Its an old car, but its got 12 months MOT and has been owned for a long time by the same person, who is straight about the mileage change.

If it were me i'd go and look at it, and give it (and the owner) a good checking over and a long test drive over varied roads and make sure it reverses properly, if it feels ok and you get good vibes about it and the owner then it could well give a few years decent service, on the other hand it could die next month, just as any used car at any budget, so buy as cheaply as you can.

It will help if you are handy with some spanners to keep costs down when it needs little jobs doing, but if you get it for say £800 that would be less than 3 months payments of a PCP for a new equivalent, so as long as it lasts till the end of the current MOT you are well in pocket.

People say to avoid French barges like this, and yes if it was up for £4000 at a dealer i'd also say avoid but if bought well i'd be inclined to take the risk.

Steering rack might be an advisory for the next 3 years, don't worry unless it becomes serious.

Edited by gordonbennet on 19/05/2019 at 11:47

Of course another question entirely is whether or not you should be buying an £1100 Renault Grand Scenic full stop. The answer to which, unfortunately, is no!. The reasons for this are due mainly to the twin facts that Renault's, certainly of that age, really are not very reliable. Also, the complexity of the car is going to start causing problems. This was when Renault started using gimmicky stuff like the infamous keycard instead of a key, that in itself makes it something you should avoid. In addition to this was numerous other technological "advances", which tend to fail through both age and uncaring previous owners. You could get lucky with this one, certainly the length of time the owner has had it is a good point, but i'm not sure i'd chance it. BTW, what is the engine and gearbox?.

Alternatives?, well the trouble is at that price point, there are no real guarantees of reliability as any potential purchase is going to be getting on, and may well have had very uncaring and neglectful owners. But the bottom line is to keep it simple, that means n/a petrol engine (i.e, non turbo), and manual gearbox. Preferably something of Japanese or Korean origins, though there are some Fords which might be worth consideration.

Am i right in assuming you need more than 5 seats?. If so, the cars i'd be looking at would be the toyota Corolla Verso, Mazda 5, Honda FR-V (assuming you can manage with 6 seats), Honda Stream, and the Vauxhall Zafira (1.6 petrol).

Edited by badbusdriver on 19/05/2019 at 12:14

With the budget you have I would NOT be going anywhere near it..as ever, my suggestion would always be to look at a Japanese model for greater reliability and less future hassle.

At this sort of price level the Scenic is a high risk vehicle IMO.

I would not worry too much about the mechanics. The fact that the owner has keep it running all these years is a plus and with 12 months MOT. Quiz him on the reason he is selling and if poss take a friend along to see it and give it a good test drive. I would offer him £750 for it as I don't expect he will have a queue of people. You will have to tax and insure it and budget for poss problems and running costs.