Bought a car, please share your thoughts

[miffka]

Hi everyone,

Long story short, bought a used car from a dealer full service history, was told no issues with it next mot in one year, 3 months warranty.

First time buyer, did a test drive myself, my mate with wider experience had a drive next day said drives decent.

Later I found out that this car is known for automatic gearbox issues that people are facing, so I was thinking is it worth getting a RAC report for £250 and if something actually is wrong with it I could go to dealer and ask to fix under warranty?

I really like the car, but just want some peace of mind, £250 is pricey but if something wrong with it, could prevent £1500 repair in future?

Would really appriciate your thoughts or experience,

Thanks

[S100HP]

miffka said:

Hi everyone,

Long story short, bought a used car from a dealer full service history, was told no issues with it next mot in one year, 3 months warranty.

First time buyer, did a test drive myself, my mate with wider experience had a drive next day said drives decent.

Later I found out that this car is known for automatic gearbox issues that people are facing, so I was thinking is it worth getting a RAC report for £250 and if something actually is wrong with it I could go to dealer and ask to fix under warranty?

I really like the car, but just want some peace of mind, £250 is pricey but if something wrong with it, could prevent £1500 repair in future?

Would really appriciate your thoughts or experience,

Thanks

Just because the gearbox is known to have issues doesn't mean yours does. You say it drives well so what's the issue. Honestly, some people

[valiant]

What car?

Reports are generally done before purchase and personally I think you’re wasting your money. Have a fund just in case but as above, just because there may be a weakness in the auto-box doesn’t mean that your box will fail

Edited by valiant on Friday 7th April 14:45

[Roboticarm]

Is there a problem with the gearbox or just read about common faults on the internet?
Alot of cars have common faults but not every car gets the fault if that makes sense:
Various Porsches - bore scoring
BMW diesel - swirl flaps
Renault sport Clio 197 - 3 gear fails
Mark 5 golf - front wing rot

Etc etc etc

[miffka]

said:

what car?

Ford Focus 2012 automatic (82K miles)

[miffka]

Roboticarm said:

Is there a problem with the gearbox or just read about common faults on the internet?
Alot of cars have common faults but not every car gets the fault if that makes sense:
Various Porsches - bore scoring
BMW diesel - swirl flaps
Renault sport Clio 197 - 3 gear fails
Mark 5 golf - front wing rot

Etc etc etc

At first day I felt that car is doing weird ruffling noise (2-3bumps) when going on the lower gear from static, drove it today with a friend and seems okay.. I know sounds odd, but that's what kind of happened

[Blib]

S100HP said:

Just because the gearbox is known to have issues doesn't mean yours does. You say it drives well so what's the issue. Honestly, some people

And, welcome to Pistonheads, newbie.

[toohuge]

If you're considering spending any money on diagnoses - I'd take it to a Ford dealer- or specialist and pay the diagnostic fee. It'll likely by less than the RAC inspection and much more useful imo

[Monkeylegend]

Just keep your fingers crossed it doesn't have a wet timing belt as well.

[Yellowfez]

The RAC report won’t bring up anything extra apart from the obvious issues, I would check that the warranty covers auto gearboxes too

[Jamescrs]

I suspect you are now paranoid OP and listening for every possible noise and "feeling" from the gearbox.
I don't see a benefit in getting the RAC to inspect it, you would be better paying that money to a main delaer, who I suspect would charge aropund £120-150 for an hours inspection and they will let you know if any issues.

[cuprabob]

Jamescrs said:

I suspect you are now paranoid OP and listening for every possible noise and "feeling" from the gearbox.

Very much this.

[Heathwood]

Am in right in my understanding that this is the first car you’ve bought OP? If so, you need to understand that you can’t realistically mitigate all risk when buying older secondhand cars and, as has been mentioned, all cars have their weaknesses and foibles. You’ll find that once you’ve owned the car for a while, hopefully with nothing significant going wrong, your paranoia and worry will subside.

For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t bother spending money looking for a problem that is probably not there in the hope that you can then make a claim to get it fixed.

[ZX10R NIN]

miffka said:

Ford Focus 2012 automatic (82K miles)

What engine?

They can have issues but I wouldn't worry too much, but what I would do is get the gearbox serviced (as it's probably due but check the history) so you can have peace of mind.

[miffka]

ZX10R NIN said:

What engine?

They can have issues but I wouldn't worry too much, but what I would do is get the gearbox serviced (as it's probably due but check the history) so you can have peace of mind.

It's petrol 1.6, thank you for your comment

[ZX10R NIN]

miffka said:

It's petrol 1.6, thank you for your comment

That'll be fine get the service done & you'll have a good car.

[nick1871]

S100HP said:

Just because the gearbox is known to have issues doesn't mean yours does. You say it drives well so what's the issue. Honestly, some people

He’s a first time buyer asking for advice on here and is rightfully being cautious.

Is there any need to be such a bell …?

Edited by nick1871 on Saturday 8th April 20:07

[Wilmslowboy]

If the car drives well, save your £250.

Knowing it’s got a fault (or knowing that it could be developing one probably will not help you).

Also I’m not sure having a 3rd party warranty on a 11 year old car (with known issues) will be useful, many of these warranty cos can have long list of issues they don’t cover.

Assuming it drives well and your happy with it, save you £250, enjoy the car, perhaps even set aside a little money each month and build a ‘car maintenance nest egg’.

Might be worth checking the last time the gearbox transmission fluid was changed, regular changes can prevent future issues.

[Monkeylegend]

nick1871 said:

S100HP said:

Just because the gearbox is known to have issues doesn't mean yours does. You say it drives well so what's the issue. Honestly, some people

He’s a first time buyer asking for advice on here and is rightfully being cautious?

Is there any need to be such a bell housing?

That's better.

[OverSteery]

Unless there is a recent receipt, I would spend the money on changing the oil in the autobox.

That should reduce your chances of future issues and the state of the old oil may inform too.