Suspect sport

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oguz327
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:35 pm

A friend from work has just sold his car and is after a sport. He found a couple in the autotrader and asked me if id go and have a look with him as he is less clued up than me. Although i am no expert i know the basics.
My friend phoned this guy up and when he said will you take any offers he said the lowest he would take was £2500, it was originaly up for £3200, thats a big drop.
Anyway we went to look at it, first checked the body work, under the bonnet, in the boot, the archs, jacking points and scutle plus jacked the car up.
First thing i noticed was it had had a full respray, minor rust on the roof (no more than normal) bad rust on the scutle, rear archs were not bad but there was a fair bit of scabbing at the lowerer rear of the arch where the rear bumper/valance joined.
The door shuts were a little rusty but didnt look as if it had had a major accident, pretty straight.
It had alpina reps on which he said were originals lol and a full custom system and manifold + 10 months mot 125000 miles but no history.
The guy had been banned for speeding and we viewed the car at a tyer fitting yard where he worked :?
Engine did sound sweet but dindnt even drive it, we walked.
The guy just called my mate back and said he would sell it cheeper, i told him to steer well clear.
Is it me or does this sound well dodge?
Cheers for the help aswell Simon
Simon
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:40 pm

I reckon the rust will be a lot worse under the kit, especially if it's going around the door shuts, and the fact the car has had a full respray, but still has rusty roof/scuttle doesn't sound very good, the fact the guy works in a tyre place, and he seems desperate to get rid, it's obvious he's had it on the ramp at work, and it's got some worse rust underneath!

Steer clear unless he goes real cheap, and you can't go wrong then!
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jmc330i
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:46 pm

oguz3001 wrote:First thing i noticed was it had had a full respray, minor rust on the roof (no more than normal) bad rust on the scutle, rear archs were not bad but there was a fair bit of scabbing at the lowerer rear of the arch where the rear bumper/valance joined.
The door shuts were a little rusty but didnt look as if it had had a major accident, pretty straight.
If it had a full respray and was still rusty, I would be asking why bother with the respray???
If it was a cheap and nasty respray, what else has been done on the cheap? :?

Think you did the best thing by walking, unless you were looking for a cheap project to buy - and it would have to be cheap by the sounds of it 8O
James
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oguz327
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:48 pm

Thats what i though.
It had leather as well which was compleatly fecked, a hole about an inch and half wide in the bolsted also it had one of the worst damaged dash's ive ever seen on an e30.
My friend who is looking to buy just done up an astra gsi and lost nearly £3000 on it where it kept going wrong and he had spent so much on the paint work and engine work. That wasnt even rusty.
There must be much better examples out there, he has up to £3500 to spend if its a good un.
oguz327
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 9:50 pm

I recon its only worth what you could get by breaking max
oguz327
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:04 pm

Just phoned my mate to tell him what what the zone verdict was so far and he said that the guy had called him back saying his mates at work told him he was asking too much. No shit winkeye
anyway he said he would take £900 and my mates corrado g60 (which only owes him £200. :?
Thing is my mates only 21 and i know he will spend £1000s on the sport if he got it and all on a dodgy base car :?
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keith52
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:28 pm

IMO stay clear of it doesn't sound like its worth £500 even broken if your mate has 3500 to spend there's still a few good ones out there. you can spend a extraodinary amount of money on getting the shell right as nearly all work is labour intensive and thats before you look at the mechanics ,get a good shell ,engines/boxes etc are still plentiful
Dan318-is
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 10:29 pm

FRAGFEST!
Simon13
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:21 pm

let me try and find out about the sport's i know of!

maybe go for a non kitted 325i and go that route, he might like that a bit more?
oguz327
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Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:28 pm

Simon13 wrote:let me try and find out about the sport's i know of!

maybe go for a non kitted 325i and go that route, he might like that a bit more?
Nice one Simon. :)
I did suggest him getting a really clean sport and putting a lsd and all the other bits on but he like cars that come in sport spec from the factory.
Its only the first one we have looked at and i did say to him it may not be easy finding a reasonable sport as alot of them have fallen into the wrong hands by now at some point.
We will keep trying :)
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keith52
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Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:45 am

There was a nice one for sale a couple of weeks ago in Swansea £2,800.3 owners FSH all work carried out for mot etc .Koolong user name
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