Any thoughts on this 9000?

[OllieWinchester]

Right, been tentatively looking for a nice (But cheap!) 9000 to replace my MX5 with, as I've been driving them for years and I'm fed up with having no room and dreadful scuttle shake. Got my heart set on a 9000, then I saw this one, and it is making my wallet twitch badly. http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2157301.htm

I got a quote on a standard one, and it is almost half what they want to insure my weedy 1.6 MX5!

Any thoughts on this particular car, or things to look out for? I'm going to ring him and hopefully make a 4hr trek up there on Friday. Is the TCS likely to be a problem on this one? I see that it has had a recent clutch and DI cassette (Whatever one of those is...)

Cheers, Ollie

[Wing Commander]

OllieWinchester said:

Right, been tentatively looking for a nice (But cheap!) 9000 to replace my MX5 with, as I've been driving them for years and I'm fed up with having no room and dreadful scuttle shake. Got my heart set on a 9000, then I saw this one, and it is making my wallet twitch badly. http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2157301.htm

I got a quote on a standard one, and it is almost half what they want to insure my weedy 1.6 MX5!

Any thoughts on this particular car, or things to look out for? I'm going to ring him and hopefully make a 4hr trek up there on Friday. Is the TCS likely to be a problem on this one? I see that it has had a recent clutch and DI cassette (Whatever one of those is...)

Cheers, Ollie

Seems quite good. Says it has a 2.3 head. Is the bottom end from the 2.0 or 2.3?

When was the aux/serpentine belt changed? Not hard to do at all, but it is a weak point on these cars. Belt, and pulley come in at about £60, so nice and cheap.

Other than that, it seems nice. The clutch being done is a good thing, as they aren't particularly cheap on these. I recently replaced the clutch, master, slave and associated hydraulic line and it set me back about £350-400 just in parts.

DI cassette is the red thing you see on top of the engine. It basically is the coil pack. When they go, they are dead. The go around 100-140k. £200 to replace. Good that it's done.

Other little things to check. None important but are nice things. Do the heated seats work? In fact, does it have climate if it only has the velour seats. Does the climate work, hot and cold?

What makes you think it has TCS? Basically, the TCS was a complete pain the arse on the 9000. Best avoid if at all possible.

Also, remember that it has enough tweeks on it for you to need to tell the insurance people.

At the end of the day though, it is less than a grand. It could probably be broken for parts and make more money back...

[OllieWinchester]

At this stage it is as good as bought as far as I am concerned, subject to hpi check etc. As far as i can tell it is a 2.0 litre engine with just the head from a 2.3. Regarding the TCS, i was under the impression that it was a common fault on 9000's but unfortunately i have no idea which models are afflicted and which aren't, can anyone shed any light? Anything in particular i should be paying close attention to when looking it over? The only downside is the lack of leather, though I suppose I could hunt down an aero that is being broken.

[OllieWinchester]

Well, had all my cash ready and lift sorted out, phoned the guy and he has sold it. Some bloke came up from Devon all the way to Doncaster. Gutted is not the word.

This is still for sale, I'm not as immediately taken with it as the other one, but it still looks nice. http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2155723.htm

Also, this one seems OK - http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2128882.htm

[Wing Commander]

OllieWinchester said:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2155723.htm

That one looks nicer than your first choice mate. If its just the performance side of it you are worried about, I will keep you in the loop for when I map my ECU to 260ish bhp. Once I have set it up to do it to mine (and then I have tested it), I can just do the same to yours. Bam, instant stage 1 for nothing.

You also have the fact that its a 2.3 so much, much easier to tune. It has leather. No TCS worries. Nice colour etc.

I would be very tempted by it!

[OllieWinchester]

Went to see it today, FSH is actually part service history up to 86k, not really anything after that, 1 owner from new is actually 2 owners, one being Lex Autolease, the engine bay looked like a wreck, oh, and its recorded as a Cat C as well.

I had come quite a reasonable distance so I drove it, and to be fair to it, juddering brakes aside it actually drove quite well. Pretty much a waste of time going to see it though as I wouldn't want to own for that money, or anything near it TBH.

The search continues...

[b9boy]

SOLD