Looking for a 9-5 aero

[Hallsy01]

Anyone selling up??

Been on the lookout for a 9-5 Aero estate the last week or so.

Must be an estate, and facelift, preferably '52 onwards with good spec - auto or manual. Have a budget of around £1000, touch more depending on the car.

Had my eye on three this week, all MY03 or MY04, within budget, but all have sold before I could get to view!! Thought I had a local one in the bag when it appeared on eBay last night, only for the seller to tell me it had sold within 10 minutes of listing!!

So if anyone is considering selling, or knows someone who is - please let me know In the meantime I will be checking the usual places daily!!

As usual there were plenty around when I couldn't buy one, but now I can it's gone quiet, lol!!

[Fat Albert]

Try sticking a wanted entry in here:

http://www.uksaabs.co.uk/UKS/viewforum.php?f=48

[Hallsy01]

Already got one on there FA - was the first place I went!!

Missed out on a fully loaded '03 one up North for £995, even had vented seats!! Should have just bought it over the phone on that basis alone, lol!!

[Fat Albert]

Ouch!
A huge amount of car for the money!
I saw one guy got lucky looking for almost exactly what you're after

[Hallsy01]

Just been unlucky this week that the ones that have come up for sale have been miles away, and sold within a day or two!!

Maybe next week I'll get lucky!!

[LongQ]

Hallsy01 said:

Already got one on there FA - was the first place I went!!

Missed out on a fully loaded '03 one up North for £995, even had vented seats!! Should have just bought it over the phone on that basis alone, lol!!

If that was an 03 in grey with 139k on the clock ... I had a brief test drive.

Interesting spec. It had some cosmetic issues and a fair amount of unexplained water in the luggage area when I viewed it. Usual stuff not working (rear wash, parking sensors) and the engine management light was on but I doubt that was anything serious. It seemed to go well enough. Oil around the engine suggested a seal leak just like mine has - mileage almost identical and I had just had the engine management light on as well. Quite tempted but couldn't arrange a sensible insurance deal before someone else snapped it up. Had I not already got mine with cash spent on it recently I would have taken the gamble. Probably.

[Hallsy01]

I reckon that was the same one - v12 sport & classic?

Sadly they were a 4 hour train ride away so I had to call ahead - but the guy I spoke to was absolutely useless, couldn't tell me any more than the advert did!!

I planned to take a look on the Saturday but it had sold that day.

Nice spec, but I guessed it may have not been perfect at that price - although i'm not after perfection, lol!!

[LongQ]

Hallsy01 said:

I reckon that was the same one - v12 sport & classic?

Sadly they were a 4 hour train ride away so I had to call ahead - but the guy I spoke to was absolutely useless, couldn't tell me any more than the advert did!!

I planned to take a look on the Saturday but it had sold that day.

Nice spec, but I guessed it may have not been perfect at that price - although i'm not after perfection, lol!!

That was the one.

The ventilated seats were a surprise. First I have seen. More of a surprise was that that they worked ... presumably the heated part worked as well. Passenger seat seemed to stop going back a bit early though. Kenwood satnav and 6 disk CD changer installed too. I don't know which Kenwood model it was and it's not something that would make the deal for me but browsing the 'net afterwards I suspect that it was worth a substantial portion of the asking price for whole car.


The driver door seal was totally shot and the window glass rattled in the runners when closing the door. Plus the door mirror was flaking paint on that side. Might have been replaced at some time and made me wonder if the whole door had had work. The driver seat trim panel with the electric controls was detached too but seemed to be operationsal. The body panels looked fine given the age and I didn't notice any particular paint mismatches but would have been a bit suspicious of some sort of repair work. A few places could have done with some fettling and the front valance looked like it may have met a kerb or two in its time.

The shark fin aerial had no fin left - just the little wire poking into the air and the rear section of the headlining was not in a good state. Complete but very marked. I wondered if it could the the source of the water. The gloss black refurbed wheels looked to have been done quite recently.

If whoever bought it has access to sensibly priced parts and a cost effective service/refurb facility what they got, assuming the engine management light and possible oil leak were nothing out of the ordinary, could well have been a bit of a bargain.

[_bryan_]

Also on the look out for one of these but after a slightly newer 04/05 with budget between 1500 and 2500.

I've seen a dark blue one advertised on autotrader for a while now, anthracite colour wheels, manual. Anyone know anything about it or been to view it? The length of time it's been for sale suggests something's not right, and it's a fair old trek for me to view it, only to find I've wasted my time.

[Hallsy01]

I've seen the one you mention Bryan, looks nice in the photos, but as you say, it seems that the decent & well priced ones are selling fast - certainly I enquired about four last week that had sold within a day or two or listing.

For me, the hunt is over...I found one this morning

'05, auto, 98k, 11 months MOT, 3 previous wowners......all for BB money!

Pretty good all round, needs a good clean inside & out and the headlights could do with a polish, but pretty impressed really. Only thing I missed on the test drive (the car was SORN so couldn't go too far) is that I think it maybe has a bit of a boost leak. On the drive home I noticed it was making a groaning noise just as it comes on boost, and felt a bit flatter than I expected at WOT. I suspect it will either be a leaky vac/boost hose or maybe a leaking diverter valve. Will have a good look tomorrow - hopefully nothing serious.

Will put some pics up tomorrow

[militantmandy]

LongQ said:

If that was an 03 in grey with 139k on the clock ... I had a brief test drive.

Interesting spec. It had some cosmetic issues and a fair amount of unexplained water in the luggage area when I viewed it. Usual stuff not working (rear wash, parking sensors) and the engine management light was on but I doubt that was anything serious. It seemed to go well enough. Oil around the engine suggested a seal leak just like mine has - mileage almost identical and I had just had the engine management light on as well. Quite tempted but couldn't arrange a sensible insurance deal before someone else snapped it up. Had I not already got mine with cash spent on it recently I would have taken the gamble. Probably.

Could unexplained water and non function rear wash be related? I spent ages clearing the sprayer tube on mine only to discover there was washer fulid pishing out the motor into the boot anyway. Could this be why almost every estate I've ever seen has rust inside the tailgate?