Austin Mini Cooper or VW Karmann Ghia?

**space invader** · October 24th, 2006 05:38 PM

state of dilemma.. i've seen karmann ghia sa may parking lot sa araneta cubao.. very rare and one of a kind.. but i'll choose mini nlng cguro.. very fun to drive and easily appreciated on the road..head turner, cguro because of the influence of mr. bean.. hehehehe..

**qman** · October 24th, 2006 06:10 PM

Im for Mini ... head turner but I havent driven one

OT

Mini and Miata was was my choces before sa project/weekend/restoration car... pero now sa ford mustang na ko

If only have the moolaah

**niky** · October 24th, 2006 10:13 PM

Agree with some of the other posts... The Mini is a great resto-mod car, and you'll have to mod some stuff... the stock Mini electricals are crap, and many people replace them with Japanese parts.

Hmmm... a front wheel drive four seater box is more fun to drive than a rear engined coupe? Heaven forfend!

But it is true, sharing the VW engine makes the Karmann Ghia kinda sluggish, and the Mini is the closest thing to a go-kart you can drive on the road (go-kart = no suspension, quick handling, quick acceleration but low top speed...

)

The Karmann Ghia would be easier to take care of, mechanically, though... and there are ways to soup up the VW engine...

Both cars would be difficult to care for cosmetically, anyway, so I guess the choice is up to you.

I vote for both.

**jlo1** · October 24th, 2006 11:08 PM

thanks for all the inputs.
was able to see the karmann again this afternoon, had a chance to drive it...not bad for a 44 year old car. learned that the engine was replaced with a 1600 vw engine, still air cooled. by the way, everything is original except for the front seats, the engine, and of course the paint.
i was also able to set up a sched. for a test drive with the mini either saturday or sunday. hopefully, after this test drive, i would be able to decide. i'm keeping my fingers crossed that either 1 would still be available when i make up my mind.
pls. keep all the suggestions and advices coming...

**niky** · October 25th, 2006 12:12 AM

Hmmm... 1600 na yung engine ng Karmann? So it's pretty peppy, isn't it?

**slyfox** · October 25th, 2006 01:11 AM

just out of curiousity...how much are you most likely to spend on restoring either car (the KG and the mini). i know it all depends on the state of the car pero rough estimate mga magkano kaya? TIA

**the_wildthing** · October 25th, 2006 01:44 AM

Hmm... ang tanong san galing ang 1600? Sa bagong Super Beetle?

**t43m4n** · October 25th, 2006 02:48 AM

I'd go with Karmann Ghia. Poor man's porche

**wildthing** · October 25th, 2006 05:24 AM

the orig engine ng KG ay 2.0L and not 1.6L....kahit hindi superbeetle series merun nilabas na 1.6L...mas maganda lang yung superbeetle kasi dual carb.

Pag binili mo yung KG, it would be best to put back in a 2.0L engine (likely a donor engine is available naman - mostly coming from the volkwagen van).

**jlo1** · October 25th, 2006 08:36 AM

wildthing, most probably it came from a super beetle. i also searched the net regarding the original engine of a type 1 '62 karmann, which is a 1.2L 40hp engine. also, the it came out with a 6 volt electrical system. the unit that i test drove yesterday had been upgraded into a 12 volt electrical system. most probably, if i get this car, i might just retain the engine and its current set up. i'm sure it would be very hard to source out an original karmann engine.
slyfox, cost would depend on the degree one plans to restore a car. some authentic hard to find parts are very expensive to acquire.