Any advice or knowledge of this Car

[lowey260]

Well nice to meet you yesterday Dominic, And I was more than happy to meet you and view your possible purchase vin #151. As I say im no mechanic but I have owned a couple of 260’s now and was more than happy to take a look. From first impressions of the outside it did look a very tidy car, It seemed the Alloys had previously been painted while on the car as you could see overspray on the callipers but for a 60k motor the front end seemed very short on stone chips that are normally attracted to the front end possibly pointing to a blow over! The spec was very basic no options whatsoever apart from the leather interior. The drivers bolster had the usual signs of wear but the passenger seat was in just as bad condition which I haven’t come across before. Under the bonnet seemed ok, plenum chambers were full of leaves, no whine from the air con while we had it running but the lack of servicing was what concerned me. Independent dealer stamps in the service book, no paperwork to back it up, the first 3 stamps from the same dealer ticking all the option boxes which was strange and then in one year the car then covered 20k in a little of 12 months before servicing and then the most recent owner had completed his own servicing and wrote in the service book himself. But then on speaking to him other than changing the oil at 60k service he said he took the air filter out and it seemed fine so put it back. Now I know what a pain in the arse it is to get to the air filter and never seen a clean one and if you have gone to the trouble of removing it why not replace it? Same goes for the plugs he said he took a look they seemed fine so didn’t replace then. In my mind a full 60k service would have to be completed along with the possible replacement of the rear springs as they are the early springs and prone to failure. Once you add the costs on to the purchase price which is indeed a good price and the relatively lack of history with the car I think there are much better out there which have been looked after and maybe better to hold on a buy one for a few extra quid but that will probably need less money spending on it once purchased. There was just something niggly in the back of my mind that said this car was going to cost you money.

[Dominic22]

Thanks Paul.

And again a big thanks. I think you just conformed my feelings and in a way needed someone to back up the niggles I had. I am usually quite quick to make up my mind and the fact that I had taken a while and not yet bought it sort of backed the feelings I had. As you said it is a good price £3800 but if you suddenly start to add the 60K service possible springs etc then it does not look quite so cheap. Also cheap for these car's is not the over-riding reason to get them. You get it because you plan to keep it so maybe a bit extra money gets you what you want.

Dominic

[colintf]

that may be why a dealer hasn't snapped it up, or they found something on an HPI check