Car question

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Accy cyclist

Legendary Member
I've seen a car i'm thinking of buying for work. It's a 2002 Renault Scenic 1,4 engine. According to the advert it's done 48,000 miles and has a MOT till October
A few questions.... Could the mileage have been put back? What will the fuel consumption be like? Is the £750 ono price a fair one? Thanks for any replies! :okay:
 
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screenman

Legendary Member
Yes the mileage could have been put back, but this is getting very unlikely nowadays, even less so on the cheaper car. Do you have old MOT a service history to go with the car?

At that price condition is everything, it does not look expensive if it is a real nice one.

MPG wise, not sure how you drive but I would hope for high thirties or low forties on a mixed journey.
 

w00hoo_kent

One of the 64K
Current expected average is 12k per year, this went up from 10k per year a little while ago, so 48k is low (13 years old expect 130-156k miles on average). Doctoring mileage isn't as easy as it used to be, but isn't impossible. You can normally tell by looking for other signs around the car (carpet/mat wear, gearstick wear, steering wheel wear, etc.) as they are harder to hide. It's not impossible that it's been used as a 'weekend only run about' possibly by someone with a company car, as the families second car, etc. £750 doesn't sound like a terrible price, Scenics don't particularly hold their value well. It's worth checking what is coming up to be done, at 48k it might not have had belts and stuff done as they are likely to be needed on time rather than mileage by now. My general take on a sub £1000 car is to get the cam belt done whatever, because you never know and it's the real car killer. Equally you can just take the risk on that sort of money if you want, although I tend to prefer not to. The biggie for me would be what has it been doing, if it's been sat for long periods of time not moving then I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. Cars hate being left static for months on end and the worse ones I've ended up with have all been in that boat. I try hard not to buy stuff like that now, although it can be difficult. Try and see previous MoT's and get an idea of the annual mileage (will help confirm the current too) as you'll have an idea if it's done a few hard years, and then a load of nothing.
 

Paul99

Über Member
I've seen a car i'm thinking of buying for work. It's a 2002 Renault Scenic 1,4 engine. According to the advert it's done 48,000 miles and has a MOT till October
A few questions.... Could the mileage have been put back? What will the fuel consumption be like? Is the £750 ono price a fair one? Thanks for any replies :okay:
Mileage could be genuine. I only did 695 miles in my car last year, but I'd want to see the service history/ MOT history if they have it.

Depends on the type of driving you will be doing and how well you drive, but I'd expect the fuel consumption to be somewhere around 40-45 MPG.

Only thing I would say is that it's a 13 year old car so you should probably expect things to be going wrong with it, so it might cost you a bit in repairs. I say this having owned a Renault and knowing how rubbish the electrics and such stuff is.

The cam belt advice above is good, but on my Renault it was a £3-400 pound job at a reputable garage as it was a PITA to do. That doesn't represent good value on a £750 car. I would have a google to see if it's as difficult a job on the Scenic as it was on the Megane, I suspect it probably is.
 

Oldbloke

Guru
Location
Mayenne, France
Only thing I would say is that it's a 13 year old car so you should probably expect things to be going wrong with it, so it might cost you a bit in repairs. I say this having owned a Renault and knowing how rubbish the electrics and such stuff is.
/QUOTE]

Be warned, electrics/electronics notoriously bad and usually expensive to fix.
 

BrumJim

Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
Low mileage cars can be problematic. Short runs only, they never warm up properly causing engines to suffer premature wear and burn oil. When I look at older cars I don't worry about mileage, what does it sound like, does it smoke and does everything work like it should are what matters.

Although our car is low mileage, but mostly used for long motorway runs. Anything shorter and I take my bike, and my wife takes the bus or train.

Private or trade? If private, ask lots of questions and see if they stack up to the evidence. Family cars will have evidence of crisp packets inside, load carrying vehicles will have wear in the boot, etc. Does it have full service history and receipts of all work done on it? How long has it been owned by the seller? Has it been through several previous owners or just one or two?
 

