dah1505
6th May 2010, 04:03 PM
Hello everyone, I'm new here and just have a second hand buying question:
I'm looking round for a small 4x4 as a 2nd car to use daily to get me to work and back, then towing a trailer as and when I need to, and probably a bit of off roading seeing as I can.
Second hand freelanders seem comparatively cheap, a quick read of this forum suggests there may be reasons for that....
I've been to look at a car today:
2001 V6 Auto, 120k km's
Full service history, serviced at least every 10k with main dealers to about 90k
Generally tidy, a nasty scratch on the driver door but that doesn't worry me too much
Matching tyres, probably about 1/2 worn, even wear
Drives pretty well
Bad bits:
- Passenger electric window u/s - could just be fuse or more serious...
- No record of timing belt change, i think its due at around 120k?
- To start you need to turn on ignition, then pop the bonnet and press a botton to start!! Couldn't work out what the button was wired to, but i quess its bypassing an immobiliser or something??? The guy showing me the car for his friend said a proper fix was going to be $500 and this was the cheaper option....
- Oil leaking from rear diff, sign of IRD/Viscous coupling problems? didn't do the reversing test as I've only just read about it. Propshaft was still there.
The car is owned by a student who has gone home to china due to visa problems, seems like he may take a low offer.
So on the one hand the car is obviously not in A1 condition, but if it was say $5k, and then a couple of thousand to sort the starting situation and replace the timing belt would it be a bad buy?
Or should I walk away?
Obviously a TD4 would be nice but they seem to be scarce here in Perth, V6's this age seem to be advertised at $9k upwards.
Cheers, Dave
I'm looking round for a small 4x4 as a 2nd car to use daily to get me to work and back, then towing a trailer as and when I need to, and probably a bit of off roading seeing as I can.
Second hand freelanders seem comparatively cheap, a quick read of this forum suggests there may be reasons for that....
I've been to look at a car today:
2001 V6 Auto, 120k km's
Full service history, serviced at least every 10k with main dealers to about 90k
Generally tidy, a nasty scratch on the driver door but that doesn't worry me too much
Matching tyres, probably about 1/2 worn, even wear
Drives pretty well
Bad bits:
- Passenger electric window u/s - could just be fuse or more serious...
- No record of timing belt change, i think its due at around 120k?
- To start you need to turn on ignition, then pop the bonnet and press a botton to start!! Couldn't work out what the button was wired to, but i quess its bypassing an immobiliser or something??? The guy showing me the car for his friend said a proper fix was going to be $500 and this was the cheaper option....
- Oil leaking from rear diff, sign of IRD/Viscous coupling problems? didn't do the reversing test as I've only just read about it. Propshaft was still there.
The car is owned by a student who has gone home to china due to visa problems, seems like he may take a low offer.
So on the one hand the car is obviously not in A1 condition, but if it was say $5k, and then a couple of thousand to sort the starting situation and replace the timing belt would it be a bad buy?
Or should I walk away?
Obviously a TD4 would be nice but they seem to be scarce here in Perth, V6's this age seem to be advertised at $9k upwards.
Cheers, Dave