I raced...something...VW

Originally posted by SaintVR6
here's some info about the Volkswagen Corrado (in a nutshell)

The Corrado was introduced in Europe back in '88 1/2 first in europe with only the 2.0L 16v (approx. 145 hp give or take +/-10 hp). It was assembled right next to it's older sibling the Scirocco for about a year in Germany. The USDM spec Corrado was brought in fresh from Germany in '90 with only the G60 motor. The G60 was a 1.8L supercharged motor. The supercharged four cylinder had many design flaws from the start. One of many was the materials used in the "G-lader" was plastic ball bearings the weakess rubberbands for belts and many other things and the traditional wiring problems that was common on all german imports. VW decided to used the Lancia designed 15degree 6 cylinder known as the VR6. It wasn't the only awkword motor that VW has ever put into it's cars. The quantum/passat back in the '80s had a VR5 with was only available with awd/"syncro".

The exterior differences when VW switched motors from the G60 to the VR6 was the slight buldge in the front part of the hood to properly house the VR6 motor. The grille was changed and the width of the front end of the car has been widen a few inches. the four lug wheels where switched to five lug. More infor to come when it hits me...

Hold on there partner. No component of the g60 engine has ever had plastic ball bearings. The g60 is a fragile supercharger, but has no "plastic" inside it anywhere. I don't know if you literally meant "plastic" or not, but I don't want anyone to be mislead.

The Corrado was first sold in Europe near the end of 88, but as an 89 model, not an 88.5. Also, the 16v engine it started with (in Europe) had 136 hp, not 145. In some European countries in 1990 and 1991, it only had 129 hp, due to having a catalytic converter.

Also, the vr6 was not a Lancia design. It was designed in-house by VW, borrowing some technology from various partners. The first prototypes were developed in the 80's, and were 2.4 litres with 24 valves. They were called "RV6" in their developmental stages. They ditched the 24v head because of overheating problems and replaced it with the 12v head, and upped the displacement to 2.8 litres (or 2.9 for Europe) to make up for the power lost in switching to 12 valves.

The name VR6 refers to the narrow-angle design - R stands for the german word "Reihenmotor," meaning "inline motor;" and V stands for "V." (duh!) Thus, the VR6 is a "V inline motor."

Also, the vr5 motor came *after* the vr6, not before. The 5 cylinder motor you're thinking of was an *inline* 5 cylinder 10 valve motor borrowed from Audi - that's the motor that was in the Quantum (Passat) Synchros in the 80's. The vr5 is only a few years old, and is only available in Europe, on the MkIV (Golf and Jetta) platform - it's a completely different beast from the inline 5 in the Quantums from the 80's. And that inline 5 motor was a design that Audi more or less built off of VW's own 8-valve 4 cylinder designs, just with an extra cylinder stuck on the end.

(Technical specs for the vr6 taken from VW's Service Training Self Study Program # 402, part number WSP52140200.)