What's a car brand you would NEVER buy

[VulcanWerks]

I've driven a Corrado VR6 way back in the day and it was one of the most exciting cars I've ever had the pleasure of operating.

"Affordable Porsche" was a term I remember reading to describe it once.

I currently drive a GTI (2019 - Autobahn) and it can't begin to touch the fun-level the Corrado had

GTI is a good car!

The Corrado is fun. Very nimble. Not very fast my modern standards but you can smash that little VR6 around - great sounding engine too with straight pipes to a TT exhaust.

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I once bought a used car at 50K and everything seemed fine, until winter hit. If you let it idle a while, the car would warm up. Then, the more you drove, the colder it got in the cabin. Hours long commutes with no heat on the feet are not fun. But yeah, was just the thermostat. On that car, the thermostat was like $50 because its one of those electronic hybrid deals but cars with a standard thermostat... I think they're less than $10 in most cases. There were no codes or any other apparent issues with the vehicle or driveability.

Gas mileage slightly improved after the new thermostat was installed as well.

Another thing to look at, if the car has electronic climate control, there is probably a heater valve somwhere that controls the flow of coolant to the heater core. Mine are open by default - meaning full heat - but when one side of the valve stopped responding, for whatever reason the computer commanded the valves full closed, and I had no heat on the driver's side of the cabin. I got them to go again for a bit by ... beating on them with a hammer... but ultimate the valve needed to be replaced. This didn't happen until the car had 150K mi on it, though.

Heater core issues are the worst.

Not typically a super expensive part but a massive pain to get to.

Manufacturers also install them all sorts of different ways.

I had a 2002 Land Rover Disco 2 at one point. Super cool old British rig.

But, I was driving one day and heard what sounded like a waterfall when I accelerated. Turns out it’s a semi-common issue! As I can recall, the issue is most cars have coolant hose into the core is higher than the output hose (as in higher off the ground). This allows gravity to help “pull” the fluid down and thus reduces air bubbles in the system.

Land Rover did it backwards and pushes the fluid up through the heater core.

This makes them get air bubbles and the waterfall sound.

Solution?

Replace the core because even if you flush the system you will frequently still get bubbles.

Not the best design…