V70 T5 P1 CD Auto - Should I buy it?
 

Hello Lovely members of the VOC,

First time poster long time scroller here.

I've been offered a 1997 V70 Phase 1 T5 Auto in the CD trim for £1400 (best price). The car is a bit rough around the edges, no serious body work damage but plenty of scrapes and stone chips present. Has very good service history for most of it's life. Serviced every 5k at the same dealership! until about 3 years ago where it went into the hands of someone who serviced it privately.
It has had recently:
- New Wishbones
- New Steering Arms
- New Drive Shaft
- New Radiator
Mot for another 9 months.

Bad bits:
- As I said reasonably scruffy outside, not terrible inside (B grade I would say)
- Front speakers are intermittent (suspect duff head unit)
- Cambelt needs doing
- Headlight wipers are bust
- Drivers side door is 'clunky'
- Rust spot on top drivers side of windscreen, about 50p size

I happy to take it on as a bit of a project, the only thing that really concerns me is the rust spot and I know if these are not treated in these spots they can be catastrophic. I also however do not want t be pouring money down the drain, it is very hard to compare prices as here isn't a lot about on the internet to which to compare too so my incredibly long winded question put simply is - Is this worth it? As in is the price fair and will it be re sellable if need be?

I appreciate any responses, and you have my thanks in advance :)

Cheers,
George

Price is too high
 

The usual price is about £1,000 but you don't say what the mileage is. Did you look at MoT history? https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

It will reveal how well this car has been looked after.

If the windscreen starts to leak because of rust, that's an expensive fix. A scruffy car isn't worth more than £500 or less as a banger racer.

All I can say is that in June last year I bought a March '98 V70 T5 CD Auto with 88k on the clock for £275 with mot through until this month when I expect to have to put two new tyres on the front. A mass of paperwork came with it from first purchase plus a Haynes (for what detailed good that might be!!).

It had two possibly larger faults with the stop lights and the power steering together with two minor exterior paint spots needing work. An o/s missing front spot grille and one stay on the glove box door still need replacing. In addition it had a few very minor interior trim niggles. I have fixed everything except for the spot grille and the stay about £65. The largest expense was a repair kit for the non-functioning cargo space cover.

Although very difficult to work out at the time I reckoned the going price was about £500/750. Let's face it the car is 22 years old.

The car is a total dream to drive as you settle into the drivers electric memory full leather seat with the climate control and premium headunit performing together with all the other functions .... a change from my 31 year old 745 GL.

I shoud add that I was concerned that the 'service light' did not go off for a while .... then I read the Owners Handbook to find out that whenever you start the car it takes 2 minutes to switch off.

If you are happy with it I would definitely go for it but, to me the price is high for the cons.

Bob :)

I agree with 'Clogs' and 'bob12'; it does seem a tad expensive. I paid £550 for a 2000 P1 2.4 petrol auto with 118k up from a dealer four years ago. I'm running it still and apart from routine maintenance it has required very little in that time. Excellent cars now at the bottom of their depreciation curve - there are some real bargains to be had out there!

Regards, John.

Hi Clogs and Bob,

Thank you for the reply!
You're right forgot to post the mileage, it's on 140k

Cheers for the information, Clogs I did an MoT check on it and its come back clear for the past MoT and alot of work the pass the Most before that but for the most part tires, bulbs, wipers ect. Not spotless but definitely not the worse I have seen.

Bob I am amazed at how cheep you got yours!! I think I will definitely wait and grab myself a project at that price instead!! 😂 I did definitely enjoy driving the car, so I haven't given up on the dream yet!

Thanks you both again,

George

I'd agree - too expensive. The rust spot would put me off the most, really tricky to sort out properly and will continue to get worse if not sorted. Probably started off as a stone chip - shows what can happen if not attended to straight away!

The £275 one was way way undervalued and shouldn't be used as a measuring stick.
Clearly who ever was selling it was clueless regarding its true value.

The Seller wasn't clueless but, neither he nor I had ever met and I had not even seen the car. All I knew was it was on the road and 'nice' from non-experts.

2 years previously I had noted an interest via a friend and had asked for first refusal through a 3rd party. Out of the blue I received a call followed by silence and then 'can we bring it round'.

There was an underlying reason for sale but, I took no advantage of that and, was prepared to pay up to my previously indicated range or maybe more without knowing really f.a. about the car/model with a brand new battery until I saw and drove it with its then tail light and steering faults. I didn't even know it was a CD or anything about a P1 V70 when the sale was agreed!

I tried to elicit some general info here before I saw it but, this Section doesn't seem to be particularly informative or technically challenged compared with the 700/900 Section. I hope that will change.

Bob :)

I take exception to this last bit being one of many who have contributed to this section over the years (mine being relativley small compared to others such as Jod T5).
The 700/900 section has 2 pages of "articles" and an FAQ but no buyers guide, this section has 3 pages of articles with both a buyers guide thread and a common issues thread. What more did you need?
The thread count for this section at some 44,000 is also not far off double the 26,000 in the 700/900 section...
Admittedly having only glanced at the 700/900 section my immediate impression is that the 850/S/V/C70 section appears to have far more information to hand for the first time buyer.

Do not be surprised Andrew

Proper weird lot in and around Woking

One of my brothers has turned into a real Tool since he moved there a few years ago !