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Well - this is the other Plus that was on my shortlist of just two.

I'd already viewed it while it was at JBT's a couple of weeks ago and I have to say, its one of the better ones out there.

There are a couple of tiny marks here and there, but nothing major. The alloys have a bit of bubbling on the spokes, but nothing too bad.

The engine is sweet as a nut - fantastic compression figures and probably a very good base for some decent modding

Most importantly (for me at least) was the fact that there's no rust to be seen anywhere (although as I was in a business suit, I didn't grovel around on the floor to check underneath). However, all of the paces where mine is rusting were fine on Adam's car

So - now I'm not buying this one, I'm happy to endorse it for anyone else that's interested

As per the rules, I'm not allowed to comment on price, so I won't. If anyone wants me to comment privately, feel free to PM me

It's been reduced now.

my old coupe. very very nice car really regret selling it to be honest. good luck with the sale

Hmmm - starting to think I should have waited a couple of weeks and then stolen this off Adam

Nope - don't really see Wifey allowing three Coupes on the drive

I went to see this car on Saturday, and thought that it wasn't quite as good as I expected. There are a few points worth mentioning as they aren't in photos/description:

I didn't get down on the floor to check underneath either, but there is a quite angry looking patch of rust bubbling under the paint about 2" x 0.75" in size on the passenger c-pillar by the rear screen. The glass itself has had some sealant put in at the top corner at some point, so may have leaked. There is also a little bit of bumper by the exhaust which has melted. The door handles have been painted black at some point and the paint is starting to come off, which looks a bit untidy.
Apart from that, I couldn't fault the bodywork, and saw maybe only 1 small ding on the passenger door.

The wheels are not so good. In my opinion, there is quite a lot of bubbling on each wheel and to me actually looked bad. I would say a refurb is definitely required for them to match the rest of the body. The MOT had an advisory for a buckled inner rim on the o/s/r wheel also.

Inside, the seats are fine, but the wheel and gear stick are quite worn. There is a phone holder screwed to the side of the centre console which will leave holes if removed. The buttons are disappearing into the centre console and the reverse inhibitor is broken, although Adam says these will both be fixed before the car is sold.

The engine sounded very sweet though, and no smoke was apparent. Powerflow exhaust sounded good. Dump valve is fitted too, but not in description. Mileage on MOT in mid-June was ~106500 or so. I forgot to look at what is is now.

That's what I found, in my opinion, and I hope it helps prospective buyers.

James

That is insanely cheap now surely.........

It's now 3.100! Unreal.

At that price it really is a bargain

i say this a lot and no offence is intended as it happens to me when i sell also ...but it will only make what someone else is prepared to pay for it and whatever we like to think it should make, or what we think its worth unfortunately its the man with the cash thats looking for a coop that will determine what he thinks its worth ..then it will sell or not depending on the owner but sometimes after continued bids around the same area we have to start to accept that thats how the market values the car..i offered 3k a long time ago and thought it a fair price for a 100k+ car from a private person where there is no comeback...many people agree with that and have offered same or less and its been up for sale a long time and after a few reductions it inevitably heads for market value..
dont get me wrong i understand totally why one holds out for more when it owes way more than 3k and really should be worth more..
i could have bought the 60k plus from ebay for 2500 and it was a nice car it had a reciept for £2500 as when latest owner purchased it he put it into a fiat specialist and said treat it like your own and it ended up with cam belt clutch,new calipers and more...
yet he advertised it at 3k time and again (i offered2.5 by the way) as it had been a insurance claim wing and bonnet but had been repaired well and repainted...in the end it was sold at 2.5k which the guy was offered a number of times..again thats what the market valued it at
sometimes we are guilty of giving people false hope and ideas that are not practicle born out of our liking of the cars and personally i think unless we are prepared to pay x amount for the car we should leave the poor seller alone as every one i have yet seen valued by forum members has been way too high and i watch the owners start where advised and gradually get worn down to realistic market worth

my opinion only and no doubt i will get lambasted for it

what does spit think?

Where is the yawn smiley.

Anyways it has sold tonight.

so it has sold

nearly £1000 less than he wanted and what 3 or more months after first advertised? and a lot lower than the prices it was valued at by the forum members that commented on price

that means mines worth £1000 ish in the forums eyes so anyone want a coupe free to a good home. lol.

Has it gone?

Yes

Funny how market value only seems to apply when selling cars........ I mean it's not like some people would have anything to gain by driving car prices down, would they?

i don't think anyone would benifit from that particularly people who sell them also ..usually at a loss.. so no one benifits from it and i doubt anyone wants to see the prices low but facts are the market always sets price..years of having my own business and working in that enviroment have taught me some fundamental facts and whatever we like to think about them being worth more at this time they are not..that of course does not stop you holding out and waiting months for the right person that may be prepared to pay a little more

to be honest, this type of thing comes up a lot on the forum, but the fact of the matter is, a coupe just isnt worth big money, no matter what model it is.

a plus, or LE is only a dressed up 20vt, and does not really earn the right to somehow be 2 or 3 grand more than a bog standard 20vt.

