Further to my previous enquiry about a 1997 20VT, I am looking at it as It sounds an honest car, It has full history, Cam belt done at power fiat in february, last serviced about 5000 miles ago (not sure where)has receipts for work (for cam belt, radiator a few other bits and bobs) has full history etc. THe mileage is 145000, should this put me off?. It looks from the pics in good condition and is a fair price if it has had all the work done I think. Once again I concede to the vast knowledge that is coupe ownership on this forum to give me a steer in the right direction! Any help is appreciated guys!

should b alright if everything has been done bt i would save up abit more n wait for a car with lower miles if i was u..

I have 130k on my 20vt and it runs sweeter and is far more reliable these days, than when I bought it several years back with 55k on the clock. I do have the benifit of knowing all the work that's gone to make it the reliable old girl it is today. I spent best part of 5k on an engine rebuild new turbo, manifold and a few other bits a few years back, rather than replace it with another car and I don't have any mods.

If it's a steal and there are bills for lots of work then most likely it's a genuine car. Just know that coupes can cost money to keep in good shape, but they are soooo!!! much fun for the money.

I'd take a high mileage car over a low mileage one if I prefered it. Coupe's go through oil, and if they have been starved of it it wont matter what the mileage is.

You'll find it pretty hard to find one with under 80,000 - at 100K a well maintained car will have had most of the bits that wear replaced.

I bought mine at 71k, and have had to replace just about everything.

Having said that if everything was done on the car at 70k which is likely, it may well be due to have it all replaced again at 140k

bloody nora, wish i didnt say out now..

mileage is utterly irrelevant - buy purely on condition and history.

If my 189,000 mile car came up for sale, I would expect it to sell more easily than a car with 50,000 miles, but sketchy history.

If the car looks and feels right, if the owner is respectable (remember, dodgy cars and dodgy owners go well together), if the history checks out, if the specialist remembers the car, if it has a wedge of invoices showing parts were bought when needed, if it has good tyres, if its clean under the bonnet, if it has been pampered inside - all these things point towards a caring owner and a straight car.

The VERY best car you can buy is one from a long-standing forum member, or where the car has belonged to a sequence of forum members - that way you can read hundreds of old posts to what problems the owners have had and how they were sorted.

Thanks guys, I appreciate your time.I am going to look at it tommorow so I will be able to check it out and see if it is as hoped..or not!
Your help is appreciated.

Sometimes it easier to tell if a high mileage car has been looked after or not, because it WILL look very shabby if is hasn't been.

Mine was bought on 79k and 8 years old, no history and looked scruffy inside and out, I took a chance because it ran well and it was very cheap, but there was no way it was ever going to be a mint car. It needed a major service (belts,clutch and wishbones) which cut into most of the savings I made from buying it. I was probably lucky that's that all it took making it mechanically perfect, I have since heard of far worse when people buy a slightly neglected example.

If/when I get another I will take a lot more care and buy privately from an owner with a "whatever it costs" approach to looking after it. This is far more important than millage, they arnt usually cheap to run and an owner with a skimping attitude is bad news.

I totally agree with Mitch

History over low mileage every time....
A bit of neglect is all it takes to kill a coupe engine,
Or
A bit of love and effort to keep it sweet...

am still going for lower miles

Yes but you also went for a techniclutch and a pace FMIC

Went to see the car today, It wasnt too bad, It was bright and fairly clean, a few receipts for servicing, cambelt changed in february, last serviced 6000 miles ago, bodywork wasnt too bad with only one paint chip on the OS rear wing (no rust though) the windscreen had a chip right in the centre which i reckoned would not pass MOT (which is due jan 09)but could be done on insurance through windscreen cover probably. the aircon worked and the cloth was good for 145000 miles with only a tiny tear on the driver bolster. the tyres were all reasonable. I think that the wishbones would need doing in the future and disks and pads (in a while though). The only thing that did concern me was that when started there was oily smoke (not thick but present) coming from a couple of areas on the engine, from the left near the cambelt and from the front just below the rocker. there was a little bit of old oil on the engine and I couldnt tell whether it was that which was smoking or if the engine was leaking the oil. The car pulled well on test and had no noises from anywhere in the engine,no blue smoke from the turbo that i could see. when i returned from test and lifted the bonnet, the same was happening, same places. the oil level seemed fine,and pressure was 3 bar on load dropped to 1.5 at idle, oil could have done with a change though. What do you guys think of this? anything to worry about or just in line with the miles of 145000? as ever any help greatly appreciated!!

Could just be the rocker cover seal?

It wont be an easy sell at those miles despite what some knowledgeable members have said here so knock down hard on the price, no matter how cheap it already is

Its up at 1995 at a dealer ( who was a nice enough chap to be honest ) and I thought it could be the rocker cover as well. there seemed no loss of power and it drove ok. on the drive there wasnt any smoke present from under the bonnet or from the rear. I have trawled the forum and cant find anything that relates to what i saw on this car. which side of the engine is the turbo on? as the smoke was mostly coming from under the left side behind ( i think ) the AC compressor at the end of the rocker (if you see what i mean..!)it was quite a small quantity but present and i thought a little odd as i expected it to have burnt off after the drive if just loose oil. any guesses? as ever your opinions are much appreciated.

got rid ov the pace n the clutch is going strong.

If you're buying from a dealer, get him to fix the gasket leak(if that'd what it is)and then take it out for a long (20 miles plus) test drive to make sure it's OK.

I agree with Alan, suggest to the dealer that the cam cover gasket is replaced, it's around a tenner retail from Alternative Autos so it isn't going to break the bank. A quick clean with some Gunk and then try running it again.

Was the engine cold when you went to see the car or had it already been started and warmed up? I'm just wondering about manifold issues?

I am pretty sure the car was cold when i arrived, I did think it could have been the manifold initially, however the smoke was definately oily and in one place on the front right of the block you could see that it was old oil fizzing a little so I wasn't sure it was the manifold, its quite tight in the engine bay and tricky to see the source! It was still a little smoky after the test drive (25 mins - 10 miles or so) and i used the cars power on test. the smoke was only present from these two points on the engine and nothing else seemed to be amiss. Could a badly fitted cam cover gasket allow a little oil to escape like this? I mean its plausible that at 145000 miles everything is a little more tired! Its worth pointing out that the engine bay seemed "honest" not too clean and not too dirty - what you would expect for 145000 I thought. I realise this is a tricky one guys without you being able to see it, your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Sounds like it's just a weeping cam cover gasket, which as I mentioned, is cheap as chips and easy to replace (as long as the cover bolts aren't overtightened or the cover *will* crack!).

If the oil is weeping continuously or there is a fair amount of it on the engine then I doubt it would burn away that quickly to be honest.

It's down to you and how the car (and the seller) *feels*. Does the car feel right and can you negotiate a fair price with the seller?

Thanks stan (and all) sound advice! I am still thinking about the car and whether it is worth putting an offer in, as I say the only thing that concerned me was the oily smoke but I couldnt think of a "critical" reason for it either. again many thanks....

re oil pressure..my cars now covered 119k with fsh and is , i think well maintained..it reads full oil pressure when cold or when driving and never drops below 2.5 bar even when hot....just mentioning this as 1.5 bar seems low???....

1.5 bar at hot idle is more normal than 2.5 bar