I'm starting a new thread despite this still being related to the modded LE i talked about in the other thread.

The AA vehicle inspection has come back and recommended not to buy the car and listed a load of issues and concerns.

Id appreciate any thoughts from people about if all of these are legitimate issues, and comments about how much i could / should ask the seller to reduce the car as a result or if i should walk away from the sale.

If i chose not to buy it and anyone else on here is interested in it just contact me and i'll send you a copy of the full report.

Essential Repairs
------------------

- Coolant level/condition - A foreign substance was found in the coolant expansion bottle, further investigation and a head-gasket test is recommended.
- External leaks (upper engine) - Oil stains to the upper engine area.
- Engine oil level - Engine oil was not registering on the dip stick, the vendor topped up the oil before the engine was started.
- Footbrake operation - Noise heard from the brakes whilst on road test.
- Instrument/control function - Speedo was not working, therefore mileage can not be guaranteed, indicators not cancelling.
- Engine noise - Sound heard from the engine area whilst accelerating, further investigation is required.
- Clutch fluid - Clutch fluid dirty.
- Brake fluid - Brake fluid dirty.


Advisable Repairs
-----------------

- Roof - Dented.
- Glass - Stone chips to the windscreen.
- Drive Belts - Auxiliary drive belt cracked and worn.
- Turbo/supercharger - Noise heard on initial start up from the turbo area.
- Wipers/washers - N/S/F Washer jet not working, rear washer jet not working, front and rear wipers smearing.
- Seatbelts - O/S/F Seat belt frayed, rear seat belt trims missing.
- Seat upholstery - O/S/F Leather seat worn and collapsed, leather worn and discoloured on all seats and trims, can not open o/s/r seat back.
- Tool kit - Toolkit incomplete.
- Sun roof - Sunroof seal leaking.
- Door trim panels - Various scuffs and damage to the door trim and quarter panels.
Wheel Rims - Alloy wheels scuffed.
- Radio/Cass/CD/Aerial - Extensive stereo equipment fitted poorly, the engineer would recommend and full inspection of all after market electronic equipment.

I am most interested in the comments about dirty fluids - what could cause this? The strange colour of the coolant is a concern too - im just getting a photo from my brother's camera to upload.

Clicky

I would be most concerned about the lack of oil and the 'engine noise' rather than the fluids?

god that sounds awful! Why are you still considering it, just go and buy a better one. If you're still intrested why not get it checked by a specialist and ask for a quote for all the repairs.

Personally I wouldn't bother and walk away....

Remember that these reports are super negative in order to cover themselves in case of any failure should you buy the car, but that said reading between the lines this is a car that hasn't had the attention lavished upon it that perhaps it should have had.

Sorry, I disagree.

my RAC report on the coop was nowhere near bad. It pointed out a couple of faults, advised some repairs, which the seller fixed and agreed on the price. Turned out to be exactly as it was described.

Any comments about the colour of the coolent bottle thingy? Its looks mank!

dunno, tbh, looks the least of the issues. Most coops will be needing new rads by now, so it's probabley corrosion. Nothing makes me think this has been looked after well. Why not buy one of the cars for sale on the forum?

Fair enough, perhaps "super negative" was overstating it a bit, but certainly things like "noise when braking" sound a lot more serious than the actual "brakes squeak a bit when hot like coupes are prone to" which is in all likeliood what it is.

All things considered, there are plenty of better ones out there, so I'd walk away - and if you've avoided a dog, money well spent!

I'd be running away unless it was pennies and bought as a little weekend project

Take the car to a local mechanic someone who knows what they are doing or ask someone here, save your money as the LE is a old car the AA will never give it a thumbs up.

Mate,

This car reeks of neglect. Walk away. Now.

How much was the coop in question? Have you asked anyone on here if they had previously owned it? What LE number is it?

Thanks for the advice people - especially Stan for taking the time to go through each point!

Car is advertised for 4,995 - its LE number 67 apparently. The millage is 91k.

I was consdering offering around 4k, but id have reservations of doing that - for that sort of money you should be confident in the car - and there's too many grey areas with this one.

The biggest point is what has been said about it not being properly maintained - for high-ish millage i would want to be confident it was very well maintained - and it doesnt appear to be given the condition of the fluids.

Gonna keep looking..

I wouldnt pay anywhere near that for it. I would suggest theres a couple of grands work there to get it up to spec and there will still be questions over mileage etc.

£5k?


Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I can't believe you are even considering that heap of junk

Walk away

You could find two genuine good condition 20VT's for £5k.

Walk away!

Walk away, plenty of excellent 20vt's in the for sale section at the moment

arif don't let your heart rule your head on this one! Leave it, it's been neglected and isn't worth wasting any more time on.

For info it looks like we are talking about the black LE with the quad exhausts, advertised at Platinum autos on autotrader. Looks nice in the pics, useful for people to know it's not worth wasting a journey on.

Quad exhausts eh, well in that case you can forget all the above. Its worth at least 6k

2.5k is what you should pay, maybe even less if no service history, and you can expect to pay at least 1.5k to get it back to a condition that some of the standard 20vt are advertised at 3k for on this forum.

You'll be happy to know ive told the owner i'm not interested and i'm booked in to see another Fiat 20V Turbo at 4ish today in Southampton!

The styling on this one above appealed to me - but there's too many issues and unanswered questions with it as you've all pointed out.

Thanks all for the advice!

Thank gawd for that!

Good luck, the search can be long but patience will reward you with a decent car, especially if you ask the combined wisdom of this forum

Dude, for the amount of money you stand to lose repairing that LE, just think of all the styling you could do to a fully sorted (but standard styled) one.. minus the hassle of the trips to the garage for repairs

My RAC inspection was really good, the tech said its the best example of a coupe he had seen o.o