[andregis]

Hi everyone.


I'm in the process of buying my first car. And I kind of fell in love (based on images) with a used silver Puma 1.7 from 1998 with about 80k miles / 130k km of covered distance.

But I dont know much about cars in total.
So I was wondering if there are some nice tips or tricks on what to look for ? Like weakpoints, or big replacements (aka. repair bills) that might come as a surprise.

Also how to check these potential areas, like sound ? or vibrations? leakage?

Thanks in advance.

[Turby]

At the end of the day you are buying a 16 year old car, so its going to be a large case of pot luck in what you will get.

Obvious things to check for are rusty rear arches, I'd be surprised if they are not rusty, rusty sills.

Worn out front suspension bushes (top strut, lower wishbone, anti-roll bar) and worn drop links, ball joints.

Failing wiring, failing heated front screen (if fitted)

Worn CV joints, worn out smoky or rattly engine, worn out gearbox syncro's, worn tyes (which might show up front end geometry problem).

Look for crash / accident repair damage - check paint colour / panel fit.

Check carpets (and underneath) for obvious signs of water ingress.

Check heater works on hot and cold (heater control valve's fail for a past time)

Part from those - make sure you do a full service when you get the car and check to see if cam belt has been changed in last 4-5 years - if not I'd suggest you get one fitted ASAP

HTH

[nottadam]

All good points listed above.
Trouble is if you keep refusing 16 year old cars because of these issues you would never get one. It would all depend on what you're paying for it.
I would say the main area of concern would be corrosion near to the rear beam mounting points, this is what kills these cars and it can be expensive to sort out.
The rear arches, as long as they're not in a dangerous condition (rusty jagged edges), are only cosmetic.
Most of the 'consumables' for the Puma are reasonably cheap to buy and if you can do stuff yourself, not really too difficult to replace.
Cam belt replacement..not much change from 400 quid these days, so it's a big plus if you don't need to fork out for that doing just after you bought the car. That said, usually if the cam belt changes have been done then the rest of the car will be well maintained too.
As I always say...it's a lottery buying any car over 10 years old, main thing is to minimise your risk of buying a lemon.

[gimmickyflea]

Hi there,

We have two 1.7s - a 2002 in Moondust Silver with 48k on clock (38k when we bought her) and the other a 2000 Pacific Green with 46k and we paid considerably different for each as one came from a garage (£1850 a year ago) and the other was a private sale (£600 3 months ago). Both are in fabulous condition and drive beautifully but neither have been problem free with a few expensive repair bills basically caused by either common Puma faults or sloppy previous maintenance. Both have FSH so you can see what's already been done and where, but no guarantee really IMO.

So far the silver has had a cam belt/tensioners, water pump and rocker cover gasket change, full service, new clutch, HCV, new stereo and new battery and tyres.
The green was given a full service and cam belt/tensioners and water pump when she first arrived home and then the HCV valve jammed open on hot so that too has now been replaced. We are currently trying to sort out an irritating niggle where the revs are hanging slightly but other than that.....not too bad.

So, as the previous posts have said you are looking at cars that are now getting on in age and they do have common issues. If you come across one that has had the cam belt changed check the water pump was done at same time because if not and it goes then the whole lot needs redoing.....as we found out with the silver one

Because our first one drives so beautifully it was a good measuring stick when looking for another and what I found was if it looked and sounded like a dog it was, so I promptly walked away until I found another good example. They are out there, so be patient and do not rush into buying the first one just because it is there. What I will say is when you find the right one you will love it. These cars are addictive and drive like no other. I had a 150bhp THP DS3 Dsport before and the drive in the Puma is better!. I (regrettably) gave my silver Puma to my daughter when she passed her test and could've replaced it with another DS3, I tried other new cars out but still wanted another Puma.......so good luck and enjoy it when you find yours

This post has been edited by gimmickyflea: 01 November 2014 - 02:01 PM