Buying advice - 1.6 SX

[jamb0n]

Hello!

I'm a newbie here so just want to say hello, I hope to be an owner of a Leon in the near future (next couple of days hopefully!) and I just have a few questions.

I can't post a link to the ad but it's not that detailed anyway:

04 Reg, 105,000 miles, 5 Door Hatchback, Blue, Petrol, Manual, FSH, Long Mot, 6m tax, PAS, ABS, E/windows, C/locking, Alloys, Solid Paint, Radio/CD, Immobiliser, Rear headrests,Excellent drive, £1,750 ONO.

Considering that the car is in good condition is it okay to buy one at that high a mileage?

I'm going to see if it has service history etc.

Is there a link to service intervals, when cambelts have to be changed?

Also what do I have to look out for apart from the obvious?

I won't be doing much mileage on it - maybe 3-4k a year tops!

Just looking for some advice really!

Thanks

 

[offitmassive]

Welcome to SCN....

I bought my 53 plate @ 118k miles, and seeing yours has FSH you should be ok. Cambelts are due

"Timing belt - Renew
Every 48 months regardless of miles/km "

and as it has FSH, you would certainly hope it was done 3 years ago, but i think as it is due next year, say to the seller that its due very soon, and are they prepared to knock the cost of the replacement off the car or even half the cost, so about £150-£200 off the cost.b Dont forget the waterpump too!!!!

Service intervals are 10k miles or 12 months, which ever comes 1st,

 

[jamb0n]

Thanks for the reply, I test drove it today and it was really nice.

It had it's HG etc. done a week or so ago so it's all good.

I looked under the bonnet and it looked quite sparse in the engine bay..

e.g. this picture:
h ttp://iloapp.itfben.co.uk/data/_gallery//public/21/1278352963_resized.jpg

Where the cone air filter is there was nothing there.

Has anyone got a picture of a stock 1.6 petrol engine bay?

Cheers!

 

[offitmassive]

Because on the 1.6 leons,the air filter is under the plastic bit in the middle

apart from the alloy piping and red hoses on the left... its stock

You'll need to ask why the head gasket was replaced as they arent really a common failure, and if the head gasket was done,the cambelt would have been done too..

Ask what caused the head gasket failure......

I just looked on autotrader for leons , not knowing your postcode, and there are a lot of leon cupras for less money mate, look here http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/...ody-type/hatchback/transmission/manual/page/1

on the 2nd page is a facelift cupra halfway down,on the top of 2nd page there is a pre facelift cupra wi leather interior

 

[Alexis27]

Personally I'd be looking for a lower mileage. You can get 1.6's that have done 70,000 miles for £2k.

Mine has a different engine cover from above - same as here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2003-SEAT-LEO...VERED-90-741-MILES-/180623133425#ht_964wt_922

 

[53 Leon SX]

Yeah my engine cover is also different from the one in the pic. Its the same as Alexis's. The picture you've posted is of the 1.6 8v engine I believe hence why the battery cover is not solid plastic, and the differences in the engine cover.

As offitmassive has said if you are seriously considering the car really dig deep into why the head gasket has gone as on our 1.6 na engines the head gaskets should not be being replaced really and personally if it were me I'd steer clear of it just for that unless he can give you a good explanation. For the money being asked and mileage done I'd say it was a bit high as well.

On another note, I just noticed you have the upper strut brace on your car? you notice much difference at all?

 

[offitmassive]

Sorry 53leon sx, that isnt my engine bay, I have a 1.8T AUQ engine, that was just an image of a 1.6 16v engine bay the OP wanted to see i found on google sorry for the confusion!!

 

[53 Leon SX]

Sorry 53leon sx, that isnt my engine bay, I have a 1.8T AUQ engine, that was just an image of a 1.6 16v engine bay the OP wanted to see i found on google sorry for the confusion!!

No worries, was just slightly surprised to see someone had put it on a 1.6 that's all.

 

[jamb0n]

Again, thanks for the replies.

