Repair old C5 or buy new one?

[MarkyP]

Hi,

I have a 51 plate C5 2.0 HDi. It's done 160,000 miles now, bought it at 100,000 miles 18 months ago for £1200 (I do a lot of mileage). It's been a little diamond with very little being spent on it apart from servicing, brakes, alernator belt and drop links, and flew through the MOT back in April. Now it's getting close to needing a new cam belt (last one was done at 70,000) and a couple of spheres need replacing, 'anti pollution fault' on the display (though runs fine) & minor wear to steering rack. I can't decide whether it's worth getting the jobs done or getting another used one. I've seen a lovely C5 at a garage near me for £1495 that is a 05 plate, new shape 2.0 hdi VTR & 113,000 miles. Only problem with that one is it only has part service history and no record of having cam belt done. So, what do you reckon? Get the old one fixed or risk this new one? TIA.

[Mandrake]

Are you planning to do some of the work yourself or get it all done at a garage ? That can be a big deciding factor as a timing belt change is labour intensive but not that expensive parts wise, certainly for a simple (single cam ?) engine like that. Do it yourself and it wouldn't cost much at all.

If the car has given you no real trouble, just used up consumables and its largely maintenance items like timing belt that are due and not faults I would be inclined to keep it - any time you buy a second hand car you are rolling the dice and buying someone else's problems, problems that you may not discover until some time later. You could end up swapping a diamond in the rough for a real turd.

How is the general condition of the car - does it still seem solid or are bits starting to wear and break ?

Yours may be higher mileage than the one you're considering but if you've done 60k in less than two years then the non consumable non mileage related aspects of the car like body rust and so on may be just as good or better than the lower mileage one, because 18 months ago yours had done less mileage.

The 2.0HDi engine is also renowned for doing very high mileages with very little trouble.

If you don't have concrete proof of the timing belt being done on the other car then you're going to have to do the timing belt anyway, and take on board any other problems that car may need sorting. Sometimes better the devil you know...

[citroenxm]

Apparently the 2.0 16v hdi cam belts are 150k intervals which to me is stupid. Also the 2.0 16v is 6 speed manual and related to the older 2.0 8v engine and rather longer lived and 138bhp to boot too rather then 110..

If its the face lift s2 also identified by the c4 type front head lights they are an improved car and me id change to one. Make sure though at 114k it should of had a new clutch. Release bearings seem to fail but rare..

[MarkyP]

Are you planning to do some of the work yourself or get it all done at a garage ? That can be a big deciding factor as a timing belt change is labour intensive but not that expensive parts wise, certainly for a simple (single cam ?) engine like that. Do it yourself and it wouldn't cost much at all.

It would have to be a garage job. Not confident to do it myself.

If the car has given you no real trouble, just used up consumables and its largely maintenance items like timing belt that are due and not faults I would be inclined to keep it - any time you buy a second hand car you are rolling the dice and buying someone else's problems, problems that you may not discover until some time later. You could end up swapping a diamond in the rough for a real turd.

That was mt worry.

How is the general condition of the car - does it still seem solid or are bits starting to wear and break ?

Looks very tidy. Just a few minor stone chips on the paintwork and door handles look well used, but so do the ones on my car. Engine sounds sweet but then so does mine.

Yours may be higher mileage than the one you're considering but if you've done 60k in less than two years then the non consumable non mileage related aspects of the car like body rust and so on may be just as good or better than the lower mileage one, because 18 months ago yours had done less mileage.

True.

The 2.0HDi engine is also renowned for doing very high mileages with very little trouble.

If you don't have concrete proof of the timing belt being done on the other car then you're going to have to do the timing belt anyway, and take on board any other problems that car may need sorting. Sometimes better the devil you know...

That's what I was thinking. I shouldn't need a cambelt for maybe a couple of months. so I have time to ponder. And MOT ain't due for a while.