used buying advice

[darranu]

Hi i'm thinking about buying a used mk4 sport or poss a gtr in the near future and was wondering if there's anything i should be paying particular attention to when buying, also do ultima's have a service book like a conventional car or do you have to take the owners word for it that the work has been carried out.
Many thanks
Darran

[t5grf]

No the Ultima doesn't have a service book, most of the cars that I looked at had bills and receipts for service items that the owners had carried out themselves. The way I looked at it was that if someone had spent the best part of a year building their own car then they probably aren't going to scrimp on the cost of regular maintenance.

They are very simple cars to work on (not that I am handy with the spanners), I use a local morgan specialist to do most servicing work, apart from fuel, it really is a comparitively cheap car to run when compared to say a TVR or Porsche of a similar value.



>> Edited by t5grf on Thursday 2nd March 19:32

[menostig]

Check for strong petrol smells in the side pods around the tanks. Replacing them is a bugger and expensive.

[darranu]

nice one thanks for the advice

[peterpsg]

Also check the body shell for any cracks or fractures, especially under the front and rear covers above the wheels where stones may have been flicked up against the GRP...

[menostig]

Ooh and powder-coat doesn't last forever. Plus is a messy time-consuming job to scrape, treat, etch-prime, paint. My 6 year old Sport had lots of little bubble patches on the underside of the chassis rails. Take a good look with a bright torch and then knock some money off to compensate.