Yup, I've gone and actually bought an Si!! At long last, after much deliberating!

It's an M reg 1.6 with 80,000 miles ( Apparantly, will soon see if it's really 180,000!)

Go to pick it up tomorrow. Looks very good in the pics I've seen... what's that I hear you ask? You haven't test driven it or even seen it?? Well.. errr...no.

Although, in my defense I haven't paid for it yet either! So it's all good.
It's being MOT'd today/tomorrow for me picking it up and will have 6 months tax so that's one less thing to worry about.

Can you give me some pointers as to what to look out for? I know about the obvious things, rattly cold start up, checking right in the arches for rust etc. So looking for more specific things to look for in the engine bay or the likes.

Will get some pictures taken tomorrow once I pick it up and get them up of course, but I can't wait to get behind the wheel of a decent Mk3 again... it's been almost 6 or 7 years since I had my 1.1 Pop Plus Si lookalike!!

Anyway, any info gladly received prior to the big pick-up!!

Cheers guys

Paul

Have a look at the door sill rubbers for rust, open the boot and look for rust by the rubbers there, and take the rear carpet off the turrets and check for rust there! Last thing you want is the rear shocks making an appearance in the boot!

Engine wise, just check everything looks normal, no bodge jobs, and make a point of checking every electrical thing there is! If it has central locking, check the key on both doors, make sure it locks/unlocks properly. Likewise with the electric windows if it has the electric pack, make sure they go all the way down, and all the way back up with no drama's.

Ask the seller for the engine to be cold when you get there, so before you start it up feel the engine to make sure it's not been running. It could be hiding something on cold startup if the engine is warm - I always ask this when I go to look at a car. Check for smoke on startup, and when you do start it up, allow it the revs to come down after a minute or 2 of idling. It should idle nicely at about 900rpm. If it doesn't, and stays up around the 1500 mark, could mean some faulty sensor somewhere.

Take it for a test drive and listen out for any knocks when driving. Do the good old full lock turn in a circle in both directions as this will show up any problems with wheel bearings/bushes/suspension components.

It's hard to ask all this when all you want to do is buy the car and get it home! But it will save you in the long run if you spot any problems.

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