Asked by a pal of mine who's new to scoobs........He's seen a MY00 X reg Mica blue UK car at Robinsons in Rochdale, their ex-demo hence 1500 miles, the car is as new and standard with no added extras......his quandry is this........he needs a car quickly, he wants a scoob, he can get the above car for £18k 3yrs warranty etc......but he's seen loads of "specials" around....imports, big wheels, fancy add ons etc...he doesn't know if this one is good value and although he could stretch to the new MY01 can't wait........he needs to commit this week or so ! idea's guys ?

Would you buy an ex demo? Thrashed before warmed up, thrashed before loosened, turned off once back at the garage, taken home by all and sundry...

Of course, I could be being paranoid, but I did rather abuse a Puma with a scant 200 miles on the clock - at the recommendation of the sales guy in the passenger seat...

Would there be an issue with long term reliability, or am I just stirring? I genuinely don't know.

Hi I've just bought a MY00 turbo (uk spec) imported from the netherlands for £16k though Litchfield Imports, But had to wait 6 months, they do all the paper work & deliver it to your door. See

I'm with chiark - I wouldn't buy an ex demo.

John Wilding in Kendal had a new MY00 Silver a couple of weeks back £19k - always worth a haggle.

PS.... Mica Blue isn't a UK Colour - it'll be an EU import (although I stand to be corrected)
Surely a dealer wouldn't buy an EU car for £16500, demo it, then sell it for £18K


Surely not!!!!!!!!

Chiark,
Good point..I hadn't even considered that !
I think it's Mica blue, I may be wrong....I definately know they are a UK Subaru/Isuzu dealership so can't beleive it would be a EU car ?

DBM - dark blue mica aka dark blue metallic aka deep blue mica http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/wink.gif

It is a UK colour

cheers

chrisp

[This message has been edited by chrisp (edited 09 January 2001).]

You have to watch the DBM cars as the undercoat is white and the paint is soft. They has been a lot posted on here about stone chips. They need a good Wax Wizarding to help them http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/wink.gif.

cheers

chrisp

Your right matey, when we visited todat there were a couple of deep stone chips on the front showing the white underneath.....I think I'll strongly advise him against it ......cheers guys, this is what makes this "board" so informative. http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/smile.gif

IGW Bolton have delivery mileage UK Scoobs for £18,995. Worth a haggle, and no worries about who has been demo/rallying it.

Dales

I'm with Chiark as well on this one. Handbook and dealers state 1,000 Miles below 4,000 rpm.
A mate of mine works for a large Motorcycle dealers and they have to run in the bikes themselves before any test rides/demos are given to the public. They've found this helps sell the bikes come sales time.

Steve.

If he want's a car now. He's only got 1 choice : buy what you can see.
If he want's to wait : place an order and wait.
As for the the stone chipping what aload of nuts. All paint is the same thickness / strength it is just that different paints use different undercoats / colours.
As for the "running in" Japanese cars are so well built and their engine tolerances are so superior a bit of "grief" from new won't have done any harm at all !

Hmmm, seems a tad pricy to me.

I bought my MY99 5 door 3 months old with 3k on the clock for 19k before all the price rumpus last year at a dealer.

Plus it's got A/C and CD changer, and I made them up their p/ex offer 500 notes (which was 500 notes more than I expected) and I made them throw in 12 months tax, floor mats and full tank of petrol. And this car was being swarmed over by people wanting to buy it.

Cheers

Simon

Monks Heath have got a Mica Blue MY00 in with delivery mileage tell your mate to give them a bell. 01625 861544.

Darren.

Hamish,

Don't agree. Scoobs come with thinner oil during the running in period. Thrashing from cold will do harm, as will shutting off when hot.

Oh, and paints do vary, by the way. Some colours due to pigment are less adhesive to basecoats than others. Some mica type paints (as opposed to standard metallics are notorious for this.

Vauxhall used to have real trouble with their mica paints coming off in nice round circles with impact damage

D

Well I wouldn't go for it without aircon!

Depends how quickly he wants/needs a car and what the lead time is for MY01s

Personally I'd wait unless they could throw in aircon AND go for 17.5.

Re DBM - true about the white undercoat, but interestingly, when I had my little "incident" the paint didn't crack at all despite the underlying metal being, er, "creased"

I'd second some of the other replies, and wouldn't touch an ex-demo with a barge pole. Every demonstrator I've been in has been thrashed from cold, regardless of mileage. Two (including one scoob) was being redlined with only 20 miles on the clock.

Gary.

My car was an ex-demo bought from Quenby's 3 years ago with 1000 miles on clock.

Car goes like a train and absolutly no problems in 68,000 miles, with regular servicing.

There should however be several cars around with delivery milage only, I think Quenby have 1 or 2. Give them a ring on 01462 499930

Good hunting
Gaz.

In my experience, and numerous test drives of demo cars, I would say, as a general rule, dont get an ex-demo.
You may get lucky, and never have any probs with the car, or all that pre break in thrashing may give you a car full of nigling probs. I dont think its worth £18000 to take the gamble.
These salespeeps abuse the poor things, rev the cr@p out of them before they're warm or run in. Just think how you use a hire car, I know I friggin nail the things, as I know I can return it afterwards with no future commitment.
I wouldnt take the chance.

I'm not sure it's cheap enough, so I'd shout them down.

Some points,

On resale to them, they will know it's an ex demonstrator so you want a consideration now, they will certainly want one from you on return!

Has it actually been used on any test drives? Is it just one of their "staff" cars?

You have had some dealings with them before haven't you? I have always found them honest and above board (more so than many car dealers I have experienced).

The car has full 3 year warranty, will your mate keep it any longer than that?

I'd shout them down a bit more, after all you are doing them a favour taking it off their hands!

Yeah, and Deep Blue Mica, std MY00 UK colour, the same as mine.

It could be a bargain, at the right price. They've been advertising it since before Christmas and it's on their website at

I bought and ex-demo Terzo. Now done about 53K and so far no problems (other than overboost)

cheers
Andy

You've got me worried guys.

Is there a big problem with DBM paint, I don't want the damn stuff evaporating the next time I pass a gritter.

What exactly is Wax Wizarding, who is the 'mystical' chap, what does he do and what does it prevent.

Mike