Does anyone know this GTO?

[Henners84]

Hi,

I am new to the Noble Pistonheads section, however really do fancy the idea of a move to a M12 GTO. Does anyone know anything about the following car up for sale or the dealership?

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/n...

Miles seem quite high but the condition seems reasonable (at least from the pics!). Any help most welcome. Also any links to 2.5 GTO buying guide topics/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much...

[slipstream 1985]

why not buy mine, its a gto 3 with more mods less miles and basicly the same price

[TuxMan]

Got too agree with slipstream , 3 lL car is a better buy , it's done high mileage , no mention of diff upgrade as if it's the original it will be worn out at that sort of mileage . Track day sump fitted ? Has it a MBE ECU or foes it still have the original magnetti motelli which was very bad !!!!

[mrpbailey]

Don't know the car, but pretty sure it's been up for sale for a while now? This is the same dealer that had the (cheap) red m400 for sale last year, don't have the greatest knowledge of the cars

[V1DL3R]

Hasn't had ECU upgrade and the dealer said it would cost you £200 is do. I decided at that point to walk away.

[slipstream 1985]

mines has the :quaiffe diff done
upgraded intercooler
tunnel mod
tds put in
hub nuts done
gimmie a pm if you want more info and pics.

[wessexrfc]

That still has the original bottom exit exhaust that will need replacing if you don't want to keep repairing it. To replace its about 2.5k plus fitting dependant on make etc. I think there are better examples available.

[TuxMan]

£200 for a ECU upgrade !!!!! More like £2000 :-(

[DaveM1969]

My 3R is on AutoTrader if you're interested Henners? :-)

[mgbond]

wessexrfc said:

That still has the original bottom exit exhaust that will need replacing if you don't want to keep repairing it. To replace its about 2.5k plus fitting dependant on make etc. I think there are better examples available.

The chocolate exhaust was on the 3.0 cars not the 2.5. I had mine on for years and replaced it in the end as I wanted rear exit points.

Maybe the £200 is to upgrade latest map and it has the MBE. If it has the marelli then yes 2-3k

[Henners84]

Hi All,

Thanks very much for your responses and advice so far. Even though consensus generally is that a 3R is "better", in my opinion I prefer the 2.5 GTO for the following reasons:

- prefer the look of the front lights;
- prefer an alcantara interior to a leather one;
- believe I would prefer the sound of the 2.5 engine with the greater noise from the turbos (although have no experience to base this on aside from what I have read).

In terms of upgrades, thanks for all the advice. However some part of me for some reason would like to get an original car as possible and then fettle it myself. For instance I am not too bothered about power upgrades etc as the base power is fast enough for me at the moment, however I would like to gradually go through and make the car as bullet-proof and reliable as possible with a few carefully chosen upgrades. However I quite fancy the idea of doing this myself so the idea of a (relatively) standard car appeals.

Having said all this I am very open to advice as I have no previous experience with the mark. Also I will try and make it up to the NEC on Saturday if any of you are around for a chat.

Thanks

Henners

[Paul curran]

I have my 2.5 for sale , MBE ecu , trackday sump , twin exit custom made exhaust system sounds great !

[slipstream 1985]

gto 3 is the round lights.

[Cyrilsneer58]

It was the 1st M12 I looked at, they said it was mint so I drove a 240 mile round trip and it was a bag of nails.... Wheels all bashed and micro blisters. They also had a red M400 in the same condition. Nuff said!

[V1DL3R]

mgbond said:

Maybe the £200 is to upgrade latest map and it has the MBE. If it has the marelli then yes 2-3k

It was/is the Marelli. Buy from someone on the forum if you can.

[SwankBaton]

Henners84 said:

in my opinion I prefer the 2.5 GTO for the following reasons:
- believe I would prefer the sound of the 2.5 engine with the greater noise from the turbos (although have no experience to base this on aside from what I have read).

Dont let this sway you , I've had the filters on my 3R moved the 2.5 location (bulkhead) , best of both worlds.

[V1DL3R]

+ 1

Took around 20mins to move and I'm no mechanic.

[mgbond]

Henners84 said:

Hi All,

Thanks very much for your responses and advice so far. Even though consensus generally is that a 3R is "better", in my opinion I prefer the 2.5 GTO for the following reasons:

- prefer the look of the front lights;
- prefer an alcantara interior to a leather one;
- believe I would prefer the sound of the 2.5 engine with the greater noise from the turbos (although have no experience to base this on aside from what I have read).

In terms of upgrades, thanks for all the advice. However some part of me for some reason would like to get an original car as possible and then fettle it myself. For instance I am not too bothered about power upgrades etc as the base power is fast enough for me at the moment, however I would like to gradually go through and make the car as bullet-proof and reliable as possible with a few carefully chosen upgrades. However I quite fancy the idea of doing this myself so the idea of a (relatively) standard car appeals.

Having said all this I am very open to advice as I have no previous experience with the mark. Also I will try and make it up to the NEC on Saturday if any of you are around for a chat.

Thanks

Henners

The GTO3 has the same lights and the filters can easily be moved to bulk head. Think the GTO3 also came in alcantara.

The upgrades suggested rant just for power. The std 2.5 ECU (marelli) goes out of cal and can't be corrected so is an MoT failure and needs to be replaced.

My 2.5 was down on power 280bhp and I blew the diff within two months so getting one with LSD upgrade is important or it's a big bill with engine out.

I brought the wrong car without these mods thinking I would do them over time and they happened quite quickly at great expense.

So advice is buy with these upgrades done.

[Henners84]

So what should the upgrades be you would expect to see on a 2.5 or a 3 then? Just the ones you would expect to make the car more reliable and fix the earlier development issues rather than those aimed at increasing performance...

[mgbond]

Henners84 said:

So what should the upgrades be you would expect to see on a 2.5 or a 3 then? Just the ones you would expect to make the car more reliable and fix the earlier development issues rather than those aimed at increasing performance...

If ur not interested in power then as I said. For a 2.5 u would need LSD and a ECU upgrade.

2.5 does also need the rad fan cowling but this is not expensive.

I would also try to find one with a TDS if u ever want to track it, this may also include driver training events.

If u get a GTO3 then I think fans should already have the cowling and the ECU changed to MBE, however the exhaust bracket breaks quite often so a replacement exhaust might be a good idea.

I would also upgrade exhaust on the 2.5 as the std one is restrictive like on the 3.0 cars.

Finally for peace of mind I would get it mapped to check its running ok and getting it back to std power as they never made what is quoted.