Looking at a car in Leeds for my sister to learn to drive in - a staff member at the university is selling his Seat Cordoba for what I reckon is a good price for the car. The ad is below, it's got 2 new front tyres, service receipts from local independent, and had a timing belt change at 60k.
1997R (Dec) SEAT CORDOBA 1.9 TDi Diesel SE 4dr Saloon,
74,000 miles, Metalic Red, MOT and Tax 11/06.
Excellent condition, reliable powerful and economical
diesel engine, a pleasure to drive, owned for 5 years,
1 previous owner, electric windows,
A/C, Radio/CD ,Driver's Air Bag. £1,395.
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i know its pretty old now but at that price and a good deisel engine id buy it for that, try and offer 1150 or there abouts. what is in the se spec, any air con etc
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Might not be the cheapest to insure for a learner....
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I daresay for the learning my sister will be insured as a named driver in it. Being a female, her insurance will be half mine anyway ;)
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We insured youngest daughter in her own right as a provisional licence holder when she was learning in the Fiesta . Passing the test made no difference. You're right about females being cheap though (err...you know what I mean ;-) )
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I cant think of a worse car to learn to drive in,its a slab sided high booted car,the poor girl unless very good will never master the art of reversing in one of those.
Get her a nice fiesta encore with power steering £1295 should buy something tasty out of autotrader in leeds.
She can go the olds mans car when she is a confident pass plus
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oh and the price is spot on for clean through the block,so kick the man if you really want it,a grand + a little i would offer if it was really nice
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Thanks everyone for the help. I'll see what it's like to reverse when I have a look at it on Wednesday. Sister can handle my Xsara hatchback with tiny rear window so she might be OK with this.
Regarding test drives, how does one sort out insurance? When I sold my Astra I insured it "Any Driver" for a month, is it unreasonable to ask a seller to do the same? Can I get a policy to cover me for a day in something? Can he?
Or should I let him do the test driving? If that's the case, what sort of faults could I miss through not actually driving it?
Cheers,
David.
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If all else fails you can normally add the car to your insurance for 24hrs for a nominal fee ( around £5)
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let him drive but make it a long one,give him a fiver and ask him for 10 miles if you are happy with how it looks.
motorway town and a few junctions,when you get back to house check for oil and water escapees on and under engine dress casual so you can get down and get under.
on journey look for the usual pulling on brakes, how he drives, smoke from exhaust when he boots it,engine speed hopping or missing as he boots, it etc.
Check all tyres and rims for damage (irrespective that 2 are new) and fit of all doors and bonnet and boot,make sure everything works,look at log book to see his name is in it as you dont know him personally?
check to see the servicing has been done and the belt,then drop the million dollar question......
Has the car got any faults?and watch his face if he is truly honest then you will see with his reaction (easy really innit)
..............hpi to come off the price that you agree £44 at the moment i think and bob could be your uncle,but make sure sister sees it first and is happy with shape and colour
remember not cheap road tax at £175 a year plus as said its an insurance group 8e
good luck..............fiesta would be better though ;)
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Going to look at it Wednesday - does anyone know who makes the diesel engine that goes in these? What sort of MPG should it be returning?
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Engine is a VW TDi with 90 bhp, straight from the same-era Golf.
45 mpg if mainly around town, mid-50s if mainly open road, assuming fairly gentle driving rather than thrashing anyway.
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Engine same as VW Golf/Bora TDi etc. A small common fault is the failure of the 'air mass flow sensor' It happened three times to my VW '99 Bora TDi
Symptoms are that the engine becomes very sluggish with the turbo not working properly. Sensor can be replaced for around £100.
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Went and had a look at it. Fantastic to drive, but am seriously concerned about the rust on the wheel arches. It's more than "a little bit", and I disagree with the chap's opinion that the metal is solid underneath, as one bit looked extremely fragile and I think if I'd pushed harder my finger would have gone through.
Best to walk away, I think, unless he knocks something stupid off the price.
Looking at other cars now, thinking about an Astra diesel (old shape) and possibly a Rover 200. Any other suggestions? Have about 1300 pounds to spend. Must be diesel, must not be a Ford or a Volvo. (Fords because we don't like them, Volvos because it was a Volvo driver who ran me over.)
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Find a Rover 200 with the L Series engine. Tough and reliable, but don't expect it to be very refined.
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Been looking, but every single Rover 200 in Autotrader has been snapped up. Any other suggestions? :-)
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Strange, nobody wanted them when they were new ;-)
You could look for the 400 saloon, early ones had the PSA XUD engine, later ones Rover L Series again (from 'P' reg IIRC)
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Just bought a Vauxhall Astra 1.7TD, P-reg, 90k, 995 pounds. Looks to be in excellent condition and the dealer will put 12 months MOT on it.
Brakes are a bit squidgy but I think they always are on an Astra. They still stop the car fine as tested at a set of traffic lights which turned red as I started moving. Stopped fine but the white van driver behind me nearly didn't! Look of horror on dealer's face etc, though assume if I stamp on brakes to avoid going through a red light and someone hits me from behind it's not my fault...
Bit of blue smoke when he started it but none under heavy acceleration, though it's interesting how much more enthusiatic my Xsara is in 3rd gear. Very nice car though, in that sort of posh champagne gold.
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