The hunt is over....

[neckarsulm]

After scouring PH, Autotrader and Ebay I was drawn to a Noggy B5 with 104k miles that was advertised on Autotrader at £13995. It was a Y reg which is no longer an issue when it comes to taxing and may well have later gearbox and engine code.
Top spec with everything I think, Nav+, sunroof, side guard, armrest, full leather. Also had black optics and painted mirrors - my own personal preference.
It was advertised as one owner but it checked out as 3 on V5 so I emailed the owner and got the reply that it was his from new but had been through his 2 companies then had his name on V5, sounded genuine.
I got the impression he was pi55ed off with all the scammers that had contacted him and he wanted a quickish sale.
Reassured him I was genuine, showed him who I worked for so he knew who he was dealing with (this can make a big difference), asked for some more pics and he was quite happy to take them.
The front and back bumpers needed repairing, a service was due, as was tax. Carpet wear was acceptable, seats were OK. There had been lots of recent expenditure. Car had mainly done motorway miles.
I made an offer of £11k which he didn't baulk at but he was expecting more so I suggested I viewed it to see if it was better than I expected and on Thurs I met him at his company (he's a director of a telecoms co. in Reading). Had a good look around, checked out bills and had a gentle drive down a busy M4. It had had some paintwork from parking scrapes (his wife drove it) but on the upside it wasn't chippy. He also had the original hard back brochure, order form, spare keys etc. Wheels were mint, 4 good Pirellis, all important brakes were nearly new too.
Child seats in back were a good sign.
He was happy to let me VAG COM it and all it came up with was 1 lambda sensor (B2 S1) which from experience us unusually good. Also had a recent MAF.
So a lot of positives.
However the PAS seemed to stick as soon as I tried to move off but was OK after and the thermostat was faulty so it never full warmed up so may as well do cambelt early.
I chewed it over, did some sums and offered £10500 to allow for the required work and we eventually agreed on £10750 with a brand new hard wheel thrown in worth prob £300 on Ebay (£600 new) so under £10500 for the car. I collect next week.
Why did I go for this one?
A) I didn't want to spend too much as that's why I had ditched the 996 C4S plans or B7 - I'm not taking out finance and I got a bit stressed with 20k of my own money tied up in my last one.
B) Whatever you spend buying it, you will always spend more. Figured this one had had enough spent on it to make any future bills manageable.
C) I wanted it to be the antithesis of my last one and it is! In yer face colour, full leather (not Hi-tec), nav, painted mirrors, black optics - all different. Also no remap or Milltek so virtually a different car altogether.

[mikeyquattro]

Fair play, and well done

[Spunbigendbearing]

Congratulations!

[Contigo]

Nice one, about right price to in the current climate considering miles and colour

[Contigo]

Oh and a couple of quick q's

1) I have similar problem with temp gauge, sometimes gets to 90 deg within five mins, but today been out for about 45 mins of steady drivbing and it sits at the marker between 60-90 (75?). It is intermittent though.

2) I ran vag on the car a day or two ago and go the B2 S1 message appear and cleared it down and it's not come back after a good few miles on it. I have seen this appear from time to time but does it mean that the Lambda sensor is definitely duff?


2 Faults Found:
17539 - Oxygen (Lambda) Sensor: B2 S1: Internal Resistance too High
P1131 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent
17704 - Error in Mapped Cooling System P1296 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent

I had them down to do at next MRC visit but want to know how urgent these are.

[Jules]

Nice one mate,atleast as you say with a standard car you can decide the mods for yourself,and at that price
i think you have done well.
You never know at some point the prices may increase again

[frazered]

sounds a really nice vehicle just the sort of thing I have been thinking about!

thanks for sharing

[neckarsulm]

Thanks everyone

Contigo, do you have to hijack my thread ?

I'd have to say you need to do the thermostat and the lambda sensor - I had both of these problems on my 60k miler.

However much I tried to believe it was normal for the gauge to not reach 90 degrees quickly it definitely wasn't so had the cambelt done early and had a new thermostat, not many people apart from APS and MRC replace the thermostat, reckon on £600-£700
This could explain the mapped cooling error fault (you see this a lot on the 1.8T engines)

B2 S1 is passenger side front lambda sensor and the fault will come back - TBH I couldn't notice a change in performance when I got mine done, maybe as long as the the other front sensor is working there is no real problem?

I'd say cambelt/thermostat is urgent as you'll be running on choke all the time which would cause a rich mixture and possible bore wash and you may as well get lambda done then too, reckon on £900ish.
What were you saying about not costing you anything

[neckarsulm]

Here's a pic

[mikeyquattro]

It hasn't got alloy roof rails....

[trevithick]

Lego block blue
A good buy hopefully?
T

[neckarsulm]

I know! Neither does it have the polished window surrounds, it's called the black optics package I believe and is essential if you want to dechrome your grille surround (maybe) and have black/grey wheels (doubt it).
It also has painted mirror covers not polished so it does not attact the scumbags that smash them off.

[neckarsulm]

Lego block blue
A good buy hopefully?
T

I wont take the bait - I'm not the biggest fan but it is the definitive RS colour and Evo in May 2001 roadtest said "Bright Blue suits it best too" though.

[mikeyquattro]

nearly as good as dog dick red eh T

[neckarsulm]

nearly as good as dog dick red eh T

I'm not that familiar with dogs dicks but then again I don't eat in that Highworth kebab shop