Buying a secondhand Rover Metro

joho

My mum is considering buying the above. It is P plate, has 24k miles, MOT etc to June 2013 and only £600. (private sale)

Now, not being experts at buying secondhand cars what should she be looking for and asking about? I know that is very,very low mileage for such an old car, but I believe it belonged to a pensioner and wasn't used much (my mum won't be using it much either; just an occasional trip to the shops).

Also with it being a Rover Metro is it likely to be difficult to get parts should any work need doing?

Would these be some of the prudent questions to ask?
1. what work was required to get it through the last MOT?
2. why such low mileage?
3. no outstanding finance etc? LOL.

Thanks for help.
Jo

Bufger

They are the easiest things in the world to fix. Main problems are normally with the radiator so a quick look under the bonnet for holes in the radiator is a start. If you're not used to buying cars:

Make sure its at the owner/keepers home address when you go to see it. check underneath for oil patches on the driveway etc. You'll want to look for rust patches in the bodywork, the wheel arches and sills (underneath the car just below the doors) are usually the first to rust.

Start it up and see how long it takes for the temp gauge to go to normal. If its quick then they've started it before you got there, doing a cold start is always better to see if it copes!

Make sure you drive it before you buy it.

Thats about it really. They're a really nice little car and they're so easy to keep on the road. I owned 2 and we've had 10-20 in the family over the years. You're lucky to find one with such low milleage, its always the pensioners you get Metro bargains from!

Just noticed the questions:
If they've confirmed it was a pensioner then thats the reason for low milleage.
There wont be any outstandnig finance on a metro... ask if they've ever had finance against vehicle though just incase.
Ask if they have the service history and if you can see it before sale. Thats a standard question really

colino

I think Metros, remember just a cheap spice up of the Mini when BL/Leyland were at the helm, have had their day.
The engines are generally unburstable, due to their ancient design, low tech and lack of stress, but the quality on everything is just so poor.
The underneath will generally be a patchwork of rust, save only for the areas protected by the oil leaking from the engine, the petrol tank will be like swiss cheese and everything will be seized, rusted or fallen off.
As you can tell, I'm not a great fan, their great to whizz around in for half an hour (nippy because they weigh 4 grammes) but their high sill, low windscreen and narrow width will soon make you wish you hadn't bothered.

funkycoldribena

Received 1 star in ncap crash tests....

MX5huggy

funkycoldribena wrote: »

Received 1 star in ncap crash tests....

A good result for a small car designed in the 70's

mikey72

97 was the last year for the metro, for £600 it's a good price, with a years MOT. They sell for only a few hundred less as a non runner on ebay.

jaydeeuk1

If you agree with euthanasia then by all means get your mum to buy one. Even a trolley ding could be life threatening. I've been on one once - never ever again, cigarette paper is thicker than the doors.

mikey72

So, what decent small car, with a years MOT do you recommend for £600, with a higher ncap rating?

vax2002

On a P plate the underneath will be like a bag of crisps.

Bufger

I've had a rear and side impact in a metro. You wouldnt want to crash one at 60mph+ but at 30 I had no injuries. and neither of them were writeoffs either! (although for £500 they would be).

At the end of the day if you want something with a high NCAP rating then get a modern car. Safety ratings werent prevelant in the 90's. Why dont you go the whole mile and look for something with an EU5 emissions standard too, concentrate on pedestrian safety and even have the car independantly tested at MIRA just incase?

You get what you pay for. If you want safety then go for model produced after 1998.

Bufger

vax2002 wrote: »

On a P plate the underneath will be like a bag of crisps.

Not if it hasnt been driven. 28k milleage?! that thing probably hasnt even seen a wet road and there isnt a great deal of water that can get underneath a parked car. Its always worth checking but i'd be more concerned about the oil and engine on an older low milleage car, i would bet there was never a journey over 2 miles long in its life.