Hi All,
Apologies for a borderline retro query......
No 1 son is hopefully about to begin his driving career (examiner permitting) and we've started eyeing up cars. The insurance situation means that small engines are essential, preferably 1000cc or less.
A 2000ish Arosa 1.0 MPi has come up for sale locally at an attractive price (on the face of it!). 88k miles with some history to support this. MoT & tax to October and under £ 500. It ticks most of the boxes.
It's a fairly nasty shade of yellow, but the body is very tidy apart from a faded rear bumper and interior is respectable. However, there are a couple of mechanical issues that might just be basic maintenance or rather more serious.
1. Engine runs on 3 cylinders at low rpm at least, both hot and cold. The 4th may chime in at higher rpm - it's hard to be sure. Actually it goes surprising well considering it's apparently working with 750cc and driving a dead cylinder.
The owner claims he was told it has a sticking injector, but then he was initially denying it was running on 3..... It has oil (dirty) and coolant (relatively clean) in it, both pretty much up to the mark. There is a little mayo on the oil filler cap. The owner claims he's not had to add oil or water in his 6 month ownership. There was no engine check light on (but I forgot to check whether it even came on at first start). Once warm the exhaust fumes have no smell so the CAT is still doing something. There are no nasty mechanical noises.
I gather valve issues are common with these. Looking back through the history there are previous mentions of misfire and a couple of MoT emissions failures.
2. Finding first gear is tricky. It is in there and if you happen to get the lever in the right place and going in the right direction, it goes in sweetly enough and doesn't make any odd noises. Touching it into second seems to improve the odds. This could just be linkage adjustment (as the owner claims) or possibly an internal selector problem - also something I gather can be an issue on these. All other gears engage fine and no odd noises. The clutch works normally (feels pretty good) and the history suggests it's been renewed within the last couple of years /10k.
I'm not afraid of a bit of work and have built engines, gearboxes and even engine management systems before - however I see little point in buying a "cheap" car and spending lots of money and time on it when I could just buy a slightly more expensive one that works properly. If it's a matter of adjusting gear linkage, sorting injector/plug/plug lead or whatever plus general service - no problem. Complete engine and box rebuild - no thanks!
What do you reckon - silly offer or run away? I actually found it surprising pleasant to drive - like a more civilised Mini (real Mini!)
Cheers
Nick
Apologies for a borderline retro query......
No 1 son is hopefully about to begin his driving career (examiner permitting) and we've started eyeing up cars. The insurance situation means that small engines are essential, preferably 1000cc or less.
A 2000ish Arosa 1.0 MPi has come up for sale locally at an attractive price (on the face of it!). 88k miles with some history to support this. MoT & tax to October and under £ 500. It ticks most of the boxes.
It's a fairly nasty shade of yellow, but the body is very tidy apart from a faded rear bumper and interior is respectable. However, there are a couple of mechanical issues that might just be basic maintenance or rather more serious.
1. Engine runs on 3 cylinders at low rpm at least, both hot and cold. The 4th may chime in at higher rpm - it's hard to be sure. Actually it goes surprising well considering it's apparently working with 750cc and driving a dead cylinder.
The owner claims he was told it has a sticking injector, but then he was initially denying it was running on 3..... It has oil (dirty) and coolant (relatively clean) in it, both pretty much up to the mark. There is a little mayo on the oil filler cap. The owner claims he's not had to add oil or water in his 6 month ownership. There was no engine check light on (but I forgot to check whether it even came on at first start). Once warm the exhaust fumes have no smell so the CAT is still doing something. There are no nasty mechanical noises.
I gather valve issues are common with these. Looking back through the history there are previous mentions of misfire and a couple of MoT emissions failures.
2. Finding first gear is tricky. It is in there and if you happen to get the lever in the right place and going in the right direction, it goes in sweetly enough and doesn't make any odd noises. Touching it into second seems to improve the odds. This could just be linkage adjustment (as the owner claims) or possibly an internal selector problem - also something I gather can be an issue on these. All other gears engage fine and no odd noises. The clutch works normally (feels pretty good) and the history suggests it's been renewed within the last couple of years /10k.
I'm not afraid of a bit of work and have built engines, gearboxes and even engine management systems before - however I see little point in buying a "cheap" car and spending lots of money and time on it when I could just buy a slightly more expensive one that works properly. If it's a matter of adjusting gear linkage, sorting injector/plug/plug lead or whatever plus general service - no problem. Complete engine and box rebuild - no thanks!
What do you reckon - silly offer or run away? I actually found it surprising pleasant to drive - like a more civilised Mini (real Mini!)
Cheers
Nick