its easy to forget that these are not new cars by any means, the last ones made were what in 2000?

so a 10 year old car, with numerous expensive faults, and frequent servicing intervals, normally with usual dents/paint issues really cannont justify some of the high prices we see come and go.

for example, recently an LE was advertised on here, 120k, turbo seals gone, belts needed doing, clutch slipping, and a few other things i forget as i am writing this, and the price? £4500.

so lets say a new turbo is going to be the best part of a grand, belts 400-500, clutch 500-600 plus other bits and pieces so you are looking at spending 6, maybe 7k in total, on a car thats already been round the clock once, and is only ever going to depreciate further, and need more and more money spent on it to keep it on the road - far too expensive in my opinion.

dont get me wrong, i love coupes of all varieties - i own three of the damn things, but i really dont belive that any coupe is really worth much money anymore, only real value is to the owner, as a collectors item so to speak.

the coupe has so many flaws its amazing we all put up with them, i mean it handles like a skip - far too heavy on the front end, brakes are woeful even the brembos, its expensive to buy parts for, its expensive to get someone to work on for you, expensive to insure, expensive to tax, the list could go on for ever.

to be frank, its often frowned upon to buy a 'cheap' coupe ie circa 1k, but stop and think about it for a minute, lets say you spent 1k on a reasonable 20v/t, you would then spend probably 1/2k getting it back to health, and have yourself a nice example, that is in no way inferior to the higher priced coupes, that have done the same sort of mileage, have all the same issues, but have the benefit of being classed as the 'one you want' etc.

my two cents anyway.

The coupe definately is expensive to maintain, especially if you want to keep it in top condition. But I don't agree on the handling. Have you ever driven a standard one that has everything replaced? I mean shocks, springs, wishbones, droplinks, topmounts, etc etc? They were a very nice handling car back in the day. Maybe not the best at the time, but it can still keep up pretty well with modern stuff when driven right. With some suspension mods it can be made to handle very well for what it is, I think Nigel proved that several times at TOTB. Have you ever been in Marco's race coupe? You'll be very surprised how a car with such a wrong weight distribution handles! I know the F430 couldn't shake us at Spa and yes he was trying!

As for the brakes, they can be very poor. But with news discs, pads and fluids (and decently maintained calipers!) they work great. I've had postive comments from people who have driven mine and they were used to quick cars!

It's just that you can't expect a 1k coupe to be even close to how it is supposed to drive. Even the top ones at 4k probably could still use some new suspension parts to get it back to how it should be. But the problem is they are so cheap now that hardly anyone will do that!

yeah, but jurgen your points only echo what i posted - you CAN get a coupe to a top level of condition, if you are willing to pay the money to do so.

this idea that JUST because a car is a plus, or an LE and is for sale at 4,5,6k doesnt by any means determine that it will be perfect, and just like the car i described in my post, it almost certainly wont.

in regards to the handling - no i have never driven a new coupe, and to be fair i was a bit harsh, for a front drive car it is not bad, but again like you posted, you CAN get a coupe to handle perfectly IF you spend more and more cash on it.

in regards to the 1k coupe's, i own three, and none of which cost me more than 1.5k to buy.

the latest addition to my collection came in at £1200, and i am shortly going to be spending in the region of 1k on it - mostly on maintenance, ie belts, new rad, and some other bits and pieces.

when its finshed (i am doing some other bits to it including some paint) i will have a sub 80k coupe that is in fantastic condition, and it will owe me no more than 2.5k at the outside.

compare that to spending 4-5-6k to start with and you should see my point.

I'm with Jurgen. An old coupe with new suspension parts is a fantastic drive. I have changed all mine and it is a different car, still standard parts too.

As for the brakes, well they require more of a push than modern over servoed cars but otherwise they are excellent, as was mentioned in nearly every road test on launch.

oh yes - and with added braces/arbs they are stunning

and good tyres......

yeah, but guys i think we have drifted away from the point i was trying to make.

i dont want to start a 'is the coupe a good handling car thread'

and again, like proccy and patch have posted - with *uprated* parts that cost *more money* its fantastic.

only my two cents anyway with the other post, not looking to ruffle any feathers, just my view on it.

the point you may have missed shiny is that for the first few years on good quality oem parts they were similarly stunning. i only uprated/replaced parts when necessary really

well no, thats part of my original point :- a high price coupe, LE, plus etc may still need all these things doing, and so in my view doesnt hold the value of some of the prices advertised, when a similar mileage 20vt that again needs the same amount of money spent on it will go for half the price.

am i not just repeating myself??

yeah you are and you're still wrong

im with you 100% and also another point to make is that if you buy a coop for a good price and then spend on it doing the normal stuff ie belts,clutch,oil cooler pipes etc. isnt that better to know that you have had it done?

i got mine at a bargin price and after a week i had to replace the turbo.
ive got to do the oil cooler pipes, and in 6 months ill no doubt need to change the clutch. and 6 moths after that the belts.
but so what? i know when its been done and can almost put a life span on the car.

now if id of paid say 2k - 2.5k the car would still probably need at least one of the above doing? soon ish.

Stop being diplomatic Proccio and tell him what you think!