Opinions on this Surf...

[eccles291]

Following on from this thread I'm going to be looking at a Surf tomorrow. It's a '96 N-reg (which makes it a 3rd gen I believe?). It's listed as an SSR-X but has wood trim, air con, park distance control, power under mirror and I thought these were SSR-G spec items?

Anyway, it's got 105,000 miles and a service history from the owner who first had it after it was imported over here. The garage is asking £5295. How does that sound to you guys? Not got enough experience of Surfs yet although I don't think it's gonna be long til we get one!

Anything in particular we might be able to mention to try and get the price down? i.e. - typical things that need doing on a car of this age/mileage for instance?

Cheers.

[kitesurf_phil]

I would not take too much notice of spec/trim level. The Japanese like to load all the OEs. I have an SSR-X with full Winter pack, heated mirrors, sun roof etc. I am the first UK owner.


Just make sure that the dealer/vendor lets you have an unhurried test drive. If it looks good and drives right, it is the car for you. If it doesn't, walk away.

I paid a bit over the odds for my 2.4 and so far I have had 2 years and 8 months trouble free motoring...................... .so far.

[phoebelala]

Following on from this thread I'm going to be looking at a Surf tomorrow. It's a '96 N-reg (which makes it a 3rd gen I believe?). It's listed as an SSR-X but has wood trim, air con, park distance control, power under mirror and I thought these were SSR-G spec items?

Anyway, it's got 105,000 miles and a service history from the owner who first had it after it was imported over here. The garage is asking £5295. How does that sound to you guys? Not got enough experience of Surfs yet although I don't think it's gonna be long til we get one!

Anything in particular we might be able to mention to try and get the price down? i.e. - typical things that need doing on a car of this age/mileage for instance?

Cheers.

Sounds ok, price is very reasonable so long as its in good nick. mileage of 105K miles is nothing to worry about. General condition and as mentioned above "the drive" of the vehicle will tell you if its a good one. No rattles should be present in either 2nd or 3rd gen. they should drive over imperfections in the road surface with a satisfyingly solid and smooth feel. for that amount of money you can afford to be picky and ensure you get a good one.

[eccles291]

Well, the test drive was grrreat ... even if we don't get this particular car, we WILL get a Surf of some kind cos we both really liked it. The problem will be finding another one at such a good price.

This one was actually the SSR-G model although it had been advertised as an SSR-X but that wasn't the only thing they got wrong in the advert. The price was wrong too. Apparently it was supposed to be on at £5999 but was mistakenly put up at £5295 which means there's absolutely no chance of getting any movement on the price. Even at £5999 it seems a bit on the cheap side for a 3rd gen SSR-G to me but what do I know?!

The boss wasn't in when we were there but he's supposed to be getting back to us with details of the figures to work out the deal. I'm not holding my breath but it all seems a bit complicated to me. The salesman we dealt with, although perfectly pleasant, didn't seem to be consistent with his information. (Maybe it was his age, as he was probably a bus-pass holder by the look of him!). He told us the Surf is being sold on behalf of a customer which meant he couldn't take a p/ex on it but, later in the conversation, contradicted that when he told me of another 'interested party' (isn't it funny how there's always one of those when you're looking?! ) who had a car to p/ex. This person valued his car at £3500 but they were only prepared to offer him £3250 which means they were going to take a p/ex against the Surf, so summat's up. The thing is, if they really aren't prepared to take our car in p/ex then we're stuffed!

Another thing is, when I spoke to the boss on the phone the other day he said he would be willing to look at our car in p/ex. He also said there was FSH for the car from when it was imported but the salesman we dealt with couldn't find any. Apparently they've serviced it themselves at the garage where we saw it and would be able to get the service details from their records. Am I being overly cynical or is this all sounding a bit odd?!

If this one falls through for whatever reason we'll probably be limited to SSR-X cos we really want 3rd gen but can't afford the SSR-G. One question: does the 3rd gen SSR-X have the power rear under mirror fitted as standard? Or was it an optional extra? It looks like it'll be invaluable for parking.

P.S. - A Discovery is definitely off the list now.

[phoebelala]

get it bought man. it sounds ace. Don't worry about contradicting accounts from salesmen and garage owner. This happens all the time. The salesman don't give a monkeys about the car, why the hell would he know anything about it? They are mixing up info on 2 or more cars.

IT IS CHEAP. Get your car in chop and do the deal and run

The SSRX does not have the drop down mirror as standard. Of course, I would like it for novelty factor alone but I have somehow managed to reverse my surf without one fitted They are a gimmik for the Japs and of no real importance.

