Been a lurker for years dreaming of getting into autocrossing. I have a handful of project/toy cars but nothing that's really good for trying to get started or race in. I am selling a ragged out 914, and a guy offered to trade it for his 00 VW Cabriolet. It's a solid southern car, that appears to be in good shape. It is a 5 speed. I have owned a few new VWs (GTI, R) and really enjoyed them, so I'm not hesitant to own or turn wrenches on one.
So my question is, would this Cabriolet be a decent car to start out auto crossing in? I won't be able to do it every weekend because there are no events within an hour of me. But I'd love to get out and get my feet wet.
Thanks for any advice!
You can have fun driving virtually anything at autocross. In some ways, starting out with a slower car will be more fun as you will reach its limits sooner. Will it be competitive? No. But neither will you at first. Make sure the tires and brakes are in good shape and go have fun.
Joe, I read through your entire build thread on your tr6, very awesome! I just got one 2 weeks ago for a steal. I am pretty sure it's only good for parts, but my first intention was to make it a autocrosser.
A 2000 Cabrio is a mk3.5 which shares more with the 93-99 Golf/Jetta/GTI than the later Mk4 cars (they updated it cosmetically). Lots of aftermarket support for these cars, as long as you expect it to be under powered but good to learn in you will be fine.
In reply to Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) :
I am very ok with being underpowered. It's much more fun to push a slow car to its limits. I just figure I can get this for a good deal in a trade, clean it up, maybe try to hit a few autocrosses with it and then sell it for something more competitive.
I am really ignorant to rules, but would any sort of bracing or stiffening put me in a more extreme class?
Generally, yes, but that is rules specific and will be different depending on the group and class you run with be it SCCA or other. If you don't care about actually placing but practicing it doesn't matter so much even if you get up classed.
