Hi, another cracking video! WIth the Polo, personally I think that get it safe and roadworthy, mot etc, ignore the paint, then auction it like the taxi. There is going to be hundreds (if not more) of parents that want to help their teenagers get their first car, paint won t be an issue as for sure a first timer is going scrape a hedge, car park bollard or even their own parents car parked on their driveway! (That's from experience!)
If I were desperately looking for a car to get me from A to B reliably and had little money to spare I would not be worrying about cosmetics. Everything cosmetically you pointed out about this car would be an after thought. Reliability would be the priority. You could have a niche market open to you,it’s not all about appearance for those that cannot afford it, but importance in genuine good mechanics. Personally my 196500 miles Zafira will never be an icon but mechanically it’s a peach. Everyone laughs but I am probably the only one in the traffic queue who outright owns my car. Apart from the necessary leave as is and see how you go. I think you will be surprised and you will have some lower income happy people also. Good Luck you are a gentleman. Cheers Steve
You have hit nail on the head. Sod the scuffs but does it work and go on working every day? If yes then great. I run a 2005 M0ndeo Zetec estate 2L petrol. Dents? Yes a few here and there. FUll MOT no advisories? YES.
I've got a 2016 focus estate 2.0 tdci and a zafira 1.6 petrol, both with over 125,000 miles on them. The zafira is still running strong never really needs repairs whilst the focus runs well but needs to be maintained a lot more carefully.
We need these cheap cars to be out there, that polo would do someone a turn if they can’t afford to spend much and desperately need a car to get to work in etc. I often see on Facebook that community carers and the like need a car £500-£1000 asap.
James ,why don't you get it mechanically fit for the road, and then run a free raffle, for anyone who can prove they work in a care home, or care in the community, in your local area, I am sure there are dozens of people who could make good use of that car. 👍
@@cornovii3012 pre pandemic you could easily get a similar run around with 6+ months of MOT at that price. Now folk are wanting that for MOT failures or utter sheds with major issues. These price increases have really punished the least well off in society who have seen a relative drop in wages along with rising costs. Some would consider a 3/4k car to be a cheap run about but to others that type of spend is completely outwith their reach without falling into a spiral of debt to then only make them struggle even more to make ends meet. You used to see say 13/14 year old Fiestas/Corsas/Clios with a full MOT for about £800 to £1000 up my way as it was a buyer's market with a plentiful supply. Hopefully this 'big reset' in the used car market will subside over time so that car ownership is a necessity rather than a luxury for the poorest in society.
Good base to do a cheap makeover. Use scrapyard for parts and get it MOTd. You'll be surprised how long they can run. My son bought a W reg 1.4 off eBay in 2014 for £375, ran it around Europe and dumped it with us a year later saying scrap it. 2023 and it is still going and being used by my wife.😉
There is always someone that needs a cheap runner, could be a life line for someone, clean it up, mot it, sort the wheels out and sell it to someone that needs wheels to exist! Especially here in North Devon where there are no buses.
James, why don't you get it mechanically fit for the road , and then run a free raffle, for anyone who can prove they work in a care home, or care in the community, in your local area, I am sure there are dozens of people who could make good use of that car. 👍
Being a fan of the project cars which used to feature in Car Mechanics magazine back in the 1990s and 2000s, many of which were pretty horrible when first introduced, it would be fun to see the car given a makeover, including DIY paintwork on the bonnet and roof. Even if you just got it MOT'd, re-sprung and thoroughly cleaned, I reckon that it would be a pretty good car to raffle off. Alternatively, it would make a great first or second car for someone.
Make the Polo safe and MOT'd and that's all. I wouldn't mind scabby paint where you're going to be scraping hedges with it anyway. If you really want to splash out, maybe empty that ashtray.
These old cars are what we love with. Due to me not able to work ( busted spine and no I don't get pip ) and my wife a senior carer we can only afford cheapies and to be honest we love them. I do the bits and pieces on it and we normally get four or five years out of them. They are an important part of the car scene. 😁👍
The full restoration on a tight budget is the most interesting content, but if you just want to make money then wheel trims, full mop, 2 new tyres on the rear and complete service with safely check over and a MOT is the way to go
I’d do bare minimum to get it roadworthy and pass an MOT, keep the patination, and stick some old roof bars on it for some surfboards. Perfect little car for surfboards, doesn’t matter if it gets damaged and covered in salt water!
