[Rover_Mad]

I have seen a 220 GTi turbo for sale. I have been trying to find out how much they are worth on the internet, but have been unsucessful so far which brings me here. I am fairly certain it is advertised at a suitable price, but wanted other peoples ideas.

It is highish mileage, and does have the normal 200 rust for cars of that age, but otherwise looks neat.

How much do you reckon? Oh and the other thing, I have been told they are extremely rare is that true?

Coupes seem to be advertised at £1000+, is it fair to compare them against coupe prices?

Cheers for anyone who can help.


PS:- I hope no-one minded me asking for some information on my first post, I am going to have a browse around and contribute.

 

[empsburna]

£700-£800 depending on condition

 

[Nick Birse]

I have seen a 220 GTi turbo for sale. I have been trying to find out how much they are worth on the internet, but have been unsucessful so far which brings me here. I am fairly certain it is advertised at a suitable price, but wanted other peoples ideas.

It is highish mileage, and does have the normal 200 rust for cars of that age, but otherwise looks neat.

How much do you reckon? Oh and the other thing, I have been told they are extremely rare is that true?

Coupes seem to be advertised at £1000+, is it fair to compare them against coupe prices?

Cheers for anyone who can help.


PS:- I hope no-one minded me asking for some information on my first post, I am going to have a browse around and contribute.

If you could supply details of mileage, age and condition, that would be a big help.

There's no way you should be comparing the 220GTi with the Coupe, the Coupe is a much more desirable beast, and it also stayed in production a few years longer than the 220GTi, so again, prices can reflect much later models.

The 3dr 220GTi is quite a rare model, but it was totally outdone by it's big brother the 220 Coupe and most customers went for the Coupe as opposed to the hatchback. Sadly, it's rare because it was simply unpopular when new and somewhat unknown these days.

If your happy enough not to have the Coupe, then it'll be a cracking buy, the build quality is up to Honda standards, the mechanicals are better than anything Honda offered at the time, the M/T Series engine as fitted is an extremly strong engine which is capable of exceptionally high mileages (250,000 miles +) and with some new pistons and such, can produce 500hp. +.

Rust isn't a massive problem and can be dealt with quite easily, they don't suffer anything like the same problems as the old Metro/Maestro/Montego/800 familys did, and it's mainly damaged/chipped paint causing rust and not defective paint, so the usual practice of looking for and repairing chips and scratches, keeping the wheel arches and sills clean and using a little Waxoyl will keep rust totally at bay.

 

[Rover_Mad]

Cheers for the input.

It has around 138k on it, the engine apparently hasn't been played with. It doesn't seem much now if you say they can do 250,000 miles fairly easily.

Some rust at the bottom of the rear wheelarch where it meets the sill, and some around the windscreen area. Otherwise general condition seems good. It is 1992/1993 model I think. Oh and some rust on the pillar where the door opens, looks like a seatbelt may have been caught at some point?

Shame they weren't too popular at the time, as it looks a cracking hot hatch.

I have been looking on autotrader and normal GTi and GSi seem to be fetching between 500-800 dependant on condition. Is the turbo version not worth more then?

 

[Nick Birse]

Cheers for the input.

It has around 138k on it, the engine apparently hasn't been played with. It doesn't seem much now if you say they can do 250,000 miles fairly easily.

Some rust at the bottom of the rear wheelarch where it meets the sill, and some around the windscreen area. Otherwise general condition seems good. It is 1992/1993 model I think. Oh and some rust on the pillar where the door opens, looks like a seatbelt may have been caught at some point?

Shame they weren't too popular at the time, as it looks a cracking hot hatch.

Rust at the bottom of the wheelarch where it meets the sill is a common problem, can be an MoT failure though, but it's a cheapish repair and should only take a day for a decent auto welder to sort for you.

I'd go along with emps above, around £700-£800, sounds like a good price, and where else are you going to get a 30mpg 200hp 150mph car for that kind of money ??

