I've been looking into getting a 20vt for the last few weeks since i've found i can get insurance for just £530 tpft, i'm only 22 without any no claims but do have 5 years driving experience.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?V...93713&rd=1&rd=1

I went to see this car today in the hope i could of picked it up for £3k which i would of been happy with, the guy wouldn't take 3k so i offered £3250, he's said his bottom line is £3.5k.

I need my mind making up, is it worth it!?

The bodywork on the car is as new, it really is in excellent condition it has LE skirts and has had the rear sprat under the bumper colour coded, the front has some slitter that i'm not to keen on but none the less its been weel looked after.

The interior again is in excellent condition and has been well looked after, the leather is in excellent condition even the drivers side bolster.

It has a folder full of service history, inc all stamps on the book and has done less than 8k miles in the last 2 years. tyres are excellent, brakes are excellent it has a full system, novitec chip. what power would this be, around 250hp?

It has 64k on the clock and the timing belt was changed by power fiat @ 58, it was also chipped and the exhaust fitted at the same time so it hasn't been running this power for that many miles.

The engine looked and sounded to be in good condition, i didnt get chance to do a compression test on it but it didnt look to be smoking at idle or on boost. i will do a compression test before i buy it. oil was checked and at a good level, coolant level ok etc.

I dont know if its me but the guy said the car was 270hp, i've got a 200hp punto and it didnt feel alot quicker than mine, then again my car only weights about a ton where as this is heavier.

If it ticks all the boxes in the buyers guide and you like it , it sounds like you do, then it's worth £3.5k

Too hard to say off pictures.

A cut and shut can look "mint" on pics.

Hows the paint finish? Got to have had 1 flick over.

went around all the panels and they looked mint, couldn't find evidence of any paint, if it has had paint then its good. very good in fact. didn't notice any orange peal, lacquer runs or paint on rubbers etc it just looks like a well looked after car. there was a receipt in the paper work from a car sales local to us from feb 06 for £5k. the best thing is the car is 6 miles up the road and i live in wales, i dont fancy travelling all the way around England to find cars are not what they are advertised to be

who is your insurance with?

Well, it's definately had paint cos they didn't do Sprint Blues with LE Skirts AFAIK...correct me if I'm wrong carl. The fact you found it perfect kinda confirms that, who's heard of an 8 year old car parked on the street with perfect paint?

If its "mint" of course its painted look at the age of it.

as i said if its had paint its good, yes i agree its had paint on the skirts, front splitter and rear sprat as he's had them fitted. i didnt say it had not had paint, i said i couldnt find any evidence of bad paint.

Yeh its up on 6 owners, so make sure you HPI and check it rather well.

where did you find it had 6 owners mate? that was one thing i forgot to ask him, i rang him earlier and he's getting back to me when he gets home

You can check for free on the RAC website

it doesnt show number of owners on there anymore though.

,

Only thing i would say is ask for the original chip. I would not be happy running a plug and play chip. My novi used to overfuel at the low end and overfuel at the topend. Badly. Also get terrible overboost which i hated. i would say its worth that sort of cash, but by pics alone nobody can tell you on here mate. What paperwork does it have? tonns of receipts?

I had a quick e-mail chat with the guy about this, hes got it advertsed everywhere, something just didn't feel right, maybe i'm just being paranoid, it just seemed too clean, its on pistonheads, e-bay, autotrader, so he wants to sell quick

im going to look at this car again tonight to do a compression test on it. what sort of results should i be looking for?

didn't even get as far as a compression test. went to see the car and noticed the bonnet was [censored]. it was full of filler and rubbing down marks which i couldnt see in the bad light last night! wont be buying that one

personally i would not let a bit of paintwork put you off if its good mechanically

Couldnt agree more but people expect near 10 year old cars to have NEVER got a mark and never seen a paint gun.

LOL, think the statistic is 50% of 2yr old (and over) cars have had work done. Mate works for VW bodyshop and the amount of new cars that get sold as new after being damaged is amazing. Dont stand a chance with an 8yr old car.

Lol yeh but people will never believe that. Take a look around any new car showroom at all the slap jobs.

People really think paintwork is illegal and detrimental to the value of a car.

Ive never seen a coupe thats not had paintwork, Ever.

Thats all 300+ of mine and all ive seen at meets etc.

Hate to have you look round my new car now, prob find a cut and shut or something

Where's the pics A? Sure I read you have a noble...

Noble

the only one i have access to on this computer. Saving for a few mods at the mo

You lucky son of a gun That's absolutely mental!!!!

Just how rapid is it?

You should know better as a mod to hijack a thread Doesnt seem very fast, but managed to keep up with a Fezza 360 two weeks ago up to 110 Taking some track lessons as the cornering ability scares me rigid. It defies physics.

that pic is not work safe you sould say when you are posting sex http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v677/ajg30/ad_noble.jpg

I wouldn't have to hijack if you posted up some pics earlier!

and Karl, yes he's a handsome chap I agree

i understand what you are saying but its not the fact its had paint, that wouldnt be a problem if it was a decent job!

it was very bad, the bonnet looked like it had accident damage and then a bad repair. the filler was not smooth and the whole bonnet was full of rubbing down marks.

it needed a new bonnet and he wouldnt come down enough on the price enough to interest me.

Not having a go puntoturbo, just that if everything else was okay then 150 quid for a bonnet respray may not have been to bad. Shame he was stubborn about the price.