General Best mileage to buy a 2nd hand Grande Punto?

[FergusH]

Hi all,

I'm buying a new car and am now set on buying a Grande Punto!

I'm looking to get a 5 door, 1.4 petrol GP but i'm not sure what mileage is good to get?

Obviously I understand that it matters on the previous owners, sometimes whether you get it from a dealership or private seller and the years it was made.

I'm currently looking at a 50,000 mile one and a 30,000 one, both second hand ,"1 previous lady owner" and both from a dealership.

I'm currently on a £3,500 budget so can anyone advise what amount of mileage I should really be looking at for a Fiat?

I.e: With a VW you're good with second hand cars up 90,000 miles as they're very strong and reliable cars but what about Fiat? At what mileage do people typically have to start replacing stuff?

 

[jw4821]

Great choice of car! For me personally I could never do it on mileage alone - you have to factor everything else in.

For example, my 1.4 petrol Evo is about to click to 70k miles. It's been well looked after, serviced twice a year, and other than a few little rattles, it runs like a dream.

Then on the flip side, I've driven some hire cars with less than 20k miles on the clock, that are absolutely shagged, one of which was a Passat ironically.

To give you an idea of what I've replaced:
- Both drop links - £6 each
- Both rear shocks - £23 each
- Timing belt + Water pump - £200
- Power steering column - £350 (Obviously this doesn't affect every car)

The shocks and the drop links I changed myself. I'm no mechanic by any stretch, but I do enjoy tinkering with my car. It's one of the side effects of buying a Fiat.

Edit: To answer your question about the two cars - i'd test drive them both and see how they feel. If a 30k miler and 50k miler are around the same price, are they different trim levels? Different 1.4 engines?

 

[FergusH]

Thanks man, great advice!

Both cars are GP Dynamics, 1.4 petrols.

There's about a £650 difference in the two that's why i'm really trying to found out if ones going to be substantially better than the other or not.

 

[KenMavor]

Check them both out. Has one had it's water pump and belt done? I always look for the car that has been looked after. Full service history. Also, how many miles do you do in a year? A 20k miles difference is probably at least 2 years of ownership and a £650 difference is probably two years worth of servicing and a few other repairs.

How comfortable are you buying privately and not from a dealer? I am not a great fan of buying a 2nd hand car, or a certain mileage and age from a dealer as the mark up they put on them can be pretty hefty. Have a good drive of them, a good look around and then look at some private deals.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Their is currently a huge disparity between dealer prices and side of road prices.

My 2006 GP on a dealer forecourt can be as much as £3000 locally, I paid a fraction of that from eBay. 3 years warrantee for the car would cost me about £600? So Ive saved an absolute fortune, and quite often dealers cars are what ever crap they can get from auction anyway, so are rarely 'good cars'

As suggested compare the two pay close attention to the condition of everything as that lower milage car could have been clocked the rest of the car might show you that it's really done many more miles

 

[TallTom]

I would also look at the wear and tear items if easily visible, the Brake pads etc would potentially need replacing at the 40,000/70,000 mark depending upon how it was driven.

The Cambelt and water pump is also a good shout. If both the same age, you would expect potentially more wear on some items on the lower milage variant as I would expect it would be mainly city driving/shorter journeys.

 

[Avaxbox]

Have mine for 3000

 

[puntoboii]

Hi all,



I'm buying a new car and am now set on buying a Grande Punto!



I'm looking to get a 5 door, 1.4 petrol GP but i'm not sure what mileage is good to get?



Obviously I understand that it matters on the previous owners, sometimes whether you get it from a dealership or private seller and the years it was made.



I'm currently looking at a 50,000 mile one and a 30,000 one, both second hand ,"1 previous lady owner" and both from a dealership.



I'm currently on a £3,500 budget so can anyone advise what amount of mileage I should really be looking at for a Fiat?



I.e: With a VW you're good with second hand cars up 90,000 miles as they're very strong and reliable cars but what about Fiat? At what mileage do people typically have to start replacing stuff?

Should of bought mine when me dad decided to sell up his half he sold it dirt cheap and i mean literally DIRT CHEAP he was such an utter moron mine had shy of 40k on a 59 plate he let it go for...........…………………………… £1300!! Tbh I ain't a clue what drugs he must've been on that day to agree that deal

 

[Avaxbox]

Mine is a dynamic sport 16v with climate control and skydome panaramic roof 66000 miles change the oil every 6 months fiat blue and me just did the cam belt and water pump last week too and mot yesterday

 

[FergusH]

Cheers for all the offers guys but i've got a few cars to go view so i'll probably settle with one of them.

I've made my max mileage as 60,000 miles on a GP as long it's been kept well but I wouldn't go any higher than that.

I've really set my sights on ones between 35,000-50,000 as my desired mileage though.