Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 2004

gletley

Need a bit of help.

We are thinking of buying a Vauxhall Corsa Twinport 1.2 2004 with 111000 on the clock. The price we've offered is £600 and with a bit of research the price is usually £800. The car is in very good condition, a few scratches, but nothing that really stands out for the age of the car.
Has anyone ever owned one of these and can I have some feedback good or bad please. Do you think this is a bit risky for the mileage. The last car we had was a Ford Focus 02 65000 on the clock when bought and a bundle of trouble after just three months.

BeenThroughItAll

At that price, you have to assume there will be issues, and plan for how you'll pay to fix them unless you can do it yourself.


If it's not a private sale, walk away - a dealer selling a car for £600 is making a profit, so your £600 goes a lot further with a private purchase.


If you're spending that kind of amount, there is only one thing to consider - condition; if you're not confident assessing that, get someone competent to do so to look at the car on your behalf.

gletley

It is a private sale, the owner has had to give up driving due to age and poor sight, but it has been regularly serviced and the m.o.t is till February. We have been out in it and it sounds ok, although it takes a bit of getting used to a small car. My husband is going to go out this morning and give it some welly to see how it performs before making a decision. Our Focus had only 65000 miles, when purchased for a lot more money, but in two years, it cost us a fortune in grief.
It's like a mine field out there buying a a car:(

gletley

I'd just add, we took a mechanic friend with us to buy the focus, he said it was fine, it was for the first three month.

BeenThroughItAll

gletley wrote: »

I'd just add, we took a mechanic friend with us to buy the focus, he said it was fine, it was for the first three month.

Well unfortunately, cars do break sometimes without any obvious sign. Taking someone along isn't a guarantee of longevity.


If you want guaranteed reliability (or at least limited cost when things go wrong, with a decent warranty), you need to buy new or pay more.

gletley

Wish we could.

facade

It is a small engine with big mileage, probably well on the way to worn out. At that mileage wheelbearings, waterpumps, alternators, master cylinders start to give up, not expensive individually, but you end up chasing failures all the time.

I had a 2003 Corsa, which wore out the timing chain in 40,000 miles (great design by vauxhall, to get an enclosed chain running in near perfect conditions to wear out), it also kept seizing the short handbrake cable, and knocking out the anti-roll bar links, - oh and the aircon failed shortly before that too.

So about as good as any other car really.....

BeenThroughItAll

gletley wrote: »

Wish we could.

In which case you have to accept that there is a risk that any car you buy at the sub-grand price point may well only last 3 months or may generate unexpected bills; whether you buy a Focus or a Corsa, the risk remains the same and whether it's working 100% perfectly today or not, that won't change.

wgl2014

For £600 you can just run it with basic servicing until it gives in then buy another and do the same. If you could do your own oil changes and other basic jobs you will lower your costs significantly.

CHR15

I agree with going for condition.
It's a common car and will come with common faults. Parts are common and as cheap as you can get. Mechanics in any garage will know the car well so no problems getting it fixed locally.

System

gletley wrote: »

The last car we had was a Ford Focus 02 65000 on the clock when bought and a bundle of trouble after just three months.

Doesn't surprise me, the annual mileage is very low suggesting that it has either spent all its time doing short local journeys which really wear a car out quickly or long periods stood which doesn't do a vehicle good either.

A good yard stick is around 8000-10000 miles per year for the age of the car so if a car is 10 years old then you're better off buying one that has done 80-100,000 miles than one that's done only 60,000 miles.