Buying a Citroen Saxo vtr

Well from another poster on the group- constant problems with the fuel system- fuel pumps dying, and an on going apparent fuel starvation (cutting out / stalling / hesitancy) problem with resultant fault codes being logged by the ECU. So check carefully for the fault lamp being on when it shouldnt be, and drive the car from cold to fully hot over several miles to be sure its not playing up.

Brakes may feel crap, they're all like that, though a thorough going over (new softish pads) rough up discs / lube the sliders etc will improve them for a short time.

The later 100brake engine has had problems with coil packs dying, but at the moment anything French is having that problem. VW too!

Basically dont buy without some form of warranty (6 months min) and check very carefully everything electrical. There have also been instances of Pug

306 seat syndrome- fore / aft mechanism is abit wonky and you suddenly find yourself closer / further back from the steering wheel than you want with resultant warm underwear moment.

Apart from that lot, the Saxo is actually fairly reliable and a goodish handler (well compared to a standard Saxo) So check for any signs of hard use- sloppy or choppy handling, curbed alloys, sloppy gear change, worn synchros on 1st and 2nd going up and down the box.

Otherwise basic checks apply- service history on the dot at the right mileage / time span. Insist on the V5, and make contact with the previous owner. I'd always consider this an absolute must, especially on a car which could turn into a money pit if its been abused in the past. I think I would avoid anything with a large bore exhaust or lowered suspenders.

Make sure you try afew to get a judge on what a good one and a bad one is like, dont buy the first you see- they're are alot of VTR's about. And dont buy an older low mileage car in preference to one thats done miles in a short time- slow town running is the quickest way to kill a car- unless its at good money.

Sure the other group members will bring up other things!

Tim..

Johnnie ( snipped-for-privacy@kent.ac.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Have you asked insurance companies for quotes yet?

1. Paxo VTR = Boy racer wet dream
2. .ac.uk = Stoodent
3. First car = no NCB
4. 4.5k purchase = Fully comp insurance

1+2+3+4 = Very large quote....

Were you planning on having any of that 4.5k budget spare to buy the car once you've allocated the insurance amount?

Or were you planning on the usual transparent "No, it's my mum's car, honest, Mr. Broker" fraud to get it insured?

The message from Adrian contains these words:

Trouble is, there are actually one or two sensible students who can handle that sort of car as a first car - and they have to carry the can for all those who can't.

He heh..nice investigatory work. I've checked it out with Norwich Union beforehand...they want 550tpft for my Wolverhampton address, and 800 odd tpft for when I move to London in September (grad job).

I've talked the talk for years, and although I've tootled around in Ford Granada's, 106 diesel,saxo diesel, polo tdi and a fabia....they haven't actually been mine and just been me picking up the keys in the kitchen whenever I needed to...decided now that I must learn how to walk the walk for myself......

insurance budget is separate to the 4.5k, I could do fully comp, but its the wrong side of 1,500 and as I won't be driving it on a mon-fri(I'll be one of those lemmings travelling to canary wharf on the tube every morning) I'll just be careful on the few trips I make out on the weekends to go see friends...

Johnnie

ok, so now I'm having sleepless nights deciding whether I should take on fully comp or tpft....suggestions please?????

Fully comp with legal cover. At least then when an uninsured driver hits you then you can claim on your insurance for your car, and the insurance company will try and recover the loss from the other driver.

So I wouldn't be covered against an uninsured driver hitting me if I had TPFT with legal cover?

It's a lot less grief.

hey!!!! my bro goes there :) anyway, the reason they are all low mileage is because after the one or two years worth of free insurance you get when you buy new, the spotty oiks who buy the cars can't afford to get anymore because they are still on finance to pay the car off so they flog it

and being as they are spotty little oiks, the chances of it being hammered from the off are very good

HPi check what you need to do is see how many owners it's had, more than 2 walk away HPi check servicing? full history otherwise your warranty is worthless HPi check tyres? how have they worn? are they all the same? HPi check brakes? are they crap or not? HPi check accident damage, is it a write off? HPi check did I mention you should have it HPi checked in case it's still got outstanding finance on it? no? well, you will need to get it HPi checked for that reason

how do I know so much? my cousin tends to buy them new then flog them after a year been doing it for the last 3 years so he knows what the going rate is and seeing as he's in the army he doesn't get to drive it alot and it tends to sit in the road for months at a time and then get thrashed to within an inch say hello to nimrod :)