well buy new, i mean the other one was written off, and i'm buying one from a private seller.. now i'm not a newb when it comes to cars, but i'm not really a guru either, so what are some important things to look out for, because my mate who is driving me knows nothing about cars.. lol

What cars are you looking at ?

at the moment a manual 96 lancer 2 door couple gli.

manual 96 lancer 2 door couple gli

Ask your husband what he thinks.

In before bah :P

just get it checked out by racq or any mechanic u trust B4 u buy

so what are some important things to look out for

4 wheels are important, maybe a 5th as a spare. A windscreen can also help. Maybe an engine, one that works is always a bonus.

if its a coupe it'll cost more for insurance...

FYI

cause its more sporty? lol

i wonder if the new 2.4 mivec lancers are any better

One with good brakes....LOLZ

I assume you're not meaning a 1 grand banger.

1. Rust - around sills and guards etc
2. Smoke on startup - smoke is bad mmmkay
3. Kays. Never buy anything under-kays by too much. Age wears cars more than kays do, so you're better off buying something with a few good kays on the clock so that most 'age' items have been replaced. Not more than 20,000 a year tho.
4. Anything dodgy lookin.

Get it properly inspected by a mechanic. I know my bro bought a car and had a mobile mechanic check it over for him. $88 and every other car he wanted inspected after that (provided he brought it to the mechanics workshop) was free after that.
I don't like the RACQ inspections tho. Too petty on the little things, don't properly detail things like, oh, how long left your auto box has before it dies.

Age wears cars more than kays do

I'm by no means a mechanic but that, sir, is horses***.

burt's got a gtr for sale has something like a billionty kw at the wheels, he can probably afford to give it away cause hes rolling in cash too

hit him up

car i just checked out i quite like..
BUT

if i do a revs check i think i'll find money owing on it.. my mate talked to the chick when i was going for a test drive and she said she wants 6,500 so she can pay it off, but if she doesn't pay it off then the car can get repossessed from me and there's nothing i can do about it.. so is there anyway of me making sure she pays it off or ?

Find another one.... thanks for coming.

ahaha nf :)

maverik: there's no easy way, I'd steer well clear of that one even tho it's a shame to pass over a car you like

check to make sure the car has no money owning on it. there is a website you can do that on but i cant remember the site if anyone else please post.

If the amount owing on the car is less than the amount she wants for it, can't you give her a bank cheque to pay off the loan (go with her to pay it off) then give her a bank cheque for the remaining.

As Mr.H. said, check for rust, smoke, tyre wear. Check for damage to the paintwork (bad paintwork is a sign of misuse of the car and is not always cheap to get fixed, steer clear). Take it for a test drive in order to listen for little quirks about the car, rattles and jingles and the like are not good.

More than 20,000kms per year of the car is lots. If this is the case you have a large bargaining tool. Amount of rego left on the car is also a bargaining tool. With mitsubishis, don't get one with more than or close to 200,000kms. Ask if they have log books, service records, who owned it before them. Why they are selling it, have they had anything replaced? Any persistent problems?

Then make sure you scout around the car, look for damage in and out, look for rust, as I said around the seals of the windows and doors and definitely in the boot and near the spare tyre. Speaking of which, you should also get a jack with the car, not getting a jack with the car is damn rude.

After you do all this and you still like the car, make sure you get it checked out by a mechanic you know and trust or one recommended by a mate/your mechanic in the area. I recommend this SO MUCH over an NRMA/RACQ check because as was said previously they are very, very petty and do not provide a subjective analysis. A mechanic will tell you what's going to go and if it's in good condition and may even tell you how much it will cost to fix what's wrong (if anything). Though you have to decide if it's worth the money, cause mechanics are generally quite bad at seeing a good deal. It's your future car afterall.

Check redbook.com.au for a valuation of the car and make sure you're in line with their recommended price. Do the same with Carsales and Carguide. Then if you decide to go ahead with the purchase, do a REVS check and purchase the REVS certificate no more than 24hrs before buying it for protection. Also get the seller's name and ring up the RTA and ask for an ownership check. They'll ask you for the name you believe the rego is under and then confirm or deny that the car is under that name. This step is so when you pay the seller you are also paying the owner (otherwise if you pay a random person, the owner can basically just take their car back - or so I'm told).

I also recommend you pay with a bank cheque, not cash or whatever. This is so the money has to be banked into the owner's account and can't be just spent on drugs and then the car gets taken back as there's no proof of purchase.

I recently bought a car and found it to be the most time-consuming thing I've ever done. I'd hate to do it for a living because it's so damn easy to get a dud. I hope this post helps you in some way and feel free to ask me anything else you need to.

P.S. Also check to see if the engine is clean or not. A dirty engine is bad, a very clean engine is also bad (probably clean to due to hiding a leak). Check out http://www.mynrma.com.au/used_car_check.asp and good luck

thanks seven, that's the kind of post i like :)

that's what i might end up doing if i do go ahead with it is go into the bank with her, they wanted 6,500 and there's 6,300 remaining on the car but i offered 6,250 because i need to get it all retinted and a few minor things like that, the thing is the cars out in f***ing boong boong land ipswich so i don't know anyone who would go that far out to check a car out for me :( so RACQ might be the only way to go.. regardless i will get a revs check on monday as the guy said the car might not be encumbered but to check..

Look in the yellow pages for mechanics around ipswich or perhaps people on the forums will recommend a mechanic in the area to check it out for you. Also, with the REVS check, you are guaranteed no encumberances on the vehicle for 24hrs after purchasing a certificate. So if it says no encumberances and you're going to buy it that day, buy the certificate to cover your ass.

