£750 Tangerine Runaround

[Chrismawa]

2 months ago I purchased an R53 Mini, cutting a long story short - the car had an issue, that the dealer was making a meal out of fixing and in the end I got my money back. Now not sure what to replace it with and looking at the used car market, anything decent is MILES away from me. So decided to purchase a run around. Now this involved looking at the sub £1000 market on Facebook/Gumtree etc which is a MINEFIELD. Lots of scrappers and chav wagons at this price point, however this popped up on Gumtree last Tuesday and looked promising:

2008 Skoda Fabia Estate 1.4 TDI - That turns out to be the higher spec 3 model with full DIS, cruise control, climate control, 6 CD, better speakers, parking distance control.





It was pretty filthy inside, has no history and the bonnet has suffered bad lacquer peel, but the mechanicals were good and the MOT history was a lot cleaner than anything else I had checked. It needs a service so the asking price was knocked down from £795 to £750 and I was on my way!

Pics before clean:















Scrubs up pretty well:





















Well happy with it! Service bits ordered and will hopefully be fitted tomorrow.

Edited by Chrismawa on Saturday 31st July 22:21

[Northbrook]

That definitely doesn't look like £750 of car!

I've had a 1.9 Roomster since it was a year old (13 years now). It's been a very good car. I hope yours is the same to you.

[RacingBlue]

I like that - good price too. I quite fancy a small estate for dog transportation duties (said dog being a Frenchie, hence only wanting a small estate!)

[RC1807]

I've never understood anyone who puts a filthy car up for sale..... Great buy, OP.

[Tyre Smoke]

RC1807 said:

I've never understood anyone who puts a filthy car up for sale..... Great buy, OP.

Me either, but I'm glad they do! Easy to knock down the price.

[ajprice]

What's DIS? I tried a Google and it shows stuff about diesels and brake discs

[Roboticarm]

Anyone else thinking VRS engine swap?

Or

Polo GTi engine swap

[T-J-C]

ajprice said:

What's DIS? I tried a Google and it shows stuff about diesels and brake discs

Driver information system. The screen between the clocks that shows you MPG, distance till empty, radio stations etc.

[AJB88]

Bargain that, I had that engine in my first Ibiza, remaps well to around 110ps. Was very good on fuel as well.

Engine swap wont be easy from 1.4TDI to VRS.

[Chrismawa]

Serviced the car today, which was long overdue I think!

Up on the ramps to make a start:



Dirty engine bay! I'm actually missing a bit that connects onto the air intake pipe:



Clean air filter, old one dirty but not too bad:



Pollen filter....!!! I dont think this has ever been changed, as this was an original OEM filter. Car smells better now!





Also a free fix - the rear load cover didn't hold in place. Turns out the spring clips that hold the cover, fall down into the space behind the boot trim. Spent half an hour recovering them and refitting and it works perfect now!

Broke:



Fix in process:



One of the missing clips:



Fitted back in place:



Fixed!

[anonymous-user]

i was looking for a cheap car and in the end picked up a 2008 207 1.4 hdi, but was looking for a fabia. Cheap tax, no history but runs o.k. Not the best as negotiating so paid 820 but needs a rear light housing 12 months mot. Done 220 miles in a week so far , averaged 55 mpg which is less than i hoped, was expecting 60-70 mpg. But can't really grumble, picked up 4 decent tyres for 40 quid as well. It feels good buying st.

What is going on with bonnet?

[Chrismawa]

The Spruce Goose said:

i was looking for a cheap car and in the end picked up a 2008 207 1.4 hdi, but was looking for a fabia. Cheap tax, no history but runs o.k. Not the best as negotiating so paid 820 but needs a rear light housing 12 months mot. Done 220 miles in a week so far , averaged 55 mpg which is less than i hoped, was expecting 60-70 mpg. But can't really grumble, picked up 4 decent tyres for 40 quid as well. It feels good buying st.

What is going on with bonnet?

Yeah its quite refreshing not worrying here I park it or getting too close to kerb etc.

The bonnet has got serious lacquer peel. Caused I think by parking under tree's for a long time. I think its possible to attempt to re lacquer it?

[anonymous-user]

Chrismawa said:

Yeah its quite refreshing not worrying here I park it or getting too close to kerb etc.

The bonnet has got serious lacquer peel. Caused I think by parking under tree's for a long time. I think its possible to attempt to re lacquer it?

Better just picking one up, 40-50 quid off ebay if you were inclined. Bit jelous as wanted an estate for my mtb but my old 407 roof rack fits so all good. I liked= the vag engines as was going to get it remapped as pretty easy to do. Does look good, but i'm playing cambeelt roulette as no history too..

Good to live dangerously...

i love paying 30 quid tax was paying 10 times that on my last car..

[tvrfan007]

I like this. Would love a car that was that cheap but useful for dog transport, tip runs, taking the bike and abandoning in a village somewhere etc

Never fails to amaze me how people drive round in filthy interiors.

Edited by tvrfan007 on Sunday 1st August 22:08

[Chrismawa]

The Spruce Goose said:

Better just picking one up, 40-50 quid off ebay if you were inclined. Bit jelous as wanted an estate for my mtb but my old 407 roof rack fits so all good. I liked= the vag engines as was going to get it remapped as pretty easy to do. Does look good, but i'm playing cambeelt roulette as no history too..

Good to live dangerously...

i love paying 30 quid tax was paying 10 times that on my last car..

Haha I'm in two minds whether to play cambelt roulette also....or get it changed. It'll depend how long I keep it, which I haven't decided ha.

tvrfan007 said:

I like this. Would love a car that was that cheap but useful for dog transport, tip runs, taking the bike and abandoning in a village somewhere etc

Never fails to amaze me how people drive round in filthy interiors.

Edited by tvrfan007 on Sunday 1st August 22:08

Yeah it's brilliant. I may even keep it just for these purposes when I do get a new car. Means I can keep the other motor for good weather days out and fun :-)

Same here, I always keep my cars immaculate. This was on another level, but certainly getting there now. I think ill take the seats out during the week and shampoo the carpets as the car hasn't quite met my OCD levels yet

[Cambs_Stuart]

A friend had a neglected and abused one of these and they always said they were just going to run it until it died (or generated a moderate sized bill) it never did.
Looks like properly utilitarian bargain motoring. Good purchase!

[AJB88]

The air intake, you might be able to purchase (2nd hand) an Ibiza Cupra PD160 air intake which is a lot fatter, it was the go to mod back in the day, I ran one on my little Ibiza 1.4TDI, no proof it made a difference but surely more air is better.

[Chrismawa]

Cambs_Stuart said:

A friend had a neglected and abused one of these and they always said they were just going to run it until it died (or generated a moderate sized bill) it never did.
Looks like properly utilitarian bargain motoring. Good purchase!

That's good to know! Thanks.

AJB88 said:

The air intake, you might be able to purchase (2nd hand) an Ibiza Cupra PD160 air intake which is a lot fatter, it was the go to mod back in the day, I ran one on my little Ibiza 1.4TDI, no proof it made a difference but surely more air is better.

Thanks for that although just had a look and a new one is nearly £200 I'll carry on without until I can get one for pennies haha.

As I'm not sure how long I will run this for, I have booked it in for a timing belt and water pump change for £285. Not bad and gives peace of mind that my £750 initial investment is safe ha! As long as I break even when I sell it on I'll be happy... although I'm tempted to keep this as a tip/bike car etc as its very useful.