have just sold a golf 1.8 t with all the trimmings (full leather recaros/climate/sunroof/cruise etc but it had too many electrical problems i doubt the build quality of a 10 year olfd golf will be better then an 03 focus RS. so does anyone not know the bhp,torque and stats etc?

[Zonda_ 0]

Phil, the VR6 has 174bhp @ 5800rpm. Torque is 177lb.ft @ 4200rpm running on 98 ron fuel.

[acf8181 0]

ok, officially its 174bhp and about the same in torque..in reailty you could get upto 20bhp more than that. 0-60 is about 7.2, top end officially is 138 i think, but believe me it will be higher than that

not to up to date on the focus RS, but i suspect the vr6 will be quicker at top end...there any many hatches that can compete top end with a vr6, as vr's have very ling ratios and were designed for autobahn's remember.

for £2995 you should be able to get an early car with about 80k, or a later car with 120k plus.

be prepared to be patient, there are lots of poor examples out there.

try and get a 3 door in a nice colour, as 5 doors/nasty colours seem hard to sell on.

[nickg123 0]

Agree about the 5 Dr - 3 dr's seem to fetch more money???

Sorry about the Build quality comment....... but you're not going to get many Ford fans on here

[phil08 0]

Thats the thing though i'm not looking for it to be better or to compare it to my focus RS, i'm more then happy with it and its one hell of a quick car(5.9 to 60) 260 odd bhp etc . I'm hoping to have he VR6 as a 2nd car to get to work in as the RS is unsuitable to leave parked in the street etc

N.B

i'm not tyring to turn this into a RS vs VR6 because they dont compare in my eyes. i dont really have a favourtie model or make of car i like alot of different cars i'm niether a vw man or a ford man really

[ Edited Mon Nov 22 2004, 05:13PM ]

[acf8181 0]

well, in that case try and get a nasty coloured 5 door for less than £2k

give the guy a break about the focus guys, everyone has their own tastes and we don't wanna risk turning into cgti...we're above that

[nickg123 0]

Someone's obviously very defensive lol!

All i said was i'm sure the build quality is something you'd be impressed with, and the lads that said the Focus would quickly become a 2nd car, i think it's obvious they must be joking about it!

No need to take it all so seriously

I'm sure you'll get a Bargain VR6 if you're not fussed about leaving it places etc - you may as well buy a real tatty one, as it sounds like it's a car you're going to "abuse" so to speak?

[phil08 0]

not abuse just use for 3k that sin't alot of nice cars to buy was looking at a 106 gti but found it too small and the pedals dangerously close together

[VR6Pete 1,455]

strap a charger on and it's a different game matey!

[kobi 0]

You can buy my VR6 mate... £3600 and its yours!

Have you ever driven a VR? Definately recommend you do before you start searching.

Strange cars....

Real heavy and lack lustre at lower revs but then pulls like a train and wont stop once you get to 4000revs.

If fuel economy is important... dont buy a VR. Everyday use? i doubt you'll better 23mpg.

Dont want to say this but you might wanna look at a Pegeout (typo?!) 306GTI-6. light weight, 168bhp (I think) handles much better than a vr and will cost less to run.... mind you... it is fackin french... which shouldnt bother you too much cuz you already drive a Focus!

If your just after a half decent powered motor for cruising effortlessly up and down the motorway then you go cant get much better than a VR.

But drive one first and see how you feel about it.. I was disappointed when i first got mine, but now i'm loving it.

PS definately avoid 5dr!!

[mark@vagworx 0]

Phil' date=' the VR6 has 174bhp @ 5800rpm. Torque is 177lb.ft @ 4200rpm running on 98 ron fuel.[/quote']

Or 265bhp & 240lb/ft with a charger

Likes been said before, good build quality, not so good fuel consumption....I see around 230 miles for a £40 tank of fuel...then again mine is 265+ bhp.

Coming from a Mk4 previously you know about the finer points of VW.

BTW, i'm loving the Focus RS

[DundeeDub 0]

but you will find that each engine is different and some can push out high figures and some are just dogs.

[nickg123 0]

I get 29mpg on daily driving to work and back so it depends how you drive it.

[mark@vagworx 0]

I don't drive mine that hard.....i'm lucky if i see 23mpg.

[nickg123 0]

Yeah but you have a Charger I suppose the fact they work at low revs etc explains it really.......

I must say i'm driving it really carefully + a bit of traffic etc to get 29mpg to work and back, but there's no point in me booting it as i can only go as fast as the traffic allows anyway.....

To be honest it's the most economical car i've had so far (out of M3 Evo, Pulsar GTI-R, Evo 6 etc).... but then the others were just too tempting to boot even between traffic jams lol