Let her go or keep it?

[Mr.Steps]

Well the seicento is doing my head in and i can´t decide what to do with it. It´s a sei sporting (grey) from 2000 with 120000km (75000miles +-) and when i bought it i didn´t know much about cars so i paid to much for it and came with a bunch of trouble.
I´ve had it for a year and a half and this is whats been done to it so far...

-had a respray before i bought it but a real bad job since it´s already peeling and chipping away near the bottom of the windscreen and the passenger mirror and i can see the old paint job underneath it all (i have complained but the painter says he just did what he was told to do a quick cheap spray so im arguing with the dealer that sold this to me might get lucky and get it done for free but i doubt it )
-new radiator
-new coolant tubes/hoses all round
-head gasket replacement
-new timing belt
-new alternator belt (auxillary drivebelt)
-replaced alternator with one from scrappy and new brushbox
-2 new tyres (conti 195/45/14")
-a gearbox mount support thingy (don´t know what they´re called)
-new brake pads on the drums
-brake fluid change
-2 coolant flushes and the water is still kinda dirty
-gearbox seals changed on both sides (was leaking)
-gearbox oil changed (started making a crackling, crunching sound after the oil change while driving in 2nd and 3rd so gotta take it back to the garage so they can see whats wrong with it)
-new bosch plugs
-a section of the exhaust pipe got welded (temp fix cause it´s rotting away)
-new battery

So basically it´s sucking me dry every chance it gets and i still have a whole bunch of other stuff i have to sort and this is just getting it standard and running properly cause then theres a whole bunch of stuff i´d like to do but that list is always getting put off cause i´m always fixing her! and this is the list of stuff i still have to fix just to make her standard (the only mods it has is the mckcrich chip i got 2 weeks ago and rear debadging!)

-fix 2 minor dents in the front passenger wing
-respray
-shox all round
-change bushes all round
-all the wheel bolts are in bad shape either rusted or getting there so need to be changed
-refurb alloys
-front passanger headlight needs to be replaced the supports inside are broken so it just points to the floor.
-new front brake pads
-2 new front tyres
-Need to replace both rear lights due to moisture getting in
-new boot carpet
-new seat belts (they´re both frayed and can´t pull themselves back up)
-change the window rubber/weather seals on both sides
-fix passenger door lock
-new exhaust line
-get window scratches removed

Thats just the stuff i can remember so i wanna know do i just keep fixing it and maybe it will just stop giving me problems eventually and i might get on with my list of mods? or do i just get rid of it and cut my losses? If i´m lucky i might get enough cash for it to cover what i still have left too pay for it.. I was hoping of getting tricker tb and an induction kit and i might be happier with performance since i´m all ready bored with it performance wise but i just never get the chance to buy them since i´m always fixing other crap

I was also thincking if i got rid of it and bought another second hand car but don´t even know whats worthwhile or not so i´d like and opinion on another second hand car (if your option was to get rid of it) it would have to be from around 2002/03 (don´t want anything to old so i don´t have as much problems as i had with the sei).

Firstly the car would have to be Reliable!, good looking, cheap!, and fast in that order, reliability being the big one and did i mention it has to be reliable?

 

[jug]

sell it to some mug for as much as possible.

then what you get next is up to you, just make sure you get a good example of what ever you buy. any car can have problems, when buying you need the help of someone who knows what they're doing if you want to make sure you get a good one.

 

[chaos]

Buy on condition, not age - just because it's from 2003 doesn't make it any more reliable than something from 1998.

 

[Renegade_8]

Sell it, it's a low value car so even after pouring a fortune in and getting it right it's going to have very little value. I never buy from dealers, IMHO all they do is mark the car up by a grand and then say it's not covered when anything goes wrong. Another tip, never use the MAA arbitration service (not sure it's still offered) I did years ago and although I won it took so long it was not worth it. There is legisaltion now where you can use the small claims for up to 6 months. Jug is spot on, get advice before you buy the next one, it is possible to get cars for change that run great for years, I've done it.

 

[Mr.Steps]

I know it´s low value car that´s how i´m sure that if i sold it at this momenti wouldn´t een be able to pay off wat i owe and i have already dropped about 2000€ on the car so i´d be losing alot but i guess that´s the price i might have to pay for my sanity... Or i could get lucky and get the respray for free gonna find that out on monday....

 

[Mr.Steps]

Just found out today nobody wants to consider themselves responsible cause the painter says he did what he was asked to do and the dealer says that the gaurantee is up so they won´t do anything about it either so i get the short end of the stick yet again

If i got the respray done for free might of been worthwhile selling it with the fresh paint now theres no chance of getting some cash for the sei and i went to some other dealers and they give me next to nothing for it so i´m sad

 

[jug]

bad luck

this car will be an expensive mistake, but i'm sure you wont be making similar mistakes in future.

 

[Renegade_8]

Just found out today nobody wants to consider themselves responsible cause the painter says he did what he was asked to do and the dealer says that the gaurantee is up so they won´t do anything about it either so i get the short end of the stick yet again
(

The painter is fair comment, you have no contract with him, he was paid by the previuos owner and thats now history. Also the law says pre-existing faults for 6 months and up to the dealer to prove they were not pre-existing so again after 18 months you have no comeback. I bet the car would suck up another £1k to be usuable and 2K to be smart. Not sure what you paid but remember cars are expensive, drive a 30K top of the range high deprecition car out of the showroom and you have just blown £10K. Seis seem to make between 500 and 1K on e-bay from memory. So now you know what 18 months motoring has cost you, but it's still cheap compared to running a new Citroen C6:bang:

 

[Mr.Steps]

bad luck

this car will be an expensive mistake, but i'm sure you wont be making similar mistakes in future.

Got that right! I´m trying not to get too worked up about it all and when i´m calmer i´ll thinck it through and make a decision.

 

[alexGS]

Got that right! I´m trying not to get too worked up about it all and when i´m calmer i´ll thinck it through and make a decision.

Yep - fix it yourself would be my advice.
Touch-in the areas where the paint is flaking - just use a brush and some matched paint - can be fine-sanded and polished to make it less obvious.

Remove the wheelbolts, sand with wet'n'dry 400grit, spray with silver paint. Lasts plenty long enough and the rust is strictly superficial anyway.

See if the headlight reflector can be fixed in place with hot-melt glue. Perhaps the lens can be removed - this will make repairing it much easier - or in the worst case fit a second-hand headlight.

Take out the rear light units, dry out with a hairdrier, smear some silicone around the top edge behind the lens to reduce the chance of water getting in.

Fix a few of the other noticeable things (put in good second-hand seatbelts, etc.) but don't replace the shocks or bushes (assuming the car still passes roadworthiness checks) or repair small dents, etc. that a learner-driver would not care about. Definitely don't pay for any 'performance' mods which will only get you slight gains anyway... relative to buying a more powerful car in the first place

With practice you should be able to get a feel for how to fix things on the cheap - seems that you have been spending top dollar to try and fix everything 'properly' when a cheaper fix will do.

Then sell at market value (or basically as much as you can get) and make a wiser choice for your next car Maybe a Punto Mk1 GT... or basically whatever is available in your price range and gives the kind of 'project car' you are after.

-Alex

 

[Mr.Steps]

Thancks for the good advice alex gonna get to doing some of that done... When you know how to do it, it all seems simpler afterwards

 

[JjPhoenix]

start again!