2002tii vs 3.0cs

[Harv]

Yea Man!

I've been wanting a Bavaria for a long time.

John

[thehackmechanic]

As others have said, it all depends what moves ya baby, and don't let anyone talk you out of what moves you.

I've had my 3.0CSi for 22 years. It is rust-free. It has seven coats of signal red and seven coats of clear, all wet-sanded between coats. It is beautiful. I rarely drive it. It is a cruiser, not a tosser.

I've had probably two dozen 2002s over the past 25 years. Lack of garage space made me keep only the 3.0 for about 19 years, but my new garage has room to play, so I currently have two 02s. I want to drive both of them every weekend.

When people see a coupe, if they know what it is they oooh and drool, but if they don't know what it is, it seems to barely elicit a glance. In constrast, 2002s are burned into the Jungian collective unconsious almost like a Beetle. I've had 60 year old women come up to me and say "oh my boyfriend had one of those in grad school I used to LOVE that car!"

I didn't read every single post in this thread so I don't know if someone hit on this, but the fenders on 2002s are trivial to remove -- separate the two inches holding it to the nose, unbolt the 10mm screws holding it to the inner wall, and it's off. So it's easy to have a look underneath it for rust. In contrast, on a coupe, the fenders are lap-seamed, joined at the lower corner of the windshield. There's no way to get it off without pulling the windshield and doing some serious cutting. Also, what appears to be a solid rocker panel on a coupe is actually a really wide metal trim piece. I never would believe that what was underneath it wasn't perforated without seeing recent photographs or taking it off myself, and that's difficult on someone else's car. Ditto with the rear shock towers -- they're covered with plastic liners and they shatter into pieces from age if you try and bend them back to look.

If you look at a coupe, take a flashlight, crouch down, flip down the glovebox and look forward and up at the firewall and inspect it for perforations, then do the same thing on the hood latch / fusebox side. Coupe front fenders have a water trap where moisture gets in and rots it out and perforates the firewall. Often the first sign of trouble is electrical problems from the fusebox getting wet.

The cost difference in both body and parts between coupes and 02s is narrowing, so while the coupes clearly used to be much more expensive, I think this is less of an issue.

Of course, the coupe is a Karmann-built body, and if you learn one automotive joke, it has to be... why to the Brits drink warm beer (lucas refrigerators)... but if you learn TWO automotive jokes, the second one has to be that Karmann invented rust, then licensed the process to the Italians.

But, full circle, it's all about what moves you...

[-=Charley]

wow. this is a nasty filthy porn thread.

[reichelroque]

Wow! Thanks for all the great pictures and advice So I think what it comes down to is....just buy the best car you can afford period. Whether it's a CS or tii, I'm not sure yet. I'll keep you guys posted though!