need help again from the masters

[marc garrett]

hey up all.ive seen 2 ftos so far but they are not manaul which is the only down fall for me.one is in the car buyers guide(www.cbg.ie)lt 86000 on the clock.looks ok plus its in newb my local area and its fairly cheap and the second is on this site.selling from sligo.same price.and comments or advice.plus if i did go for these is there much more on the body kits side of thing any of yas can recommend or do ya think ya should not play around much with it.im just wondering on that note does it affect the handling and the car much..these are too i was looking at and thinking of getting.cheers all

[Mustang]

Marc,
Do you have a price for the car for sale in Newbridge? I take it thats 86000 miles (not km)? The car looks clean enough from the photos. The white dials, stereo, and alloys at least show that some time, money and effort have been spent on it!
Jon's car also looks very clean, and was also previously owned by a forum member -so is likely to be well maintained.

Don't want to step on anyones feet here (they are only cars afterall)
Obvious stuff aside. I think my biggest concern would be the service history for the tip gearbox. I'd like to see proof that the oil and filter have been changed on a regular basis. If not maintained they can give up, leaving you with a big bill.
I've said this numerous times before but be sure to check the insurance on all models. A lot (not all mind) of Irish insurance companies rate all fto's the same. So you'll pay the same for 1.8 tip as a 2L mivec manual even though they are worlds apart in performance terms. If out and out speed /performance are not your goal then the 1.8 with lower running costs make sence. Personally I would not but each to their own.

Mustang

[MadMax]

Before you buy think of a few things.
Looks: If you are going for looks, you won’t beat the FTO in this price range.
Performance: If you are going for performance a Honda type R will usually beat it, but will cost a bit more, but is worth it.
Running Cost: High insurance, Tax and petrol. If you get 30 MPG your very lucky or slow.
Safety: Most FTO don’t have ABS brakes or traction control.
Resale: Most are 10 years old.

All that said I still think it’s a nice car and it’s only after a few year with one that you can get that critical. I did have a Honda Integra.

I’ve a 1996 FTO GR AUTO with 60,000 miles on the clock if your interested?

[marc garrett]

thanks mustang.its going for £5800 the one in newb and it does not specfiy miles or ks so i take it,its ks as they are all jap imports(am i right in saying that)and that is the standard dials???im going to have a look at it when i get home to see what its like.il drag my mate dave along with me also and ill make sure i look at all those things.that other one in sligo looks sweet also so i might take a trip up to see it.thaks again mate

cheers to ya also madmax.have ya got any pics of the car.were ya based,how much etc.im interesed alright...

thanks again to ya both

[Mustang]

Marc Garrett wrote

it does not specfiy miles or ks so i take it,its ks as they are all jap imports(am i right in saying that)

As standard all cars come from the factory with km speed and odometer.
On the road we might 'go metric, go safe' but when it comes to advertising cars people tend to use miles mostly. Unless it has recently been imported 86kkm (~53k miles) would seem very low for a 10 year old car.
The white dials on this car are non standard i.e aftermarket dials.
It is possible to obtain a convertor which 'recalibrates' the speedo and odo form km to miles, again this is a retro fit device.
ANyway I'm sure Dave will explain all

[marc garrett]

cheers mustang.much appreciated