Twinks

Über Member
A friend was offered £400 for a 55 plate same model in part ex. He was gutted and told them where to go so we were thinking of buying it as a cheap run around but were warned off by another friend who works on them. In fact he said don't touch Renault aat all at that age and recommended Ford (Focus or Fiesta).
 

sight-pin

Veteran
Note the obvious things that can give you an idea of a cars age. For instance, the drivers seat, (should be in good condition with no sign of collapse etc), check the pedal rubbers for wear, (should show minimum wear), check the gear lever for crispness, (should be fairly tight still in the figure eight and not waggly) for want of a better description lol. Especially check all the panels are in line and no door drop.
For the engine i'd dip the oil check for cleanliness and remove the oil filler cap and check for crap etc whilst noting the general condition of the engine. When the engine is ticking over listen for any knocking, missing or vibration etc. Hope this is of help.
 

w00hoo_kent

One of the 64K
[QUOTE 3569665, member: 9609"]At that age I would consider that it won't be worth repairing come next MOT, so I would ultimately base my decision on that - £750 for 7 months ?
You could get years out of it or it could fall to bits next month. [/QUOTE]
I had you as more frugal than that.

I've been living off of ebay for my motoring (pretty much) for the last decade or so and work on the theory of £600 tops per year for the car. So if I spend £450 on a Mondeo I'll be buying something with a long MoT and be happy if it makes the next one, but not expecting it. I get a mate (who I trust and knows what he is doing) to give it the once over to make sure it's safe (an MoT means very little). If I decide, for some reason to go over £600 for a car, then it needs to last more than a year. Currently I'm on year 2 of an 05 Toyota Verso that cost me £1500 but I knew the history of and year 3 of a diesel Peugeot 406 that cost me £450 and refuses to die, I expect to get 300,000 out of it barring accidents.

Checking here - http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/renault/scenic-1999/?section=good - isn't a bad call if you don't know what you are looking at, and knowing a bit about modern cars (or knowing someone who does) is invaluable if you're trying to keep something cheap running.

My general rules of thumb (you will notice I don't stick to them that strongly)
Don't buy Italian, French or Vauxhall.
If possible buy Ford or Japanese.
Mileage isn't as important as condition.
Don't believe anything the seller has done unless it has cast iron paperwork with it. (Then just mistrust it).
Look for service intervals and budget accordingly.
Check the tyres, dead ones make a cost difference at this price point.
AirCon never 'just needs a recharge' this is a lie, the AirCon has broken and will never work again.

Things that should make you walk away (and I really should pay them more attention)
The story changing, especially last minute work that wasn't deemed 'important' for the advert.
Evidence the car has been sitting for a long time.
That gut feeling that you're being lied to.
If it feels too good to be true, it probably is.
The point where you start convincing yourself 'I'm sure that bit will be fine really', it never is.
 

4F

Active member of Helmets Are Sh*t Lobby
Location
Suffolk.
NEVER BUY AN OLD FRENCH CAR! (And yes, I do speak from bitter experience...)

With you there 100%, I had an old Renault 5 with alleged low mileage and it was always breaking down with parts impossible to get and cost a bomb to keep on the road. The only one worse than this was a Hyundai

If I was going sub grand on anything it would be a Ford as parts are easier to get either from a scrap yard or motor factors.
 

w00hoo_kent

One of the 64K
A friend was offered £400 for a 55 plate same model in part ex. He was gutted and told them where to go so we were thinking of buying it as a cheap run around but were warned off by another friend who works on them. In fact he said don't touch Renault aat all at that age and recommended Ford (Focus or Fiesta).
Hmm, depends on the Focus, and probably similar for the Fiesta, they don't wear well. When we scrapped our 02 Focus the recovery guy was pretty scathing, suggesting while most Fords are pretty bulletproof (I'd have very little worries owning a high mileage Mondeo for instance) the Focus tends to get tired after around 100,000 which is pretty quick nowadays (it'd be on its third head gasket if it'd been a Cortina of course). You might be OK, but generally the smaller the car, the less likely it is to survive high mileages.
 
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