If it drives right and looks right BUY IT

[Apache]

I paid five and a half for my 2nd gen 2 years ago, so that sounds like a great price for a 3rd! Cheapest 3rd I saw when I was looking a couple of years ago was £6990 and it was dog rough! The paint work looked like it had been gently sandpapered, it had ugly steel wheels on it, the tyres were bald and the garage that was selling it was offering NO warranty at all.

Buy it!!!

[slowdown.harrison@gmail.c]

[

[phoebelala]

[

Can you expand on that view at all?

[s2-wolf]

If the Surf is straight and tidy, then the price is very good.
We paid nearly £10k for our 1997 SSR-X Ltd almost two years ago. It is a similar spec and mileage to the one you're looking at.
I think we paid slightly over the odds for ours because it is a "rare" black and silver one. ( why is it that the colour you like is always "rare"? )
Get any evidence of service history, cambelt change etc that you can, although at the price you could afford to get the belt changed etc.
As he is a trader, go for a warranty, but read the small print!
Ask on this forum if anyone has experience of this dealer.
Go back, have another test drive, if you still like it produce a carrier bag full of fivers, then negotiate the deal - works every time

[eccles291]

Well, the problem I feared has come around. The dealer won't give us anything remotely near what we want/need for our car. We owe £7100 on the finance deal and he's offered us £5000 for it! Apparently top price now would be just under £6k for it.

What gets me most is the depreciation. It was 4 years old when we got it 2 years ago and cost us £13k (admittedly from an official BMW dealer so price wasn't the best but peace of mind and a year's warranty were a big factor) and it's still absolutely plumetted in value!! We may as well have bought a ****ing new one for the amount of money we've lost !!!!!!!!

So, it's looks like we're stuck with a car that, although perfectly good at what it does and with no faults whatsoever isn't a whole lot of use to us, especially as we can't fit the stuff into it we need for the kids.

Looks like the Surf will have to wait for quite a while yet and we'll have to think up some way of squeezing stuff in to this car. I feel quite sick!

[david306]

Anyway, it's got 105,000 miles and a service history from the owner who first had it after it was imported over here. The garage is asking £5295. How does that sound to you guys? Not got enough experience of Surfs yet although I don't think it's gonna be long til we get one!

Cheers.

Hi, I have purchased a 95 ssrx with 57000 miles on it for £5ooo... Since yours is a 96 3rd gen i reckon its a good price... They seem to jump quite a bit between 95 and 96....

[Medieval Dave]

The bottom has really dropped out of second hand cars. Two years ago I paid 5k for a 93 2.4. OK that was a little on the high side maybe - at the time I was in a serious hurry because my old car had been written of and anyway it was low milage and mint.

two years on and I doubt if I could get 2k for it even though it is totaly solid and reliable. So ok the 3ltr I fancy would be nice and cheap, but I would have to just about give mine away. Just the way it is i'm afraid.

My plan now is to keep the 2.4 till the head goes or the wheels fall off.

[BUSHWHACKER]

hello mr dave,

do you know mr rick hawkes, battle reinactment and balloon extrodinare?

aka suzi bandit rider? ...well you know, it can be a small world sometimes!

Jo

[TJG]

If the Surf is straight and tidy, then the price is very good.
We paid nearly £10k for our 1997 SSR-X Ltd almost two years ago. It is a similar spec and mileage to the one you're looking at.
I think we paid slightly over the odds for ours because it is a "rare" black and silver one. ( why is it that the colour you like is always "rare"? )
Get any evidence of service history, cambelt change etc that you can, although at the price you could afford to get the belt changed etc.
As he is a trader, go for a warranty, but read the small print!
Ask on this forum if anyone has experience of this dealer.
Go back, have another test drive, if you still like it produce a carrier bag full of fivers, then negotiate the deal - works every time

I'm choking! I paid £10k for my 97 SSRG last year and it had 16000 miles on it. Mine is the (even rarer!! ;-) ) ice blue over silver. I was still thinking I was getting my hand in a bit deep, even though I already had £1,200 off of the screen price.

By the way to whoever it was that started this, the power rear under mirror is a great party trick but utterly useless for any practical purpose. I amuse the children in the car behind in traffic jams by "poking my tongue" out to them with it.

[Tallyman]

Colin,


Have you thought about trying to sell your Beemer privately. You'ld likely get more that trade in value for it that way. Look on Autotrader or similar websites and look at what prices similar year/spec motors are being offered at. That will at least give you an idea of what you can expect.

Is the car on HP or a personal loan? If it's on HP then you will have problems selling if you don't pay off the HP as it's strictly not yours to sell. If it's just on a personal loan, then there's no tie in to the car and you can sell it without problems.