What a great Ebay experience. The seller was a delight, providing coffee, a test drive and a full run down of all the service history.
The car is pretty much as described. I detected a slight misfire which had the feel of a plug/lead which was past its best, but its a minor thing and wouldnt put me off buying a car. The sunroof is also ill-fitting atm as its a pop up affair, but bending the fittings to make it close tighter should get a better seal.
The car has had alot of cash spent on it in the last year, £200 of exhaust, a new battery, new pads and disks in the last week, 4 new tyres, so it feels great, the brakes especially are very powerful and confidence inspiring.
It is a car with limitations, theres no doubt about that as it is vunerable to crosswinds, but really, that is the only proper downside that I could find. Even with is slight misfire, the engine is a sweet thing, powerful enough but easy on fuel.
The steering is light, but direct, which makes it great in town as a point and squirt car as the handling isnt rolly polly like you expect, infact its much like the Materia in having quite firm suspension, which means it feels totally stable in bends and zipping around roundabouts.
I read alotta complaints about the gearboxes on these, but I honestly thought it was a lovely box, a bit clunky perhaps ( it actually felt similar in action to my Carry van ), but its light and feels well oiled.
Ive loaded it up for work tomorrow, which leads me to the whole point of this car. Whatever you think of the shape, it does have its positives, namely a very decent, flat load space, the rear seats folding down in one action which moves both the seatback and the squab. It is actually slightly bigger than my dads Materia with the seats down, which is frankly ridiculous as its a smaller car by some margin. It is the cars party piece for sure, which made me think of it as Japan's Renault 4.
So far so good, looking forward to its service next week which should iron out the niggles and give me a good start to ownership.
I may have to change the cheap wheel trims at some point though, they already irritate...
|
|
Well its Japanese anyhow!
|
|
Im assuming your joking, either that or you have been under a rock somewhere :-)
|
|
Thanks Stu!! ;-)
Last edited by: hobby on Thu 23 Dec 10 at 16:45
|
It is a Datsun 120Y :).
Sounds like an ideal car and a good honest seller. With cars I think the seller is often as important as the car itself.
|
|
Less of the stupid insults, please, sunshine.
|
|
It wasn't an insult :) Stu replied only a minute after I had replied, I didn't see the link. I was just joking that it was a 120Y to see if he believed me. I was not calling Stu's car a Datsun.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Thu 23 Dec 10 at 17:13
|
|
I don't know what you are talking about. I have not previously replied to any of your posts in this thread, nor you to mine. Why are you suddenly and apropos of nothing telling me that you have not insulted "Stu"?
|
|
Sorry just a bad case of bad timing with posts :) I got confused. Sorry.
|
>>Less of the stupid insults, please, sunshine.<<
Sorry, wasnt intended to insult, meant as light hearted remark in preparation for insults about the car choice which is always likely on here ;-)
|
>> I may have to change the cheap wheel trims at some point though
Stu, it's got bigger problems than wheels trims in the aesthetics dept ;-)
Hope it does you well, it does make sense the line of business you're in to have a van that's a bit more civilised and comfortable than a van.
Elk tested it yet? :-)
|
I would be looking for wheel trims shaped like 6 feet high larch lap fencing myself.
Or plant 4 leylandi round it?
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 23 Dec 10 at 16:54
|
>>Stu, it's got bigger problems than wheels trims in the aesthetics dept ;-)
Nonsense. A new set of Carlos Fandangos will finish it off a treat.
But just in case, buy some small cigars instead.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqqZ28m8uCo
|
Well done Stu - you've bagged yourself a great little car. I have previously owned the 1.0 GA model and found it delightful and a great load carrier but a little lacking power wise on my daily commute in fast moving traffic. As you have the 1.2 version you should fare better.That said it did one trip down to Gatwick and back to Suffolk via Lakeside for shopping and had no problem keeping up with the flow on the busy M25.
My wife and I have recently gone back to Suzuki, she has a 1.3GL Ignis and I have the 1.5 Ignis Sport. Both great cars too and we enjoy them. Our experience of Suzuki goes back a long way (we both in the past have owned Suzuki motorcycles and have an affinity for this marque). Our experience is that Suzukis are reliable, economical and perform well. Enjoy!!
Last edited by: gramar on Thu 23 Dec 10 at 20:50
|
|
Well I thought so, of course, you realise your now a marked man having admitted you like them too :-)
|
|
Marked man -- I'm not bothered at my age! I've ALWAYS loved all my Suzukis and I've owned I think 11 all told most of them bikes of course.
|
Wish you well with it, but...
The first post reads as if the previous owner got fed up of spending money on it recently.
Plugs and leads maybe a good plan.
Misfire is bad news for catalyser: MOT fail looming.. how much ticket left?
Where's BB when you need him?
|
Quite often though cars which have needed a lot of money spent on them are:-
1) Sold because the owner has simply got fed of spending money on it but is actually a decent car and the things which can go wrong have been fixed.
2) An ever ending money pit
18 months ago the Fiesta was like that, needing £100 of repairs every few months but in the past 12 months all we have spent on it is £200 and that includes, discs, pads, welding, brake pipe clips and a few other little niggles for the MOT.
So if we had sold it when it was nothing but trouble the new owner would have been delighted.
|
I think it depends what the money is spent on. The exhaust which was replaced was the original, the tyres were old so had to be replaced, a battery on a low miles car to be expected at some stage, the discs/pads changed because it was recommended at last MOT.
Im not worried about someone having looked after the car, the people I bought it off have a very nice house, I got the impression money wasnt a problem.
|
|
I get the feeling, that while this one may look like a shed, its probably less of a shed than the previous two sheds.
|
|
I agree, I think it is a good car and the only reason it is cheap is because is as ugly as me!
|
Ive been through all the old invoices and in the last 8 years, theres no record of the plugs being changed, which does make me think it is likely they are the cause of the less than perfect running. I may change the leads for good measure too though and its seems to be the last service was in April 09 so its long overdue now.
Does anyone know what Wynnes Gas is/does? Its on the service invoice for last year, but ive no experience with the stuff although I recognise the name.
Careful Zero, that was almost positive talk ;-) Your right though, I suspect it might be better than previous charges.
|
According to google it is used for cleaning EGR valves :(. I say :( because if it does have problems with the EGR it can be expensive although a lot of people just block them off as it has apparantly no effect on the MOT.
People on the Corsa site were always doing it as the EGRs are expensive.
|
Ah yes, I had issues with the EGR on my old Rover diesel which disappeared when blocked off. I did see reference to 'cleaning of intake' back in 06 in the records, so I expect this is likely what it is.
Well done Rattle, I think you got a hole in one there.
|
Ive got my new toy home - FotheringtonTomas
