Hi all,
My sister has found a car she likes and as being the only one free tomorrow in our house i have agreed to go and see it with her so she can have my opinion on it. Its done 102,000 miles its a 51 reg and they are asking £1995. One of the front fog lights is broken and the air con is not blowing very cold so these would need to be fixed before she got the car. They also said they would give it a service before they handed over the car. I gather that it should have had at least two cam belt changes done so far is this correct??. is there anything else i need to be looking out for? No idea about service history so ill ask tomorrow and see what they say.
any advice welcome :)
thanks
Adam
slt
Edited by Pugugly on 01/06/2009 at 19:47
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with my experience of owning Renaults, here is my advice.
DONT!
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£2k for an unserviced 100k Renault is £3k too much.
(The repair bills will be at least £1k in the first year).
Swiss Tony is correct. Do not buy.
Pile of horse droppings.
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If you're going to do it, buy one of the multitude on Autotrader with half the miles for the same money.
Renaults of this era are not known for their reliability though. I'd choose something else, personally.
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My partner had Laguna of this era - she loved it, but at 110K it was like somebody flicked a swich and made everything fail. Shame really as it was quite nice, but the bills were just ridiculous. One Garage told us that whatever needed fixing you could just take the price to fix a Mondeo and double it.
My advice would be spend the 2K on something else. Quite a few fiestas of similar age / less miles in that price bracket.
2K is a difficult amount to buy through a garage as they will want to make a profit / have some haggle margin / cover cost of service / warranty. Probably means they took in your 2K retail car at about a bag of sand
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 01/06/2009 at 22:14
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My friend got an 04 reg 1.2 with 1 owner, FSH for £3500 in March last year. It had 35k on the clock when she bought it. £2K is way way too much. She has done 60k now and the car is still in great condition but it is starting to show its first signs of wear. The engine dosn't tick over quite as nicely as it once did etc.
I think these are great cars but they are too many bads ones about at this price range. I would rather have a the last of the MK4 Fiestas, a nice 52 reg with the bullet proof 1.3 engine. If you can find one with a solid shell you should get ten years out of it if you find a good one.
I do love these Clios but I know from experience when car hunting there are too many bad ones with dubious history.
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If it goes wrong, take it to France if possible. Get it serviced there too. They'll know what to do and won't rip you off. Same thing with Fiats in Italy.
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Ignore them. Unlike most other renaults, Clios are as reliable as any other super mini on the road.
It needs to have had two cambelt changes, run it around for 30 mins till its hot, then see if it starts hot and cold (this checks various sensors), If it feels a bit hestitant or idles roughly its the throttle body. Make sure the starter motor spins it fast (they break apart at this age - its only 40 quid exchange tho). The sun roof *will* rattle - you wont find one that doesent. Make sure the seat belt light goes out (its a wire under a seat or the seatbelt pre tensioner if it doesent) If the clutch cable is stiff it will snap sooner rather than leter.
They are reliable, cheap to fix (unless the cam belt goes) and a bit more classy than any other supermini.
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Oi I stuck up for the Clio :). Just not an unkown one with 100k on the clock :). My friends clio has needed £200 of work doing in 35k, two new brake pads and two new tyres that is it. The cambelt is now overdue though :(. I would happily recomend a good Clio to anybody but I prefer the phase 2 as it is much nicer inside.
My friends does have the usual french electric syndrome in that the electric windows make a racket and mirrors don't work but in terms of the engine/suspension and gearbox its fine.
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oh and clios dont rust.
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I agree AE, but don't you think this one is a little overpriced.
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I actually prefer the MK2 P2 to the MK3. I find the MK3 a bit heavy in 1.2 form and the steering is far too light. I know the one I drove was an ADI car so it was not a typical drive or a typical example but with three people in the car it seemed extremely heavy. The MK3 Clio is just too big to have a 1.2 litre engine.
The steering on the MK2 is quite well balanced too, light but also has enough feeling compared to some modern PAS cars.
I get annoyed with the details though, nice digital climate control but where the swearword are the cup holders? I have to admire it though they seem to take the abuse.
Build quality is actually good, when I ever I get in a 206 I worry I am going to snap something, but the Clio has taken a lot of rattle abuse and nothing has fallen off! Be warned that the cambelt job also needs a new waterpump and compared to Ford the intervals are quite short. My friends is not using any water or oil and she drives it hard from cold.
The OP just needs to get this car down in price by about £500 then it should be a very good buy providing all those gadgets work.
