Are there any 'good' 197's for sale?

[furiouspilgrim]

Spent the day yesterday travelling around looking for a 197. First one was a white cup, on paper looked ok, 1 owner etc. Got there and it smelled of dog inside. Had a look in the back and there were loads of scratch marks on all the plastics where it had obviously been jumping up. This coupled with scratches on the dash etc, and the garage described it as being 'nice inside'.
Belts hadn't been done, and they quoted £30 parts, and whatever the labour.

Next one, red, one owner. Nice from the outside bar the scuffed alloys and stone chips. No service history! Apparently couldn't find the book, and it wasn't something they were going to look into.

Next garage, the chap had already sold it the previous week and not bothered to remove it.

After that was one in Albi blue, pulling onto the forecourt looked nice. Whats that, massive dent and scuff in the rear passenger corner. Big enough to break the clips an the other side so the bumper was out of alignment. Rear light cracked. Had been key'd down the one side and across the bonnet, worn tyres and brakes. Another one that had also had a dog living in there.

Worse of all these were all at garages and they were asking strong money!

Tried ringing two private sellers and no one answered, so after that I gave up for the day

I'm only judging these cars by my own standards, I was amazing at how poorly some people look after their car!

 

[nutnutwelshman]

Have you called Steve at Rsport cars in the traders sec

 

[furiouspilgrim]

Not allowed in there mate, I'm only pleb spec

 

[matt_brown_92]

Best £5 you'll ever spend!

(I bought my car from steve, he's a good guy)

 

[furiouspilgrim]

I have no problems paying subs when I actually have the car, paying before just seems a bit odd? lol

But if that's what it takes...

 

[Foxspeed]

some motor traders descriptions of "spotless" "immaculate" "stunning" are not the same as mine :whatever:

keep looking you will find one and have by the sounds of it a required standard backed up by some knowledge of what constitutes a "good un" :thumbsup:

 

[iAndy]

£5 for a membership or a wasted day of time driving round.....

There is plenty of members on here selling cars and they have project threads and more details than anyone will tell ya in a "I want to describe my car to sell" autotrader advert.

 

[furiouspilgrim]

£5 for a membership or a wasted day of time driving round.....

There is plenty of members on here selling cars and they have project threads and more details than anyone will tell ya in a "I want to describe my car to sell" autotrader advert.

Yea, yea, I know :tongue_smilie: Will get it sorted today.

Looked in the cars for sale section but there didn't seem to be many up to date sale threads. Assumed they had sold already.

 

[Chrisgti6]

The very reason I didn't buy from a trader is that most can't be trusted (not counting Steve!). At the end of the day most will tell you what you want to hear just to get you there. Better off going private as I've always found you will get a much better description from a private seller.

 

[sideways danny]

I think a lot of them smell of dog, even when they've never had a dog in them. Convinced it's the cloth. 172 cups smell exactly the same with the same cloth trim, but 182s don't

 

[930Tech]

I looked at 15 before buying mine.

The one i bought was the 13th and from a dealer but i had to knock him down £1k first (well £923) to be happy.

It was, i belive a buyers market (jan 2012) so don't take no crap off them.

 

[Giles]

some motor traders descriptions of "spotless" "immaculate" "stunning" are not the same as mine :whatever:

keep looking you will find one and have by the sounds of it a required standard backed up by some knowledge of what constitutes a "good un" :thumbsup:

yeah I see that, it made me langh!

my 197 well mint but not selling it haha

 

[czechplastik]

I gave up.

Looked at a LY R27, trader was honest and said the gearbox was clunky changing into 4th. Walked away.

Bought an RB 197, all fine until I got home and things weren't adding up (thread elsewhere). Rejected and settled on a 200 instead.

They are 5-7 years old now, hard lives are showing through.

If you can stretch look at some 200's, not massively more expensive and everyone agrees the front is much prettier.

 

[Matt197]

Just lol at the above.

No wonder you are having problems if you are only looking at dealers, most but not all cars they sell are abused that's not to say private sellers will be any better.

I gave up trying to sell mine, people are brain washed into only buying a car with recaros and cup pack. Oh and my car is just over 4 years old and does not smell of damp dog :blink:

 

[furiouspilgrim]

If you can stretch look at some 200's, not massively more expensive and everyone agrees the front is much prettier.

Everyone being Stevie wonder? Sorry chap, but the 200 is ugly as sin. IMO of course

Spotted another one at a main dealer I might take a look at. Isn't my ideal spec, but is newer and has less miles than I was expecting. Maybe I should compromise a little.

 

[czechplastik]

I was joking guys!

197's are prettier but fell for the 200 package in the end.