Technical Should I buy this Barchetta?

[staffs74]

Hi guys, having a bit of a quandry over wether to buy this Barchetta

http://www.ariamotorco.co.uk/vehicle_details.php?vid=562

I would have it home by now, but for the fact that

1) when I took it for a test drive a couple of days ago, it would not idle.

2) After the garage cleaned the throttle body and then put some fuel additive (cleaner) in the tank it now idles.

3) So I took it for a spin today, now it missfires in 3rd 4th and 5th when under load.

This is not filling me with much hope of having a reliable car. Been used to VW, BMW and AUDI.

What do you reckon?

 

[Nino_1975]

Nice car good price. Barchettas hate to be stood around, sounds like it has not been driven for a while. Ask them to do a full service and then try again.

 

[Plug]

Seems a little pricey to me. It's nearly November and prices are on their a*se.

Cheers,

Plug

 

[staffs74]

Thanks for the replies,

Guess I'm just worried about buying a lemon, especially as it is not for me. I'm buying it for my mother who lives in France. Had it been right I would have been on the ferry now!!

The service has only just been done 2 weeks ago, new variator and cambelt etc all done then.

My guess is either that muck has been flushed through the system and has clogged an injector, or MAF, Lamda sensor is up the swanny......

Will wait and see. Had provisionally agreed on £4,700.

 

[Twilight Johnny Atom]

If the seller did the cambelt and variator change I'd ask them to check the cam timing.

They are reliable cars and quite simple mechanically, just find a non-main dealer Fiat specialist in your area and use them. Ask here for recommendations. It's basically a Punto HGT so no need to worry about reliability.

I've had mine for over 6 years and the worst non-service item problem has been a blown fuse for the cooling fan.

 

[Rustbucket]

Doesn't sound too bad..a good service and a decent auto electrician should sort it.

 

[Nino_1975]

Take it for a 30min blast down a fast road. See if she free's up and sort it's self out.

 

[Crachat]

Staffs74, whereabouts in France? At this rate we can start an overseas (gallic) section...

 

[barc_h]

I sold my b of the same vintage, with less than 30K miles up, privately for £4250 a year ago. Knock off another year's depreciation and a mileage allowance, add the dealer's mark-up and £4K tops sounds about right. Or 30% of what it cost new five years ago - again sounds right to me; these aren't premium-brand vehicles.
But would you really want to commit to a car that doesn't cut the mustard on a test drive?

H

 

[staffs74]

About 30 mins West of Bergerac. Once it's there I don't reckon she'll do more than about 3k per year. Hopefully when I'm over I'll be able to give it a good blast though!

The difference in used prices between the UK and France is huge. Not helped by the weak pound. Stuff like 1998 Z3's (1.9) are selling for more than 8-9k. The biggest job will be swapping the headlight units for Euro spec ones. LHD stuff in the UK is actually selling for more than RHD.

If I could find a lorry load of LHD convertibles I would be a rich man.......

 

[staffs74]

With regard to the car, IF the missfire gets sorted then I'm still interested. It needs to be 100% though. The late cars with decent mileage seem to be pretty scarce. I would love to drop on one with 50k miles and leather seats, but Autotrader has only 8 for sale nationally. Pistonheads only 3.

I don't want to swear on a Fiat forum, but if I could find a LHD MX5, that would be the preference, purely as I'm buying for someone else and I'm concerned about reliability.

Having said that however, I still think the Barchetta is a better looking car, and despite being front wheel drive is pretty entertaining.

 

[wish mine was orange]

mx5 you cant say that !!!
as for reliable i have a 95 and it very reliable, its all about how the car is looked after than its age, i also have more horse than the new ones, so dont use that word here age or i will sent round the straight jacket for you.:devil:

 

[Nino_1975]

mx5 you cant say that !!!
as for reliable i have a 95 and it very reliable, its all about how the car is looked after than its age, i also have more horse than the new ones, so dont use that word here age or i will sent round the straight jacket for you.:devil:

I second that motion...

 

[HP]

Personally, no - I wouldn't buy it with those faults unless seriously cheap. It might be something as simple as plugs and leads or as bad as an engine rebuild. Until some diagnosis and repair is done, run away.

 

[staffs74]

I have lost confidence in this car and am going to leave it. Off to see another hopefully better example on Thursday.... Thanks for the advice, will keep you posted.

 

[wish mine was orange]

wise choice have you seen the one in the classified ad here?

 

[staffs74]

Well guys, last week I took a trip over to France with another Barchetta. Ended up buying a 53 plate from a Bentley/Porsche dealer in Maidenhead.

Exactly the same colour/spec as the one I initially saw. Had the cambelt/variator changed a couple of years ago and ran really well.

I have to say that the trip was not as relaxing as I thought it might have been. I think this was due to the weather mainly. A choppy crossing from Porstmouth to St Malo certainly didn't help!!

The car performed faultlessly in the 700 miles I drove it before getting the final desination in the Dordogne.

Bad points? The seats, pretty uncomfortable on a long Autoroute drag.

Good points? The 130 mph blast on the Autoroute, and the last 10 miles through leafy French lanes with the roof down in a rare bit of sunshine. Won over by the Italian styling, probably the best looking small 2 seater ever made IMO.

I was impressed with what made perfect sense for a 2nd car for my mother. In a time when LHD cars are getting more expensive to buy in the UK, (due to the expensive prices in Europe, I have seen 1996 models for around 5000 Euros) the Barchetta makes a good investment.

The down side is that there may be less examples left on UK roads, used prices may rise though so it's not all bad for all you B owners out there.

Thanks for all the comments/advice.