Low Mileage Tophy back again for sale

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asim

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Back again for sale and this time it's for certain. I need a much larger car and four doors.

One owner, low milage car. First registered on 24/12/2005. Number 487. Always garaged and extremely well looked after. Full service history including initial oil change after running in period. The front shocks were rebuilt 12 months ago and the cambelt was changed in 2007. Car has always ran on BP Ultimate fuel and I've always used Motul 300V motor oil. New rear oem pads. Still on two original tires. All tires in great condition with plenty of tread remaining. The gearbox was changed a couple of years/few thousand miles ago by Renault under warranty and is like new after covering only a few thousand motorway miles. Tax and MOT until around April 2012. Full belt kit worth ~£250 included with the car.

23,500 miles. Of which, 85%+ are motorway miles! Car has seen very little rain and is very clean throughout. The car is even regularly cleaned underneath. I have spared no expence in maintenance of the car and have babied it for six years. It has three years service history with RenTech and the rest at my own garage with all the work done by myself. I have my own ramp/facilities for full maintenace of the car.

Some very nice additions to the car:

ENGINE
-ITG Panel Filter
-Ported and Polished Inlet Manifold
-CatCams Mild Camshafts
-Orbisoud SS manifold-back Exhaust and Sports Cat
-Custom Re-map from RS Tuning

CHASSIS
-Uprated Mark Fish Springs
-Koni Sport Adjustable Rear Shocks
-2" Negative Camber

BRAKES
-SS Braided Brake Lines
-Brembo Max Front Discs
-Pagid Blue RS42 Front Pads

INTERIOR
-Sabelt Steering Wheel
-Sabelt 3 Point Harnesses (Black)
-Bolt-in Half Roll Cage
-Rear bench and shelf removed and floor fully carpeted.

EXTERIOR
-Carbon Fiber Front Splitter
-Dealer Fit Rear Privacy Glass
-PIAA xenon light bulbs

I still have most of the original parts (steering wheel, rear bench/shelf, original springs, rear dampers) and all are in like new condition meaning the car can be put back to almost standard spec if you wish. The steering wheel especially is like new and the rear bench has never been used. The car runs superbly and the handling is truely phenomenal! Never missed a beat. There are no oil leaks and the engine/gearbox are very clean. The front dampers are in superb condition with no rust spots. This is all due to keeping the car out of the rain and sorn'ing it every winter. I hate to see the car go but I need a much larger car and four doors.


Price is advertised on PH at £7950 but I will accept offers. No trades please. I will email more photos upon request. Thanks for looking!

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asim

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I was giving the car a clean yesterday when I realised just how great the condition of the car is and it got me thinking if I should fully restore the car back to standard before selling it. I could then sell all the mods separately to pay for the few bits which the car would need to become like it was the day I bought it.

Here is a list of the work it would need:
-Remove the cage and harnesses and re-fit the rear bench and shelf.
-Re-fit the like new oem steering wheel.
-Remove the MF Springs and Koni Shocks and replace with the oem stuff.
-Re-fit the oem splitter
-Replace the Orb with a standard exhaust.
-Replace camshafts.
-Remove the dealer fit rear tints
-Clay and polish to remove all the contaminents/motorway grime and the thousand and one insects from the front.
-Replace the lights with oem bulbs.
-Replace front brake pads with oem
-Remove the remap

I would need to spend money on:
-Buying an oem exhaust and cat
-Buying oem camshafts and a cambelt change. I already have a cambelt kit.
-Detailing
-Removing tints professionally
-Remove remap


I would do all the mechanical work myself except the cambelt change. I would also increase the price of the car to atleast £9000 due to its' already excellent condition.

What do you guys think? Should I or shouldn't I? If I did get everything done, I may even just decide to store the car away for another six years as a collector piece. #-o
 
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Sir_Dave

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To be honest, i think you would struggle to get 9 grand for it.

Someone will bite at 8 as it is a decent enough price with all the mods done though.

Personally, if you dont really need the money, id just keep it.
 
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asim

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Thanks Dave. I don't really need the money but I would like to spend a fair amount on a decent four door saloon which I do need. The Clio just sits in the garage and most of the time I forget I even have it! It only comes out for solo trips on the motorway as it's economical while still being quick. Apart from that, I just don't use it for anything. Makes me think if it's really worth keeping when I'm not really getting to enjoy it as I planned to when I bought it.

Wouldn't a standard car sell more easily than one with all my mods?
 
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is1

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First, good luck with the sale although I would advise holding onto it if you can.

To get anything like the price you wish to sell it for, I think you would need to return it to as near standard as reasonably possible.
I think the market for these cars has split into two at the moment, essentially based on mileage/number of owners with corresponding price points.
Very low mileage cars can fetch good money (I'd say the ceiling is about £8K now though) but that would have to be one or two owner with not much more than 20,000 odd miles on the clock and pretty much standard condition.
At that price point, buyers will tend to be people who were not able to buy one when they were new, will know about the car's reputation and want one as close to new as possible.
I bought mine in June 2010 for pretty much what you have advertised yours for. It had covered 15,000 miles with a Renault history and was completely standard (down to the original tyres still on the car). The idea being that I would have it for many many years and wanted a good base.
I would not have considered a non-standard one (and by that, I am talking about even light cosmetic mods/issues - tints, stickers, lack of splitter etc.). I genuinely think the above reflects what someone at the high price point would be looking for. You should get a fair bit for some of your parts and the standard car would probably achieve something around £7.5-8K.
Trophys with 60-80,000 miles have been selling for around £4,000 lately so there is real variation in prices.
 
hoolio

hoolio

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Sorry to hear that this is up "again" I don't really agree with the above, some aspects but not all, the mods will put off some people but removing them is simply not cost effective. The mods I think you may want to remove as they are easy and will raise cash and my not be to everyone's taste are the cage, the exhaust, though I love mine, and the MF setup. Also I would lose the tints and maybe the wheel which will also have a ready market. But remember an new oem exhaust will be more expensive than the Orb and the cam change/service will also likely cost £6/700?
Good luck mate.
 
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asim

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Thanks for the replies is1 and hoolio. Well, I've started the transformation! First to go were the cage and harnesses. Today, I'll fit the bench and then the stock springs and shocks back on and get tracking done tomorrow. Next will be the steering wheel, exhaust and camshafts which I'll do with another cambelt change and the engine map back to stock. Then brakes and front splitter. And then finally, I'll have the car polished and have the tints removed from the rear windows.

After that I may just decide to keep her! :up: Hoolio, you're right that it may not be cost effective but it's something I'd like to do regardless of if I keep the car after. I think the car deserves it :D
 
FunkyMunky

FunkyMunky

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If I was you, I would be putting all of the text from post 1 in this thread as the advert text on Pistonheads - lovely car, nice low mileage but you really need to sell the spec and benefits of the car more than your current advert does.

GLWS! :D
 
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asim

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FunkyMunky said:
If I was you, I would be putting all of the text from post 1 in this thread as the advert text on Pistonheads - lovely car, nice low mileage but you really need to sell the spec and benefits of the car more than your current advert does.

GLWS! :D
Click to expand...

Done! :up: I'll admit I was being rather lazy with writing the ad yesterday. :D
 
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