Is it worth buying a car with catless downpipes, MOT fail?
Discussion
I'm looking to treat myself to either a m3 or m4 this year. I've currently come across a 2016 f80 m3 stage 2 with catless downpipes, but I'm not sure how it works in terms of passing MOT. Can anyone please shed some light on this?
UPDATE: I messaged the dealer selling the car asking how things would go regarding mot, this was their reply 'The front cats should be fitted for the MOT as they were fitted as standard, although the car does still go through an emissions test as the centre cats are still enough to keep the emissions low enough.'
I'm no mechanic so please bare with me, is it still worth buying?
UPDATE: I messaged the dealer selling the car asking how things would go regarding mot, this was their reply 'The front cats should be fitted for the MOT as they were fitted as standard, although the car does still go through an emissions test as the centre cats are still enough to keep the emissions low enough.'
I'm no mechanic so please bare with me, is it still worth buying?
If a car has one or more of:
a) any cat visibly removed (like seems to be the case here)
b) car won’t pass emissions with a cat removed (not the case here)
Then the car won’t pass it’s MOT, so you have two options when it comes to MOT time:
1. Re fit a cat for the MOT
2. Use a dodgy tester
If you are willing to do one of the above options is up to you. I don’t really agree with either option, but option 1 is usually quite easy/ cheap to get a garage to do, depending on how the cars exhaust is set up. Option 2 comes down to how many dodgy mates you have.
a) any cat visibly removed (like seems to be the case here)
b) car won’t pass emissions with a cat removed (not the case here)
Then the car won’t pass it’s MOT, so you have two options when it comes to MOT time:
1. Re fit a cat for the MOT
2. Use a dodgy tester
If you are willing to do one of the above options is up to you. I don’t really agree with either option, but option 1 is usually quite easy/ cheap to get a garage to do, depending on how the cars exhaust is set up. Option 2 comes down to how many dodgy mates you have.
I suppose if the cats have ben replaced with catless downpipes and the main cat is still in place it won't be obvious they have been removed unless the tester really knows the car and knows the cats have been removed so as long as the emissions are within limits you will probably be ok, as the other poster says though you take the chance.
Usy777 said:
I'm looking to treat myself to either a m3 or m4 this year. I've currently come across a 2016 f80 m3 stage 2 with catless downpipes, but I'm not sure how it works in terms of passing MOT. Can anyone please shed some light on this?
UPDATE: I messaged the dealer selling the car asking how things would go regarding mot, this was their reply 'The front cats should be fitted for the MOT as they were fitted as standard, although the car does still go through an emissions test as the centre cats are still enough to keep the emissions low enough.'
I'm no mechanic so please bare with me, is it still worth buying?
I can explain this.UPDATE: I messaged the dealer selling the car asking how things would go regarding mot, this was their reply 'The front cats should be fitted for the MOT as they were fitted as standard, although the car does still go through an emissions test as the centre cats are still enough to keep the emissions low enough.'
I'm no mechanic so please bare with me, is it still worth buying?
When you go for an MOT the tester will look to see if the Cats have been tampered with to which the answer will be no because they're not there but your downpipes are intact & it passes emissions so it's not a fail BUT if you get a pedantic tester he could fail you.
If you like the car there are two things I'd do, the first thing would be to make them put a new MOT on it & the second would be to give you the original parts just incase you have an issue later on down the line.
There is a second consideration regarding insurance - if the car is not legal (I think tampering with emission items such as Cats is, although stupidly tuning isn't), then you may not be fully insured.
I would put them back in personally if you buy the car. If they aren't available, presumably not cheap.
I would put them back in personally if you buy the car. If they aren't available, presumably not cheap.
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