Mash,
I've got to wait until tomorrow night now to get my new toy due to a few minor niggles being sorted out. Can't wait though
I went to go and see the red LCR at Galaxy Motors in Mansfield a week last Saturday in the pouring rain. It was sat right at the front of the lot next to a tidy looking silver Clio 182 and upon initial inspection looked ok. I asked for the keys from the skinny salesman bloke and he fetched them. He didn't have much to say about the car but did say that he'd not had it in long. He certainly didn't mention anything about it being a Cat D.
After having a brief walk around the car I soon noticed a rather nasty dent and crack on the offside corner of the front bumper. It was pretty messy and would need replacing. The nearside rear alloy had a huge chunk missing out of it and the spare wheel/tyre in the boot looked like it had been found in a lay by on the motorway. Some of the toolkit was missing, the display on the stereo was kn4ckered and the steering wheel looked like someone had taken a brillo pad to it.
I fired it up and it started fine. The engine was smooth and quiet and there was no smoke etc. I drove away up the hill on the test drive and it pulled well but I couldn't
help but notice a loud clonking from underneath the car at low speeds. To me it was either a seriously buckled alloy wheel on the offside or some nasty suspension damage.
After building up a decent amount of speed I approached a queue of traffic and nearly had kittens when the brakes were non-existent. They made a horrible scraping sound and barely got any better the more I used them.
I could tell that the LCR was a lovely car but this one needed some serious TLC. After returning to the garage the salesman was busy with another couple and I spent the next 20 mins or so tearing myself apart trying to stop my heart ruling my head. Could I make this car into something decent or was there just too much wrong with it? I'd trailed all the way down from Leeds and had probably wasted my time.
Eventually I shrugged my shoulders and left.
In hindsight I'm very glad I did.
The following day I contacted the bloke in Huddersfield about the 2 LCRs he had there and unfortunately he didn't work on Sundays. He sounded a lot more helpful though and was keen to show me one in the week. I never got around to it though.
After doing an awful lot of research on here and other sites I'd now pretty much think that the 97k with only 1 owner shouldn't be a
problem providing the service schedules have been kept up to and the car has been well looked after. It certainly looks well and has more than likely just tonked up and down the motorway for most of its life - which should mean minimal clutch and gearbox wear.
Let us know how you get on.
J
