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Taking mrs RR to see one tomorrow, I've had a look over it myself and it's in superb condition. 90k and the guy wants 1200 for it. Anything I should look for or beware of?
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Would have thought 1200 for a 12 year old Corsa is pretty steep?
Male sure it's not red. It was very susceptible to pink fade!
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Searching online at used prices I got 1395 for good condition private. it's silver and you don't need to tell me about red, mines red and fading fast.
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Isn't SXi the boy racer wanabe version? Istr 'Comfort' was the sensible alternative spec, with softer suspension on steel wheels but otherwise the same.
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Sounds a nice wee car Robin. Something at the back of my mind says check for camshaft wear or somesuch but I might be wrong. Not entirely sure I'd know how to do that anyway. I find that not knowing if there's a potential problem usually leads to there not being one. Blissful ignorance and all that. I've had cars which were supposed to self destruct several times over but I found my strategy of ignoring that and just sort of driving them by and large worked. Conversely I've also had new well maintained ones which let me down. Depends which side of the bed the gremlin got out I suppose.
Aren't used cars expensive now though? Guy across the road has just paid £2000 for a 13 year old VW Lupo for his girlfriend. Good, ( very good ) nick but it seems like a lot to me. Maybe it isn't.
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>> Sounds a nice wee car Robin. Something at the back of my mind says check
>> for camshaft wear or somesuch but I might be wrong.
>>
According to HJ's car by car thing the camshaft bearing bolts can work loose leading to a broken shaft. he reckons about £40 to get them checked and tightened if it hasn't already been done. The guy selling it (It's his wifes) is someone I know to chat to and they seem a decent couple, they're second owners and he was a valeter at the Vaux main dealer from where he bought the car.
The trouble with looking at CBC type websites is that every car ever made has a few potentially expensive weak points listed, the cost of failure being enough to make your blood run cold. Overall Corsas seem to have a good reputation and there are loads around so they must have been a decent lump in the main.
You're right about s/h prices at the moment, I don't know if it's just round here but there are some stupid prices being asked for some very old tin. Looked at an R reg Fiesta at a local dealers this morning, £1250! The explanation was it had only 37,000 miles from new supported by MoT certs. A couple of months of regular use and god knows what would have given up the ghost after 15 years of mostly cold running.
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>>
>> You're right about s/h prices at the moment, I don't know if it's just round
>> here but there are some stupid prices being asked for some very old tin. Looked
>> at an R reg Fiesta at a local dealers this morning, £1250! The explanation was
>> it had only 37,000 miles from new supported by MoT certs. A couple of months
>> of regular use and god knows what would have given up the ghost after 15
>> years of mostly cold running.
>>
Having been round tyre kicking with both Spamettes over the last year or so then prices for anything that a 17/18 year old will be able to insure are bonkers. I got fed up with looking at rusty 13 year Fiestas (didn't see one without welded sills) going for 1K+. Corsas were even more expensive and there's the aforementioned camshaft thing to worry about. Spamette Minor's 02 plate base model Micra for 1K was hardly a bargain, but at least it's solid underneath. I could've bought a nice tidy FSH Omega CDX for the same money, probably a tad tricky to insure an 18 year old on it mind you ;-)
EDIT: and oh yes. there's plenty of folk out there who think a few random old MOTs constitute FSH!!"!!
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Wed 24 Jul 13 at 08:28
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>> Aren't used cars expensive now though? Guy across the road has just paid £2000 for
>> a 13 year old VW Lupo for his girlfriend. Good, ( very good ) nick
>> but it seems like a lot to me. Maybe it isn't.
>>
I believe that, for some reason,the Lupo has a bit of a following on the VW scene, so I expect there's a premium in price as a result. Is it lime green? Crazy pricing though; a new Up, the Lupo's successor, can be had for under £8k brand new. 13 years and still worth 25% of the price of a new one is pretty good - if you're selling! Just need to hope the Up! holds its value too. Well, that and keep ours another 12 years... :-)
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>> Is it lime green?
