Help me decide what to do?????

[blueorb]

This guy has just E mailed me about this car.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 40961&rd=1

I spoke to him yesterday, seems genuine enough. I am considering buying, but viewing is a pain in the ass, as he is in liverpool.

If I can haggle him lower than £3,800 (His asking price) to say £3,500, could this be a bargain?

I have also been offered shafs motor,
http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/profile.ph ... file&u=259
in a week or two, and I have spoken with topspec imports, who assure me they can source a black gt with low mileage for £4,000.

So what the hell shall I do?

If I look at the one in liverpool, is there anyrhing that I should check other than the obvious.....Accident damage, noisy engine, water in the oil, Turbo not boosting, uneven tyre wear,

Is there any way to check mileage is true? Is a hpi check worth doing on an import?

Is no jap history a bad thing?

Any other questions that I should ask this guy before a viewing?

Hope you can help

Cheers guys

[nikaso]

It seems a bit cheap if you get it for £3500, are you sure you can't shell out some more cash for a Rev 3?

[psmiff]

Its been in this country since 1998 so UK history is more relevant.

[blueorb]

The guy in Liverpool says that it is a friend car. He is selling as a favour, due to the friend being abroad. There is no history, however, the car has been stood in a garage for a number of years unused. Since its import in 98' it has covered aprox 10,000km

Sounds like a good un.

Trying to haggle price at the moment, hope he will go to £3600

[prezjamin]

Check around the owners clubs for buying guides, someone is bound to have one. I think there used to be one on the www.mr2oc.co.uk site, in the know ur 2 section, but i am not sure.

You cant realy tell if it is a minter till you go and see it, might be you have found a bargain, if he is indeed selling it for a mate who is abroad then his mate probably just wants rid of it as he is not using it. I am unsure about this one, go and look at it, maybe there is an IMOC member in Liverpool who you can meet up with to check the car over, worth a shoutout on here to see.

[blueorb]

The guy has spoken with his mate in Thailand, who said that he will sell for no lower than £3,650. I am happy with this so I am going to view it tomorow. Just about to do a hpi check first.

This guy certainly sounds genuine and has invited me to contact the previous owner also. He said that this car has more or less stood in a garage for 4 years due to the owner being mostly overseas.

Anyway, Ill post tomorow to let you know how I got on.

Hopefully Ive bagged me a bargain!

May even make the Derby meet in my own tubby!! WHOOSH

[MegatronUK]

Just one word of advice; don't rush it... there are plenty of cars out there to choose from.

[blueorb]

HPI'd the car this pm, All checks out as it should.

The guy assures me he wouldnt waist my time if the car wasnt mint, as it isnt his car anyway, so it can sit there as long as it likes, it doesnt matter to him.

The car is compleatly standard, no dump valves, or any of that milarky!

Lokking foward to seeing the car, will let you know how I get on.

I have looked at a few this week which have been absolute crap. So I have a comparison.

[blueorb]

So after paying £25 for hpi and going nearly 150 miles to liverpool, what did I find,

ANOTHER FOOKIN LEMON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so the car wasn't bad, but it wasn't the showroom example that I had been promised either.

It has scuffs and scratches all over the body work.

Spoiler badly painted (Reaction on paint)

Leather seats worn out (After only 66,000 km?) Very strange!

Engine oil black

Expansion bottle recently topped up with plain water, no sign of any coolant at all?

Engine a little noisy (Poss running low octaine fuel)

Unwillingness of engine power. Not making noticable boost untill 4000rpm

So, I am not very happy. Why cant people be honest about these things?


£2000 maybe worth it? £3600 certainly not!!!

I am begining to wonder if it is worth owning one of these cars or not?

Lets see what Shafs car is like.....................

[Jon Bradley]

at least you did view it before bidding

[DannyW]

Shaf's is a nice motor. but it certainly isn't "immaculate" What car of this kind of age is?

At least with shaf's you know it has been maintained regardless of cost and it has had a recent engine change which i see as a bonus.

And i can tell you now that Shaf doesn't thrash his cars either (well maybe his company Poxhall Ashtray, but who cares about that?)

I definately reccomend that you view his car (and it ain't pink really!).


Cheers!

DannyW

[blueorb]

Yeah, I hear what your saying about old car and all that, but I would expect a car to reflect its mileage. This car that had supposidly been garaged for 4 years and only done 66,000km (41,000m) should have driven better than it did. My wifes vw polo has done more mileage, yet still feels like new.

I get annoyed when your told that something is "Outstanding" and "Showroom condition" Only to find that its below average.

I looked at a black gts in a salvage yard a few days ago which was a better car, only the head gasket looked like it was on its way out. He wanted £2,000 for it.

I dont mind spending a little more for an older car if its in good nick. I know that some of these cars are 12 years old, but surley there must be some well kept motors.

I am seriously considering importing one from Japan with Topspec imports
http://www.topspec-imports.com/jap_contact_us.htm
Although, how do you know what your getting until its too late?

I thought about maybe checking out their stock to get a feel for quality.

What do you think?

[Leon.]

Really sympathise with you....... I also get peed off with ar$eholes claiming to have a showroom example car etc.

Although I have to say, if a car had been sitting in a garage for 4 years I don't think I'd be intereted as its probably seized up - especially whens it been sitting with crap oil in it! Cars are meant to be driven, its really not good for them to sit around......

When I was 17 and looking for my first car I travelled 1.5 hours each direction to find a heap of junk! I also wasted my parents time in the process!!

Fortunately, after seeing a few crap examples of '2's in one garage, I went to a Toyota dealer and stumbled across my beauty, and knew I had to have it!! It helped that I was looking for a 6 year old car but there are some goodens out there you just have to patient I'm afraid.