German? Italian? Swedish?

What are you currently driving?

Are you planning to keep your current vehicle and add another? Or are you seriously planning to use your only car for all of the applications noted?

JohnW wrote: The Alfa is the most exotic, the GTI is the most fun and the 4000 quattro is the most reliable (all this in my biased opinion). I love Alfas, but I've never known an Alfa that could be consistently used as a daily driver (despite protests to the contrary from die-hard enthusiasts). The GTI is light, fun -- and sitting on the best chassis VW ever built (there's my opinion again). Mostly solid cars, but they definitely have a lot of pesky annoyances. The 4k quattro is a slower, heavier, less fun, but not un-fun version of the GTI. It will never have the light, tossable, fun feel of the GTI no matter what you do to it. It is better built though. A friend of mine had one with more than 400k miles and went for years without even changing the oil. I had an '85 4ksq that never had any issues either, but got bored and bought an 84 GTI. From these three, I'd get the GTI if it's in really nice shape. But look at the quattro and see if it floats your boat. Both it and the GTI should suit your purposes well.

Thank you guys so much! I am thinking about the Quattro because of the Quattro and 5 cylinder, great rally potential and so does the Golf It is mainly going to be a daily driver but is going to compete also.

I am just really wondering about the Alfa though, Alfa as a daily and a racer? It has some rust but easily can be repaired. How are parts to find and easy/cheap?

I am currently driving nothing so it won't be a serious racer

I also forgot, I have some Scirocco's in mind!

International Auto Parts has tons of parts for Alfas.

Go get that 88 16v GTI!!

That's what it seems to be!

the thing with them BMW's, 100% fun to drive 0% fun to work on

I've been driving my '88 Scirocco for about 8 months now and its been a blast. 90 miles a day returning 32 MPG with a MK3 trans (taller gears)

A couple important differences between the Scirocco and the GTI.

-The Scirocco, even the 'MKII's were still based on the original Rabbit MKI chassis, where the GTI was the next gen MKII.

-the GTI Digi engine management has horror stories that come to mind. While the Scirocco's CIS-E is a much simpler affair, but can still be quite wonky if its in a mood to be.

-The Scirocco will be lower all the way around and gives a nice 'cockpit' feel vs a more pedestrian Golf layout. With a slightly tighter turn radius.

-Depending on what your daily hauling needs are the boxier GTI might be better than the Scirocco's fast back if you have a lot or bulky objects to haul.

-The Scirocco specific parts are relegated to mostly to body /interior items. Mechanicly its a bunny, parts are pretty easy to source.

-Rewire your grounds! 20 year old German wiring does not age gracefully.

E30 BMWs are no problem to work on. Once the clutch fan is tossed in the trash they are really pleasant.

GTV6's suffer from rust in the front inner fenders that can be hard and expensive to fix. The shifters are absolute garbage. The interior is made of a material called disintegro. Inboard rear brakes, spaceship clutch and de Dion tube bushing replacements are all sorts of fun. But oh my, that V6 engine... GTV6's are a bit of a step in the exotic car direction. You have to pull the cams to adjust the valves with tiny little shims nobody stocks. One upside is a lot of Milano parts can be used to upgrade a GTV6 (clutch, 3.0 cams or entire engine). To own one, particularly one priced in the grassroots realm, I would expect to be doing a lot of work on it myself.

As for the quattro, unless you plan on swapping in a turbo motor from a 5000 better plan on living with a (yawn) 115hp boat anchor. The stock KX 2.2 is indestructible but not a powerhouse. Spend a few grand building a 2.3 replacement (135hp) and you may wind up with 150hp and still get passed by bone stock BMW E30s at the track (why I now own a BMW). The quattro drivetrain can easily handle double the HP but the only way to get it is with a turbo. There should be a link on my web site with a how-to. Mongrel Motorsports If I were to ever do another Coupe GT I'd go whole hog and do a 20v turbo and a limited slip diff. Less weight than a quattro.

ddavidv-ahh that's cool, your based out of E town, my uncle lives there and is only a 45 min drive. I think I narrowed it down to E30's, Golfs, Sciroccos, 850s, and that Quattro, ONLY if I can find that motor but seems like a decent car.

neckromacr-thanks for the tips and I won't be hauling much, just a daily driver, maybe some things down to the beach when I go but nothing major, no u haul or anything going on here.