No it's red remarkably enough. Remarkable in that the paintwork is like new. In fact the whole car seems to be a bit of a time machine. At first, when he brought it home I had to double take because it genuinely looks brand new. Whoever prepped it for sale did a fine job.
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If it's the chain cam engine, then yes, checking the cam bearings for tightness is time well spent. Unless a bodger has been there before with gasket goo, there's a good chance that you won't need a new cam cover gasket - the seal is quite robust.
Also listen carefully for timing chain noise.
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>>
>> I believe that, for some reason,the Lupo has a bit of a following on the
>> VW scene,
>>
That was my last driving tuition car, bought new in 2001 and run to just under 100k before I sold it to another instructor. The day I got rid of it it was running just as sweet as the day I bought it, not a squeak or rattle anywhere and a very nice car to drive. It was easily the best of quite a few tuition cars I'd used over the years, the only bugbear being the eye watering cost of the obligatory 40k cambelt change.
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Yes, I didn't mean that comment to appear quite as dismissive as it does reading it back! I think the Lupo is a great looking littte car. It's just that old Polos, bar the 'Coupe' version of the early ones and the later GTI, don't seem to attract the same attention. Mark 1 and 2 Golfs do, but later ones don't. The Lupo's immediate successor, the Fox, is the antithesis of VW scene fashion!! I'm sure that VW want the Up! to take over the Lupo's mantle - I suspect they're trying too hard to succeed though. Rock Up! anyone ;-)
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I seem to remember when I was looking at cars for my 17 year old daughter, the Lupo ws one of the few in Group 1 insurance? Or maybe that was the Seat Arosa.?
Either way, cheap insurance means a price premium nowadays
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Had one as a courtesy car. Tappety engine, handling really wasn't confidence inspiring. I understand now why there are so many on their roof on the traffic police programmes.
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Ah well, for better or for worse picking it up tomorrow or Friday. Had a drive today, it really is in superb condition, immaculate inside and out and the engine is as sweet as a nut, no rattles or squeaks. Doing a bit of research the camshaft problem seems confined to 05/06 models where the bearing caps were incorrectly torqued, so with the lack of any top end clatter I thought it worth a punt.
The actual mileage is 83k, the guy's other car and Honda CX500 bike are both in pristine condition as is the house so I'll trust him when he says he is fastidious about maintenance. Even under the bonnet there isn't a trace of dirt and the original spare is still there unused. He has been using full synthetic oil and is only the second owner, FSH all stamped up.
Mrs RR is happy enough with it, as always time will tell but I've seen so many sheds the last week or so we're in with a fighting chance.
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Very good. Sounds like a proper little car. Hope it serves you and yours well.
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Thanks Humph.
No gloating now when tech forum gets filled up with, "Yet another problem with this blasted Corsa..."
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>>the original spare is still there unused
Some would be most unhappy about fitting a 12-year-old tyre.
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When full sized spares were the norm, I used to put it on with one other new tyre when the first pair needed replacing. This would then mean that instead of buying two replacement tyres you only had to buy one that time and the spare would be still usable but worn.
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>> Some would be most unhappy about fitting a 12-year-old tyre.
>>
Some would, but as it's on a steel rim it would only be used as a get to a tyre depot to have the alloy re-shod so I ain't ;-)
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no problem, no has fitted the spare.
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>> Ah well, for better or for worse picking it up tomorrow or Friday.
I have to add (after my previous message on smart phone - don't like typing on that much), that the one I drove was my mechanics courtesy car and he picks up anything he can lay his hands on if it's cheap. This was a daughters car that had been bought for her by her father, then the engine blew up a month later. He couldn't be bothered with it, so probably virtually gave it to my mechanic who slotted in a used engine.
Judging by the large bore exhaust and well used interior, I don't think that this one had the most pampered of lives :)
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'01 Corsa 1.2 SXi - BobbyG
