Suzuki Grand Vitara, 2001, automatic 2.5 v6 petrol. 75k miles. 1 years MOT. 4 border line legal tyres (MOT advisory issued). Corroded brake lines front and rear (advisory issued).
Work done for MOT: front pads, a CV gaitor, exhaust middle and back sections, 2x drop links, new windscreen. £650 spent.
No tax (£245 bracket).
Small parking dings, nothing to write home about. Needs a clean, but tidy enough throughout.
Has been neglected mechanically - timing belt well overdue, hasn't had an oil change in ~3 years / 25k miles.
Glass's guide for trade in (thanks Vauxhall) says:
Excellent condition:
£1580
Average condition:
£1370
Below average condition:
£1130
What would you offer?
I don't think i can make it work for anything over £1k because it also needs this spending:
New tyres - £500
Tax - £245
Servicing parts (inc. t belt) - £180
Cleaning up costs - £40
Fuel costs to get to the car & drive both cars back - ~£200
Last edited by: Skoda on Mon 30 May 11 at 11:13
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The only positive is they make strong money when they are good, but id say £1k is fair although id start at £800 as it would be fair given the long list on it.
You could of course buy one for more and it may need half those items doing anyway.
V6 counts against it, MOT for it.
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I think this one's a no go for me :-( Auto vitara's are rare.
Alternatives? The Grand Vitara keeps cropping up but there's not many meeting our wants:
Easy to park (so either small or with good visibility)
Automatic
4x4 with some ground clearance so a 4wd car is a no go
Prefer petrol. Fuel economy >18-20mpg.
Budget up to ~£2k
Want a Yeti but i'm 18 months saving off of that. Don't want to squander the current kitty money on a 4x4 i don't really want, so thinking up to £2k should buy something passable that won't loose me my £2k.
We did consider using the current car kitty for a BMW X5 but they're surprisingly poor visibility because the drivers seat doesn't go high enough for M.
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Cheapest S-G-V on AT at upto 80k and 10 years old is £1.4k
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 30 May 11 at 11:52
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Have a look at the original (94-2000) Rav4 2 ltr petrol autos on AT.
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...Have a look at the original (94-2000) Rav4 2 ltr petrol autos on AT...
Mate of mine had one of those - nice car.
Note the word 'car' - much better drive than a Vitara - but still has the high seating position.
As Stu says, Vitaras have always fetched good money, so if you want one, you will have to pay for it.
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None nearby but have added the Rav4 to the list. Certainly fits the "cheap" requirement nicely. Good idea.
Leggy Honda CR-Vs crop up too. Don't think i've ever heard anyone with a bad word for those. Parts costs could be a problem. Not convinced they'd be as easy to work on as GVitaras.
Going with the idea if you want a good one, you need to pay for it, there's a really nice 54 plate GVitara down south at £4k with a full service history. Wonder what the depreciation would be though, defeats the purpose if i'm loosing £2k.
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Grand Vitara is a pretty good car, not special, but well made and cheap for what it is because it hasnt the image of other 4x4s.
Might sound like a strange suggestion but those Ssangyong thingys are exceptionally cheap but its Merc drivetrain underneath, also came in Daewoo versions early on, these are almost throwaway cheap and comparable to the Vitara in many ways.
Daewoo Musso is the fella.
Last edited by: FoR on Mon 30 May 11 at 13:35
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>>Note the word 'car' - much better drive than a Vitara - but still has the high seating position<<
Plus I would guesstimate the Toy would come off better in a crunch, i.e it's well built.
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I've been keeping an eye on G.Vitaras recently. I'm going to change my LWB auto diesel ( Pre Grand ) late in the Summer.
Seen a few Auto dieses a tad under £2k for a 9/10 yr old. I won't entertain a V6....too greedy.
I like the PSA diesel engine, it's what I'm used to. If there is no proof of a cambelt change, about £250 for mine last year, then I would reflect that in any haggling. Mega dosh if it snaps ! I do find it very pleasant to drive and not too 'school runny '
It tows our van comfortably and it was useful in the ice , I helped get a 44 tonner moving in the City with my wire rope.
