is it worth it?

ok guys this car isn't for me but my younger brother who i bought my coop off!he wants me to have a look over this new one before he does a deal.

a friend has just offered him a silver 20vt coop with 114k on the clock, black leather and air con.
the car has a dent in the drivers door that looks like its been crow bared apparently and will need a new door but nothing else is damaged.
the car has had 3 owners and the last female which im unsure is a good thing or not! the main point is i don't think he has any service history or cambelt history with it!
now also knowing what coops are like i imagine the oil cooler maybe turbo and wishbones have gone but i havent seen it yet.
now to start with he wanted 1k i half laughed and said mine is worth about 1.5k with a new clutch cambelt and every job done on it with 30k less on the clock. anyway he though and said he would do it for about £400 + my brother mint condtion rover 220 coupe with 50k on the clock which i imagine is worth about £700-£800

now how much do you guys think a silver coop which i think will need atleast a door and a cambelt is worth with 114k on the clock and no service history.
the other point is the condtion of my coop after my bro had it for a year he doesn't have much maintance money and might neglect it which we all knows ends in tears.
thanks guys

considering you had to buy the last one to get him out of a hole, is it not treading over old ground again? Sounds like the silver one will need a few quid chucking at it so I would try and convince him its a bad idea

yeah thats exactlly what i told him! the rover is a cracking car and hasn't gone wrong at all and would cost bugger all to fix! i can't say the same for the coop.
he doesn't really have much money to trow at it so i recon its a bad idea even if maybe 1k is quite cheap if not lot needs doing its still more expensive to maintain than the rover.
my red one has cost its value 2 maybe 3 times over but now everything is done on it or at least all the parts are bought for the very minor or perventive work left.
he would have never afforded the work needed on mine so i am getting worried he will get it yet have no money to sort it out.
atleast when it breaks and he is skint i would have acess to loads and loads of spare parts.

what would you guys think a car is worth in that sate? i have seen really nice cars go for £1.5 or less but not lot of of turbos for this money.

Might be worth a cheeky offer of, say £700? I can't see the point in spending more than that on a potentially neglected coupe which needs at least a grand or two throwing at it in order to put it right - especially when there are really good coupes struggling to fetch £2k. It's a false economy and will only end in tears.

this is exactly my point. i might be lucky and the perivous owner has looked after it and only px'ed it due to the dent in the door but i know who these coops can be and it might be a bloody night mare.
i have made a check list, if anyone can add to it please do.
alarm- make sure 3 keys are there and the alarm activates and goes off as it should.

exhaust mainiflod - make sure no signs of cracks or blows

exhaust- make sure its not rusty and no blows.

oil pressure - make sure its 3 bar cold no less than 1.5 min very hot and goes straight back to over 2.5 bar min when above 2k rpm

turbo- check it boost to 1 bar without much tail off and doesn't smoke after 10 mins idle and then turn off engine and restart engine-look for blue smoke.

brake- check pads are good and check that disc's aren't warped.

wishbones- make sure there is no play in front or rear wheels and it doesn't drift on the road or torque steer too much.

cambelt- make sure its done with in 5 years or 36k and aux belts 2 years or 18k.

rad- make sure no leaks and has red coolant in.

shocks- make sure no excessive travel or rsuty.

clutch- make sure there is no slip. best gear to check? check master and slave cylinder and crunchy gears.

check oil used and service and oil consupton.

headlights. make sure no peel on headlights or cracks.

air con. look for split pipes and check it goes cold. see when it was serviced.

oil cooler- check for rusty pipes and leaks.

cam cover- look for cracks and leaks down the back of engine.

engine mounts. check engine movement back and forth and left to right and knocks on subframe on right hand side.

check filler cap for peal.

tyres- check for wear and excessive wear on inside or outside edge.

body work- check for dents on flanks, check dents in leading edge of bonnet, check stone chips, check rust in rear lights and siils and rear quaters, check jacking points, check rear quaters for dents on rear arch slashes.

