About To Buy My 1St Rav 4. Advice Please

[The Mortgage Man]

Hi there,

Newbie member here looking for some advice.

We have a small holding and need to do about 500yds of fencing so I thought Id get a smallish 4x4 for a few hundred quid.

The Rav looks like the ticket and Ive found one. It is a 1995 5d GX manual with 175k, no SH, 10 months MOT and some tax. Seller says it needs new front pads and 2 tyres: £400.

Its on steal wheels and sounds like a bargain.

Is there anything I should look out for.

Thanks in advance.

PS: other cars are a Rover 75 CDTI Tourer with 199,700 miles and a Lexus LS400 on 195,000 miles.

Both maintained by me. Happy days.

Jonathan

[steve_lj]

Wow - you like your high milers !!!!

Are you just going to use it off-road?? I assume the one your looking at is a petrol model. From what I gather apart from being a little thirsty they are pretty much regarded as bomb proof. Obviously check all the usual - if you do your own maintenance you will have a good idea anyway.

Im sure some of the more experienced rav'ers will be along soon with more advice.

Steve

[redlew]

No service history and needs new pads and tyres. What does it need that you don't knoiw about? Plenty of cars on autotrader

.

[Raistlin]

Hi, Welcome to the club... Enjoy

[gjnorthall]

£400 with 10 months MOT is great but just check that theres nothing that could double or treble the price in the short term. May still be worth buying as long as you're aware, Check clutch slip, jumping out of 5th, overheating, timing belt replacement required, imminent tyre replacement and significant handling issues.

[The Mortgage Man]

Thanks for your input guys. Really appreciate it. Im handy with the spanners but know nothing about Rav4s so dont know the weak points (if there are any, and I say that after 6 years of Lexus ownership).

Whether it gets any use on the road depends on what SWIMBO thinks of the condition. She will either turn her nose up and go back to the Lexus or fall in love with it. She loved the Mitsubishi Pinnin we had.

Are the Rav4s good on steep grassy slopes? I hear they all have a diff lock.

[The Mortgage Man]

Well thats my £400 quid Rav4 gone. All the other cheap ones seem to have gone too. Oh well. Plenty more soon I hope.

[redlew]

The world is awash with used cars -and you never ever miss the only bargain.

[ALake]

At that price range I'd be just looking for rust and smokey engines or crunchy/juddery gearboxes. If its got tax and mot I would be happy if it only needed some service items

[The Mortgage Man]

Thanks for that. I know that I'm not going to get much for my money but being unfamiliar with the Rav4s I don't know where their Achilles heal is.

If it where an LS id be looking at the front upper wishbones, rear ball joint, Y pipe of the exhaust, PAS reservoir seal, front PAS fluid cooling pipes and red hot cats.

On the Rav I haven't a clue.

I suppose that's what I'm after really: what weak points to check so that I don't buy a worn out wreck with an expensive problem.

[gjnorthall]

See my previous post re expensive areas of concern on a 4.1. To be fair, however, on any 20 year old high mileage car - you'd need to go over the whole car quite carefully to get a realistic view of condition and potential expenditure required.

There was an excellent article in the 19th March edition of Autocar on buying an older Rav for around £700 - well worth a read!

[The Mortgage Man]

See my previous post re expensive areas of concern on a 4.1. To be fair, however, on any 20 year old high mileage car - you'd need to go over the whole car quite carefully to get a realistic view of condition and potential expenditure required.

There was an excellent article in the 19th March edition of Autocar on buying an older Rav for around £700 - well worth a read!

Thanks for the heads up on Autocar. Ill have to keep my eyes open for that one. Not banking on finding one though. Wish I'd seen it when it was in the shops.

[firemac]

See my previous post re expensive areas of concern on a 4.1. To be fair, however, on any 20 year old high mileage car - you'd need to go over the whole car quite carefully to get a realistic view of condition and potential expenditure required.

There was an excellent article in the 19th March edition of Autocar on buying an older Rav for around £700 - well worth a read!

Thanks for the heads up on Autocar. Ill have to keep my eyes open for that one. Not banking on finding one though. Wish I'd seen it when it was in the shops.

If you go on Autocar's website, you should be able to order the back-issue - or even download the article??