Ho hum...

I went sniffing round car lots today.

My Calibra was half inched two weeks ago yesterday, and no sign of it as of yet, so I'm beginning to fear the worst.

In the meantime I've bought a really nice condition Phase 2 Clio Automatic to use until either my Calibra is found and returned, or the insurance pay out on it.

So there I am, actually having a look round at what sort of MPVs / big diesel estates one can pick up for around 5k (the cost of a new C15 van), when out of the corner of my eye I spotted...

...an M plate nightfire red Rover 600ti.

Hmm, looks a bit dirty I thinks, but with a price tag of £1495, it would be rude not to give it the proper time of day.

75k on the clock with no history, MOT til December 2003 and a peeling steering wheel... hmm, but the front suggests the paint is all original, and not particularly stone chipped, so maybe it is the right miles...

Got them to start it, and it kicked out a small puff of smoke, but no smoke once this had cleared, even when it was revved, and to be fair, it has obviously stood for a while.

Had a drive, and I noticed the ABS light was constantly on. That aside, it seemed to drive ok albeit it wasn't as fast as I had remembered the ones I used to have as company cars; do you need to thrash the arse off these to get at the real power or what?

A quick chat later, and the dealer seemed extremely genuine - they explained they'd taken it in PX a while ago, and just wanted it out the way - the long and short of it was, was £1250 cash, or £300 and the Clio... (obviously a very clean small auto with PAS is going to be a bit easier to shift), so yes, I am tempted, just a bit bothered by the ABS fault and lack of service history as well, that's all.

Gentleman of the jury, what do you reckon???

-- JackH

Reply to
JackH
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Nightfire is good.

620Ti is good

1250 quid is cheap.

Almost can't lose.

Reply to
Tim S Kemp

Aye... needs a bloody good valet and T-Cut, as they've had it in the corner of the yard since March.

Made me laugh... the lad I first spoke to said it hadn't been in long when I first asked, as he went off to fetch a jump pack and the paperwork... which had a HPi check they'd carried out on it, dated March 2003!

The rust on the discs and lack of air in the tyres sort of gave it away as well.

Aye, I know... but the ABS problem has the potential to be a real wallet buster, does it not?

Indeed. All the electric toys work as well

One would hope, although I've just found a T plate one on Autotrader for £2k.

The other bargain I saw today, was an S plate Mondeo TD with 130k on the clock, up for £1500... obviously not that well looked after, but still a cheap S plate Mondeo, and a diesel to boot.

-- JackH

Reply to
JackH

Do it - try get em to fix the ABS issue, or at least tell you whats wrong so you can see how much it would be to get it sorted. And get a good service thrown in as well :) If it hadn't been serviced it wouldn't be running so its probably just not been stamped...

-- Dan

Reply to
Dan405

To be honest, I don't think they know... whilst the monkey I first spoke to seemed to be a bit clueless, the owner seemed very genuine, and to be fair most of their stock was late low miles minters, so I doubt they'd be that interested in doing either of the above... especially as they'd already dropped as low as £1250.

I'm off to Butlins for my sins this weekend, but was toying with the idea of beating them down to a nice £150 + the Clio, and picking it up on the way back from the holiday - not keen on driving that far and back with no tax, and no time to get the insurnace certificate through before we leave tomorrow.

And a night with Nell McAndrew, and £2000 cashback, and a holiday in the tropics... ho yuss, I can see them going for that... ;)

True... it struck me as a car that the last owner hadn't been particularly interested in, given there was a couple of bits of plastic trim missing inside, and the front wing showed large signs that the car has been driven regularly up narrow greenery laden lanes - lots of very faint scratches in the lacquer compared to the offside.

-- JackH

Reply to
JackH

Leave well alone, your looking at trouble methinks. The ABS will cost a fortune to fix, that's why it was traded in, easier to get another car and let some other unsuspecting person foot the bill.

Dave

Reply to
Funkyman

Don't bother. I've just found these two on AutoTrader:

1997 ROVER 620Ti 16V, 1997, finished in Nightfire red metallic with leather Recaros, long MoT, taxed, 4 x e/w, c/l, alloys, FSH, stunning performance. £1,495 . . (West Yorkshire) 1995 ROVER 620Ti SALOON, 1995, M reg. in superb black with contrasting half black leather upholstery, power steering, abs brakes, electric windows, central locking, factory sunroof, 5-speed, rear seat belts, wood veneer cappings, alloy wheels, two previous owners, July 2004 MoT, lovely condition, drives superb, px warranty available, any trial most welcome, all major credit/switch cards accepted, only. £1,395 . Crowthorne, Berks.

That second one's not the nice nightfire red, but still a good price, and not too far away from you (happens to be right around the corner from me actually!).

Peter

Reply to
AstraVanMan

Find out what the ABS problem is - it could be wheel sensors, if the car has parked up for a long time maybe there is a small amount of corrosion messing them up - you know what vauxhall ones are like, seen a car where the metal ring on the shaft was corroding, abs sensor couldn't work, quick rub with a bit of emery cloth got rid of the corrsion - problem solved. If its pump/modulator forget it.

Reply to
Mark Craft

Doesn't say miles...

Sounds a bit better.

Hmm, maybe I'll get one soon anyway.

What's the best and worst MPG anyone on here has managed to squeeze out of one?

I always thought you were mental, and now you've just confirmed it.

Surprising that you inmates are allowed net access, mind... ;-)

-- JackH

Reply to
JackH

Secondhand pump / modulator not a viable option then?

-- JackH

Reply to
JackH

hmm yeah I guess, but how easy to find, more importantly how easy to find a good one ? if it shares components with the 800 you'll be laughing...

Reply to
Mark Craft

Yeah, when Humphries knocked out my drivers-side ABS sensor it caused the light to be permanently on.. cost me about £225 to have replaced at a Rover garage, IIRC.

Bigus

Reply to
Bigus

From what other people have said, I would expect a tank to be about 54 litres (i.e. roughly £40 at todays prices), so this equates to an average of about 28mpg (best = 32mpg, worst = 24mpg). Summing like dat, anyways.

Andy

Reply to
Andrew Kirby

jackH, what was the spec of your calibra etc etc.. and what area was it from? ill xplain after

Reply to
={ Advocated }=

My name's not JackH and I don't have a Calibra.

Reply to
Lordy

Well why didn't you reply to his post instead of mine then.

Work out how to use a NewsReader :)

Reply to
Lordy

Ahem, so anyone got a 'clue' as to if this is indeed the case, and if so, is that same era 800s in general, or more specifically the Turbo Vitesse?

-- JackH

Reply to
JackH

I'm kinda thinking like that about an old Mk2 Granny after seeing that one on ebay. You see one, and then you look around, and there are a couple out there cheap, and you want one!

Peter

Reply to
AstraVanMan

Got to be an estate has it?

-- JackH

Reply to
JackH

True, but enough of these (and assuming they share these parts), and definitely enough 800s have hit the sack for good.

My thoughts exactly.

A shame it hasn't got the history to back it up, but at least the stonechipping etc., seems to tie up with the miles.

All looks original as well - not been in any hard smacks, in other words.

*cough*

Depends who you know, allegedly.

Anyway, if it is supposed to have ABS, it should have ABS is my philosophy... ;-)

Yes... I wasn't really looking for a 600 when I saw this, so a bit more research done, I reckon I can knock him for a fair bit more, knowing how long they've had it, especially if I can walk in with pound notes rather than a PX, although to be fair, any small auto with PAS and low miles is very saleable.

-- JackH

Reply to
JackH

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