Found a first car

£1000 might sound strong but you cannot judge a car based on description and pictures alone, you never know what a car is like until you get there, I`ve had loads of cheap cars offered that sound great over the phone, they tick all the right boxes - low mileage, loads of test, good bodywork, and you get there and its all wrong - that rattle that you only hear above 2000 revs, those off colour panels that don't line up properly, that pervading sense that this is just not a nice car but you cant quite put your finger on it.

What I`m saying is yeah this guy might be a dreamer trying to get £1000 for a curse word Golf, on the other hand this Golf might be absolutely sorted in every respect and just be a totally right car. You cant compare second hand cars, its just no good saying "you can get them for half that price in better colours with loads of tax and test" because each second hand car is unique and has its own "issues".

I`ll stop waffling, but really you need to see this car in the flesh and drive it, that is what matters with older cars. Take someone with you if you don't feel confident to appraise it.

Thanks for the input guys. I phoned up the chap and i'm going out on saturday to have a look at the car. I'm still looking at other cars of course. I'll see how it goes

Poor Benjo...this all looks really scary to me and it's not my money!

Non specific advice from me:

Don't be seduced - walking away from a car is very difficult, but from my experience regretting a purchase is far worse than the regret of not buying something. Decide what you want before you look at a car and walk away if it doesn't tick all of the boxes.

Remember your looking at the car in front of you, not the type of car...eg. if you love the pillarless doors on a Triumph Herald, don't forget they've all got them you don't need to buy the car you're looking at to get that particular feature. The real questions are things like MOT, Tax, how does it run?, is it rotten?, what does it need?, is it honest? (ie. not just tarted up for sale - be very wary of recent repaints).

Learn all you can about what your looking at - going straight to a rusty spring mount or checking a known fail point has two advantages: It means you don't buy a lemon and you look knowledgeable meaning you'll have more bartering power.

Don't be scared of making silly offers, no-one has ever told me to s*d off yet, and more than a few have accepted! The old 'I'll only pay this much, here's my number' line often means you'll get the car later that day anyway!

Be nice, all of the bartering tricks work best when you're displaying your friendly smile!

No-one was knocking the car down.

The car itself looked fine - it was the price that was wrong. Very wrong.

If it had been 600-700 quid, then I'd have said to snap it up - but a grand would buy a very tidy GTI.

A GTI would have been more expensive to insure, but they're actually more economical than the carburettor 'Driver' models.

The short MOT would put me off that straight away at that money. Sorry to sound negative, am only trying to make sure your 1st car lives up to expectations and doesn't turn into a nightmarish money-pit!!!! ;D

If I was you I'd be tempted to keep an eye on the For Sales on here and the various VW forums, if that's what you're after...there's more chance of buying something decent off an enthusiast than a trader!!

Thanks guys. I'm gonna have a look at the car, maybe try and knock some money off, or ask if I could have a new MOT done?

edit: Forgot to say, my budget is good up to £1000. So if i were to get a car around this price bracket, i would have some left over cash to do some tweaks etc.

Those pierburgs can be a right PITA if not looked after properly, but quite often its just something simple!

I bought the Polo 'knowing' I would have to change the pierburg, but after my dad had a look and I had a little fiddle with the idle screw and a tube of superglue it idles and revs fine. The autochoke isn't perfect admittedly, but it works.

I am keeping my eye out for a cheap webber though

Unless the carb is giving issues then I'd leave it for now - but be aware you may well need to find a couple of hundred quid to sort it at some point. I ended up selling my MkI Cabrio 'cos of the carb - I tried a couple of replacement Pierburg's and all were the same. Most are generally worn out now and a complete to recondition.

At 17 I guess a GTI is out of the question - try running a quote for a laugh, though!

Also be aware that any cosmetic mods would have to be declared to your insurers - and they *really* don't like stuff like big alloys and lowered suspension on cars driven by newly qualified drivers.

Get it for £300 ,MOT it, drive it for 12 months, then when you have a year of claim-free driving against your records, start modding it.

Have done before! Best quote i got was £6500