I think I know the answer already, but I would like those in the "know" to share their thoughts on this. (sorry it does go on a bit)

I have been on here several months now, this was after I found myself in a position to buy a Scooby. I only like the classic shape and have discovered along the way that a bit of rust on the back arches can be unbelievably expensive to get fixed properly.
The reason I found myself looking for a decent un abused classic was that I was in for a little windfall following a road accident and I was told to expect £2000-£2300 in compo.
knowing my budget was limited I did not want to get into the scenario of making numerous trips to view "mint" cars only to find they were a nail, did this when looking for a gsi Vectra and ended up wasting several hundred pounds of my budget.
I was then quite surprised when a local woman I know told me she was selling her classic, a 99T plate uk model. Its 1 former keeper, full service history and totally standard but needed the back arches doing plus a few cosmetic bits.
I told her I was interested but it would be a few months before my cheque arrived, needless to say we struck a deal, I gave her £50 deposit agreed a price of £1550 and she dropped it off on my drive, left me all the paperwork apart from the log book. she mentioned that it was due for a service and said if you want to start doing anything to it, feel free! she was only selling as she'd just bought a blob eye.
now its been on my drive since just before Christmas 2013, and every couple of weeks i've started it up and left it running 30 minutes or so. in the mean time I have had numerous quotes for paint. I know i'm going to be spending £1000-£1200 on paint, which to me isn't an issue as I like the car.
what is an issue, or starting to become one is that I have found myself with a bigger insurance cheque, £3600, which isn't a bad thing but today I've been having a further look around the car. if I go ahead and buy it, and have the paint done i'm going to be £2700 into a 15 yr old car. I have found today that not only does it need the back window taking out and resealing due to a leak, the water in the cooling system is a dirty brown colour with a slight smell to it, not an oily smell though. I have checked the colour of the oil on the dip stick only to find not even a dribble on the end!! so now im thinking just how often has she checked the vital fluids? how long has she ran it with little or no oil in it? I know she only poddles about, never thrashing it.
now im no mechanic but with an engine like that, that suffers bottom end problems, it cant of done it any good. its going to want rear tyres soon and I cant help but feel that once I've sunk my money into paint even with a few hundred left for emergencies potentially I could be buying problems I cant afford. at the moment all I have parted with it £50.00 deposit, im wondering if im better to walk away and look for something better??
advice please as I cant afford to make the wrong choice.....its not everyday I've got £3.5k to spend on a car.

 

Send it back and buy a decent condition car with the money

 

£1550 sounds a lot for a classic with the issues you have
highlighted. I think you would get a decent lowish miles
new age model and have some money left over for some
mods if your inclined that way.

 

Awkward phone call ahead....

 

Unless its got mega low miles I'd be dropping it back on her drive and hunting out a different car.

 

There is only half a litre between a dribble on the dip stick and full.

The worst thing that's happened to it since it's been on your drive is you starting it every couple of weeks, (unless you disconnected the crank sensor) and it probably lost the half litre of oil while it's been in your care, you'd have been better not starting it at all or following the oil change procedure of disconnecting the crank sensor and turning it over to build oil pressure then reconnect and fire it up.

The way I see it is you entered into a deal for the car, she left it with you in good faith and now you've had time to reconsider and it's time to cough up your having second thoughts.

I think you should honour end of the bargain and cough up, use it as a life lesson and in future think a little harder before you give your word and a deposit.

 

ditch, i'm unfamiliar with the "oil change procedure" "disconnecting crank sensor" etc never had one of these cars before.

can you enlighten me further, its going to want an oil change anyway, is there a special way of doing it? on previous run of the mill cars I've warmed it up before dropping the oil, new filter on, re fill and that's been it.

in relation to it loosing oil while sat on my drive, there are no leaks that I can see, if it had oil in it where is it likely have gone to? surely its not going to loose oil just by starting it?

 

mileage wise its 107k

 

as ditch said you ought to honour the deal, imagine if it was the other way round, maybe speak to the seller and mention the issues, but wriggling out of the deal seems a bit tight.

 

Op could always chuck her a ton and apologise for wasting her time

 

Oil change is pretty much as I outlined above, but just pre fill the filter before you put it on, pour some in wait a while then pour more in, it takes about 5mins but you'll be surprised how much you'll get in it, then as above disconnect the crank sensor, under the alternator and turn it over a few times for about 10 seconds a go, some say till the engine light goes out but I have never managed to make it go out so I just turn it over as above 4/5 times. full procedure should be found via search function.

As for the loosing oil, it will have burned it letting it sit for 2 weeks then starting it and leaving it ticking over for half an hour, some use more than others, my 100k blob uses about qtr litre every 1000 miles, to put it into perspective my forged engine in my type r used 1 litre over 1000 miles, so this one is pretty good by comparison.

 

Yep a question on morals really this one! Do agree with what Ditch has said above, afterall the lady has given you the car months before getting payment, which is pretty good of her really as I wouldn't do that, whether I still had the V5 or not! And in maintaining her side of the bargain the 'right' thing would be to hold up your end too.