What about a Neon? If you are looking for something to buy and drive the way it is, it would be better than any of your other choices. Especially if you get a sport or R/T. They are just as good as golfs for rallycross, and except for having thinner sheefmetal IMO they are better made. E30s are good too but usually badly abused, and almost any VW is going to be a project. Nothing wrong with that, but i cant see buying one to use for a daily driver without alot of work.

my uncle has a Neon but it ain't no sport, they just don't do it for me, they'd be great for rallycross, but I won't be doing that all the time and no matter what you do, it is still a Peon and aren't that easy on the eyes.

Not to be smart, I seriously want to ask, have you owned a VW or a Golf? Just wondering. My buddy has owned a couple for years and worked and works on them for a living at his local VW dealership and he says they are great. ALso the Scirocco idea came form him, as it was his first car also.

I have a friend that loves MK2 volkswagens. I drove one of his that had been heaviliy modfied (engine swap, passat suspension with bilstien dampers and stiffer springs, etc) and it was pretty nice, but all that was left on the car that was original to that car was the shell and some of the glass. He convinced me to look at some for sale, and I went and drove 3 of them and they were horrible. Worn out shifter, disintegrating interior, spongy brakes, worn out shocks, intermitant stalling/rough idle, massive body roll, really not very fast (esp the 8v ones). But to answer your question, I know someone that has built 2 major project cars using golfs, and I have driven 5 mk2s and one mk3. They are not a car id want to drive without being able to first fix all of the stuff that doesnt work right or wasnt too great to begin with. When I drove my milano the first time, it was much more like what I had expected from the MK2 vw the way i had heard people talk about them. It seems to be you are either a vw peson, or you arent. Some people dont really like them, some people will only drive volkswagens and think they are the best thing in the world and you would be an idiot for driving anything else. Unless i was getting a diesel (which i wouldnt mind having) a neon is a far better car for anything id want it for.

ahhh I see

Anybody on 850s?

I've been rally crossing my husband's '81 SciRocco for almost two years now and it's a blast. I am thinking about getting him megasquirt for Christmas, but I'm still ona fence 'cause it's dead reliable as it sits right now. I don't wanna muck things up.

I would say E30 but they can be tricky to find a good one and the insurance will be more expensive then the others (I am not sure about Scirocco).

Insurance on my milano is really cheap.

EastCoastMojo wrote: I've been rally crossing my husband's '81 SciRocco for almost two years now and it's a blast. I am thinking about getting him megasquirt for Christmas, but I'm still ona fence 'cause it's dead reliable as it sits right now. I don't wanna muck things up.

Nice! Perfect example too! Thanks. It never fails,. it runs perfectly in it's condition but when you try to do something nice to it, it doesn't like it, but I think he'll like the Megasquirt I love the MkI's

I need a girlfriend like you

I can't find no Milanos!

NickF40 wrote: neckromacr-thanks for the tips and I won't be hauling much, just a daily driver, maybe some things down to the beach when I go but nothing major, no u haul or anything going on here.

I only mention that because part of my daily driving duties does include hauling tires to work. The sloped hatch can make that challenging sometimes.

And yes when I got my Scirocco it did need a load of work, but I didn't see it so much as a VW issue, but more of a 20 year old car with a lot of things that were let go on it and half assed fixes. Once I went thorough, flagged and refreshed what needed it, its been a darling and so much more joyful to drive daily than my old MK3 Jetta.

On an interesting side note a friend of mine just wrapped up a cross country trip to the 48 state capitals in a '84 MS 8v. Timbo Trip

E30 = win

Nice, I want to do a cross country trip sometime, maybe a race but it would be cool and fun to do it in a Scirocco!

how about a V70?

NickF40 wrote: the thing with them BMW's, 100% fun to drive 0% fun to work on

They're easy to work on. I prefer working on the e30 (and my past 2002s) over the VWs. Parts prices are still reasonable as well. If you didn't have the rally requirement, I'd recommend an e30 over just about any car on your list.

Maybe Nick should come drive my E30. I think that would remove any silly thoughts of rusty Sciroccos from his mind.

Or I could stick him in the Mini and really ruin him for life.

Thanks, I actually want to look at a few E30's,,,thanks alot!

Sure, i'll take it for a burn....I mean spin.

Don't let me drive your Mini, I will want to buy one then at the spot becuase I LOVE the classic Minis, my dad and mom do too as they are big vintage racing fans. So the Mini yeah, I would and will own one!