I would say well under a grand forSkoda's.....I've made brake pipes for a SWB Vitara for a pal and there seemed to be an awful lot of them !
Ted
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Honda CRV.
Check for rust, otherwise they're about as reliable as a 4x4 gets.
Our old Mk2 petrol auto would do 25-30mpg and covered 50k miles in 3 yrs without a whimper.
Mk1 much cheaper but without the 150PS engine (122 or so I think).
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What does the missus need a 4x4 for, I know you live away out in the country there but once we get water and electricity to you, you will be fine! :)
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It does strike me that the car thats glaringly obvious is a Forester.
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Great cars, anything around the £1-2000 mark will either be 150-200k miles or be clocked ;-)
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I know of a genuine one up for sale soon for around the 2k mark, old lady giving up driving, has about 60k on the clock. Its a countryside car ( ie exterior tatty/scratched, interior doggy - would clean up with some tlc ) but genuine 1 owner. They do exist.
Id sooner spend 2k on a Forester than most 4x4s, they dont loose much money at this end of the market, theres always demand.
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A one-owner turd is still a turd.
Genuine as opposed to a chinese fake?
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Some of these older 4x4 with high emissions will be worthless. The annual vehicle excise duty will be a large percentage of their value. Sadly.
Skoda - was this a project car or for family use?
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Annual VED is equivalent to 3-4 tanks of fuel. Over 12 mths it's not that significant.
Plenty of good metal out there for buttons due to perceived 'worthlessness' - valueless perhaps but not worthless in my view.
At the bangernomics level I guess the vehicles are disposable - just best not to buy one that is being disposed of by it's bangernomics owner!
Lexus LS400 springs to mind...
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Genuine as in exactly what it looks like it is and I wouldnt call a no expense spared Subaru history a turd-like quality. Bit of polishing, touch-up pen and a darn good interior valet and it would be a gem for the money. Its 2001 so not one of the earliest either.
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Service history is largely meaningless if the owner doesn't give a toss about the car over a 10 year period.
I guess you've not learned that yet in your years of buying turds.
*Edit* - that's a bit harsh but a "Stu recommendation" doesn't fill me with a high degree of confidence ;-)
Last edited by: Lygonos on Mon 30 May 11 at 21:21
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I can't agree. I wouldn't buy a 'doggy' car myself - I did once and the smell always came back in the sun - but proper servicing is by no means universal. There are plenty of people who don't bother with servicing beyond what it takes to get through an MoT, and otherwise don't touch it unless it breaks down.
Tattiness has to be reflected in the price though.
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 30 May 11 at 21:24
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Ive known the car since it was 3 years old and ive cleaned it since then.
It would be a rather short sighted person who overlooked a mechanically straight car because of a few cosmetics. It lives in the world of narrow lanes with high hedges, scratches happen, scuffs happen, its the nature of the enviroment it lives in.
When its washed, polished and hoovered out its pretty sweet, dog has gone now and just a hoover pretty much got rid of the smell - it has had all kinds of seat covers, boot protectors etc from new so chuck that lot away and already your most of the way to getting any smell gone.
I dont always buy bad cars, ive just bought alot of cars so odds are ill get a fair few bad ones. My Ignis has a few admirers - ive been offered a 2003 Golf V5 with 65k on the clock as a direct swap. Im learning, I didnt go for it. I did have to agree to give her first refusal when I do sell it though, shes smitten with my car.
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Iggy is like the old 106 Rallye - does exactly what it says on the tin without needing eleventy-hundred horsepower to lug its bloated body around.
Missed out on getting one of the last for £5999 brand new from Parks of Hamilton back in 05/06.
By no means a perfect car, and some parts are pretty nippy to buy - last I heard exhausts were £££ although the OE ones are well tuned to the car so non-standard can cost you bhp.
