Coupe buying help please

[Alistair]

Hi folks ,
My names Alistair and I may be on here a bit if the next few days go OK. Normally I'm an MR2 man (the Mk1 and Supercharger) but I have need of another car as a run about and the Coupe has always appealed - its built like a tank and has ageless looks.

I went to look at one this afternoon, a beautiful green 1993 2l 16v with 119K on the clock - the dealer wants £1000 which seems quite reasonable. I am going to test drive tommorow as it was absolutely chucking it down this afternoon. Its giving all the positive vibes and subject to a test drive and a look underneath to check everything is fine then I really want to buy it. On top of this the dealer said he would put a new MOT on it if I paid for that (i.e. if it fails he either pays out to fix it or I walk away).

There is only one thing I am suspicious about - with the key in the first position all the lights come up and then go out one by one as you would expect - all that is except the top two lights on the dash - the red stop warning light and the red temp indicator (looks like a thermometer in the water). Once you start her up then these lights go out, but this doesnt seem normal. Common sense dictates that this is not a serious problem or they would have stayed on, but what do these lights mean?
Anyone with experience of this car and/or an owners manual could really help me out here.
Thanks
Alistair

 

[madvw]

It's been a while since i drove one of those, but i think its normal....

 

[Alistair]

Sorry - I thought I had said in the message above, but I realise upon rereading it that I have not (end of the week!). The temp light and the stop light flash continuously until you start the engine and then they go out. I guess this changes things a bit.

 

[grant_coupe]

yeh thats normal. you should buy 1 they are quality machines.

 

[28v6]

To be honest the 16v lump struggles to pull the heavy chassis of the Coupe, for the £1000 I'd recommend either the 10v or the 20v lumps as both pull rather nicely and are not to heavy on the juice either (late 30's early 40's pending on how you drive!), secondly I'd be inclined to look for the SE models or Quattro if possible, there's more to go wrong I know, but parts are relatively cheap for theses cars and, once tightened back up, you love the sound of the five over the four and the quattro drivetrain is awesome, just point an shoot really and they stick like glue.. The 8v engine is the old GTi 1.8 Digifant engine out the golf,MK2 as is the 16v, the 10v engine is common to the 100's, 90's & 200's and is virtually Bomb proof... Idle stabilisation on both 10 & 20 are something to look for, thats low revs from cold and hunting occasionally.. otherwise get a 5 and enjoy the sound of a 5 through a Bosai/ Remus exhaust and.... you'll grin from ear to ear thinking you're Hannu Mikola as you test the car every time!:icon_thumright:

 

[Alistair]

I was going for the 16v as it seemed like the best combination of power and fuel economy (remember that the MR2 is my fun car . Of course I'd love the larger engine, but I thought that you'd see 30mpg max for those on a long run, not 40 - interesting. The quattro system is legendary of course, but again I thought that the economy would really suffer with 4WD.

 

[Rev-head]

Not a Coupe but it has the better engine out of all in my eyes
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/list.asp?p=1&s=565

 

[28v6]

I was going for the 16v as it seemed like the best combination of power and fuel economy (remember that the MR2 is my fun car . Of course I'd love the larger engine, but I thought that you'd see 30mpg max for those on a long run, not 40 - interesting. The quattro system is legendary of course, but again I thought that the economy would really suffer with 4WD.

I've had two versions of the 5 pot and if you really lift off you can push it out to 45mpg! (56-65ish) on normal speeds I managed to get 35-37 mpg no hassles, its because the gearing in the 5 pot is quite tall/long so a lot of people think its a Gas Guzzler but not so... one of the better "economisers" Incidentally, I had the Audi 100 2.2 5 cylinder, then up'd her for a 200Turbo Quattro.. and it was Fun!!!!!!!! But again, pretty good on the juice if you weren't booting her...in booting mode down to late teens early 20's.. :icon_thumright:

 

[amimmortal]

Hi all,

I've stumbled across a lovely Coupe 2.6E with only 92K on the clock and, at first inspection, spotless bodywork.

The dealer is looking for £2995 for it, which seems a bit steep...

I don't have much information on this car and would really appreciate any advice...

E.g. is it Quattro, FWD or RWD? What is the fuel economy (if any!) like? What should I look out for on these cars? Should I go for it for £2995?

Many thanks in advance,

AndyC

 

[mas]

its fwd or quattro. If quattro then it should be badged as such.

For some reason I thought the 2.6 was not a prefered choice of engine ? Cant remember why.

 

[28v6]

Lack of tuning abilities, heavy on the juice and not as tuneable as the 10 or 20v.

 

[phillH]

i've recently got a 2.6, i love it, but i do wish i'd held out for either a 20v or an s2. still though, mines mega smooth and so far reliable. as for tuning, i seems there isnt much you can do without spending mega bucks, does anyone know what sort of cash a decent specialist will charge for an engine swap?

 

[mas]

cheaper to swap cars.
new ecu, not sure about engine mounts + all

insurance issues?

 

[grant_coupe]

I contacted a company and they could put a TT engine in 225 bhp the engine would have low milage but would cost a mega £8000 pounds, which is expensive. i was suposed to be putting in a 2.8 to replace the 2.6 but when it came to it the guy could not fit it as had quite a few differnces. Wiring loom more advanced, plus the air flow meter. He said it was far more advanced than what he thought.

 

[cardicowboy]

I hope you don't mind me jumping on the tail of your post, but I think it's relevant.

I am going to buy a Cabriolet 2.8 V6. Any thoughts on this? Also, is it possible to plonk a 30v head on with minimal fettling?

Any ideas appreciated,
Thank you

 

[dsl55]

I've got a 2.6 V6 Cab and I wouldn't suggest trying to make it faster! Unless you uprate absolutely everything else along with it

p.s. it' about to go up for sale if you fancy it