Saxo VTR advice
Discussion
I've sold a few over the years.
Check the ream beam bushes, expensive fix.
Stand at the back of the car, if the rear wheels are angled inwards from the top, or clonking from the rear, budget for a rear beam rebuild.
Also check the floorpans for rust, also the front suspension mount areas.
The head gasket can leak oil, look at the left hand side and you may see it stained. This can go on for quite some time before it get's really bad.
Quite often an airbag light on, sometimes a fiddle with the underseat plugs/wiring can sort it.
I always fancied one for a track day car, I never got around to it, so please keep us updated with it.
Check the ream beam bushes, expensive fix.
Stand at the back of the car, if the rear wheels are angled inwards from the top, or clonking from the rear, budget for a rear beam rebuild.
Also check the floorpans for rust, also the front suspension mount areas.
The head gasket can leak oil, look at the left hand side and you may see it stained. This can go on for quite some time before it get's really bad.
Quite often an airbag light on, sometimes a fiddle with the underseat plugs/wiring can sort it.
I always fancied one for a track day car, I never got around to it, so please keep us updated with it.
To add to the point of rust from the previous post (as a previous owner of a VTS track car).
They can rust like mad on the rear sills just infront of the rear wheels. The plastic pop tabs that hold the rear bodykit panels tend to snap / break / come loose which results in water getting behind and draining down inside the rear quarter panel / sits on top of the sill and tends to hang around as there's no drain away for it.
Unfortunately the side skirts tend to sit nicely covering this area underneath so come MOT time, most cars still pass as any rust isn't noticeable. I only discovered how bad the rust was on mine when i stripped off the interior trim panels, looked down into the inside of the rear panel, poked the sill / floorpan gently and a decent sized hole where the rust was appeared
Following on from the bit above about the bodykit - expect to replace a fair number of the plastic pop tabs if you want the side skirts / panels to remain attached to the car. Be careful removing the bodykit trims though as most of the plastic will likely have already fatigued with age and will possibly snap if you apply too much force (if they haven't already done so).
The sunroofs tend to leak both from the seal itself if it's worn / dried out / shrunk and also from rusting to the metal drain pipe that feeds into the rubber pipe that drains down to the front of the car. Again i only noticed this was a problem on mine after stripping out the headlining, going for a drive one wet day, going round a corner and getting rather wet
Apart from anything else - also look out for dodgy modifications or evidence of previous. Most VTR / VTS will have been modded at some point (probably more than once) and possibly returned back to standard-ish before sale. Whilst some mods are fine expect quite a few to have been fitted with cheapo eBay induction kits, budget coilover kits, etc.
Edit - oh & best tip - if the car you look at has been owned by a young lad recently and has quite a few scented fresheners hanging in it this will either be to mask the smell of the leaking sunroof or cover up the smell of the bags of marijuana that have until recently been hidden behind the interior trim panels (which is what happened with the one i bought )
They can rust like mad on the rear sills just infront of the rear wheels. The plastic pop tabs that hold the rear bodykit panels tend to snap / break / come loose which results in water getting behind and draining down inside the rear quarter panel / sits on top of the sill and tends to hang around as there's no drain away for it.
Unfortunately the side skirts tend to sit nicely covering this area underneath so come MOT time, most cars still pass as any rust isn't noticeable. I only discovered how bad the rust was on mine when i stripped off the interior trim panels, looked down into the inside of the rear panel, poked the sill / floorpan gently and a decent sized hole where the rust was appeared
Following on from the bit above about the bodykit - expect to replace a fair number of the plastic pop tabs if you want the side skirts / panels to remain attached to the car. Be careful removing the bodykit trims though as most of the plastic will likely have already fatigued with age and will possibly snap if you apply too much force (if they haven't already done so).
The sunroofs tend to leak both from the seal itself if it's worn / dried out / shrunk and also from rusting to the metal drain pipe that feeds into the rubber pipe that drains down to the front of the car. Again i only noticed this was a problem on mine after stripping out the headlining, going for a drive one wet day, going round a corner and getting rather wet
Apart from anything else - also look out for dodgy modifications or evidence of previous. Most VTR / VTS will have been modded at some point (probably more than once) and possibly returned back to standard-ish before sale. Whilst some mods are fine expect quite a few to have been fitted with cheapo eBay induction kits, budget coilover kits, etc.
Edit - oh & best tip - if the car you look at has been owned by a young lad recently and has quite a few scented fresheners hanging in it this will either be to mask the smell of the leaking sunroof or cover up the smell of the bags of marijuana that have until recently been hidden behind the interior trim panels (which is what happened with the one i bought
)Edited by AlexRS2782 on Saturday 2nd November 00:55
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