Thinking of buying another Chim, what do you think???

[davswilson]

Hello everyone, this is my first post in quite some time..............................

In June 2004 i bought a 95 Cooper Green metallic 4.0 chim with 25k on the clock!!! I think looking back and knowing what i know now i would opt for something with at least double that mileage...........Low mileage looked great but the problems where yet to come.

The car quickly developed a problem in that it kept cutting out, no apparent speed, could be at a junction or once doing 85 in the outside lane which was pretty scary. Made a few post on here and had lots of positive surggestions but nothing worked. Took 5 different garages to trace the problem and a £1000 later it was traced to a dodgy imob and alarm so i had to get it replayced with a cobra cat 1. I had the car a year and it must of cost me around £2000 to keep it on the road not to mention the £1300 insurance!!!!

I did do my homework though and looked at 7 or 8 all over the country and it was by far the best (hope i was just one of the unlucky ones). The previous owner had it 6 years and only did 5k in it which i dont think helped, it was stood pretty much all year.

Anyway i am thinking of buying another, same sort of age, 60-70k miles and not really that fusy over colour.........I paid £10,000 for mine 2 and 1/2 years ago but not looking to pay over 8 this time!!!! May be cheeky but there does actually seem to quite a bit of choice..........

Any words of wisdom are welcome and if you have a car for sale let me know

Cheers

David

[Flintstone]

I traded my 4.0 in for a 5.0 recently and am loving every mile.

In fact I was just wondering today if I had to get rid of the Chimaera what would I have and couldn't think of anything that gripped me nearly so much (at least that I could afford).

Go on. Do it.

[Rum Runner]

I think its all down to the types of owner the car has had . Usually if i see the car at a big house and it looks like that is where it lives , its usually a good sign its has had no shortage of money thrown at any slight problems . Not always the case but a positive.It means that usually its better than a car run on a shoe string. Though there are real enthusiasts who are very meticulous and cars superb, there are also a lot of case where are small amount of knowledge is a dangerous thing .I think the other problem is that as the cars get cheaper they then also appeal more to the shoe string category , where they can be suprised at the costs , and then things don't get done or worse bodged.Any cars of a certain vintage and price are always a minefield, so best to take a explosives expert with you , unless you train yourself for the job!

[5MUG]

I'd hurry before the prices start to creep up for the summer!