If time allowed, I think it would be cool to see a full makeover on it where you do some of the repairs and paint with your new ramp, painting kit etc. Then at the end it could potentially be raffled off
The budget car market first crashed with the first scrappage scheme. Cars in the sub £1,000 market practically disappeared overnight. And it hasn't really recovered. Nowadays, people would rather sell cheap cars to the like of Charles Trent rather than selling them to the people that can't get finance, or can't afford £3k for a budget car in todays market.
Yes! I thought I'd spied a MK3 Polo. I like these. Agree with others. Don't do the paint (unless you Harlequin it), make it safe, get it an MOT, some wheeltrims and stop there. It's a 1.4 rather than 1.0 so the more desirable one
Little polo's like this one are a solid car. Pop to your breakers 1st for bits and see what's available. You might be surprised! If you can fins a bonnet then spray the roof n wheels.
Hi James I had an X reg polo in dark green which was immaculate when I bought it and is still running ( now 86500 miles according to MOT check. ) Polo's tend to keep their value, an 09 plate can easily command £3995 in this neck of the woods ( East Scotland). I would do your usual and do a full Chops job on it and show us mere mortals what can be achieved by yourself.😊
Polos are fantastic little cars, they have very high build quality, and they are always in demand. I currently own an immaculate, full-service-history '57-plate Polo 1.2 12-valve (64bhp, BME engine) S-model, in a very popular Polo colour called Retail Black Pearl. I used to own a 6N2 like this one, and I would still own it if it wasn't written off. People are always happy to pay a bit more for good ones, so there will always be good money in them for a long time to come. The high-quality VAG paintwork would polish up well.
Engine seems ok apart from the sensor and there's no significant rust on the body. Do the essential repairs, get fresh mot and sell as a runner for £995 as long as that covers costs. Don't worry about dents and paint.
Yep, would like to see the Polo as a project car. 12 months MOT and the Chops Magic with the valet prep and detailing (without being silly) would make a great video. Perhaps keep and use as a customer courtesy car?🤔👍
I've got an on line scrap buyer picking a car up today, bid 280 so there's a wage in the polo at least, loads of people would take a polo on like that as is and sort it themselves, quick advert is all it needs.
James, my sister bought one of those Polos brand new back in '97, kept it for three years then my Mum had it until 2020. She kept it with no expense spared and it still only had about 52k on it but the underside was completely rotten. That car is now roughly the same age as my Mum's one was so I'd check the underside before committing to any expenditure.
Engine only, I have always asked a dealer when I have had to buy cars, "would you be happy your daughter driving this car", most people, unless they have lots of money nowadays,Just worry about mechanics, and reliability, not body work IMHO , Keep up the great work x
I bought my lad a £500 Corsa to learn to drive in , that was rough but we got it to pass an MOT and he learned to drive in it then 3 moths after he passed his test he bought a car he wanted. I sold it for £200 . It never failed us and had 130 k miles on it . That polo could do its last life as a learner car .
If you use your gun mate, full width fan, six inches away, paint in steps with an overlap, 50,50 mix on base coat, clear 2 to 1 hardener splash of thinners, good quality clear makes an easy job, if you get a run, bury it in clear then you've got plenty of meat on it to flat out, back in the day a guy I knew would paint 2 cars at once, running thru the middle, a gun in each hand, apologies if you already knew the above, gun pressure about 29 psi, get a regulator on the gun, you've got to have the bottle to paint to a finish, just before it runs, if you waft about it'll be dull.
@@markwills145bought a Eunos Roaster back in 2000 with Teddy Bear alloys, had them changed on my way home from buying it so no one who knew me would see me with them. Sold them for £200!
The Polo is 20 years old. It isn't worth going to the hassle of painting parts of it. For the money you'd be selling it at (£400 to £500 tops?) you can't be throwing too much time at it. A quick clean-up and make-over, paint the wheels, a quick check over for safety, and off she goes.....
I would tidy the wheels and replace tires that are low/perished. Throw a bucket of soapy water and a quick polish to try and clean up the handprints/ some of the scratches and give the interior a clean. Then make sure mechanically it’s sound and sell it on cheap!!
