‘I’m a used car expert – avoid these two cheap but | Tech News

A well-liked motoring persona has taken to YouTube to warn used car consumers towards selecting two fashions that might include sudden and costly faults.

Grant runs the YouTube channel Scottish Car Clan and frequently creates videos wherein he offers advice to viewers trying to get behind the wheel of an inexpensive used car that’s unlikely to require too many journeys to a mechanic.

In a current video, Grant took a take a look at a vary of pre-owned fashions broadly out there for much less than £6,000, warning drivers to avoid the earlier era Vauxhall Corsa fitted with a 1.4-litre petrol.

He defined: “As with many a Vauxhall, I think they’re very good-looking cars but I can hear that timing chain rattling from here. Personally, this wouldn’t be my choice. These are known for stretching chains and also the tensioners breaking up.

“You’ll generally discover that, whenever you take the sump off, there’s a pretty little shock for a lot of a mechanic. I believe you could possibly do higher than the fourth-era 1.4 Corsa.”

Whilst the Vauxhall Corsa has always been a particularly popular choice on the new and used market since the original launched in 1993, Grant warned that motorists could encounter issues with fourth-generation examples (known as the Corsa E), particularly if it has a high mileage.

This is because the timing chains used by the model’s family of engines can stretch over time if it has not been properly maintained. This could result in a number of issues, including oil starvation.

As a result, drivers interested in buying a used fourth-generation Vauxhall Corsa should try to find a low-mileage example with a full service history and listen closely for a rattling noise when the engine is cold.

Later in the video, Grant also urged drivers to be careful around models with some variants of the Volkswagen Group TDI diesel engine, which uses a wet belt to drive the oil pump.

He added: “This is a pretty SEAT Leon, but this is a shock for you: this little 1.6 diesel that is used in every single place has a moist belt. It’s not the timing belt, just like the Ford 1.0 EcoBoost or the previous Peugeot 1.2 PureTech, but the belt that drives the oil pump – it is a rubber belt that’s submerged in oil.

“Now, it’s nowhere near as unreliable as a setup that uses a wet timing belt, this could be where they got the idea to use a wet timing belt from. It’s not under nearly as much strain, but as the miles do start to creep up, you do see these belts start to fray and break apart. Then you end up in a similar situation to a wet timing belt.”

Whilst Grant reassured viewers that this engine is just not as susceptible to points as options that use a moist timing belt, the motoring expert nonetheless warned that it may fail over time with out correct upkeep.

Typically designed to improve effectivity and scale back the dimensions of the engine, moist belts are designed to run within the sump. Most producers declare that these belts can nonetheless final for up to 10 years; nevertheless, some homeowners have discovered that the recent oil causes the rubber to deteriorate – clogging up the oil pickup traces and, in excessive circumstances, snapping.

Much just like the Corsa, Grant instructed that drivers with their coronary heart set on a model that makes use of this engine, together with the second-era SEAT Leon, Skoda Superb, and sixth-era Volkswagen Golf discover an instance that has a low mileage and full service historical past.