Never knew the later ones ended up as far out as V reg?

V65JGS

Very reasonable for a low miler LE

lol have been wondering myself if there were any v plate LE's must have been sitting in a dealers yard for a while.

£4,500 *ono* "All reasonable offers considered"

Even if it needs belts changing, pipes etc and you threw a grand or so at it with Powerfiat/Motormech, that would still be a reasonably priced well-sorted-out LE.

So long as SH means Service History and not

Some History
or
Sketchy History

Ad says it has recently had a cambelt

I reckon this has been priced based on book, and the seller doesn't know the true value.

Don't think it will be long before someone on here snaps it up!

Hi all. Just thought I should let you no the crack with LE 949.

After viewing the car today, the add should have been more like this.

Manual, 51000 miles, silver(scratched/dented/stonechiped)
usual LE refinements including, smokey turbo, ticking manafold, SH, recent cam belt change. I have all the keys,
Apart from the Red one. 2 month Tax and test, needs major servise, Reasonable offers considered. 4,500. ono

To be fair he did seem like a good bloke, but not to mention any of this over the phone is not on. I had a 250 mile round trip to learn this, but never mind my search for my first coupe goes on.

****** 98/99/00 LE/Plus, silver/gray Wanted. 4,000/5,000 worth******

Chopper,

Sorry to hear that you had no joy with this one. Seeing it was a very late LE, low mileage etc etc it seemed to good to be true at that price, bl**dy unfair you had to make a journey to find out!

Did you ask before specifically about bodywork/smoke/maniford/red key etc.?

Bad darts if you asked this and he never said.

There are still some sellers without the integrity and honesty to tell you as it is, even if you do ask.

Happened to me a few times, but the worst was several years ago when I looked at a Thema Turbo north of Bradford (having driven up from Essex). He wanted top price for the car and the exchange and mart advert read well.

Over the phone the Seller obviously didn't associate the question of "Does she have any oil leaks?" with the several pools of dirty oil under the car and seeping from every gasket and seal you could see etc.

Also the telephone question "When were the belts changed?" was answered with "Just over 2 years ago, about 7,000 miles ago" - Having got to Bradford, checking the service records indicated that was when at a service the servicing Dealer had typed up on the bill "RECOMMENDED that they should be changed but Customer declined", but he had no evidence that they had been done since and even said "Oh, maybe I didn't have them done then". Unreal!

Drove away, and never saw the bloke again - even though my parting comment was something along the lines of "See you next tuesday"

Hang in there mate, you'll find the right car!

Still, it doesn't sound like a bad deal for someone, if the interior is good that is worth £1k alone. Dents and chips can be sorted.

I talked to the guy for about 15 minutes on the phone, he did touch on the body work but thats it...

It was a real let down, hardly slept last night thinking about LE 949. After owning a mk2 golf gti for 3 years I realy needed one of these cars in my life, just not LE 949.

1000 to replace red key, 1000 to replace turbo, 1000 on major servise and m.o.t...maybe? 1000 on body work.
3,500 for the car. 7.500 british pounds, thats a real good deal for someone

Shame. It's a real bugger when you make up your mind to buy and car and then it's a let down and not what you expected - this did seem very cheap for a low mileage LE though

I was terrified that the dealer was going to sell my Merc before I managed to get there ... such relief when card handed over for the deposit!

I'm now grieving for the coop ... daft woman But I may well be back for a 3rd time Even considering V20 VTC for the Merc (handily my initials but would look lovely on a Plus )

£7500? lol, not quite.

Red key - NOT NEEDED. I say again, as someone that's been on here for four years, NOT NEEDED. Useful as a bartering tool for some money off. £0

Replace turbo - £600 absolute max, or buy a good second hand one for about £150 and £100 on fitting £250

Cambelt job (if needed) and major service £700, or about £250 if not.

Body work, again dependant but could be as little as £500.

So barter coop down to £4K, add about 1500 worse case scenario and you have a V plate LE for 5.5K. Not that bad!

£550 for full service and all belts at Powerfiat

http://www.powerfiat.co.uk/services.htm

No need for the key honestly - owned Fiats with red keys for 11 years, never once needed on any of the 6 cars!

I got him down to 3,500, is it worth a punt?

I'd bite his hand off.

what doss the red key actuly do? 600 for a turbo and fitting, that alot cheaper than i thought.

Red key's used to program the car I think, remove keys and so on. I just know that I've never heard of the lack of red key being an issue. I've never had a red key for mine, the battery has been removed from her for up to four months at a time and I've never been asked for it.
To recon a standard turbo costs about £300-500 and about £100-150 for fitting. Or you can buy a decent turbo from a breaker for about £150. Depends, as always, where you go. If the manifold is ticking, a welded one (like mine) costs about £130-150, plus you can sell your cracked one on afterwards.

The red key hibernates in your bottom drawer and keeps itself nice and comfortable.

to be honest, i would just prefer to spend this 5 grand on a properly sorted/loved LE. theres no point in buying a cheap LE when i can aford to buy a good one. its just finding that good one.

Yeah don't blame ya. But for somebody that knows coupe's this coop may well prove a bargain.

For £3500, its a steal.

Just noticed the additional ariel on top. Whats that for?

Seriously, come on.... £3,500 I'd take a punt at that!!

What's a bit of bodywork here and there, a clutch change and a few other bits and pieces.....

Buy it for £3,500 and throw a couple of thou at it. You'll be 100% guaranteed that the work has been done since you paid for it. You'll also be proud that you brought an LE on the cusp of "shed-ville" back to spleandour!

Better to do this than pay £5.5k to £6k for a "minter" where some random punter has done the work (I of course exclude the likes of reputable independants like Powerfiat, Motormech etc in that statement).

Take a punt... go on

£3500 seems like a good deal if the car is sound, dont get hung up on stone chips, scratches and dents as your very unlikely to find one without them (unless its been sprayed in the past).

a good dentman can take them out easily for about £50 a panel.

Take it to motormech or powerfiat if you can and get a health check on the car and then decide. As mentioned above the car is reasonable value at this price even if it has a couple of things that need sorting.

I would have to remove that dreadful ariel from the roof...

that is silly cheap... i am half tempted and i already have one!!!

I spoke with this bloke on Saturday, he did say that the were a few dings. I also specifically asked him about the manifold and he said it was fine, was going to go up this week sometime (250 mile round trip for me too). Might have second thoughts now.

Now thats a different matter!!!

Fully understand about you wanting one thats already sorted - especially having gone and viewed hoping for it to be OK - I'm sure I'd feel the same, but at £3.5k....gotta be tempting

Do you reckon its worth a cheeky "I've thought about it all day, got a few estimates for prices and can go to £3250....." phone call

The worst he can say is no

no The worst he can say is, 'I read the thread on fccuk'