From Honda to Mitzi am I doin the right thing?

[deevtec]

Ok I'm from Belfast northern Ireland and organize the countries biggest gap car show! I have been driving hondas all my life but have wanted a vr4 for so long but only just found out that it's cheaper to insure than my vti civic! So the car I'm looking at concerns me it's a 2001 vr-4 type s with 61k on the clock totally standard car! Thing is the guy is only lookin £1500 which seems a bit on the cheap side to me! I'm going to look at it in a few days what should look out for! What are the common problems?

[foxdie]

Ok I'm from Belfast northern Ireland and organize the countries biggest gap car show! I have been driving hondas all my life but have wanted a vr4 for so long but only just found out that it's cheaper to insure than my vti civic! So the car I'm looking at concerns me it's a 2001 vr-4 type s with 61k on the clock totally standard car! Thing is the guy is only lookin £1500 which seems a bit on the cheap side to me! I'm going to look at it in a few days what should look out for! What are the common problems?

Hi Dee, welcome to the forums.

Firstly, asking if you're doing the right thing in the club you're planning on buying a matching vehicle for.. of course we're going to say you're doing the right thing (as would any car owners club!) but make sure that you can afford to RUN the car..

You're supposed to service it every 4500 miles, but most of us double that figure in favour of running more expensive fluids (Amsoil is by far the clubs choice of oil). THEN there's the fuel usage, on average expect to get around 100-200 miles per tank depending on whether you're doing inner-city or motorway driving. You have to run the car on higher octane fuel too (Shell V-Power, Tesco Momentum 99 etc).

There aren't many VR-4 specific faults, when you're looking at the car the normal checks apply though, check for creaking / whining etc.

If the car is fitted with AYC (Active Yaw Control, basically an electronically controlled rear diff to counter oversteer / understeer), make sure the AYC system works with no whining / grinding noises, also make sure you can light up all 3 AYC lights (3 green bars immediately underneath the engine RPM needle).

If the car is auto, make sure all the gears select smoothly and quickly, it should take around 1 second to change UP a gear, and about 1-2 seconds to change DOWN, with no banging / sharp changes. Bear in mind if you're doing 50MPH and try to downshift into 1st / 2nd it won't go or it'll take more time.

When things DO go wrong, we have an extensive knowledge-base available to paid up members, and with several members regularly "breaking" VR-4s for parts you can guarantee you won't need to look far

For more information, take a look at the buyers guide here

£1500 sounds like a good price for a facelift Legnum with 61K on the clock

[MikeM]

hi,i am no expert on these as i am looking to buy a legunm myself and trying
to find out as much as poss, all on here have given some sound advice
the price seems very cheap

[Wobble]

hello and welcome .
£1.5 k is a good price where abouts is the car ?there maybe members near you that will have a look over it with you .

[gallvr4]

hi deevtec....how are you and welcom to the club.

it dose sound a bit cheap for the year/mileage but they are not makeing what they were makeing when i got mine.

if ya want peace of mind i would buy of a member as it would be minded like a small child,and there is a good few for sale in the club at the min.

maby post up a link to the car/pictures and i'm sure some of the more experenced people on here will have great advice bout buying /what to look for!

best of luck

brendan

[Nick Mann]

Sounds too cheap. Is it an internet sale you can show us? Or is it close to a member willing to look with you?

[Kryton]

It does sound cheap. I assume it was registered in 2001 (but older) to be that price, rather than actually being a 2001 car? If Ireland is the same as here, I could import a car today & it would show as registered 2011, even if it is a P plater built in 1996. Is there a link to the car?

[Owen87]

Hey dee! Welcome! Theres a few irish ppl on here (incl me)!! Where abouts is this car, i take by the currency its in the UK. As the others have said it seems cheap but there are a couple of members on here who have bought sweet cars for around that price. Main thing you need to make sure whats the service history like. The VR4s may be relatively cheap to buy but the maintanence costs are expensive and need to be done as most cars are over 10 years old, pads n discs (£300), Cambelt (£700), exhaust (£400) etc.

[Nitew4tcher]

welcome along

[deevtec]

The car is in Belfast as for running it are they really that thirsty ? I only run my hondas on 99 octane as they defo perform better on it! I get roughly 40 miles to £10 ATM in the civic with a few mods so the legnum would possibly only do about 14.5 miles to a tenner is that right?

[foxdie]

The car is in Belfast as for running it are they really that thirsty ? I only run my hondas on 99 octane as they defo perform better on it! I get roughly 40 miles to £10 ATM in the civic with a few mods so the legnum would possibly only do about 14.5 miles to a tenner is that right?

I do some fairly spirited inner-city driving and get around 130-140 miles to a tank before the light comes on, at which point it's around 50L or so to fill it up.

At around £67.50 to fill it up at 11.9 MPG that works out around 20 miles to £10 petrol.

[deevtec]

Wow I didn't think any car was heavier on juice than my old accord lol it done bout 27 to a tenner this has me reconsidering now as the cheapest 99 octane here is £1.30 a liter an that's supermarket crap that I refuse to use other than that it's £1.39 till they put it up AGAIN

[deevtec]

This is the car in question

http://belfast.gumtree.com/belfast/03/71490103.html

[deevtec]

I'm from Belfast that's wrr the car is it's a facelift so quite possibly could be 01 an at oldest it's '00 so I don't know now was just checking out the furl consumption figures an all I can say is scary

[Owen87]

Yea they are quite low but they are quick cars. I have found if your just pottering around town in it your usually into the 15-20mpg and motorway is 20-25mpg with a standard car! There are a number of recent threads about fuel consumption on this forum. Just use the search tool.

Dont be put off though, they are fun cars! Had a 200sx s14a before the vr4 and the power is sooooo much better. Is the car your looking at a manual or tip?

[Nick Mann]

Can't tell from the photos, but it could be as old as 1998 from the photos. Still a very good price though! If the seats are red flecked it was built between 1998 and 2000. If not it is newer.

Expect 200 miles from 50 litres. You might get more, but don't buy the car thinking you will get more.

[aboo]

It does sound very cheap for a FL. As said before say where it is & I'm sure there will be a member close by who will go have a look see with you.

[deevtec]

It's in Bangor northern iteland

[deevtec]

Good I really don't know what to do now

[elnevio]

I have merged your two threads together, so it shouldn't be so confusing now!


That does indeed look suspiciously cheap, and could also as said be as early as 1998, when the facelift came in.

Email the seller and ask for the chassis number (will start with EC5W- then will have seven digits), as we can tell you a lot more as regards manufacture date, original options, etc. with that information.