 

[Rover_Mad]

Thanks, it is advertised for more than that, £1175. So looks like I have a decision to make. :dunno:

 

[Rover_Mad]

I was speaking to someone else, and they haven't seen one for sale in over 6 months?!

Anyone else seen one?

 

[empsburna]

it would have to be mint for me to part with that much for one, although it is peanuts for what you get! shame really

 

[MGJohn]

It has around 138k on it, the engine apparently hasn't been played with. It doesn't seem much now if you say they can do 250,000 miles fairly easily.

They will do that kind of mileage on all originals but, ONLY if they've been well maintained correctly and not abused. Sadly, aged low value cars (of most volume production marques) do get abused and negelected. So you'll be very wise to look for signs of a well cared for motor otherwise it could be on it's last legs after 138,000.

Shame they weren't too popular at the time, as it looks a cracking hot hatch.

That is so very true of that model and a number of others in the MG and Rover range.

Finally, not all Metros, Maestros and Montegos were/are terminal rust buckets. My evidence.? .. the finest available.

If you do decide to go for it, only do so when you've thoroughly looked it over AND taken it for a decent drive .. at least 20 miles and don't go mad in it - that's what timewasting test pilots do. If you're told >>Not much petrol in it mate<< offer to put a fiver's worth in it .... It could be the best fiver you ever spent irrespective of whether you buy or not. Even if you find evidence that the car is not a nice as you'd like, provided it's not too serious, use those negatives to negotiate a more realistic (i.e. lower) sale price. Rare is no guarantee of higher value ... good condition is more likely to be.

P.S. One of my son's friends is interested in a similar car. From what I've seen so far on this thread, it could be the same one. His problem will be insurance on account of age ...

 

[Rover_Mad]

Cheers for the comments, can I have some advice on what I should be looking for with the mechanicals, in terms of general t series problems? I know to look for the general stuff like blue smoke but anything specific to these engines?

Is 20miles necessary, or is likely to highlight problems on a turbo engine that wouldn't necessarily be spotted over 2 to 3 miles?

 

[MGJohn]

Cheers for the comments, can I have some advice on what I should be looking for with the mechanicals, in terms of general t series problems? I know to look for the general stuff like blue smoke but anything specific to these engines?

Is 20miles necessary, or is likely to highlight problems on a turbo engine that wouldn't necessarily be spotted over 2 to 3 miles?

Check all the things you'd check on any engine.

Any T or M series will not be fully warmed up after a mere 2-3 miles. Search here and over on Rovertech.net for what to look for. In a nutshell, look for condition of oil... and oil filter. Filthy stuff or reasonably clean and clear indicating care and recent change. Above all check condition and level of coolant in expansion chamber. Coolant should be reasonably clear of any dirty colour and ideally, a nice yellow or green colour indicating healthy cooling system with correct 50-50 anti-freeze mix. After than good run (minimum ten miles in my opinion...) switch off engine and look at it again. After about ten minutes, squeeze top hose and note if it's rigid (use gloves as it will be hot) or has some give. Rigid could indicate an overpressurised cooling system which could mean anything from damaged cylinder head gasket or worse like cracked head or block.

Then a final check I always do with any engine of a used car I'm considering buying. SLOWLY undo (not remove) the filler cap on the plastic coolant expansion bottle ten minutes after switching off following that ten mile minimum run. In a healthy engine, you should hear a gentle 'hiss' or 'shuuush' as NORMAL pressure is released from the cooling system. DON'T remove the filler cap completely during this test. Anything more vigorous than a gentle hiss could be bad news. What you don't want to see is lots of coolant forced from underthe cap....So wear stout gloves just in case the engine has a bad case of coolant over-pressurisation - which could expel still hot coolant underpresssure which can be dangerous. If you don't feel confident about doing this coolant test for pressure excess, take along someone who knows what to look for.

Any road up - good luck.