General What do you think your b is worth?

[LittleRedB]

Back in the summer when I was looking for a mk1 b I spent about 8 weeks scouring the UK for the 'right' b for the 'right' price. I looked at somewhere in the region of 10+ b's varying from about £1950 to about £5000 and I noticed that the price did not always reflect the condition/mileage.

Well, I am in the process of helping a chap track down and buy a b and am finding the same thing again, admittedly we have only physically looked at one car so far but have been scouring the Autotrader and Exchange and Mart for weeks and the prices vary wildly!

The car we viewed was described as 'pristine' but far from it (although it had been polished), it needed a downpipe, centre and rear exhaust section, front of the car was covered in stone chips, it had a cracked cam cover and was 'damp' with oil on both sides of the engine, there were a few other bits that needed attention but I would not have valued the car at much over 2.5-3k (at best).

I paid 2.9k for LRB in May, she had fsh, 57k at the time, leather, alloys, front fog's, 5 month old mohair hood and was in very clean condition - I think I had a bargain 'cos they were in a rush to get rid of her to make room in the garage for their new SLK. At the time I was looking I saw cars for 3.5-4.2k in much worse condition......

My question is how much did you pay for yours and what condition is she in?

I think the following is a rough guide but am happy to be wrong (applies to MK1);

£1950 - £2500 - early car with high miles, some history - but overall shabby
£2500 - £3500 - highish miles but fair condition, service history but base models
£3500 - £4500 - lower miles, service history, good condition, comfort pack (leather etc)
£4500+ - MK1 'minter' FSH, clean and rust free, good spec etc.....

So, what do you think?

 

[neil_bb77]

Think your guide is about right. Got my 1995 N with 75k, some history, no leather but electric mirors and front fogs for £1900.
No big dents but stone chips,long scratch on front wing and a small scuff on the back. Very clean inside though and just a rear lamp in need of replacing and rusted steel wheels.

The B is a hard car to price as is pretty specialist now. If a dealer does pick one up and has no experience of them they might use the car auction price guide (CAP) which lists a 1995 N to retail at £2350 with 75k. Mine was on ebay so probably paid the right amount but have since spent £££££

 

[LittleRedB]

Sounds like you did OK with yours price-wise, I also sourced mine from eBay but did the deal outside of the web site. The guy ended the auction 5 days early if I paid the 2.9 reserve!

CAP prices are wildly out but you are 100% right about the dealers, when I was searching for mine I looked at a b in Chichester - it was obvious that the dealer had no idea what it was, he kept calling it a coupe and kept telling me how 'spritley' the little two litre was - the car was also way overpriced!

 

[jiggy]

12/96, no history really just receipts, 63,000 miles, couple of fine key scratches on one side, totally bog standard as in no electrics or alloys, i knew it needed a new exhaust and possibly variator, and er... it's green

£1800 on eBay. Thought it was an OK deal. However since had to buy a lot more than just a new exhaust!

Don't know how much it's worth now, probably not a great deal more than I paid for it. Would I sell it for that price though, no chance

One thing I've noticed is that on eBay when people are listing their Bs they make a really big deal out of having the red key and both blue keys. Thankfully I've got mine but I haven't noticed any posts from people stressing about not having theirs or even needing theirs. Do you all have yours?

 

[LittleRedB]

RED key is a must, costs about £400 to replace!! Its the master key, if you need other blue keys cutting the dealer will need the red key to do it - otherwise new ECU etc................

Oh, and sounds like you got a good deal with 1800!! When we going to see you at the ACE??

 

[jiggy]

When we going to see you at the ACE??

Hehe definitely soon m8 - I meant to turn up to that one on thurs, on my way to work. But then I got given the night off and decided to get some much earned kip instead

 

[docorangepeel]

I find it best not to talk about money when it comes to B's heheheh

 

[LittleRedB]

I find it best not to talk about money when it comes to B's heheheh

hehehe - I think yours falls outside of this discussion - yours is probably worth more in parts!!!!!