I'm in South London so most of the Leon's are 100's of miles away.

Unfortunately I can't afford the insurance on a Cupra, otherwise I'd have one!

I'll investigate about the HG getting replaced. I've been offered a good part exchange value for my Rover 200 (99) and an SX is really what I'm after (sport seats!).

It has a full service history and I will investigate about why the HG was changed. I'm not going to be adding much mileage on the car maybe 2-4k a year.

 

[53 Leon SX]

Jambon I assume you're only looking at trade offers then for the part exchange value of your current car?

 

[jamb0n]

Jambon I assume you're only looking at trade offers then for the part exchange value of your current car?

Yep! I don't want the hassle of selling my rover privately! It has a few issues too e.g. electrics, clutch is starting to act up and I dont think I would get a good price for it!

 

[53 Leon SX]

Oh and to answer some of your questions in the op, the mileage is high-ish for an 7 year old petrol car, roughly 15k a year (hope its all motorway miles) but, it shouldn't be a major issue if the car has fsh like you say the ad states and its been maintained properly.

Ask if the door seals have been changed, the ones underneath the metal carrier plate in all four doors as it is a known fault that VAG cars of that era had leaky doors as they deteriorated over time. Not such a problem in summer (unless the weather is as **** as it was last week) but in winter it could be a pain constantly having your windows steaming up due to moisture. Tell tell signs of such a problem would be damp/wet carpets both front and/or rear and driver and/or passenger side. If the seals haven't been done it is not a difficult or expensive job to do yourself if you feel up to it, about £15 off of ebay or £30-ish from the dealers for the new seals and an hour/afternoon of your time.

One thing I forgot to check when i bought my car was to check the demister strips on the rear boot window. Check that a solid line/ridge runs from end to end as if not that strip won't work and when it comes to using them you will be manually wiping away moisture if needed. Again its (supposedly) a quick, simple, cheap fix if not think around £10 for all the stuff that's needed. I say supposedly as I have the things needed to fix mine I just haven't attempted it yet.

Look through the service history to see if the lambda sensor/probe has been changed specifically the bank 1 sensor 1 (pre cat) probe, or just ask the guy if you trust him/her. They have an expected life of around 60-70k miles give or take 10k so if it hasn't gone yet and been changed I'd expect to be changing it at some point even with the little use that you plan for the car. IIRC the part can be anywhere between £50-£150 pounds and takes a half hour to hours labour at most to replace if you can't/can't be asked to attempt it yourself.

Apart from that do all the usual checks you'd do for the car i.e. checking electrics(radio, cd player, mirrors, horn, etc) works, seatbelt's...I'm sure you know as you already own a car. I was completely new to it all when I got mine

Have you hpi'd the car?

 

[jamb0n]

Oh and to answer some of your questions in the op, the mileage is high-ish for an 7 year old petrol car, roughly 15k a year (hope its all motorway miles) but, it shouldn't be a major issue if the car has fsh like you say the ad states and its been maintained properly.

Ask if the door seals have been changed, the ones underneath the metal carrier plate in all four doors as it is a known fault that VAG cars of that era had leaky doors as they deteriorated over time. Not such a problem in summer (unless the weather is as **** as it was last week) but in winter it could be a pain constantly having your windows steaming up due to moisture. Tell tell signs of such a problem would be damp/wet carpets both front and/or rear and driver and/or passenger side. If the seals haven't been done it is not a difficult or expensive job to do yourself if you feel up to it, about £15 off of ebay or £30-ish from the dealers for the new seals and an hour/afternoon of your time.

One thing I forgot to check when i bought my car was to check the demister strips on the rear boot window. Check that a solid line/ridge runs from end to end as if not that strip won't work and when it comes to using them you will be manually wiping away moisture if needed. Again its (supposedly) a quick, simple, cheap fix if not think around £10 for all the stuff that's needed. I say supposedly as I have the things needed to fix mine I just haven't attempted it yet.

