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Starlet good first car?


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Hello looking at buying a starlet as my first car. Found one with decent mileage, however did MOT history check and these were advisories:

Offside Windscreen has damage to an area less than a 10mm circle within zone 'A' (8.3.1a)
Front coil spring corroded O/S and N/S (2.4.C.1b)
Offside Rear coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)
Central Front Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases Slight leak at front to intermediate joint (not affecting emissions) (7.1.2)

could someone please let me know if these are serious problems or easy cheap fixes.

thanks 

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10 minutes ago, maddox710 said:

Yeah great first car as they are really reliable. Just make sure the costly jobs like clutch, new tyres and timing belt are done, just these alone can cost a large majority of the value of the car. 

Okay thanks, did you see the mot advisories I listed? Anything serious on there?

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35 minutes ago, burty said:

was my first car an sr , still got it 18 years later says it all really go for it 

Nice.

Should I be worried about having high mileage when buying one? I've seen a few suitable ones with about 100-120k miles 

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Not really much to worry about with exhaust and springs,   these are normally the first things that get removed when it comes to mods, just depends if you want to keep it standard but still not a big job or expensive  to put new standard  exhaust and springs on. 

Have a good look under the car for rust, old cars now plenty of rot boxes knocking about. Take your time go and look at more than one, good service history is a bonus,  try and find a jem with low mileage, you be surprised they are about. 

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On 25/03/2018, 16:24:39, Slicster said:

Hello looking at buying a starlet as my first car. Found one with decent mileage, however did MOT history check and these were advisories:

Offside Windscreen has damage to an area less than a 10mm circle within zone 'A' (8.3.1a)
Front coil spring corroded O/S and N/S (2.4.C.1b)
Offside Rear coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)
Central Front Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases Slight leak at front to intermediate joint (not affecting emissions) (7.1.2)

could someone please let me know if these are serious problems or easy cheap fixes.

thanks 

I've seen not even a year old BC coil over springs rusting, most of the cars I've had have have some degree off it, set of lowering springs is only 120£ 

Great wee cars 

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3 hours ago, SKINY said:

I've seen not even a year old BC coil over springs rusting, most of the cars I've had have have some degree off it, set of lowering springs is only 120£ 

Great wee cars 

 

13 hours ago, burty said:

mines at 150k needed a new fuel tank last year  because of rust but its still fairly solid everywhere else other than that just general wear and tear 

 

22 hours ago, mart1 said:

Not really much to worry about with exhaust and springs,   these are normally the first things that get removed when it comes to mods, just depends if you want to keep it standard but still not a big job or expensive  to put new standard  exhaust and springs on. 

Have a good look under the car for rust, old cars now plenty of rot boxes knocking about. Take your time go and look at more than one, good service history is a bonus,  try and find a jem with low mileage, you be surprised they are about. 

Okay cheers guys, very helpful. Might take a look at that one at the weekend. I would be willing to buy a new exhaust and springs. So I should just check for any rust and find out when the timing belt was done?

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I've seen it on auto trader looks a nice motor, ring them up ask if there's any service history and has the cambelt ever been changed, if not it's around £200 to £300 for that job including parts, but if the belt was to snap they are a non interference engine so nothing to worry about if it was to snap. 

Test drive it see if it goes into gear fine and clutch seems OK, check that the engine gets up to good temperature halfway. 

For the money go for it. 

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My first car was a red starlet :D had 30k miles of pure fun and modifications ( 129k when sold ) ..... worst thing i ever did was trade it in, im still angry at myself 4-5years later! 

really cant go wrong as a first car! 

James 

Edited by jimmymac101
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If you dont mind about color..

I have a Lilac/purple sort of one, just hit 80k miles have paperwork for cambelt,water pump, clutch.

has had brand new rear shocks and fronts replaced. starts and drives perfect. currently using it as a daily.

 

£650

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good solid little car I bought mine as a project last year for £260 as it needs a new clutch and tlc. easy to disassemble parts for mods if you go down that road. Like the guys say check for servicing and cam belt change. I wouldn't pay 550 for it though I'd offer 350-400 because of the springs. There's plenty of them around anyway mileage isn't an issue long as it's been looked after.

Edited by JDR33
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  • 3 months later...

Here in America, I purchased a 1982 KP61 starlet in 1987 for $500.

Eight years later and with 360k miles on it, I sold it for $800.

Now, a clean and running KP61 is worth no less than $5,000.

Not a bad value by any means.

(I currently own a pretty beat-up 1981 Kp61 that I purchased for $3,500.) 

In Florida we have no vehicle inspections of ANY KIND. That means you can modify all you'd like. But it also means that you can drive all sorts of dangerous turds on the highway......

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