 

[OZ Seicento]

Well I was offered 6000 for my barchetta by my local dealer, thats for a face lift 2.5yr old car with less than 20k miles and they know the car:bang:, so i think i will be buying it

mark

 

[Unclechuchu]

Payed almost 12000 GBP for mine in june, so I think it's worth atleast that. Done a few things with it since: hard top, new tires, cambelt, MOT, stainless exhaust, so I think it's worth even more now. Guess the prices in Norway are a bit more expensive than in the UK.. But I don't care, I love my Bee!

How much did a new B cost in the UK in 2001? In Norway is was 28339GBP for a basic one. Guess mine was a bit more expensive with leather interior. Is aircon an option as well?

 

[Robot]

Yup - A/C's an option.

Btw., did you get the same exhaust as mine?

 

[Unclechuchu]

Yup - A/C's an option.

Btw., did you get the same exhaust as mine?

Yes, same exhaust. Should have arrived this week, but haven't heard anything. I hope the weld on my old exhaust will hold 1500km the next couple of weeks..

 

[doolahrock]

Payed almost 12000 GBP for mine in june, so I think it's worth atleast that. Done a few things with it since: hard top, new tires, cambelt, MOT, stainless exhaust, so I think it's worth even more now. Guess the prices in Norway are a bit more expensive than in the UK.. But I don't care, I love my Bee!

How much did a new B cost in the UK in 2001? In Norway is was 28339GBP for a basic one. Guess mine was a bit more expensive with leather interior. Is aircon an option as well?

Wow, that is really expensive for a new one. When the B went out of production in 2005, a new one in the UK would have been 11995 GBP. As far as I'm aware that is actually cheaper than it was before the face lift.

 

[OZ Seicento]

thats expensive, yeah when the old man bought his new in 2005 it was 12 grand, two yrs later and its worth 6grand:bang: though good for me

Mark

 

[Zem]

How much did a new B cost in the UK in 2001? In Norway is was 28339GBP for a basic one. Guess mine was a bit more expensive with leather interior. Is aircon an option as well?

Wow, that is really expensive for a new one. When the B went out of production in 2005, a new one in the UK would have been 11995 GBP. As far as I'm aware that is actually cheaper than it was before the face lift.

ooh, about half that I think.

They dropped two or three thousand off the price around 2001 The options list at the time was:-

Leather Interior
Leather steering wheel & gear knob.
Passenger airbag
Central locking & electric door mirrors
Front fog lights
Electric aerial

Apparently these were available individually in mainland europe, but came as a Comfort pack in the UK.

The Mk II was selling for about 12,000gbp new, although leather was not an option, the others in the list above were standard. And yes cheaper than it was before the facelift.

Air con and Metallic paint were always optional during prduction

 

[Unclechuchu]

Wow, that is really expensive for a new one. When the B went out of production in 2005, a new one in the UK would have been 11995 GBP. As far as I'm aware that is actually cheaper than it was before the face lift.

Wow, that's cheap! FYI, an MX-5 1,8l was about 1000GBP more expensive than a B in 2001. Most of the B's for sale in Norway is from 7000-12000GBP. It's usually in quite bad condition if it's cheaper than 7000.

 

[paulg]

I bought my 1st 'b' around August this year,it is a 2000 'W' reg with 36k miles and lots of history to support this.It is silver with black roof and leather,and has really nice alloys and nearly newP6000's all round.It has a couple of minor marks,but really looks superb,and is a very straight,clean genuine car.I have had a couple of minor problems with it,as some may have read, and paid £4000 for it.I wont give my opinion as to whether this is good or bad,as I may be wrong.It was the only b I looked at(except for all the others on the internet)and took a chance flying over to Liverpool from france,meeting the owner,driving back to Manchester,to his house,and then back to central France.It all went extremely smoothly,and I am very pleased with it,cheap or overpriced!!.Paul

 

[LittleRedB]

Local dealer to me has a virtually unmarked mk2 b with 6k miles for 9.25k GBP, but its blue...............

Still think mine was bargain of the year at 2.9k, should have paid 4-ish!!!

 

[RnRollie]

well.. mine is now about 1000 worth more, since it has been in the garage for 'maintenance' about a week ago

... with a new variator, belts, tensioner, waterpump, front brake disks and pads, fluids, bits and bolts, and ... labour

note to self: find a covered, lockable, heated place with an hydraulic lift/bridge to do some work yourself

 

[paulg]

And here it is. And it has it's own barn too.Paul