Off Topic The Goodhand Arms

Well I know the obvious like check doors/windows etc. all work and biting point on clutch. Also to ask when can belt was down... has 80k miles at the moment.

Just wondered if anything else as I know **** all about cars.

It's only been MOT'd in the past week or so i believe...

 

Check if there are any advisories on the MOT. If something is on the way out but ok for the MOT they sometimes note it on the MOT. Take it for a drive then check the engine again to see if it has oil (or something else) leaking. Sometimes people clean them up so it looks ok.

 

All good advice above, but I could also add don't look for a Fiesta. Get a Toyota Yaris. Of course, the words 'cheap' and 'Toyota Yaris' are not generally seen in the same sentence. People know how good and reliable they are.

Mind you, you could have been asking about a Vauxhall Corsa, then I would be foaming at the mouth.

 

A little variation:

 

That's the exact sort of car I'm looking for though.

Will be first car and only want it to last a year, only looking to spend 4-500 quid.

 

OK, 400-500 quid for an 80K Fiesta with a new MOT.? Bite their arm off.

How old is this car, by the way.?

 

2000.

Failed MOT last Wednesday, passed Monday but still has 4/5 advisories by the looks of it.

Looks like brakes need doing fairly soon.

Up for £500.

Only done around 200 miles in the past year or so though...

 

I got an 80k mile corsa for £450, runs fine so far but I shall see what the mot brings in August...

 

When did you buy it mate out of interest?

Did it have advisories on it's last mot?

Ideally a Corsa/Fiesta is what I'm looking for.

 

Funnily enough, I was given a Fiat Seicento with 87K on the clock, which had been sat for most of the last year. Very good body, almost zero rust [Fiats haven't rusted badly for years, but don't tell anybody]. Through its MOT with something like 3 advisories, which I have decided to tackle before the year is up. But it's the non-MOT elements which are going to take time. It has the achilles heel Cinquecento/Seicento noisy hydraulic tappet, which I'm 100% sure will mean a replacement rocker assembly eventually. Also, because it has been a second or third car all of its life, it hasn't been serviced regularly or properly [something you might take noate of with that Fiesta - got the service paperwork.?], so it has furred up coolant in it from donkey's years ago, and I'm sure the heater isn't working at its best. However, typically Fiat, the engine has bags of compression, so it is fundamentally OK. Should be a good, very economical, fun little runabout.

 

For pete's sake, not a Corsa. You'll regret it if you're motoring over winter. Even recent ones can leak like sieves. Which means rust, mould and stinky interiors. The clutch master cylinder has a habit of giving up the ghost as they are made entirely of plastic, except for the rubber seals. And whilst they can be relatively cheap to replace, good luck with bleeding them. The Vauxhall method requires special equipment. I have helped devise a system as a one off with existing equipment, but it's outside the expertise of the average person. I was lucky as I was working with a retired motor engineer who had been given the car, with full service history and less than 30K. Granted, this was a real lemon, but I know others who have owned them and they all suffered from similar issues. I thought bad design had gone out of vehicles these days, but I reserve the Corsa as the exception. The few good things about the design are overwhelming outweighed by the bad. Of the two, the Fiesta every time.

Oh, and the constant velocity joints rattle at full lock on 30K, which is appalling bad.

 

I hope you're lucky.

 

Me too

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February-ish, 2003 model. Great condition inside and out. It had:
Nearside Front tyre inner edge worn/wearing
Offside Front Brake hose has slight corrosion to ferrules (3.6.B.4e)

I bought it from my mechanic who had just got it on the cheap. He replaced all tyres prior to me purchasing. My mechanic is local and I've used for years, so he said try it for 2 weeks, then pay if you're happy with it.

Corsa's leak mate. I would advise going a different route if the problem has not been fixed already. Mine did which I imagine is probably why it was sold to the mechanic. The first day I drove mine home we had terrible weather, I realised the next day under the drivers feet was just pooling water. I told him about the leak and he knew exactly what it was and how to fix it, which he did, and then I paid him the amount we had agreed previously. So he fixed it free of charge basically. Took him a few hours. If you search corsa-c (I imagine that's the model you'll be looking at) drivers footwell leak, you will see thousands of others with the same problem. Handbrakes also go easily, but mines been fine since. Replaced the crap radio with a Sony I had from my last car (1996 Clio). Also if it has low mileage there's always the market to resell as first car/runaround for teenagers.

 

I've got a Corsa but will never, ever touch another one. Mine doesn't leak but virtually everything else has gone wrong with it and cost me over £2k in various repairs last year. The emissions warning light comes on for a week/off for a week at the moment but as I really want to buy another car I don't want to spend much more on this one if I can help it. Just need a nice little lottery win...

 

This day 2 weeks I'll be at Download festival for the first time..Anyone heading?

 

The Corsa I mentioned was a C model, but yes they all leak, as mentioned before. I have also dealt with the leak problem. In this case it was on both the driver and passenger sides and it's a real work up. On the driver's side it became part of the process of replacing the clutch master cylinder as well. It is only when you start to delve into the Corsa that you realise that the design is really poor, the quality of manufacture is too, and the car is prone to problems. The 30K one I helped to resurrect is still in the ownership of the retired guy, simply because it took so much trouble to solve the problems that he's going to enjoy some time with the result. However, at the moment he tells me that the radio has finally packed up, a couple of months after we'd solved the water leaks. To me that points to numerous bad connections through oxidation in the previously damp atmosphere. Oh, and I forgot that the electric power steering is a really poor design too and you can feel it hunting. That meant a removal of the steering column, with all the related dash panels coming off. Honestly, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't dealt with it. That C design is an accident waiting to happen.

Ha.! Just texted the chap about it and he came back with the one word answer, bargepole.!

 

And now the GOAT has injured himself badly: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/40056483

Jeez Vale, can't you just occasionally reel it in.?

 

I'm only keeping mine for a few more months. It was a cheap alternative as my Clio died one day and I needed a car (available the next day). + with the leak fixed I thought why not. It's a decent run around, depends if you get a good one.