1997 Seat Ibiza

neacy69

Hi All

Im going for a look at a car with a friend tonight it is a 1997 Seat Ibiza. 1.0L Newish TYRES, 66K,3 DOOR, DARK GREEN. NCT 07/08 TAXED 12/07 €1600.

The mileage is pretty low for the year and as per carzone the price is a little below average.
Am i right in saying this has got basically VW engine and components?
At what stage should the timing belt have been changed on this car? anything else i should be wary of?

craichoe

Yes, Its a Volkswagen.

Although the 1Litre engine will have you wondering why you bought it 6 months down the road.

Your insurance will be a little be high on a 10 year old car, could you not go up 2 years and save the bit extra on insurance.

The difference between insurance on a 1 Litre to a 1.4 Litre is minimal , I'm driving a 00 1.9TDI and the Insurance is 300 euro cheaper than on a 1997 1.4L Petrol (Opel Astra).

colm_mcm

I'd recommend a 1.4 Ibiza over the 1.0 as well. TBH, that seems a bit overpriced. try and get a model with power steering if you can.

neacy69

Well we went for a look at the car and as I suspected "if its too good to b true..."
against all my instincts we met the guy in a carpark (wrong i know) and he met us halfway (again wrong) finally found the place after the crap directions although his english was poor so can't really blame him for that.
The guy said he had the car 3 years since he came to ireland (which i think was a lie). The car has 66k and looked like the bodywork had seen a lot more. We checked all round the outside and it seemed pretty straight. Next under the bonnet checked under the oil cap and I could see traces of a white residue which had obvuiously been cleaned recently. Next had a look at the exhaust which had the odd spurt of blue, black and white smoke alternating!! took it for a spin and although the interior was spotless you could tell it was well worn. Suspension, handling and road quality was terrible. Got back from the spin and asked was the timing belt done said he didnt know (he says he had it 3 years!) I asked for any service history he said he didnt have any although he had the service log book in his hands. Promptluy shook the guys hand thanked him for his time and drove home without the car.

All in all I thnk the car was clocked so the girl I was with was very thankful cos she had been intent on buying until i offered to come with her and give her my opinion (although i have no mechanical experience only from what i read here and tv showa).

colm_mcm

a lucky escape!