Looking at a Fiesta tonight. Help with issues to look for?

[DiseasalDriver]

Further to a what car for my MIL thread we are off to have a look at a Fiesta 1.3 Flight at 5pm.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/blj2qhm

Here is the link to AutoTrader, not sure if it'll link you to the actual car or the search but its the red 1.3 Flight at the bottom of the page on for £999.

Her current car is beyond repair and its her birthday coming up so...

However, I have no idea what to look for and ideally I want to turn up, check for issues, take a test drive to listen for any problems and drive it home if all is well and good.

http://www.prestigeperformancenw.co.uk/used-cars/f...

They seem to have some decent cars in stock so I may look at something for myself to but ideally I'm just after an idea of what to look for. I just need to come away with a small, efficient and relatively reliable car without any major problems in the pipeline.

Cheers in advance!

[DiseasalDriver]

Also, looking at a lot of the cars, the price on the windscreen is much higher than asking. Is that to give an illusion of a better deal and is that standard practice?

[HustleRussell]

rust; rear arches and quarters especially. Look for bubbling under the fuel filler cap cover. The engine should sound like a bag of spanners, if it doesn't, it's broken.

[DiseasalDriver]

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3522965.htm

Just seen its advertised on here too.

[P I Staker]

Why not get one with the 1.25 Zetec in it?

As said look for rust on the rear arches, also bottom of the rear hatch and along the front edges of the doors. Check the back of the front seats, my mate has a Mk4 Fiesta which is starting to spit springs out the back of the seats.

ETA: Check the state of the spare wheel mount (Under the boot floor), they rot.

Edited by P I Staker on Friday 25th May 15:02

[skene]

Sills, rear arches, pull up the bottom door seals near the rear quarter these can rust badly. Rear chassis legs going to the rear bumper. And as said if the 1.3 engine sounds smooth it's likely terminal they are truly prehistoric engines!

[FoundOnRoadside]

Very little to go wrong on those cars, as there's nothing to them. Windy windows, radio, that's about it.

As others have said, look for rust. There'll likely be a fair bit, especially towards the back. Again, the 1.3 Endura engine sounds like st, but will go on forever. Goes quite well as they're a very light car.

[HustleRussell]

FoundOnRoadside said:

the 1.3 Endura engine sounds like st, but will go on forever. Goes quite well as they're a very light car.

At this end of the market I'd have the 1.3 OHC engine over the 1.25 DOHC. It's more robust- the 1.25s do top ends occasionally.

[DiseasalDriver]

Thanks for all the advice, so rust seems to be the main issue. That'll be the main concern.

After that its the usual check for coolant, oil, no oil in antifreeze, suspension clunking on the test drive, water in footwell etc.

I'm relieved by the advice that the engine is pretty bulletproof, I don't care about the performance as I'm not going to be driving it, I just don't want the MIL to be shelling out money she doesn't have - she's only just got back into a job after being made redundant and we were covering her bills at that point.

As long as it gets her to work, thats the main concern.

[mrtwisty]

If reliability and frugality are the watchwords, may I suggest something like this:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3880033.htm

This particular one is a little more than the Fiesta, but you will find them around a grand in good nick.

Utterly, utterly bulletproof - freind of mine (also a ph'er) has had one for years and its truly remarkable how durable it is. Excellent on fuel, tax, insurance etc also. Oh, and they don't rust in front of your eyes like mk4/5 festers!

[Dodsy]

Rust. I looked at a lost of fiestas in this price bracket a few months back. Every single one had rotten sills and rear arches and some had huge holes underneath as well. Make sure you have a good poke around underneath.

[DiseasalDriver]

On another note, what do you think of the price? Would £850 be cheeky? I suppose if I find any elements of rust I could use that to get him down on price.

[smartphone hater]

Heater control valves are quite a common thing as well so check the heater blows out hot air. Not a difficult or overly expensive thing to replace but you'd want it reflected in the asking price.

[cerbfan]

I was going to suggest issue 13, 47 and 154 for starters but wrong Fiesta!

[TonyRPH]

mrtwisty said:

If reliability and frugality are the watchwords, may I suggest something like this:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3880033.htm

This particular one is a little more than the Fiesta, but you will find them around a grand in good nick.

Utterly, utterly bulletproof - freind of mine (also a ph'er) has had one for years and its truly remarkable how durable it is. Excellent on fuel, tax, insurance etc also. Oh, and they don't rust in front of your eyes like mk4/5 festers!

+1 for the Toyota.

It'll be far more refined than the Fiesta too.

[Vince70]

Check that the keys lock and unlock the doors properly as there is also a know fault with the door locks and as said before check for rot especially around the rear arches and underneath.

[DiseasalDriver]

The fiesta was an absolute dog, drivers window didn't go down, key didn't work in boot, rust all over it, mayo in the oil cap, scratches, dents. The dodgiest place I've ever been. It did seem to run ok, but we ran away as fast as we could...

He wheelspun into the compound in the yellow M3 he has for sale and he did the most obvious sales trick in the book...

Lad comes out of office "mike, its for you"... "yeah, the red fiesta, yeah its still here, just pop down"... <hands phone back> "another call for the fiesta"

Absolute joke.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Ended up with a Lupo, it's spotless, and he has given us £100 for her old car which we planned on smashing to pieces.