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I agree AE but don't you think this one is a little overpriced.
possibly but not as much as you think, they are popular with the yoof and the young ladies and fetch good money. It needs to come in about 20o quid less than that offered. If it had 60k or less on it than that is spot on price wise.
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If it had 60k or less on it than that is spot on price wise.
My thoughts exactly.
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Wow thanks for all the replies :) im with most of you that i see Renault and i just think expensive bills and things going wrong especially at this age but that is just me...she however would rather die than have a fiesta as the whole family seems to have one at the moment...me included. Ill take her down tomorrow and see it and ask some questions but at 100k for a clio im a bit dubious. Ill let you all know how it goes :)
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Rear springs both broke on ours - difficult to spot as broke high up, and wasn't at all obvious in driving.
Our was a 1998 1.6RXE - from memory the cambelt change was 60K/5yrs. We p/x'd it just as it was 5yrs old/35K miles. We struggled to get £3300 for it, although that was against a Jazz.
As prev mentioned, airbag light due to underseat connector was a constant issue.
Re the faulty a/c - if you expect that to be working, then watch that it isn't regassed only to fail again as the gas leaks out over a couple of days. Could be many hundreds to fix. I bet the foglamp is expensive too.
Oh, and if you go out for a test drive after looking under the bonnet, make sure the bonnet is closed properly!!
Edited by Bill Payer on 02/06/2009 at 00:20
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oh and clios dont rust.
Pfft. My dad owns a 1999/V Clio and it's rotting away like a good'un -- *much* worse than the heap of Korean carp we have as a second car (which is a 1997/R).
They don't seem to be any better or worse than anything else in general -- my dad's is a low-mileage car and while the engine has been fine, the gearbox has given a fair amount of trouble. It's also quite rattly, and is prone to poor cold-starting (although the starting issue is probably down to lack of use).
It *is* less reliable than any Far-Eastern car I've had, but it isn't a horror story by the same token.
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>> oh and clios dont rust. Pfft. My dad owns a 1999/V Clio and it's rotting away like a good'un -- *much* worse than the heap of Korean carp we have as a second car (which is a 1997/R).
In the last 18 months I have had personal experience (family, friends, etc)
N reg clio, M reg clio, R reg clio. P reg clio, T reg clio.
All 100% rust free.
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Based on nothing more scientific than old examples seen on the street, French cars rust less than British, Japanese or German cars.
I've always said for what everyone says is such poorly built, unreliable crap, there ain't half a lot of old ones still rattling around.
Edited by DP on 02/06/2009 at 12:07
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well i have just had a chat with the dealer (over the phone mind as we weren't able to get there before my sister had to go to college) and it has part service history....with services in 2003 2004 and 2006 but none since then. He has no idea if the cambelt had been changed or not but since it covered (according to the MOT) 63,000 miles in the first 4 years i hope it had...but ill have to rift through the receipts if she was really interested to see what i could find. It did have some MOT advisories
Front Brake disc(s) slightly worn
Front Brake pad(s) wearing thin
Offside Front suspension has slight play in a lower suspension ball joint
Nearside Front Tyre worn close to the legal limit
Offside Front Tyre worn close to the legal limit
Now the brakes i can understand after 100,000 miles but it looks like from the history that they were changed after its first MOT at 63,000 as well. How much should the suspension thing be worrying?? any idea of the costs to fix it??
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Front Brake disc(s) slightly worn Front Brake pad(s) wearing thin Offside Front suspension has slight play in a lower suspension ball joint
That little lot will probably cost you about £200 or so at an indie using decent pattern parts. Twice that at a Renault dealer using original parts.
Nearside Front Tyre worn close to the legal limit Offside Front Tyre worn close to the legal limit
£80 for two half decent tyres
There are loads of others around, many with proper histories and far lower mileage. 100k is fine, but it doesn't appear that this car has exactly been cherished.
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my thoughts as well...looking on autotrader we managed to find some nice examples (she prefers the older looking model anyway) found some nice ones with 60k on the clock with FSH and even FRSH as well so the search continues.
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Buying any car thats done 100k plus *urban* miles is going to be risky. Its not like a reps car thats clocked up 100k motorway miles in 3 years. You can complain about our motorways, but in the main they dont have potholes or speed bumps!
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The previous onwer of that car should be banned from driving allowing the brakes and tyres to get that bad (assuming the MOT inspector is correct) :(.
Ilegal tyres is just my biggest pet hate as there is no excuse at all for it.
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