Look through the service history to see if the lambda sensor/probe has been changed specifically the bank 1 sensor 1 (pre cat) probe, or just ask the guy if you trust him/her. They have an expected life of around 60-70k miles give or take 10k so if it hasn't gone yet and been changed I'd expect to be changing it at some point even with the little use that you plan for the car. IIRC the part can be anywhere between £50-£150 pounds and takes a half hour to hours labour at most to replace if you can't/can't be asked to attempt it yourself.

Apart from that do all the usual checks you'd do for the car i.e. checking electrics(radio, cd player, mirrors, horn, etc) works, seatbelt's...I'm sure you know as you already own a car. I was completely new to it all when I got mine

Have you hpi'd the car?

Thank you for the advice!

I checked the footwells for wetness but there wasn't any. I think I could do the seals if worst comes to the worst as long as they're not as fiddly as door cards!

Okay
- demister strips - noted.

In terms of service history there are some loose sheets of paper and then there is the little service book. I glimpsed through it and there were a lot of services on there but I didn't look through the details - would the note of the Lamda sensor be made in that?

I checked most of the electrics, haven't tested all the seatbelts though. Do the electric wing mirrors "go in" electrically (instead of pushing them in manually?).

 

[53 Leon SX]

I'd imagine that it would be in there yes or failing that in and amongst the receipts and hopefully itemized invoices, where you can see what work was done and how the garage charged for it done or parts bought.

If you're really worried about it then you could always ring up the garage(s) where the car was service and ask them to do a quick check for you to see if it was changed whilst it was in their hands but tbh this would be going a bit anal over the matter. Its up to you though, its your money after all, just bear in mind that it is a serviceable part that would be expected to go at some point and It's not got a service schedule just more of an expected life in terms of mileage then you change it when it goes.

Unless someone has retro fitted the electrically folding mirrors then they push in manually but are operated electrically from the little analogue stick like thing were all the controls are on the drivers side.

And you're welcome to the little advice I have

 

[jamb0n]

I'd imagine that it would be in there yes or failing that in and amongst the receipts and hopefully itemized invoices, where you can see what work was done and how the garage charged for it done or parts bought.

If you're really worried about it then you could always ring up the garage(s) where the car was service and ask them to do a quick check for you to see if it was changed whilst it was in their hands but tbh this would be going a bit anal over the matter. Its up to you though, its your money after all, just bear in mind that it is a serviceable part that would be expected to go at some point and It's not got a service schedule just more of an expected life in terms of mileage then you change it when it goes.

Unless someone has retro fitted the electrically folding mirrors then they push in manually but are operated electrically from the little analogue stick like thing were all the controls are on the drivers side.

And you're welcome to the little advice I have

Okay I'll look through the service receipts - it seemed to be very well maintained over it's years. The garage is servicing it before they hand it over to me.

In terms of the Head Gasket - if something has gone wrong with it but it's been replaced is it an issue?

I have a rover 200 and I've had the dreaded HGF =/

I'm very happy with what I'm paying for especially all the bits it comes with!

HPI check I'm doing at the moment, trying to find the best place.

 

[Alexis27]

What's your budget?

Nice 53,000 miler in London: http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classif...w127rj/keywords/sx/page/1/radius/30?logcode=p

 

[53 Leon SX]

Okay I'll look through the service receipts - it seemed to be very well maintained over it's years. The garage is servicing it before they hand it over to me.

The garage seem to be making all the sounds that you would want to hear but don't be too happy/disappointed as a service could mean anything. I wouldn't expect it to be massively thorough though as any major problems they should have rectified before advertising it and then anything minor they'll sort out when having guaranteed the sale I think.

In terms of the Head Gasket - if something has gone wrong with it but it's been replaced is it an issue?

Its not an issue if its been done properly but there's always the chance a bodge job was done to get the car into a sell able state. I wouldn't be able to tell you any tell tale signs of that though although maybe if they give you a decent warranty on the car or failing that the head gasket specifically that may do something to ease any fears.

I'm very happy with what I'm paying for especially all the bits it comes with!

