Any advice for buying a T Sport?

[Bhabbichuss]

Looking at a 03 plate with around 70k miles. Any advice on common issues, areas of rust?

[Madasafish]

The serious parts:

around the rear suspension body mounting points: front of rear wheel arches. Paint flakes due to twisting of floor. And the wheel arch in same area. Take a torch and screwdriver. 

the inner sills behind front wheel arch and all the way along the floorpan to the rear wheel arch

Exhaust system where it curves at rear around rear subframe: rust badly - look for bodged repairs.

Front suspension - subframe especially lower suspension arm and tie rods mounting points. 

Radiator fins corrode badly.

Boot floorpan in corners on bad ones. And under spare wheel due to water ingress from rear light clusters - failed sealant.

Petrol pipe filler tube to main tank from filler . mud corrosion. Petrol smells and owner never fills it up. (common)

Check sunroof works. Can corrode shut.(mechanism)

 

Basically look very carefully everywhere.. It is an OLD car.

[Cyker]

The engine is generally quite reliable, assuming it's had regular oil changes. As fishy says the biggest problem area is general corrosion, just because the car is old... That said T-Sport owners tend to take more pride in the car than the regular ones so hopefully will be in better condition than the average Mk1!

[corradovr6]

if possible have a look in front of the rear axle (the back of the floorpan).  

Take a mirror and torch with you and if you can have a look under the side trims.

I would still budget £2-300 for a full service and some repairs.  

[Bhabbichuss]

Went round today and apart from some expected age related marks it was a very clean car so ended up purchasing it. Thanks all.

[Cyker]

Congrats! Enjoy!  

It's nice to see the T-Sport group growing again here!

[Madasafish]

2 hours ago, Bhabbichuss said:

Went round today and apart from some expected age related marks it was a very clean car so ended up purchasing it. Thanks all.

Hope you enjoy it.

[Jasper.]

2 hours ago, Bhabbichuss said:

Went round today and apart from some expected age related marks it was a very clean car so ended up purchasing it. Thanks all.

Any pictures  ?? 😉

[Rhymes with Paris]

Good luck with your Tsport , great little cars IMO.

I know you have already bought it now, but retrospective advice would be look at the owner at least as much as the car.

You can tell a lot from straight answers (or otherwise) to reasonable questions.

Also sorry if too obvious , but numerous scrap engines and off the road cars dotted around are another clue, turn round and don't look back.

🤞

[corradovr6]

Congrats and do post up some pics when you can. 3dr or 5dr?

[Bhabbichuss]

17 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Good luck with your Tsport , great little cars IMO.

I know you have already bought it now, but retrospective advice would be look at the owner at least as much as the car.

You can tell a lot from straight answers (or otherwise) to reasonable questions.

Also sorry if too obvious , but numerous scrap engines and off the road cars dotted around are another clue, turn round and don't look back.

🤞

Don't worry I completely understand. He had a lovely classic car in the garage in perfect condition and even a 10 year old micra in the drive looked like it was well taken care of.

I cross referenced his story with the car history and everything checked out/provided me the evidence.

One thing to clarify is that it is a CAT S car which im sure most people will have a very strong opinion about.

[corradovr6]

Interesting.  If it was cheap i wouldn't worry about it being a cat S. What was the damage?

[Rhymes with Paris]

6 hours ago, Bhabbichuss said:

Don't worry I completely understand. He had a lovely classic car in the garage in perfect condition and even a 10 year old micra in the drive looked like it was well taken care of.

I cross referenced his story with the car history and everything checked out/provided me the evidence.

One thing to clarify is that it is a CAT S car which im sure most people will have a very strong opinion about.

Sounds ok then , obviously you realise the difference between genuine sellers and dodgy  merchants selling a load of old scrap.

Of course, private sales of older cars are a different thing entirely from nearly new from a dealer or even "car supermarkets" with all their quality guarantees and 70 point checks , which mean nothing in my experience.

As regards cat s or any other cat , I don't know enough about them to base buying a car on , but if you have enough knowledge to be confident in buying ,then you will hopefully have a good buy.

The Tsport is such a tough little car though , that it will probably survive most minor mishaps.

200,000 miles I have read with regular oil changes.

Again good luck with it 😀

[Bhabbichuss]

1 hour ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Sounds ok then , obviously you realise the difference between genuine sellers and dodgy  merchants selling a load of old scrap.

Of course, private sales of older cars are a different thing entirely from nearly new from a dealer or even "car supermarkets" with all their quality guarantees and 70 point checks , which mean nothing in my experience.

As regards cat s or any other cat , I don't know enough about them to base buying a car on , but if you have enough knowledge to be confident in buying ,then you will hopefully have a good buy.

The Tsport is such a tough little car though , that it will probably survive most minor mishaps.

200,000 miles I have read with regular oil changes.

Again good luck with it 😀

At the end of the day if it works out it works out. Hopefully will last a couple years minimum without major issue.

Also realised I hadn't actaully attached an image before.

[Bhabbichuss]

2 hours ago, corradovr6 said:

Interesting.  If it was cheap i wouldn't worry about it being a cat S. What was the damage?

Cheap relative to the current market but not an amazing bargain compared to pre covid prices unfortunately.

The damage itself was from a light rear ender. Boot had a very small dent but other than that absolutely no damage. The bumper itself could be repainted and reused. Happened three years ago so I don't think its caused any major issues as its been fully repaired and used as normal since.

[corradovr6]

the boot floor etc are really very thin so i don't think that would likely have affected the chassis.  And like you say if it is running ok and is certified as safe then it should be ok.

Look at this way though, T-Sport prices seem to be climbing a bit now so you wouldn't lose much, if anything, on it.

 

Your headlights look nice and bright!

[Rhymes with Paris]

So has the price lift in the newer cars filtered through to older stuff like ours then ?

Not that it matters of course unless you are buying or selling and still need a car.

It looks like my old 2012 Honda CRV may be worth a couple of grand more now than what I sold it for , but no matter it is strange times on car prices indeed.