|
Posts: 3
Since: 26/4/2007
Status: offline
|
Be careful with a £9k car. Most of the "right" cars will cost in the order of £15k - however, a £9k car could cost far more than that to put right. SImple things that will break, and if your £9k car hasn't had the work done, it will imminently need...: Suspension Actuators (£800 x 4 parts cost only) Throttle Body (from memory about £2,500 parts cost) ABS ECU (around £2500 again) Timing chains - yes, they have cam belts that need changing every 3 years for ££££, but they also have chains at the back of each head. These need changing at 65,000 miles and are engine out, so more expensive again. Most £9k cars should have had this service, but they invariably don't do it. You can make a real mess of a 3200 engine if they don't get changed. Finally, the dreaded crank end float. Many 3200's (some estimates are over half) are afflicted with this. There's no way to tell if a car has it unless you're changing a cambelt, or the engine grenades. If not caught, your 3200 is scrap. Better to buy one proven not to have it - at very best, you're looking at £6k+ to fix. If I had just had my 3200 serviced and was told it had crank end float (and if I were not entirely scrupulous) I would be tempted to bung it out there "freshly serviced" for £9k. In a nutshell, if anything goes wrong, it is in the order of 10x more than any other £9k car to fix. My advice is to spend the extra ££ now and get one where all the blood has been shed!
|
