Been to see a GTi more advie needed

scoobysn7x

scoobysn7x

I went to see an Almera GTi yesterday, and was just after a bit more advice:-

Its a 99 T plate with 74000mile in black with the Bodykit, 2 owners last one for 7 years.

I went for a drive in it and it drives fine, but there was a few things concerned me, there was a rattle at tick over and when accelarating the guy said the heatshield on the exhaust was loose (it did sound like this to me), does this sound feasable and are the heatsheilds held on with bolt, so will it be a simple case of just tightening a few bolts to rectify this problem??.

Also there was some rust starting to come through on the rear arches is this a common fault and is it fairly cheap to repair??.

Lastly the engine top was a bit discoloured, looked a bit weather corroded is this a common problem and can it be reactified easily (there were no signs of leaks or anything)
 
Hi there the price sounds good to me. the rust is a common problem with the almera's and shouldn't be to hard to fix. yeah the heatshield is held on with a combination of nuts and bolts. so you should be able to tighten these up, or replace. But good luck with getting the car. Hope this help some!
 
Just pop the hood see if the heatsheild is loose tighten up what ever needs fixing and then take it for another test drive.

The rust on the arch will vary in price depends how good a job you want done. I would probs say around 150-200 an arch
 
Rattle at tickover is common for a few minutes due to the car using a timing chain rather than a cambelt. All gti's suffer from this, nothing to worry about at all.

I also don't think the discolouration of the engine is anything to worry about, mine was a pain to get clean also.
 
its never low enough until the seller's face is literally bursting, so much that they cant beleive how low you actually want this car for lol... rip his eyes out mate..

sorry to put it like that, but shy bairns get nothing imo.. always haggle and barter, its worth it yeah, but come to selling it, you not gona get anywhere near that.. depends on what your gona do to it and how long your keeping it for mind, but always, always drive a hard bargain..
 
the price seems pretty good for that year of GTi in my opinion
and to answer some of your question...

the rocker cover is aluminium so will be difficult to clean no matter what and was probably laquered by some one in the past so dont let how it looks put you off.

as said above the rattle should be on start up / cold and is normal due to the timing chain and should disappear when the engine warms up.

the manifold heat shield rattle is also quite common and you would be better off removing it (its just bolted into place)

rear arches are also common as water kinda sits there for a long time, also not difficult to sort but budget 300 (ish) to fix

go for it and put a smile on your face ! :)
 
ahh yeah I wouldnt say it was deadly over priced or underpriced mind...

Its a good fair price, and for £1750 you will not find a better car, I can promise you that..

Parkers is a load of shite mate, dont even bother looking there, and I hate it when you go to a car garage or something similar, and they start looking in a friggin book!! Pisses me off sooo much to think these people say there professional car dealers, yet there looking in a book and giving you a price from there... pah

Im sure you'll love it lol.. its always sooo funny when theres that 5 min silence, then they come up with another offer lol.. its all fun and games
 
I know what you mean about parkers it reakons my 2000 Focus 1.8 Ghia is worth £3200, There's no way I'll be getting that for it even if it is modified. To be honest I love the Focus drives really nicely comfortable etc but doesn't put a smile on my face, I had a Saxo VTR before the focus and that was a Cr*p car in most respect but it was fun to drive and put a smile on my face so I put up with the Crap.

When I drove the Nissan it defo put a smile on my face and was fun to drive and is definately nowhere near as bad as the Saxo!!
 
GTi said:
the manifold heat shield rattle is also quite common and you would be better off removing it (its just bolted into place)
Click to expand...
IS it safe to remove the heatsheild? surely their there for a reason (he says niavely)
 
nar the manifold sheild has to be removed when you fit a 4-2-1 anyways.

in fact have a look at the clamps on either end of the flexi section that hold the flexi pipe to the hard pipe. mine came loose before i had a 4-2-1 so i cut the old clamp off and just used a jubilee clip on it instead. (5 min job)
 
You decided upon wether you are getting this yet??

I'd love a gti (i drive a diesel) i'm sure if you put the gti next to my diesel you won't worry about the ticking on warm up but as has been mentioned it is timing chain! (which is always a bonus)
 
I want it Bad !!, my folks have agreed to sub me till I get the Focus sold (any one wnat a focus???), I've got a mate doing a License plate check (to make sure its not been crashed etc), so as soon as this comes back OK, I'm going to give the guy a deposit, & hopefully if the funds go to my account intime will get at the weekend HOOORAAHHHH!!, just papping it a bit till the search comes back!!
 
Chances are the downpipe is knackered, they ALL go like that, its around £50 for a new one. The rust will be around £150 to fix, the cam cover colour is also normal...alot of people respray or polish them up.

If all the history and mileage are ok, id go for it.......
 
Don't think it can be the down pipe as the guy has fitted a full janspeed exhaust including Janspeed sport cat, I have a good look when/if I go to collect it ...
 
At the end of the day it's what you value the car at, and how much youre willing to pay, and if you want it enough.
 
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