Just been to look at a Tuscan

[m3coupe]

Like the title says, just been to look at a potential new car. It's a X plated tuscan, in purple with 17,000 miles on it. Had a engine rebuild at 4000 miles and has the log book full of services. Only thing it hasn't had is the clutch replaced. Salesman said it's a twin plate clutch and that it's not got any problems, is this true or do i remember correctly and that they go quite easily?

He's wanting £15,995 for it, usual 12 months MOT and tax will come with it. Does this sound like something i should go for? Wasn't planning on buying something for a few months but the car is only a couple of miles from my house and seems to be in mint condition. Anyone got any reservations for me since i'm 70% sold already, lol!

[satman]

Clutches tend to go without much warning, but the life of the clutch can depend upon the previous owners style of driving. The main issue is the pressure plate fingers that break more than the plates wearing, or the seals in the slave or master cylinders.
Its virtually impossible to predict when it will happen...one thing is certain, it will at some point! If you budget for a replacement at some point in the future and allow £500-£600 for the parts, plus labour to fit then you sleep fairly well at night! Maybe a bit of haggling you could get the price of the clutch off the asking price?

[tuscan_al]

Just be ure with the early ones that its had all the recalls done, if its a ver ywearly x will have the solid disc still poss. Lots of other things got revised,the early heater wires melt as I found out, and are a pig to change. Look at my blog and history for what I have done/needed to do on my X plate one. also having had the rebuild at 4k and only done 17k I assume its an early rebuild from the factory. You really want to be looking for recent a rebuild as poss in terms of year too. Oh and mines for sale, just a shame your the other end of the UK!

[grumbledoak]

I wouldn't worry too much about the clutch. They do go reasonably frequently depending on driving style (20k ish miles), but it is too hard to predict to base a decision on. In the scheme of things it isn't a massive expense, anyway, so I'd just leave that one to luck.

I would concentrate on the early rebuild, and chassis condition, as potential wallet- aches.