Viewed Sprint Blue 20VT

Morning all, well i went to look at the coupe yesturday and im afraid my coupe ownership will have to wait a little, went to see a sprint blue 20vt 1997 with 99k on the clock, to start with everything was ok, body work was great, brakes, wishbones,cambelt,exhaust,handbrake cables, have all been replaced the guy seemed to love the car and had spent a fair chunk of money on it, test drive went well and was very happy with how the car went, the problems started when i started reading all the history, or lack of it, it had only 2 stamps in the book, 33k and 69k and thats it, so that kinda ruined it for me, i can live without leather and a/c but not having the peace of mind of full history i went away and said i would call the italian car specialest that has serviced the car in the last 2.5 years, when i spoke to him he said that to his knowledge the car was ok, no real issues and the owner had looked after it, That is when i read on one reciept NOTE; Engine oil low, coolant low, wipers dont park, clutch slave cylinder leaking, no engine undertray present,,
After reading this i went back to have another look just to persuade myself to walk away, it was up for £2300ono. When i started to give the owner my oppinion on it he dropped to £2000, i said it would have to be like £1500 for me to even consider it, must admit tho i walked away a little sad, the colour was lovely and it went really well. I ssaid to him if you still got it next month then let me know but it would have to be cheap...... SOOOOOOO im still looking, got about 2600 to spend and am in bristol..... thought id share this story with you all...

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a30/chris_2jze/media8.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a30/chris_2jze/media6.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a30/chris_2jze/media5.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a30/chris_2jze/media.jpg

And for the next 6 months all you will find are tatty sheds with full history.


Typical.

Eacly, so i know you cant tell for sure but the body does look very good doesnt it, so is it usually the other way round history but with shoddy body??? cheers for replyin

For 2k it looks stunning.

Personally i'd have got someone in the know to take a good look over it. I wouldnt be too held up on a 2k car for the sake of paperwork if its right elsewhere.

There's so many around with bent history anyway.


View it for what it is now, not what some scraps of false paperwork suggest.

See this had FULL SERVICE HISTORY, from a forum member, HPI clear and advertised and sold as MINT CAR MATE

http://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=210197&page=0&fpart=1

If i had not has discovered this site i prob would be driving it now, i was under the immpression that history would be the most important thing to have, i thought it looked stunnning to for the year the body really was great, do theese engines have any problems with rattly top ends, do they click normally, had a slight sort of click but could only hear it with the bonnet open?? also had a tiny weep of oil from driver side of head?? major problems?? if i could get it to a garage and get it checked, would it be worth buying as the body is sooo good, just has not much history?? thanks mate.

Well yeh they have a tick which may be manifold cracked or a weak/cold tappet, not common if they have been stood.

Oil leak probably rocker gasket, again not much.


Im going to have to go back to my old saying, its a £2000 car, its pennies. I know people who have spent £1500 in a year putting LOW MILEAGE FULL HISTORY cars right in the first 9 months.


I judge a car for what it is now. Thats all. History and perfect maintenance is essential but a stamped service book isnt assurance of that. But then on the other hand, ask people who work in a garage how many people dont bother to get there book stamped up to date all the time.

WOW OHMIGOSH!!!!! Well im hoping i might have noticed a seam across the roof lol,,, wow mate you are so brave buying theese thing on a regular basis lol... So from what you can all see in the pic, body wise looks very good??? cheers

Pictures dont show anything to be fair.

Besides id rather have a good sound coupe than a pretty looking one. My yellow plus is knocked about, need to get it painted but mechanically its perfect. 100% perfect.

This is really funny, i thought id done a good thing turning it down, id usually have took the money and ran away with it but i tryed to be restrained for once, I could imagin the sound being a tappet noise, only from one side of the head mind you, if you put you ear really close to near the oil cap its from there, Oh the other thing that i cant make my mind up weather its a good thing or a bad thing is it was a lease car from new, so one would assume that it should have been immpecably serviced, but then probably thrashed, do companys usually stamp books?? mabee thats why it has only giot 2 stamps 39k and 64k then this owner from 70k ish

No companies dont they just usually have a print out, but most of the time they dont come with one. Wouldnt tally up with the gaps anyway. Depends who how and where etc. Carnt say for sure. If your tempted just get someone in the know, not some idiot know all mechanic to check it over. Perhaps another forum member if there are any clued up ones in your area.

To be honest on your budget you wont find a perfect 20vt, even if you did they fall apart rather quick.

That doesn't sound the worst coop I've seen for £2k by a long chalk.

Could be worth dragging a club member along and getting a second opinion.

As carl says, you're likely to see far worse for £2k...

So i Suppose Finding a Forum member near bristol wopuld be the best idea, where would be the best place to post a request?Also if the wipers dont park would that likely be a relay of the stalk itself? cheers again carl

Did you ask the seller how much oil the car uses and what type he puts in?

I did not ask what type unfortunatly but he said about half a litre every 1000 miles or so, you know what its like when you are there, i did not take the money because i did not want to impulse buy but i forgot half the stuff i wanted to ask..lol

yep my sprint blue coop was a lease car also,only a couple of stamps in the book two from my ownership but got a full print out aswell stating there own servicing.good thing with it being a lease car.the money had been spent on my car regardless according to the print out.got mine and it had wishbones,manifold,brakes,exhaust,alternator loads spent.just left me to do clutch really and me little bump.motormech said it was well looked after so if he says its alright i know its is.like carl said get someone who knows coupes all over

It's a good sign that he knew, looks like the car is well maintained. Ultimately for a 10 year old car, it doesn't really matter whether the book is stamped. Did he have all the receipts from the garage - IMO, they are as important as the stamps - as carlt says there are probably lots of full books out there with dodgy stamps anyhow

I'd go for it, just make sure you have a bit of extra cash to get it fully serviced yourself asap for peace of mind

his ownership is not the problem tho i think, he has all reciepts for his ownership its that he has only owned for 3 years all the rest have of its life is 2 stamps, 30k and 70k. he seems genuine, so is there a way you can get the history from theese companys??

If he's had it for 3 years, looked after it and had no issues, then I expect it's fine...but then I'm a woman and no expert

Right just spoke to the guy, have told him ill do a deal with him if he puts a fresh M.O.T on it, and it will be taken to steve bateman italien car specialest to be checked over, and if the garage say its ok and it has a fresh M.O.T on it then im gonna give him £1950 for it. sound like a better idea?, fresh ticket gotta be a good thing and checked by specialest.Also it was owned by a company called cowie autoleasing or interleasing, do they still exsist? nothing on google, trying to sourse some of its history.... cheers

Sounds like a very good price if the car is sound

I'd still get it serviced when you have it as the MOT only ensures that the car is road-worthy and not necessarily mechanically tip top

So to recap its already had

OMP DRILLED DISCS
OMP FAST ROAD PADS
NEW RAD
NEW EXHAUST
CAM BELT AND KIT- 2 YEAR AGO
WISHBONES
2 NEW FRONT TIRES(FIRESTONES)
COOLANT PIPES REPLACED
HAND BRAKE CABLES
PLUS SERVICES FOR LAST 3 YEARS

GOD IM PERSUADING MYSELF TO BUY IT AGAIN, WELL IM GOING TO HAVE IT IF THE GARAGE AND M.O.T COME OUT OK... CHEERS FOR ALL YOUR HELP GUYS.

Got the HPI back today, all ok, spoke to the lease company and they are sendin me the history so all looks good guys!!

COUPE OWNER by wednesday!! i hope.......