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What do you reckon.....?
Comments
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LIquefied Petroleum gas.Erm, what's this - good/bad?! lol
If it has a fitted, working LPG system, then it's good for you, because it means you can fill up on LPG at about 80p/litre. You will need that to help fuel economy.
Expect no more than 20Mpg around town and 25Mpg on longer journeys with this heavy car, 2.8 litre engine and an auto box.
They're good cars, comfy, good cruisers, and quite powerful. there are things to watch out for with them though.
200k miles is nearing the end of life for any car even a well built beamer like this one. I'd want to see receipts for recent work, at the very least a record of oil changes over the last 100,000 miles so you know it's been maintained even in it's twilight years.
The engine has a cam chain, not a cam belt, so they don't need that swapping. They can wear out though. Listen for rattling/knocking on start up and when cold or revved. A slight "ticking" noise, louder on the passengers side of the engine is just the injectors, and nothing to worry about.
Check for blue smoke on revs. These engines can like to drink oil at high milage. Check the oil level too - if it's low walk away. If you do buy it, check the oil level weekly until you're happy it's not using any or it's not using "much". No shame in it using up to 1L/1000 miles at this age, but if it's using more than that or laying a smoke screen, it points to engine troubles.
Also check that the gearbox is smooth, silent and shifts cleanly without clonks or bangs. A dead auto box will write your car off, so have a good drive before you commit to spending your money on it.
Check unde rthe car, engine and gearbox, for any fluid weeping/seeping. A bit of oil/grease is to be expected, a slick is not.
Normally I'd recommend that a buyer changes the fan belt, (£15) the water pump (£30) and spark plugs (£12) and oil and filter change (£40) on one of these cars as preventative maintenance. All of that can be done on your drive way for under £100 by a semi competent mechanic. If you feel that's a worth while investment, then get it done. If you save £50 off asking price through haggling, why not spend that money just doing an oil change for peace of mind?
To be honest, if it's got a years MOT and tax for £500 you can't go far wrong. Buy it, ignore minor faults and see how it lasts you. They are worth £200 in scrap, so even if you have to get rid next year, that's £1/day in depreciation.
Bangernomics is about being unsentimental about cars. As soon as you care about it, you've lost. Buy a car, run it until it breaks in a way you can't fix economically then scrap it and find another.0 -
Ha, I love it!!
My Kuga is on HP with a current settlement of £12,427. It is worth £10500 minimum, hopefully slightly more
My plan is to sell this and top up the extra £2K purely to get out of my finance agreement. I have got 20 months left til the midpoint where I could hand the kuga back in, the finance payments alone would be close to £6000 without MOTs, tax, services etc. I figure that I'm best to spend the 2 grand now on getting rid of the car, even though it is effectively 'wasted money', it does save money in the long run!! 0 -
Weird Nev - you are a star!! I've never bought a used car before so I'm really worried about getting ripped off :-/ I think I could do with making a checklist to work through!!0
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528i auto is the best combination of that age. VERY good on fuel as they will be under 2000rpm at 80mph.
When it goes wrong, stick it on eBay fpr spares/repairs and you'll probbaly get your money back in full,.0 -
harveybobbles wrote: »VERY good on fuel as they will be under 2000rpm at 80mph.
The advert says the combined fuel economy is 26.4 mpg, that's hardly good, let alone VERY good...0 -
Ultrasonic wrote: »The advert says the combined fuel economy is 26.4 mpg, that's hardly good, let alone VERY good...
Yeah, not great is it? Maybe I need to look for something else...To be honest I'm getting fed up of researching and looking for cars, lol. I need a husband to do it for me!!0 -
This looks a nice 'banger' too http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201306217425485
There's some right cheap cars about
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201306267493782/
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013061873467640
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