Hello there. My name is Steve, ive foolishly broken just about every rule of buying a used car, but....
In the true spirit of a Top Gear special, I saw a phase one gti on ebay, contacted the seller and the rest is a bit of a blur.
A trip ensued from a wintry Thorne / Doncaster down the Narnia like snow infested M1, passing many a car munching armco and jacknifed lorries, and thinking is this such a good idea?
But an hour and forty minutes later we arrived in the dark of night to a three inch thick snow covered Almera GTI.
The owner came out to meet me armed with a sweeping brush and uncovered the Nissan shaped snow sculpture, now at this point i could safely asume the car had not been started that day.
It fired up straight away, surely i was onto a winner here!
after a short time of sweeping the snow off and chipping the ice away i was able to release the bonnet and take a look at the engine bay.
The torch app for blackberry is a god send!
The car was advertised as having near as dammit a years ticket and two months tax (although the tax disc was apparently lost) I had checked with the DVLA to find that the seller was honest and it was indeed still taxed,
It was cheap too at £350 and i was informed that the clutch was on its last "teeth" which was a new one on me? A quick press of the clutch revealed that it was indeed as i would put it "about shafted"
having decided there was enough material left on it to get me the 96 miles back, the paperwork was filled in and cash changed hands .
Now this for me is the exciting part. The "will it get me home or not" game. I had the sense to add the breakdown cover to the one day tempory insurance i had arranged earlier, and within a few minutes driving i thought it may have to be called upon!
In Clakson style i found that most things that were electric were "broken"
No rear wiper
Heater fan only works on full speed
The rev counter wildy revs itself stupid without the need for the engine to be running
The mileage read 94K and the trip meter read 0 and never moved at all during the 96 miles home
Half the dash doesnt illuminate with the rest of it lights up yellow and some in blue
Other more pressing problems to be revealed were-
The 17" alloys seemed to be hexagonal shaped and the steering wheel shook with vigor
one or maybe both outer CV joints are dead, very dead.
The clutch we know about.
After we were around ten miles down the motorway the ABS light said hello.
and refuelling was a two man job trying to release the fuel flap!
Apart from the worrying pletherer of defects it was quite pleasent to drive, once id found the optimal speed at which the steering wheel stopped trying to give me vibration white finger.
At 63 mph all was well in the GTI, even the rev counter reported back for duty!
Now, a sprinkle of honesty here. The reason id not paid so much attention to the rest of the car was the fact i had planned on using it as a donor.
I have in the garage, a certain little french GTI of the 106 variety which i had planned on slipping the Almeras SR20 into.
BUT. even with all of its faults (of which there may be many more in the light of day) i rather enjoyed driving it home.
It was comfy (which the Peugeot is not) It handled quite well, im sure it would have been quite quick had the clutch no been slipping so badly.
So, im in half a mind to keep it and bring it back up to a satisfactory standard and add the turbo conversion i had planned for the peugeot!
I cant say ive decided until i see how good or indeed bad the outside and underside of the car is!
Sorry for the long post but the adrenalin was flowing (along with the stiff drink i needed when i got in) and i needed to get it off my chest before i sleep!
I will sort out some pictures for you all to have a good laugh at tomorrow!
Steve
In the true spirit of a Top Gear special, I saw a phase one gti on ebay, contacted the seller and the rest is a bit of a blur.
A trip ensued from a wintry Thorne / Doncaster down the Narnia like snow infested M1, passing many a car munching armco and jacknifed lorries, and thinking is this such a good idea?
But an hour and forty minutes later we arrived in the dark of night to a three inch thick snow covered Almera GTI.
The owner came out to meet me armed with a sweeping brush and uncovered the Nissan shaped snow sculpture, now at this point i could safely asume the car had not been started that day.
It fired up straight away, surely i was onto a winner here!
after a short time of sweeping the snow off and chipping the ice away i was able to release the bonnet and take a look at the engine bay.
The torch app for blackberry is a god send!
The car was advertised as having near as dammit a years ticket and two months tax (although the tax disc was apparently lost) I had checked with the DVLA to find that the seller was honest and it was indeed still taxed,
It was cheap too at £350 and i was informed that the clutch was on its last "teeth" which was a new one on me? A quick press of the clutch revealed that it was indeed as i would put it "about shafted"
having decided there was enough material left on it to get me the 96 miles back, the paperwork was filled in and cash changed hands .
Now this for me is the exciting part. The "will it get me home or not" game. I had the sense to add the breakdown cover to the one day tempory insurance i had arranged earlier, and within a few minutes driving i thought it may have to be called upon!
In Clakson style i found that most things that were electric were "broken"
No rear wiper
Heater fan only works on full speed
The rev counter wildy revs itself stupid without the need for the engine to be running
The mileage read 94K and the trip meter read 0 and never moved at all during the 96 miles home
Half the dash doesnt illuminate with the rest of it lights up yellow and some in blue
Other more pressing problems to be revealed were-
The 17" alloys seemed to be hexagonal shaped and the steering wheel shook with vigor
one or maybe both outer CV joints are dead, very dead.
The clutch we know about.
After we were around ten miles down the motorway the ABS light said hello.
and refuelling was a two man job trying to release the fuel flap!
Apart from the worrying pletherer of defects it was quite pleasent to drive, once id found the optimal speed at which the steering wheel stopped trying to give me vibration white finger.
At 63 mph all was well in the GTI, even the rev counter reported back for duty!
Now, a sprinkle of honesty here. The reason id not paid so much attention to the rest of the car was the fact i had planned on using it as a donor.
I have in the garage, a certain little french GTI of the 106 variety which i had planned on slipping the Almeras SR20 into.
BUT. even with all of its faults (of which there may be many more in the light of day) i rather enjoyed driving it home.
It was comfy (which the Peugeot is not) It handled quite well, im sure it would have been quite quick had the clutch no been slipping so badly.
So, im in half a mind to keep it and bring it back up to a satisfactory standard and add the turbo conversion i had planned for the peugeot!
I cant say ive decided until i see how good or indeed bad the outside and underside of the car is!
Sorry for the long post but the adrenalin was flowing (along with the stiff drink i needed when i got in) and i needed to get it off my chest before i sleep!
I will sort out some pictures for you all to have a good laugh at tomorrow!
Steve