fair price?

[tike]

I'm going to see a black vr4 manual saloon at the weekend. Its a fresh import on a P with about 50k on the clock and is up for £5995. It needs an alarm/immobiliser, timing belt and underseal which the garage will do as a package for £500 although I know they are willing to throw in the alarm/imobiliser as a freebie (worth about £250 apparently). Its supposed to be immaculate, will be fully serviced including AYC fluid and they tell me all inspections (i.e AA/RAC) are welcome and will put it up on the ramps if I want. I know its at the top end of the going price range but if its as good as its made out to be do you think its worth it and should I get the full £500 package as part of the selling price. Its a bit more than I was wanting to pay (hoping to get one for about £5000) and I'm a little worried about the depreciation and the huge cost if anything major goes wrong. I always plan on losing about £1000 a year on a car and I dont think this car is going to be worth £3k after 3 years which is about how long i normally keep them for. My head is like a looney tunes cartoon at the monent with a little devil in one ear telling me to buy, buy ,buy and a little angel telling me to be sensible and get a nearly new normal car which wont give me sleepless nights. any /help will be greatly appreciated.

[JimDiGritz]

You could always buy my newer 2000/W Official Ralliart UK model from me as per this ad http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14256 for even less money!!!

[tike]

i did have a look at this but was wanting something with less miles and manual gearbox. also I live in newcastle and I dont want more than a 2hr drive. thanks anyway though

[Nick Mann]

If you want one within a 2 hour drive and you want a manual then you will have to pay for whatever you find. You will regularly find that those criteria will leave you no cars to choose from!

[thecustomer]

manual = hen's tooth

For a price comparison, have a look at the Legnum at Newera http://neweraimports.com/carDetails.jsp?carId=149
They only source the best ( I bought mine through them so a) I'm biased and b) I've put my money where my mouth is on this!) so it will be as minty as a mint thing.

At that price, make sure the one you're looking at is damn near perfect!

Will

[Wodjno]

manual = hen's tooth

For a price comparison, have a look at the Legnum at Newera http://neweraimports.com/carDetails.jsp?carId=149
They only source the best ( I bought mine through them so a) I'm biased and b) I've put my money where my mouth is on this!) so it will be as minty as a mint thing.

At that price, make sure the one you're looking at is damn near perfect!

Will

That 1 looks like it stil has 2 outstanding recalls on it .. 1 for the fuel tank and 1 for the lower ball joints. Not that has any bearing on the car as it stands as they will be done for Nowt .. :happy:

[bernmc]

No, that's not a good price at all. I imported my car myself (so it cost me more than a dealer) - best I could find, (auction grade 4.5) just over 40K miles, had a thatcham 1 alarm and a full underseal, new radio, and paid around the £6000 mark to get it on the road here. And it was a year ago.

Do not pay that for a VR4 of that age. You will NEVER sell it for anything close to that, even the next day! And the low mileage etc won't exempt it from gearbox problems, powersteering leaks etc. I know - I found out the hard way!

You're much better off buying a known car from these forums. Be prepared to travel. That W reg VR$ mentioned in the thread is a bargain of note if it's in half decent condition. I'd be looking if I had the pennies!

[andy43]

Regardless of the sticker price, the dealer should be doing the cambelt and chucking a tin of underseal under the car for free if it's just come over from Japan, never mind £500 extra. Someone's mentioned you can get the belt done for £250-ish (£6-700 at main dealer tho') on here somewhere, to give you an idea of cost. Tensioners and water pump should also be checked for wear while it's in bits.
The W reg UK VR4 for sale on here looks a real bargain - just out of red zebra w'ty so it'll be all main dealer £££ history I'd think, just needs the paintwork tidying up looking at the pics.
A 'club-car' is an advantage as well, whereas a fresh import may well have zero verifiable history compared to one that's been in the country for a while.
There's so few VR4s about, travelling the length and breadth of the country to view a few isn't really an option I'm afraid - but it'll be worth it in the end!
Zedy1 is north of Manchester somewhere so within your 2 hour travelling time (blackburn/burnley area I think) so may be worth a call to see what he's got for sale (and he knows VR4s inside/out/upside down)
Best of luck :happy:

[Axeboy]

Zedy has a couple of legnums at the moment.

Bargain tastic

[thecustomer]

That 1 looks like it stil has 2 outstanding recalls on it .. 1 for the fuel tank and 1 for the lower ball joints. Not that has any bearing on the car as it stands as they will be done for Nowt .. :happy:

aha, interesting, how did you check that then?!

Will

[the_boy]

If that's @ A1Performance up near Newcastle race course then they are well over priced. In addition their attitude towards customers is not the best. When I went to buy a VR4 from them they wouldn't let me take the car for a test drive without a deposit and in their own words they were so sure I wouldn't need it back at the end of it. I had a feeling that regardless I would have trouble getting my money back.

Then again if it's not then not to worry :D

£5995 as people have said for a P rg is over priced.

Something to bear in mind on the VR4 is the service interval and MPG. I always thought it wouldn't bother me but when I moved in with the GF and the distance doubled the MPG is an absolute killer. I spend about £200 per month on Optiplop alone.

Stunning cars though!

Good luck with your decision :afro:

[WildCards]

I've just bought a 98 with 60K for £5500, if I hadn't i'd be all over that 'W reg' like white on rice. As it happens i'm trying to get my old man to look at it.

You ought to travel, especially if it gets you a better car.

[tike]

:2thumbsup great stuff thank you people:2thumbsup .
By the looks of things I will need to broaden my search area to get what I want (manual saloon in black or silver)but I am prepared to wait a while. My T5 is far from being on its last legs but the mot is due in 6months and it could need anything from £100 to £1000 to keep it going (possible cylinder head gasket and cat are the main worries) and its getting a little long in the tooth to justify spending that amount.
The vr4 I've been considering is from a place in scu nthorpe (:happy: filter doesnt like)called ebony and ivory which I have enquired about in another thread but no one replied so I assume no one has heard of them which probably isn't a good thing. Asking for extra money for a cam belt and underseal definately seems like a cheap trick to get you to spend more than the asking price especially when the car is overpriced to start with and has raised my suspicions about the place. To be honest I've had nothing but bad experiences when buying cars from small garages. You seem to pay £1k over the odds for something which is no better than what you get privately and you still dont get peace of mind or any comebacks.
In reply to the_boy I have been to A1 performance in newcastle and was not impressed. They have 2 or 3 P reg legnums in at the moment which I didnt really check out cos its not what I'm after but they're all going for £6000. The imprezas and evos they have in all seem overpriced and in some cases are really quite shabby with easy to spot faults like overspray and panel damage. They do have a lime green skyline in with red wheels if anyone's interested:speechles
Anyways thank you all for replying its been a great help. I will give this vr4 a miss and am going to keep checking these boards to see what comes up

[Wodjno]

aha, interesting, how did you check that then?!

Will

Here::2thumbsup http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5201&highlight=recalls