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Gen 7..good used buy or not?


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Now that all Gen 7's are at least 12 years old, should we be advising potential buyers of the car who ask for advice, to buy one or not?.

 

Reason I ask, is that there are now a host of possible items a new owner may have to replace/repair.

 

To name a few..

 

Leaking Radiator

Corroded Rear Subframe

Corroded/Broken Springs

Corroded/Tired Shockers

Corroded/Seized Calipers

Corroded/Buckled Wheels

Corroded/Leaking Sunroof

Corroded/Leaking Petrol Tank Neck

Failing Hatch Struts

Leaking PAS pipe

Broken Petrol Flap Hinges

Corroded Brake Pipes (added as requested)

 

Of course, the list above excludes normal "wear and tear" items such as Clutch, Exhaust, Battery, Discs, and Tyres, which will eventually need replacing on any car.

 

I'm sort of "on the fence" as regards this question. SO..where do you stand?.

 

Edited by Kev 16v
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Hard to generalise; depends a lot on the individual car and the individual buyer.

 

For the first time ever, I had to do work :o on my 2002 G7 to get it through its MoT; viz - remove and clean both front calipers to cure slight binding and replace one rear caliper (£20 off ebay). I think that's pretty good going for a 16 year old car, which then got through the test without a single advisory. However, I've owned the car for 13 years and it has been well looked after. If I was selling it, I'd happily sell it to a good friend.

 

However, the list of issues you present is valid and if someone picked up a car with many or all of those problems it would be "less attractive". That would be particularly true for a buyer who knows squat about car maintenance. I'm not sure I would want to buy any car that was more than 6 years old. I think the 7 stands up well against cars of comparable age.

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its hard to say - you cant really judge someones enthusiasm, mechanical aptitude and preparedness with the usual short introductory posts.  I think I remain positive with a hint of caution.

 

Certainly I think its pretty fair to be blunt about some issues such as preface 140 oil issues.

Edited by G.Lewarne
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I was very recently in this situation with a swap of my Rx8 for my celica, I'm pretty savvy when it comes to working on cars and luckily I didn't have any of these issues. But if you want to compare to other cars such as the rx8 in the same position then the celica have simple easy fixes and don't cost the earth to sort out. But then you only need a couple of hundred to go wrong all at the same time for it be written down as a unreliable car.

Sent from my PRA-LX1 using Tapatalk

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My current 140 is now 14 years old with 154k. Ive had it for the last 4.5 years and had very little problems with it other than things I messed around with or the usual wear and tear. I have just replaced most of the suspension and brake components

 

If a Gen 7 has been looked after well then i dont doubt they will last another 10 years. The 24 year old MR2 I had was well looked after and still going well although I had to service some parts,  but the same could apply to any car

 

The prices are now so low that it might be expected to spend a little to get a less than average example up to scratch. The Gen 7 parts are so cheap and easy to source. The biggest issue that people should watch out for is probably corrosion and oil leaks

 

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To be honest from your question if I didn’t have a celica it would put me off. 

 

Mine has been a faultless car, but that’s not everyone. I have a friend who works in toyota who sees more dogs than anything else,  it that many go to dealers now. 

 

 

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lots of dogs but lots of good cars

just because it has a lot of service stamps doesnt mean its not rotten and vice versa - no service history doesnt mean its a dog

main thing is getting a good look underneath and seeing how it drives

 

im regretting parking mine up now - it never let me down and is still solid underneath but I need a change now so wont be bringing it back

 

 

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I would add corroded brake pipes to the list, not the most expensive thing to sort but something I understand is quite common.

Sub frames I think are the main thing. if you replace with new or refurbish old parts its still a big pain and cost to do as you might damage other parts when fitting, maybe also check that VVTI still works.

All in though I would say they are very reliable cars.

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On 25/06/2018 at 23:42, ams said:

lots of dogs but lots of good cars

just because it has a lot of service stamps doesnt mean its not rotten and vice versa - no service history doesnt mean its a dog

main thing is getting a good look underneath and seeing how it drives

 

im regretting parking mine up now - it never let me down and is still solid underneath but I need a change now so wont be bringing it back

 

 

 

That's true, lots of people would be put off by no service history but I bought my current 140 with no service history and 7 previous owners at 111k and now at 154k miles it's still not showing any signs of dying any time soon

 

I bought a prefacelift 140 a couple of years ago to fix up and it was a right dog, thats what £180 gets you though :lol:

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 29/06/2018 at 14:28, alex282 said:

 

That's true, lots of people would be put off by no service history

 

Re service history, some of the best cars you could buy would have no service history because they've owned by enthusiasts who have cherished them and looked after them themselves. I suppose that if you buy any car without a service history, the sort of things you might look for would be;

 

  • the bills for the parts they've bought
  • The old MoT's online (failure and advisories)
  • Indications that the seller is an enthusiast; can he/she talk about the car in detail, esp the weakness's,

 

I've had both my cars for ages; the prospect of having to go out to buy a used car is pretty daunting

:wacko:

.

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16 hours ago, bazz54 said:

 

Re service history, some of the best cars you could buy would have no service history because they've owned by enthusiasts who have cherished them and looked after them themselves.

 

Can work both ways, I've bought cars from members on here that have had some serious (and even dangerous) bodges.

 

And to add to that Ive seen work by "specialists" of the same quality.

 

Really need to get the car checked out properly I guess....

Edited by ams
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21 minutes ago, ams said:

 

Can work both ways, I've bought cars from members on here that have had some serious (and even dangerous) bodges.

 

And to add to that Ive seen work by "specialists" of the same quality.

 

Really need to get the car checked out properly I guess....

sounds like you have some stories

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On 25/06/2018 at 18:49, Kev 16v said:

Now that all Gen 7's are at least 12 years old, should we be advising potential buyers of the car who ask for advice, to buy one or not?.

 

Reason I ask, is that there are now a host of possible items a new owner may have to replace/repair.

 

To name a few..

 

Leaking Radiator

Corroded Rear Subframe

Corroded/Broken Springs

Corroded/Tired Shockers

Corroded/Seized Calipers

Corroded/Buckled Wheels

Corroded/Leaking Sunroof

Corroded/Leaking Petrol Tank Neck

Failing Hatch Struts

Leaking PAS pipe

Broken Petrol Flap Hinges

 

Of course, the list above excludes normal "wear and tear" items such as Clutch, Exhaust, Battery, Discs, and Tyres, which will eventually need replacing on any car.

 

I'm sort of "on the fence" as regards this question. SO..where do you stand?.

 

Depends which car they buy. Mine is 18 years old and if i decided to sell it no one would have to worry about anything thats on that list.

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