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Hi all! Some advice for a potential 197 owner


Andr33ii

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Hi everyone, I'm looking at at 2009 clio 197 with 50k mileage and i kinda fell in love with it.

The owner said he never did any major service on it, only the regular 7k check and oil change (seen in the logbook as well), so it's still having the original belts (the accessories belt didn't look cracked or anything). Which is worrying, for me, at least.

I did feel some slight resistance when changing gear from 5th to 4th, but I'm kinda sure it went away after starting the car.

Otherwise, car was running great, cornering was awesome, breaks were fine and it did leave me with a good impression. I intentionally took some potholes and i didn't hear any weird noises (might be wrong, tho).

Now, I've never owned a sporty car, I've only had normal cars, so i would need some advice from you. Would you think a car like this would be worth buying? Price would be 9k, but i've read some threads about faulty gearboxes and 2k aud for replacing belts and stuff and I'm a little reserved.

 

So, what do you say, would this car be good value for my hard earned monies?

Regards

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Where are you located? If Sydney, get Renotech to inspect it. G/box should be fine with that mileage, but you should allow for new belts, water pump — major (time-based) service items.

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I've seen the ad for that car. It's very good value if it's any good. The sunroof is a bonus. Very rare.

I'd go in with an offer at 9K subject to passing an inspection to your satisfaction.

Take it to Paul at Auto Paris in Box Hill. He will do a thorough test. Depending on what he finds you can always re-negotiate the price.

You will need to do the timing belt at least. Allow $800 for that. The water pump, which is a small cost, will be done at the same time while the car is in bits. Just a precaution.

Even factoring in all that, it's a good buy assuming it's not been crashed and cosmetically good. Get moving. It probably won't hang around for long at that price.

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Do water pumps commonly fail? I know they're easy to replace when the belts are being done but they really a service item?
Yep, I've seen plenty of corroded ones come out. Make sure you use genuine, I pulled a non genuine off my flamer (fitted by PaulV according to the essay of an invoice included with the car) when we did the belts and it was all corroded, just on 4 years. You should also change the thermostat too. It's also not a "service" item but is faulty on the majority of all RSs.
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Yep my thermostat failed open luckily. I suspected it had for ages but was told it was fine. Once I got a scan gauge hooked up permanently I could tell immediately that it was like this as it struggled to make/maintain 75C.

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Yep, I've seen plenty of corroded ones come out. Make sure you use genuine, I pulled a non genuine off my flamer (fitted by PaulV according to the essay of an invoice included with the car) when we did the belts and it was all corroded, just on 4 years. You should also change the thermostat too. It's also not a "service" item but is faulty on the majority of all RSs.
A bit worrying as my car last had its belts done by Paul in 2015 (the engine anyway). And all pump etc. I'm gonna do the whole thing again next year, a year early... Cos why not :wink:

Sent from my XT1572 using Tapatalk

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  • 2 weeks later...

well there is not much of a story.

Box hill was a bit far for the owner so i got a redbook tech to inspect it and the report was alright, it had no leaks (my biggest fear) and the belts needed to be changed (which i knew already).

all in all, it's a fair car, with the expected wear and tear of a 8 year old vehicle.

i drove to work yesterday and it consumed a bit much (20%) but i guess i'll need to change the filters as well and rev it a little to get the dust off the throttle :D

i plan a service visit i the near future, but as i will be on and off to NZ for the next 3 months, it will have to wait a little.

 

meanwhile, some photos :D

 

59ea8cb40d246_WhatsAppImage2017-10-21at7_39_00AM.thumb.jpeg.e5718d207253febbc3cd9170ccfa28dc.jpeg

 

59ea8cbbe621e_WhatsAppImage2017-10-21at7_39_10AM.thumb.jpeg.5a4f37bf2daabd4d7305195b6e8a7ddc.jpeg

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