Yeah they are nice cars to be in, the sx trim really does make a difference over the s trim in terms of comfort. It's nice having air con as well. Which reminds me lol check if that works, I think if it needs re-gassing or something then there should be a funny smell to the air coming out the vents when the air con is on. Double check how to check the air con with a quick search on here though.

HPI check I'm doing at the moment, trying to find the best place.

Good man, you can never be too sure!

 

[jamb0n]

What's your budget?

Nice 53,000 miler in London: linky

My budget was originally £3k but seeing as I only use the car for 3-4 hours a week it doesn't seem that worth it to spend too much money. That car does look good and it is 17 miles from me but I wouldn't be able to trade in my car which is a disadvantage.

The garage seem to be making all the sounds that you would want to hear but don't be too happy/disappointed as a service could mean anything. I wouldn't expect it to be massively thorough though as any major problems they should have rectified before advertising it and then anything minor they'll sort out when having guaranteed the sale I think.

Well I think on the log book it had it's service 1000 miles ago. They did tell me that if I was unhappy with anything they'd sort it out. I've asked for:
A spare wheel as there wasn't one...
Small crack on the rear passenger arch (cosmetic)
Replace a belt because there was a squeaking from the engine bay (it seemed to be the belt that was visible (what one is that?)
Tidy up some scuffs & scratches
Service it

Its not an issue if its been done properly but there's always the chance a bodge job was done to get the car into a sell able state. I wouldn't be able to tell you any tell tale signs of that though although maybe if they give you a decent warranty on the car or failing that the head gasket specifically that may do something to ease any fears.

They've only offered the 3 month warranty. They did the work on the Head Gasket so I'll see if I can get some sort of warranty on that so if it fails they will fix it.

Yeah they are nice cars to be in, the sx trim really does make a difference over the s trim in terms of comfort. It's nice having air con as well. Which reminds me lol check if that works, I think if it needs re-gassing or something then there should be a funny smell to the air coming out the vents when the air con is on. Double check how to check the air con with a quick search on here though.

Good man, you can never be too sure!

I have air con in my rover but the climate control seems good, I tried it out when I was sat inside (bit confusing at first) but the lowest temp seemed to be cold enough with no funky smells - maybe I should have asked for it to be re-gassed anyway..

I love the interior and the seats, I think it's a huge step up from my previous car. I've read on here that people don't normally replace the speakers because they're really good - is that right?

I was also amazed at how light the clutch was - my Rover has a really stiff clutch I say it's as hard as a Land Rover Defender's.

 

[Alexis27]

If it feels good and looks good, go for it.

 

[53 Leon SX]

If it feels good and looks good, go for it.

^^ This

one to have a gander at

If you hadn't said that you would be doing minimal mileage I would have suggested a diesel but you'd never make up the premium paid for it through savings on fuel.

I wasn't trying to put you off with the head gasket talk mate just trying to make you aware if you weren't already that it could be a problem further down the line if it hasn't been attended to properly! Check to make sure the oil (on the dipstick especially, not so much around the oil cap) is black and not cloudy/milky otherwise water has got in there and that spells head gasket trouble. You should probably walk away from it if that is the case.

Don't bother asking them to re-gas it if there is nothing wrong as it will just piss em off lol and you'll probably come off as a pain in the ass and who knows they might even refuse to sell you the car. There loss? your loss?...you decide

I like the feel of the clutch but I haven't had much experience of other cars so I can't really comment tbh lol just a few bmw's and french cars that I've driven on random occasions.

I think the belt that is visible is the alternator belt (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) but does the squeaking sound like this?

This is fairly useful for getting an idea of what sounds mean

The general consensus is that the standard speakers and quite good and even the Aura head unit that comes in it is fairly decent and good enough for the average person. If you're a sound freak then it probably won't be good enough but for most it is. If you want to change anything first then you should change the head unit first and go from there.

All in all I'll say it again I'm not trying to put you off the car at all just trying to help you avoid paying for a lemon if that's what it is.