Also, when you go into the bank with her, make sure one cheque is pay off the loan and the other is to pay her. I think it was Tung who did this with his car (IIRC). I don't know the deal exactly, i.e. how to find out who the loan is with then who to address it to or if the banks are allowed to tell you that information even :S

live axles keep you higher off the ground and take way more hurt than interpendant fronts and rears.
something with a high centre, dont want to rip anything out halfway up a rockclimb. possible to weld in bash plates tho which will take the pain away.
nice tough chassis rails, dont want something flimsy.
also big cv joints, popping cvs is just plain annoying
dont forget to try it out in lowrange, some people dont even go offroad(yea i know, sad life) and lowrange can have end up with problems.
you can worry about tyres, winches and spotlights later on, just get something that will take a few hits

i car that can run underwater is a good start too

Age wears cars more than kays do

you sir are a newb.

Ya, age is not a significant indicator of wear. I bought a 1990 Mazda 323 Astina SP. Most people (myself included) would normally say "WTF?! That's ancient! Stay away from it!" But it was obviously driven by an old fogey who took amazing care of it, cause there was not a spot of rust nor a problem with the car to be seen or heard. 162,000kms on the clock (avg 10,000 a year, like half the average of all cars). 16 years of wear my ass, it looks and feels (mechanically) about 5 years old.

I have nothing else to say, but that was a silly comment to make matey. Age would only wear it more than Kms if it was left in a hailstorm and lava every night.

Age wears cars more than kays do

Cause, like, yeah... All those Model T Fords are like soooo worn out.

lol nF if you intend on doing alot of underwater work a snorkel works a treat

Inspect the car/engine when it [the engine] is cold, alot of early engine/transmission trouble signs can occur when cold and disappear when the engine warms up.
Test drive it, don't be afraid to put the foot in just because it's not your car, make sure it responds properly across the throttle and rev range and no 'strange' noises occur [knocking/pinging].
Other things to watch out for with the transmission for e.g.

Clutch wearing - slips under load...
Listen for bearings in manual - let clutch out in neutral and listen carefully, depress clutch - if you hear a whirring noise that disappears on depression of clutch, bearings are worn/wearing...

Auto - Doesn't shift properly, either early/late/slips, also check kickdown.
- Check Trans Fluid, it should be a light red/pink colour, brown indicates
it's burnt.
- Should be smooth transition between gears, no clunking etc.

Engine ::

- Ideally I'd take my compression tester out and test each cylinder's compression, a quick test and if any cylinder fails, tells you there is a problem with any one of headgasket/piston rings/piston [holes] etc.

- Check oil, should not be frothy (froth indicates water)
- White smoke is water vapour, it's acceptable to see white smoke on a
dead-cold startup as this is just condensation burning off, it should
dissipate quickly - if it doesn't, it could indicate a headgasket problem.
- Black smoke is rich with fuel, in a car with ECU's and O2 sensors it could
indicate a problem with one of those :: With a carburettor it could simply
be a poorly tuned [Some of those not-so old excel/lancers still had carbies
I think, hence why I mentioned it].
- Blue smoke indicates oil burning, look elsewhere if blue smoke is coming
out the pipes.
- Check Air Filter, not only gives you an idea whether or not the car was
looked after [filter changed], oil in it indicates high crankcase pressure
causing oil to be carried through the PCV system, it could either be from a
cheapass PCV valve blockage, or it could be from excessive combustion gases
leaking past piston rings into the crankcase; indicating worn Piston Rings.

There really is an s***eload more that would take a million hours to type up but only half an hour to actually check properly, I started this at like 2:45am, it's 3am, cbf typing more. If you need help you have my MSN, give me a yell and I'll come out and give you a hand looking at cars.
In the end though still best to take it to a trusted mechanic - knowing what you're looking for yourself just saves time/money taking a car to mechanic to be told it's an obvious dud.

last edited by Loki at 04:11:09 26/Feb/06

I'm by no means a mechanic but that, sir, is horses***.

well he is a mechanic (arn't you!?) and aside from being slightly too obsessed with cabs, sounds like he knows what he talks about.

I disagree that age is MORE of an issue than k's, but defs an issue. My parents 1990 or something Merc has down less than 100 000k's but has had a host of mechanical problems in the last couple of years cos its so old. They drive like old c***s and it has had heaps of s*** wrong with it, and it's a (omg lol) superior german car!

Buy a new car and you wont have to worry at all.. I win.

Age wears cars more than kays do,

Horses***.

That's like saying a 20 year old who smokes, eats lots of junk food and weighs 150kg is in better shape than a 40 year old who has exercised often and consistently all their life, eats healthy and has no predisposition history to any health problems.

Age means f***-all, improper maintenance and keeping is what wears cars.

You fail at giving advice.

Age and Kms are both pretty bad for comparisons anyway. They are both mere indicators of how sound the car is mechanically. A 1990 with 200,000kms could still be in better condition than a 1996 with 150,000kms. That's why you need to get the mechanic to look over it, check the brakes, gearbox, wear and tear of suspension, tyres, etc.

When you are buying a car
Get a mechanic to check it (RACQ check is nothing).
Get a REVs check (if for any reason it doesn't pass, don't do it!)

or just buy something new.

i mean the other one was written off

Well, going by that statement, methinks the most important thing you should look out for should be cars that are coming towards you or the ones that fail to give way