I promise this is not laziness, but I'd like to act quicker than waiting until I have time to browse the web properly, or waiting until I can buy a secondhand car guide.
A colleague is selling a J reg (1991) white (needs a good t-cut by the looks of it) 1.0 base model Fiesta three door. 80k miles. standard stereo, 12 months MOT. She recons VGC, as a seller always does, but I honestly think "Yeah. Okay. Average."
Ideal first car for my newly qualified driver of a wife, in which case what guide price, or likely bag of nails?
I had intended to buy her something more recent, but this opportunity cropped up unexpectedly today.
Of course I will inspect more thoroughly before proceeding, but guideline advice would be appreciated, as I have plenty of knowledge on some cars, but none of it on early 90's Fiestas.
Many thanks,
Steve
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Steve,
In no particular order.....Fiestas are still in demand as a basic car. They are often short run/minimum servicing vehicles and their engines can in terrible condition. They rust more that some other makes so even if it looks tidy on top a good prod round underneath is needed. Most places understand them for inexpensive repairs.
Don't pay too much and look at the car-by car breakdown here.
David W
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Mum had one; gave a headache above 60mph. Stepmum had one and was told the engine was on its way out at 72k. Not one out of the 5 in college is quiet.
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I think the car would be worth no more than £300, no matter how good its condition, if it had no MOT it would be almost worthless.
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Although some of the comments posted have been rather negative, do bear in mind the following:
Parts for the Fiesta are plentiful and very cheap, and there's an excellent supply of scrap parts, too.
The Fiesta is simple and so well-known that all garages know them inside out.
Try and find out if this one has a catalyst (I think they were optional at cost at this time). The owner should know. If it has a catalyst (and I somehow don't think it has because it's a 1.0) then think very carefully: the catalyst is probably on its way out by know, and as HJ's guide says, none of these Fiestas took well to catalysation and can get horrendously chocked up. If it has a catalyst, be sure to see the emissions print-out for the last MOT to see if everything's well within the limits.
Inspect the arches and sills very carefully. They can be very corroded on these models and are not good news for MOT/ structural strength.
Otherwise, as HJ's guide says, if it's a non-catalyst model in reasonable nick, and sound mechanically, it sounds a good buy. These are also very cheap to run.
Be sure to check it out very carefully, though.
Regards,
Rob E
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Grateful thanks, guys.
This one is indeed non-cat, and I'll take a closer look tomorrow.
No more news in this forum means no-go for any one of the likely reasons suggested above, but if I do buy it, or conversely don't, but find something worth sharing, I'll post it here.
Whilst I write, some of you may recall assistance given to myself in recent months, on behalf of a colleague who wanted to buy a suitable car for export back to Sri Lanka when his contract in the UK ceases.
Well, as you may also recall, he purchased a very tidy Mercedes 180 auto in silver.
At least, it was very tidy, until some yoof dropped a brick on to it from the top of a multi story car park last weekend, and then b*****ed off without trace... It now has a very askew boot.
/Steve
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Well blow me down, crickey, and other nice tame expressions.
"Be you gee gee are ee dee" gets automatically edited on posting!
Another element of PC creeps in to society. :-(
/Steve
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Seems like I was so surprised, I lost my ability to spell, too, if you look carefully at the last post!
/Steve
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>>"Be you gee gee are ee dee" gets automatically edited on posting!
Indeed, we can't have people being buggred all over the place, who knows *what* would happen next !!
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Indeed, we can't have people being buggred all over the place, who knows *what* would happen next !!
Depends whether the perpetrators were clergymen, or not...
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It will RUST (or, rather, it is rusting). I have a friend who bought a string of Fiestas, on the grounds that they were a known quantity, and she kept having to replace them because of the bodywork (mostly forward of the engine bulkhead).
I would look for a clean Mazda 323 or similar, and don't worry too much about the mileage. Lots of short journeys are far worse for an engine than fewer long ones, as I'm sure you know.
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Take a very close look at the area inside the rear wheel arches, around the fuel filler, and where the boot floor meets the arches and inner wings. This is a major rot area on older Mk3 Fiestas.
Richard Hall
bangernomics.tripod.com
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