When buying a new car

[SAV_117]

just wondering when your ringing someone asking about a car what exactly do you ask..

and when your looking at the car what do you look for?

[Vee-ard]

check for the small details, if the persons loved and looked after the car, you can tell.

start the car, should be easy, check for white smoke out the exhaust when you first start it. check under the oil filler cap, make sure there is no white gunk. pop the radiator cap off and check for oil on the surface. with auto cars, trans oil should be a happy red color, not brown or smell burnt. Put the handbrake on and cycle through all the gears, they should engage quickly and without noise or hesitation. It should idle quietly, but a very slight ticking is ok. When applying the throttle, there shouldnt be any lag, and check that it revs freely without hitting the redline and pissing the owner off.

If there is a fairly large difference between the tread on the rear wheels and the front wheels, not sayings its been doing burnouts, but may have seen a bit of thrashing.

Do a figure eight on the test drive in an empty car park if you can, this will check wheel bearings and CV joints.

If it looks too good to be true, it is.

[Troy711]

Ask if it pulls doubles or singles. If they answer either way you know they have been doing burn outs in it

[Ozzie]

I'd rather a car that gets a little throttle now and then, than one owned and driven by a granny.

When you want power it will be there without blowing something.

[TrikkBen]

Really, Your best bet is to use your ears, Listen very carefully to everything, As Vee-Ard said it should not be making any weird noises at all, listen closely you will hear an injector tick but thats all. When you drive it, use the gears and make should the car feels good through all the gears and doesn't hesitate to shift. Go full lock with the steering, should go all the way around and stop with out any real effort.

As someone above said, You can ussually tell if someone has loved the car. Notice how they speak about it etc.
I would definately check the Fluids and caps as metioned before.

Also if there is a hill around, use it, drive up it slowly and accelerate moderately and listen shouldn't have a problem and should kick down gears.

Ben

[ashbox]

I'd rather a car that gets a little throttle now and then, than one owned and driven by a granny.

When you want power it will be there without blowing something.

i know someone who had this happened, he blew the trans.

check for service history.

take a flexable magnet and put it on random metal surfaces, if it sticks good if it don't there is bog.

[VN_chris]

Ask if it pulls doubles or singles. If they answer either way you know they have been doing burn outs in it

Thats so true, i went to look at a VL last week and durning the test drive i asked the owner "hay mate does this thing pull doubles or singles? and he said "doubles man thats all it pulls"

I gave it a miss.

[SAV_117]

thanks for that fellas wat should i ask over the phone though?

[Static89]

Service history, anything been replaced, anything been pulled out and rebuilt, that sort of thing.

[VL_5SPEED]

Ask him how fast hes gotten it.