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Ted>> I like the PSA diesel engine
Ted, what's the auto box like? I think it's a 4 speed but no idea of who makes them for suzuki. Possible to change the fluid and filter on the driveway or one of these transmission specialist only jobs?
BobbyG>> What does the missus need a 4x4 for, I know you live away out in the country
BobbyG>> there but once we get water and electricity to you, you will be fine! :)
Haha! I think it's true what they say about still eating their young over here. We'll use it for a camping tour too. Needs to be capable of mild "roughing it".
FoR>> It does strike me that the car thats glaringly obvious is a Forester.
There's one in budget on fleabay, and i'd love a subaru. Doesn't look like there's much ground clearance though? Maybe just the photos.
Lygonos>> A one-owner turd is still a turd.
Haha! Good point. Given the choice i'd prefer mechanically ropey car to one with damaged bodywork. Could stretch to replacing a wing or a bumper but don't have the skills, facilities or courage to tackle a real bodywork job :-(
rtj70>> was this a project car or for family use?
It's for M during the summer to use as a shopping trolley. Has to be sound enough to do a long distance camping tour or 2 during the summer. During the winter it'll be my daily steed. Got a good promotion recently and don't feel i can say "i'll just dial in from home" now.
Manatee>> Tattiness has to be reflected in the price though
The person selling the Vitara (she's very nice) wants strong money for it. I kind of feel like i'm trying to rip her off offering much lower but on the face of it, i just don't feel it's worth more given the outstanding spend needed and potential timebomb skipping all those 6k miles services.
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FoR>> It does strike me that the car thats glaringly obvious is a Forester.
There's one in budget on fleabay, and i'd love a subaru. Doesn't look like there's much ground clearance though? Maybe just the photos.<<
Its not especially high, but higher than a normal car. I have several wealthy countryside customers with them and several of them think nothing of taking them shooting or lashing a trailer to them and going off across the fields.
Unless your tackling particularly difficult terrain, I wouldnt go for outright clearance, just enough and be sure its built for actually going off-road. Id sooner take a Forester across a field than a Rav 4 or a CRV - dont see many of them out in the sticks, see plenty of Subarus though and I trust their judgement.
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Non-turbo Forester has about the same ground clearance as a LR Freelander (~200mm).
I've owned both a CRVII petrol auto and a Forester (turbo 58-plate manual - slightly less clearance on them at about 190mm) and both performed well on snow/ice with little cause for alarm with unspectacular tyres (Michelin Latitudes and Geolander G700s respectively)- the only time the Forester became stuck was when I misjudged an uncleared carpark and found the snow was 2 ft deep - some quick spadework and reversing back along my tracks got me out.
Both are very car-like to drive compared with 'proper' 4x4s. My Forester XT was quicker than pretty much any hot hatch costing twice what I paid.
I'm now driving a new Shogun and despite it having been greatly improved on-road over the past 15 years it's still miles away from the Forester/CRV - maybe a nice V6 petrol auto would fit the bill if you can find one in budget as the 3.0 and 3.5 sound fantastic and are more reliable than the old diesel ones.
Other than parts being un-cheap, the main downside of the Forester is the relatively small back seat - not a lot of legroom - may not be an issue for what the OP has in mind though.
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Skods....I've had no issues with the autobox. It seems fairly sturdy, about 120K now.
The change is smooth and the switch clicks it back to 3rd when I'm towing up a long hill.
It is a four speed.
I let my man with the ramp do the box...too aged now for crawling round on the floor. I don't know about filter but I know he refills it through the dipstick hole using a small funnel.
It's fifteen years old now...the engine is superb but the old girls getting a bit battered now so time to move on to a newer one. ...and try not to keep hitting things !
I don't want to go over £2500 for what I use it for. I'm not hooning up and down the M6 all the time.
I've been checking out others, I like the CRV, Pat tows with one. I like the auto change on the column. Bit pricier for the same year. Looked at most others on-line but always seem to come back to the GV.....It's down to what you like in the end.
Ted
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Valuation - Suzuki Grand Vitara - Stuu