Sod the paint, do the mechanicals fresh mot and a good buffing. perfect runabout , great for pizza delivery work. Heck my daughter would love that ( free up more money for the insurance)
Honestly, sell it off to a trader or someone who wants a project, it's a high mileage and very neglected 6n2 polo, they're usually really rusty, have lots of little problems and are usually run on a shoe string , it's not a classic or a desirable gti, classic mk1 polo or a genesis or g40 coup etc. so tbh get shot of it n don't waste any time
Hi James - when you asked about comments on the price, I said 995 - 1500 (w/o to with paint), so we’re in the same ballpark - personally I would ‘use’ her to get some practice in on your spray painting (and you get to use the toys!) to add another feather to your cap, but only after you’ve got the main retail stuff done (I’d bet she’d look well beyond the 1500 ‘cap’ after, as well) - this would be a perfect “Student Car”, and there’s always a bum for every seat, once she looks pretty enough to go to the Ball - Resto would make interesting content too! Keep ‘em comin’ JCHK
My bread and butter cars like these at this price point people arnt bothered about cosmetic they just want it to be safe and work chunk a test on it don’t bother about advisories £995 and just make sure that the people are aware that warranty is extremely minimal basically as long as it starts and drives it’s not covered
Some news I'm hearing from the U.S on car prices , during covid the lack of new cars forced up the price of used cars now there's over capacity of new cars and there slashing prices to try and shift them .Used cars are beginning to come down in price to , the same may happen in the U.K.
Likely stuck open EGR valve, pretty common on the '00s VAG petrols. Not too tricky or expensive to fix. Or take it off and try to clean it up and free it off it's not been allowed to get too bad. Surely don't bother with the paintwork? Maybe tart it up as best as you can but don't go spending a day or £400 perfecting it. Those 6N polos are actually quite desirable so it's well worth a go. Stick it in for an MOT, get it safe, make it as presentable as possible as cheaply as possible and see £1295 out of it? Maybe £1495 at a push if you get it looking really nice?
It seems like the Polo would be a good test car for your spray equipment, if it fails no loss instead of testing on a car that you can make good money on and risk failure and loss on that. Better than buying just scrap panels to test spay onto even if it is condemned at an MOT.
I've had some like this and fully matt blacked them with 3 or 4 cans, people have liked it, tbh to hone your skill I'd do a one day re spray, we'd do that at the body shop, cheap one day paint, quick da round, filler, primer, or not, mask, base and lacquer, cost you like 40 quid,
When looking for cheap cars I'm not put off by scruffy bodywork but I do my best to find a good MoT history and the best car for the budget I have set. I can't then afford to be too choosy about makes and models. Overall I tend to be more wary of age than mileage - but only up to a point. Anything really old could be hard to get spares for - if it's not a very popular model like a Golf or Polo. From looking at used motorbikes, I see one local dealer in my home town sells "unfit for road use" "trade-ins" at £1500 and then everything it is prepared to guarantee to road use is more expensive than that.
thankyou James,,,im on the fence with this one,,great content for us,but for you its time and cost, first off id put it in for an mot after a good clean up first and see if the cost of replacing/repairing and sourcing the parts 2nd hand/new, as to whether its worth going for it once you know the mot results,👍👍
EGR Valve is toast - don't bother with the chinese ones - you need a new genuine Pierburg one - been there, done that wasted £££. Also you need to relearn (basic settings / adaptations in VCDS) the EGR (and also remove and clean the flybywire throttle and relearn that too)
My first thought was, for what you paid for the Polo, play with it as you suggested. Try out the spray gun, clean it up, and see how it turns out. But, reading other comments, MOT it and sell it cheap.
On a Persoanl note, I would mop polish the car give it the mother of all cleans and it would make a decent budget car! Theee polos especially the 1.4 engines are brilliant little cars. I’d buy it just to use to go shopping or commute to work 👍
it should be sold as is for about £100 profit for the new owner to repair themselves as cheaply as possible ie front strut, battery, wheel and tyre, egr valve from a breakers yard then they could end up with reliable transport with a years mot for under £500. but this wont happen as hardly anyone, particularly young people work on their own cars anymore and dealers are too scared to sell vehicles like this now.
