Buying a 55plate trophy

Bransd25 · Feb 22, 2012

Hey folks new on this form
I am away to buy a 182 trophy on a 55plate at the weekend
I have never Owned on befour are there things to look for?
It has 65k on it and full service history belts been done and Jst serviced at 61k it's in good condition a few stone chips on the bonnet and little engine slap when letting off the throttle and tracking needs done.
The guy wants £4000 for the car with 3 months m.o.t and 6 months tax
Is this a fair price??
Thanks all

aucky · Feb 22, 2012

If the front dampers haven't been refurbished thats another £500 for you.
Standard tyres are Michelin PE2/PS3 @ £100+ per corner
'Engine slap' as you put it is probably down to a worn upper gearbox or dog-bone mount.

Other than that it seems like a decent price.

Bransd25 · Feb 22, 2012

Ok he has put new tyres on there vredestien on al comers so might be worth replacing
How could I check if the dampers are nakered? And how much to replace? Dog bone mount common? Expensive?
Cheers!

Johnny E · Feb 22, 2012

Press down on the wings it shouldnt bounce it should be stiff............

But i bet theres a more proffessional way to do it

Bransd25 · Feb 22, 2012

The riverside is solid but passenger side bit of a bounce?
Expensive sort?

Badgerman85 · Feb 22, 2012

Sounds like its in need of a damper refurbishment, contact BG Motorsport, be around £400 - £500 as mentioned above!

Bransd25 · Feb 22, 2012

Dose this mean it's just a little bit less performance or is it an m.o.t fail? Is there ajustment?

Badgerman85 · Feb 23, 2012

It means it will drive like an absolute bag of crap, wont handle at all, mine wanted to put me in the hedge with bouncy understeer every time I turned right. Not an MOT fail but you risk further damage to the damper the longer you leave it, if the shaft gets scored that's quite expensive and takes a while to come ffrom Germany iirc, dampers have adjustment but will be pinned in place from the factory, if you get tthem refurbed BG can upgrade the adjuster at the same time!

bearne1 · Feb 23, 2012

Badgerman85 said:
It means it will drive like an absolute bag of crap, wont handle at all, mine wanted to put me in the hedge with bouncy understeer every time I turned right. Not an MOT fail but you risk further damage to the damper the longer you leave it, if the shaft gets scored that's quite expensive and takes a while to come ffrom Germany iirc, dampers have adjustment but will be pinned in place from the factory, if you get tthem refurbed BG can upgrade the adjuster at the same time!

Agree with this!

Mine sadly had heavy oil leak on the nearside spotted by my mechanic. Said that the leak would fail MOT almost guaranteed.

Rob Vox · Feb 23, 2012

Depends on how it is driven if req. Having had an accident in a 172 years ago, it had the subframe replaced and was never the same after and was something i checked before buying the T. Look under engine bay, subframe is basically the major bits which go around it and if shiney Vs rest of car has been replaced - my personal choice. Belts are major req to have sorted, tyres are tyres. original pe2 which were designed for the 182 are no longer in production, replaced by ps3 which some like, some not - again personal preference.
Can check in front of passenger rear wheel to check brake lines. If standard are sign it has propably not been on track (common easy upgrade which lots of people do). Check seat condition too as some of recaros can age now, as exhaust.
Dampers are only other issue and is a bit of an unknown. For eg, my car has done ~ 91k and afaik are on orig dampers which haveb een fine. Car has had a relatively easy life though - lots of Mway miles (at least till I got it) others have failed far earlier

Bransd25 · Feb 23, 2012

Cheers folks one other question
Does the trophy come with a ownership certificate?
And dose the high numbers on the plate mean a better more valuable car I.e 436/500 compared to 23/500

Jon.G · Feb 23, 2012

No certificate and the only place you can find the car number is on the recaro subframe of the drivers seat.

None are more valuable than any others, the later ones will obviously be slightly newer. They were all registered on either a 05 plate or a 55 plate.

hoolio · Feb 23, 2012

Bransd25 said:
Cheers folks one other question
Does the trophy come with a ownership certificate?
And dose the high numbers on the plate mean a better more valuable car I.e 436/500 compared to 23/500

Yes a V5C. Not sure why a number would make any difference to value tbh. What is the number and reg of the T you are looking at? Have you tried looking on here for any other information on it?

Jon.G · Feb 23, 2012

hoolio said:
Yes a V5C. Not sure why a number would make any difference to value tbh. What is the number and reg of the T you are looking at? Have you tried looking on here for any other information on it?

I thought V5 was obviously. LOL.

Bransd25 · Feb 23, 2012

It's a 55plate T number 426 I think?? It's from Inverness originally but lives in Thurso now??

hoolio · Feb 23, 2012

No I don't think it's 426 unless Paul has put 30,000 miles on in a year. It could well be a bargain for £4k but I would be trying to find out as much as possible about it before I bought.

Bransd25 · Feb 23, 2012

Ok cheers al try get the number off boy and get it posted!