Used Car Buying Guide: Affordable prestige coupes

Price:

£1500-£9000

Check for:

Gearbox or clutch problems, warped brake discs, accident damage,leaking shock absorbers, general boy racer abuse; service history is vital,especially for G60

Summary:

Back at the end of the '80s, pundits were declaring the death of the coupe; why, when hot hatches were getting so good, did car makers have to spend more designing, building and marketing an entirely separate car when they could modify the hatch they already had? CAR Magazine's deputy editor, now 4car's very own Editor, Richard Bremner, moaned that 'inexpensive European coupes are a dying breed... Europe's big car makers are killing off a whole species of car'. Then came the VW Corrado. Developed from the revered Mk 2 Golf GTI, generally thought to be one of the best hot hatches ever made, the Corrado put coupe-making back on the agenda. CAR Magazine of September 1988 described the supercharged G60 as 'the fastest, best-equipped and most stylish car Wolfsburg has ever made' and, in a truly appalling pun, 'a coupe de grace for Porsche's 944'.

Kit:

Storming performance, macho bodystyling (including a rear spoiler that only popped up at 75mph) and a great choice of engines made the Corrado a far more serious sports car than its predecessor, the Scirocco; even the entry-level 1.8 16-valve version was a scorcher. All of which made prices of up to £7000 more than a Golf GTi seem perfectly acceptable. You even got a choice of image: show-off petrolheads love the Corrado in yellow or red, low-key enthusiasts like them in the darker metallic shades (the blue-green metallic paint is subtle, yet stunning).

You could be quite happy in a 1.8, or the 2.0-litre 16-valve that replaced it in August '92, which has the same power output despite its larger capacity, due to the mandatory catalytic converter. The 2.0-litre eight-valve is a bit of a plodder, especially in automatic form, but then these things are relative: in comparison with the G60 (initially available only in left-hand drive) any other sub-£20,000 car would seem stodgy. The relaxed long-distance cruiser of the range is the VR6, which replaced the G60 and had auto transmission as an option, to emphasise its different character. The collector's car is, unsurprisingly, the G60, which will probably be a classic in years to come - if it isn't already - and the VR6 is also very sought-after. But don't overlook the less powerful versions: they may not be such a sound investment for the future, but right now, they make a good-value purchase for performance, fun and eye-catching looks.

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