Don’t do as I do

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sun 4 May 2025 15:53
Don’t do as I do - SLO76
While off on a two week Med cruise I bought a car unseen that I wouldn’t recommend to anyone. A friend contacted me for a bit of advice regarding a newer car for her 83yr old dad. He settled on a Kia Ceed 1.0 turbo (he’s not sure which spec) but when I was told he’d been offered £1,000 for the 2013 Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi Zetec he’d had for the last 8yrs I quickly offered £1100 for it. It’s now sat on my drive awaiting my appraisal. Will report when I see it. If it’s as good as described it’ll do grand as a commuter for my work.
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Sun 4 May 2025 20:55
Don’t do as I do - SLO76
Update.

Needs about £200 of paint to the near side rear arch and that’s it. Drives great, no warning lights, no knocks or clunks, it’s immaculate inside and has half a tank of fuel as a bonus. Looks like a winner for £1,100.
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Sun 4 May 2025 21:19
Don’t do as I do - elekie&a/c doctor
Can’t go wrong with these . Just make sure it gets regular oil and filter change . Great smoker for a bag of sand . Might want to do the cambelt if it’s not already been done.
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Sun 4 May 2025 23:10
Don’t do as I do - SLO76
Can’t go wrong with these . Just make sure it gets regular oil and filter change . Great smoker for a bag of sand . Might want to do the cambelt if it’s not already been done.

Yeah, was digging through the history hoping to find a receipt for it. I’ll run it for a wee while to see if it’s ok and will get it done if so.
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Mon 5 May 2025 05:59
Don’t do as I do - gordonbennet

Hope you're feeling guilty SLO, you've done some poor starving car sales bod out of a nice little back hander and the trader who was going to retail it from a cool £1000+ flip profit.

Well done mate :-)

As above oil change pronto.

Edited by gordonbennet on 05/05/2025 at 06:00

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Mon 5 May 2025 06:36
Don’t do as I do - Orb>>.

I feel just as happy about the Kia venga I gave £2000 for 3 years ago. Does very few miles and had an interim service a few weeks ago. Youngrovergirl loves it as a good bit smaller than the Korando.

Keep us posted...

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Mon 5 May 2025 07:26
Don’t do as I do - paul 1963

Nice one SLO! Neighbours got one, never given any trouble.

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Mon 5 May 2025 07:40
Don’t do as I do - nellyjak

Good shout, Slo...and not a massive risk.

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Mon 5 May 2025 11:53
Don’t do as I do - Steveieb

Opportunities don’t come along like that everyday SLO.

As the tv advert says “ When you see an opportunity come along you have to grab it “

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Mon 5 May 2025 17:41
Don’t do as I do - Andrew-T

Hope you're feeling guilty SLO, you've done some poor starving car sales bod out of a nice little back hander and the trader who was going to retail it from a cool £1000+ flip profit.

Shame on you, SLO :-) As a trader you will know that £100 is a small fraction of any mark-up that might have happened - you could have been a bit more generous :-)

I could have got my 1991 Pug 205 'as is' from its one lady owner for nothing, but being an honest gent I asked her to get it through an MoT and I would pay a grand for it. That was 2½ years ago and I have spent rather more than that since, doing it up a bit. Didn't need a cambelt though, it got its first one at about 20 years old and 65K on the clock.

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Mon 5 May 2025 12:01
Don’t do as I do - RichardW

What have you done with the real SLO76?

All that bashing used diesels, and particularly the Ford / PSA 1.6, and now you have one :-)

The only real issue on this version is the cambelt (def wants changing ASAP) and occasionally chucking an injector. Not sure on the Ford implementation of the DPF, but the PSA system with the additive works really well.

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Mon 5 May 2025 20:47
Don’t do as I do - SLO76

What have you done with the real SLO76?

All that bashing used diesels, and particularly the Ford / PSA 1.6, and now you have one :-)

The only real issue on this version is the cambelt (def wants changing ASAP) and occasionally chucking an injector. Not sure on the Ford implementation of the DPF, but the PSA system with the additive works really well.

A reminder that to snag a bargain one needs to be none too fussy, just be at the right place at the right time.
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Mon 5 May 2025 20:49
Don’t do as I do - SLO76
Taxed my mighty new bargain banger (£20 for a year) and used it to travel to work and back without any issues - so far. Even the A/C works. Lots of wee scuffs and sc***es where elderly previous owner has had wee mishaps, but from a distance it’s quite presentable.

Edited by SLO76 on 05/05/2025 at 20:50

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Thu 8 May 2025 01:14
Don’t do as I do - expat

I will be very interested to hear how you get on with the diesel. They are generally thought to be a bad risk as they get older so if you can manage to keep it going without bursting the budget then perhaps they may not be so bad. Mind you one example being OK doesn't mean that most of them will be.

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Thu 8 May 2025 13:23
Don’t do as I do - catsdad

“Wee mishaps” is that in English or Scots? Hopefully the latter.

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Thu 8 May 2025 13:36
Don’t do as I do - Steveieb

Looks like your are a convert to Bangernomics SLO.

James Rupert will be proud of you !

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Thu 8 May 2025 14:19
Don’t do as I do - SLO76

Looks like your are a convert to Bangernomics SLO.

James Rupert will be proud of you !

James would only approve if I bought a 20yr old Jag or BMW X5 for the same money. He’s always advocating buying some daft heavy metal motors that would go in the bin after the slightest issue.
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Fri 9 May 2025 18:27
Don’t do as I do - DavidGlos
Love it. Your advice has always been:

Japanese
Petrol
Naturally aspirated
Don’t buy something you’ve not seen

…and you’ve done the exact opposite! Love it!

To be fair, provided you give it an Italian tune up once in a while and it gets regular oil changes, it’ll probably be good as gold.
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