The money you've agreed doesn't sound too bad to me for a 1 owner car with fsh, so I wouldn't say you've got a bad deal. Also don't assume that because you now have 3.5K that you can all of a sudden get a problem free newage or classic, the chances are that any car at this sort of price point is going to need some work. What I'm trying to say is you could easily spend 3.5k and still end up spending another £1200!

My advice? Buy the classic as arranged, service it and seal the rear window but leave the arches, treat them yourself as best you can to stop the onslaught but don't get a full on repair.

Bank the extra cash you get, and start using the classic, this is your first impreza after all, who knows you might find you don't like it! Either way run it round for 6 months/a year and see how you get on plus learn as much as you can. Hopefully you'll have been able to save a little more to add to the kitty as well over this time. At this point you can decide whether to sell the car on with minimal loss and upgrade to a better classic/newage or keep what you have and throw some money at it.

 

Plus £1200 seems a little steep for doing the rear arches?

 

no its not £1200 for the rear arches, been quoted £600 to cut out the rust and fit new metal. the additional cost comes from the fact both front and rear bumpers need paint as they have scuffs and stone chips, the bonnet scoop and vents have gone wrinkled due to someone not prepping properly and probably doing them with rattle cans, the bonnet was also going to be done as that has some stone chips, and lacquer peel on rear spoiler..........quite a lot for £1000-£1200...........I had 1 guy quote a grand just for the arches

 

I seem to have "painted myself as a bit of a shyster" im not. and id never intentionally do the dirty on someone. it just got me thinking that's all. I don't have the knowledge to fix the engine if there is a problem. I wouldn't mind if I ran it 2 yrs and it then died on me, I just didn't want to be buying a car that had started to ring alarm bells for it to go "pop" not long after buying it. ( because that would always follow with the "I told you so" you suspected something wrong and still bought it! ) I know it wants a service which I have factored in. now ditch has explained the likely reason for the lack of oil, then that makes me feel a lot better

 

You could do the honourable thing and find it's what you want...or it could go pop a week later.

But that's buying Scoobs....a £3600 car just might do the same.

Sit yourself down and think carefully about each scenario.....which one leaves YOU feeling best, the car you have or the £3600 car?

Me, I'd go for the car you have and use the money wisely.

 

Walk away. Rust and a potentially serious engine problem. Sounds like a money pit!

 

whats the thoughts on ditch's theory then re the lack of oil, and his suggestion it may be down to me starting it every couple of weeks....

not wanting to start an argument here, just interested in peoples opinions because im not a mechanic so don't know of these things

 

It would be dishonour to not buy it now 1200 isn't too bad for arches and
Paintwork any car can go pop
Luck of the drawer maybe one lady owner never flogged it is better then
A newer car with lots if owners who have revved the nuts of it

 

As I said some scoobs use a bit of oil especially ones with 100k+ on the clock, it may not have used half a litre but it is feasible that it's used somewhere around a qtr of a litre in 3/4 months sat at idle for 30 mins every 2 weeks sot thats at least 3hrs running time.

So if it was somewhere around half way between the min / max then for it to just register on the dip stick is not the end of the world, after all there are 4.5 litres in there when full so it still has 4 litres in it which is fine as long as your not ripping the **** out of it, which you weren't so nothing to worry about.

Personally i'd never buy a car off a woman full stop, one lady owner makes me run a mile.

That said, I bought my car with 92000 on the clock and full history, i've not spent a penny on anything other than fuel and oil changes in 10k. I'm firmly of the belief if a car has made it that far without any major issues then it's probably a good one.

 

Just to add if your worried about the rear window see if you can't haggle a little more and meet somewhere in the middle.

 

the car was ok till you had a bigger windfall , the fact you are asking is an
issue of morals , you want scoobynet to collectively say back the car and shaft the seller

 

that's one of the reasons that attracted me to it in the first place. i'll be keeping it, i'm sure. off to view some speedlines for it in the morning anyway.

with the mileage at 107k, what would be the most suitable oil for it, according to the service records its been ran on mobile 1 5w-40 which is fully synthetic I think?

 

Thats whole point of deposit isn't it,so the seller doesn't feel as messed about if you pull out,they get something out of it,like you £50. She must understand you wouldn't just throw £50 away and that somethings made you lose confidence in the vehicle. You could always tell her a porky and say you're not getting the money for a while yet!

 

Well fifty quid isn't much of a deposit more a gesture of "Good Will" in this instance is the way it reads to me, would the OP be asking the question or considering backing out if he stood to lose a £500 deposit?

I think not.

 

I keep seeing the reference "op" what does that stand for?

 

Original Poster.

 

As ditch said, which in this case is you.

 

This....

 

£500 would be considered part payment in my eyes. I understand a deposit should show you definitely want the vehicle but like op says he started noticing serious issues. Would seller rest easy knowing what they had sold was a car with major issues