After a drive down from Northampton, ironically passing a Lotus Elise, I met up with Rennywuk and got blown away by his Black VX sitting shiny on the drive.
This was first time seeing a VX in the flesh and the first thing that struck me was I am way taller than/can see right over the roof! Having been used to standard/taller cars it was fun.
Renny took me on a VX tour showing me what to look out for and after a chat we went for a drive so I could see what the car was like...just screamed race car when sitting inside...small window screen bum skimming the ground below!
The drive was amazing and Renny's car is in fine form, none of the major scary noises too speak off. And after a blast about (my cousin following behind in a Scooby- commented he couldn't keep up when we pulled away) we went off to see a well known Silver VX NA that has been through the wars a bit in the past (and most of you would know as OllyJ's and Ssymes007's former owned car)....
Checked the car out, I had requested the car not be started as I wanted to start it from cold and listen, just before we pulled up we saw the car being pushed out by the guys...I feared the worst until I recall my cold engine request and the dealer said he wanted to keep his word. Fair play. It was important to hear the engine from cold, through warm up to warmed up to listen for any noises there may of been.
Engine sounded fine, nice exhaust too! The Alloys (turbo ones) in good condition, the body work not bad few paint scuffs here and there but nothing a day with my cousin and his friend in a spray booth won't solve. I am fully aware that the car has had both clams changed at least once in its life time, but the repairs on the outside appear to be fine and nothing untoward could be seen. I had also done a fair bit of investigatory work on here looking at pictures of the wrecked car and its repair on the front in a gallery of the photos....
In my mind there was some risk here, not being able to see under the clam and I decided to factor this in if and when negotiation stage came....
All being well with the prelim visuals and engine warmed up and sounding ok, me and Renny took it out for a drive, Renny was driving as I wanted his opinion of how the car compared to his own. This was an interesting experiment as Renny has only ever driven his own VX before so was keen to see how they compared....
I am sure Renny will pop along and add his findings but he commented it seems a bit faster.... Renny wants to supercharge now ;-) we concluded this could be down to some of the mods that have been done (which reminds meSsymes007 & OllyJ you have a PM from me re paper work and a comment you made saying you have a fair bit if anyone bought the car!!) other than that, no issues to report. No engine mount noises, was a good test drive and me and Renny put it through its paces.
Back again, had a final look over the car and got down to business, the car was up for £7450 CAT D, 48k miles 13-14 years old and a service history covering that period with mainly Vauxhall dealership stamps. It had 4 new tyres on and has had the wire in the roof repaired before going on sale.
Knowing roughly what the car owed the dealer (This was Ssymes007 part ex around 1-2 weeks ago) I went in with a cheeky lowball of £5900 knowing it wouldn't be accepted. The dealer was mmm-ing and ahh-ing saying he had a lot of interest (too be fair, later after the deal was done we looked at his listing stats on ebay and autotrader and the car was getting a lot of attention and there was one other guy looking from Northern Ireland but I pipped him to the post) anyway dealer wasn't sounding keen and he wanted around £7000 odd and then we talked about Renny's which isn't a CAT D and when purchased 2 years ago cost less than what the dealer was asking and also has 20,000 more miles. I also mentioned that there is a risk I am taking not knowing the quality of the front end damage repair and also my cousin pipping in re the tatty bits of paint work and the cost it will take to bring up to a standard I would like (the paint is fine, no bubbles just a scuff here and then and it would be totally fine and could be lived with but I have the means to a cost effective spray repair via cousin so makes sense to use it)
Anyway I said £6500, the dealer said meet me at £6650 as I can see you are keen on the car. Said yes, shook his hand.
Now the pleasant twist...in the boot was a spare front headlamp in great condition.....and I know they are worth a few quid so we could just say I got the car for less than £6500 once I've sold the headlamp on!
First time I drove the car was on the long trip home, went to petrol station and added another 15L and the tank was full....so a nice amount of petrol already for free! And as the prices are fallen I treated the car to the dearer type of petrol for the first fill up!
Drive home was amazing, lots of heads turning and the car really does drive well... so much power!!
More to follow.....
MINE YAY :-)
And home.
Edited by karlb123, 24 January 2015 - 10:30 PM.