interior. check leather for wear, check buttons haven't fallen through dash, check damage to center console, check steering wheel wear, check rear grab handles, check rear quater cars for cracks at seat belts.

any thing i have missed? might be there all night with this lot and to give you an idea of issues i have done around 80% of that list to get my car in good condtion.

now for 1k i imagine its going to need some stuff but lets hope its a good one.

http://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=833076#Post833076

thanks stan. i have looked through that but there was stuff missing like oil coolers and rads and so on.
there is more detail on things like bonnets and stuff than my brief list but not as much detail on mechanichal issues these cars have.

To be honest with you PNH, and you'll have seen this written loads of times and know it yourself from personal experience: these cars are cheap to buy but expensive to run.

If my sister asked me to look at a coupé in the same circumstances as those you have described above, I would be a decent brother and say "No". It will save a lot of future trouble......

i am thinking the same thing stan it could be a head ache.
he has got more income now than he did before but on the same note he is terrible with money.
the main thing is to find out if its a dog or not as if 3 of the major jobs need doing it will cost much more than the car is worth.
he did love my coop and wants to get back into it and he only wants a turbo but i am saying to him save up for a decent one say 2-3k and it will be a better bet and make sure you have a slush fund for it! i had a slush fund and then i ran out of that very quickly and ended up using lot of my wages each month to get where i am now.

i am not discounting though there are bargins to be had! now if it has had a cambelt done and its in good condtion bar a dent in the door it will be a cheap car for 1k but i doubt it!! going with my eyes wide open and 3 grands worth of repair bill knowlage lol

Well you've got nothing to lose by having a look at the car. Go check it out and then make a decision, otherwise all we can do is speculate. Goodluck!

it is still well worth a look and if its good then i would recomend buying a good coop to anyone aslong as they know how much they cost to run!

if its good i might get it for a track car!

Worth a look but has potentially a few large bills coming it's way. Clutch + belts + full service & health check is about £1k. On top the oil cooler £250, turbo £500 plus if the bottom end is on it's last legs due to owners not checking the oil then that's a new engine.

IMO I'd ask him to save up a bit more and get a well maintained example.

i am thinking the same thing. i mean it might be a really good car that the pervious owner got rid of due to dent but i am not sure.

the way i add it up is.
rover is worth £700 easy
extra towards car £400
door £100 form joe
cambelt £290 + £80 petrol to get there

thats £1570 atleast with what we pretty much know needs doing.

for the extra money he could make the rover perfect i mean stunning perfect drop a rebuilt turbo engine on it with around 230bhp and upgrade the brakes! or he could get a 125k mile coop with potential massive bills!
or save up for another year and buy a mint l.e with stage one mods.

Unless it's a bargain with big jobs done, from what you've said it's a bit of a no brainer.

Walk away! I really like those 220 Rovers too!!! Mate had one in white,v nice!

Keep the rover,few about now and quite reliable actually .Uses the t series engine rather than the k and drives nicely from when i remember my one.

well i had a look at it and it was rough! it needed a new door, the bonnet was dented in the side, the boot had a dent and cracked the paint, the front bumper had loads of paint missing, rear had a tiny bit of paint missing, oil cooler pipes needed doing, rad looked a bit rough, no cambelt history, brake discs were worn, some smoke when turbo kicked in, oil pressure looked suspect! car kept trying to cut out!
plus side it had perfect black leather. air con ( harder to change parts), sun roof.
and in the end he was begging me to buy it off him for £500

i still turned him down!

my bro is either going to buy a good coop next year or he is going to just do the two very small jobs done to be mint and then fit a turbo lump.

i worked out the silver coop needed around 2k spent on it even if we done all the work!

£500 to break it more like. It sounds like it's had a very rough life.

it would be good to break and i suggested it to the guy but to fix it need about 2k spent on it atleast so not worth fixing which is a real shame.