Got a high miles micra at auction the other day, 350 bid so 425 thats basically the entry price, we're scrapping a corsa and have been bid 278,again thats like the base line these days, most bangers start at ssy 700 now at auction, that's 850 with trade fees, tbh there's not many either maybe 3 or 4 out of 300.
I sold my Porsche and i refuse to buy another used car at the prices they are, its beyond a Rip off!!!! 2016 /17 cars are between 3500 and 5000 over priced!!! Keep up the good vids.
Its a high mileage polo the engine will probably go pop all of a sudden they seem to di that as my brother found out halfway through a 60 mile journey One morning, use it for spare parts or a track car or just a tractor for call outs,
Phone a local scrap yard and see what they will offer you. You might make £50 over the purchase price without having to do anything at all and no comebacks to worry about. I can't see how you can make sensible money from this Polo if you factor in your man hours.
When checking tyres on older cars you need to be aware of their age, as well as the amount of tread. Looks like a good candidate for trying out your spray gun along with a instructional video😊
Don’t bother with any painting. Give it a clean inside and out, get it through an MOT, (don’t spend more than £200) then sell ‘as seen’ for £5-600. I’d buy it.
Yes use it as a test car to practice using your new tools. if its not perfect it doesn't matter. It will still look better than it did. And make great content.
Cheap cars are rare because people kid themselves into thinking their knackered old, no MOT, junker is worth a grand+ where it would have been £300 or less not very long ago. Really annoys me because at that price point, the suspension usually needs work, new tires, new brakes etc.
No breakers near you selling brand new secondhand batteries (as Rob on SRUK often says)? Quite like Polos of this era - neat styling and one of those cars you used to see loads of and then all disappear. Future small classic/FOTU candidate. Like the idea of a raffle - not really a retail prospect. Suspect the chassis is rusty if it's anything like her indoors' similar X reg Seat Ibiza when sold years ago. Anyone got a set of original wheel trims?
James!! As a watcher of your channel since practically the beginning, I personally would love to see you go back to basics and sprinkle some love on this little motor! Give it a cool respray and in the process grow your pdr skills, then you won't have to rely as much on Davey! A nice set of alloys or wheel trims? This little car's future is at your mercy, you know it makes sense..🥹
Get the car mechanical sound with with secondhand parts sourced from your viewers, with the aim of getting an advisory free mot, then a deep clean, and only use paint you have left over from other jobs. Someone out there will need a cheep car that not junk.
As a few others have said, I'd do the full Chops Garage on it and it will take longer but hopefully go to someone specifically looking for a very tidy polo on a budget, stick it up for £1850 - IMO this is the last of the best shaped polo, these are well loved VW's
Sell 'out the door' around £600 - spend no more that £200 ... assuming no major faults found, make clear it has a gateway guarantee ( I know - that ol 'fit for purpose' negates such a guarantee)
Scrap it or use it for your spray gun practice & then scrap it or just tidy the wheels, mop it, interior & get it through an MOT & sell it as a clearance as might suit a learner to practice in.
James love seeing the cheapies on the channel and it would be interesting to see how good you could make the Polo, understand its probably not viable from a business point of view to spend loads of money and time on it though. In saying that though you have that new spray gun to try out, a ramp now and are a wizard with the mech. polisher. Interested to see as well how you deal with the paint lacquer issue.
Great idea to try your gun mate, tbh if you can pick it up that's worth 1000s to you, paints made me 1000s upon 1000s as most cars need it, roof, light da down and maybe just clear, bonnet, good da down, thick primer to fill in, base coat, then clear, obviously as a car it's a waste (ish) of time, but for your skills price less, test it up, paint, spring and it's a grand over there, by the way, that codes egr, clue is in the reading, exhaust gas recurculation, egr, ha, ha, o2 would say o2 sensor.
I had the same car but an Auto box version paid £300 for it in 2014 lol it lasted me well no issues at all , only sold it because of the embarrassment it was awful to drive and the ride quality was non existent lol
sell it a cost to the chap that comes in and helps weekends and let him fix it / paint play and make a touch of profit on it. Will give good story but less hassle for you. Value £1100 to £1450 once up and nice (note the cheap one is in Stockton- cheap NE of England)
