Thinking of buying a R5

[KrisWaring]

First post!

Hey everyone im new to the forum.

My names Kris and im from up North.
Been looking at R5's for a while and im considering buying one for my second car, first was a 1997 Astra Van which Sucked.......

Im only 18 and have no NCB, ill be turning 19 soon and will be going in the RAF so it will be kept in a garage until I come home, mostly weekends.

I was thinking about the GT 5 Phase 2.

So was going to ask, what's the reliability on these like, as I hear it is about of a money pit?
And any one know any advice for getting insured on one, if all else fails just going on my mums insurance.

Thanks.
Kris.

[robbie506]

welcome to the club buddy

right these can be expensive to run but it depends what your doing to it if your kepping it standard not doing to many mods then there no more expensive than any other hot hatch to run its when you start modding the expense comes in. so look after it and it looks after you. but remember buy cheap buy twice in this club you cant go wrong many members more than willing to go out there way to help you .

insurance wise 18 on a 5 is not going to be cheap and your to young for classic insurance so best advice i would say is mums the word.

[KrisWaring]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Cheer's for the reply Rob.

Yea Im looking at spending about £2000, is that about right got a decent good running one, im not very mechanical at all!
But if some one is a Yoda and willing to teach I will definitely love to learn about them as I heard they are very easy to maintain and repair.
All I want is a standard set-up. I am not into the modding as I hear it can effect engine life so I dont want to be going down the breaking down all the time road haha.
After a good engine, not to bothered about the exterior.

And look's like on my mums it will probably be about £1200-1500 for the year.
Do they rust a lot, etc if it was kept outside much?

[Kenobi]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Cheer's for the reply Rob.

Yea Im looking at spending about £2000, is that about right got a decent good running one, im not very mechanical at all!
But if some one is a Yoda and willing to teach I will definitely love to learn about them as I heard they are very easy to maintain and repair.
All I want is a standard set-up. I am not into the modding as I hear it can effect engine life so I dont want to be going down the breaking down all the time road haha.
After a good engine, not to bothered about the exterior.

And look's like on my mums it will probably be about £1200-1500 for the year.
Do they rust a lot, etc if it was kept outside much?

My advice is to buy one thats a s close to standard as possible and check everywhere for rust. If it runs fine and is rust free buy it.

Pay the membership fee here and you will never struggle for parts advice and help. Offer bacon and sausage cobs and you can get a headgasket changed for free!!!

[robbie506]

My advice is to buy one thats a s close to standard as possible and check everywhere for rust. If it runs fine and is rust free buy it.

Pay the membership fee here and you will never struggle for parts advice and help. Offer bacon and sausage cobs and you can get a headgasket changed for free!!!

true true there is more than one yoda on here trust me pay the fee and see. 2k should get you a decent clean 5

[KrisWaring]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Haha sounds great.

Well going to have a few weekend's in and save up some pennies!
Any one fancy going to look at some with me when the time comes, as a pair of experienced eyes?

[robbie506]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Haha sounds great.

Well going to have a few weekend's in and save up some pennies!
Any one fancy going to look at some with me when the time comes, as a pair of experienced eyes?

best thing to do is find the 5 you want to look at then ask whos in that area. there is a few members your way.

[robbie506]

re post

[scratcher]

If you want one get one
They're cheaper to run than the last 2 'daily runners' I've had, and one was a KA

[KrisWaring]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Only one thing im worried about is the Reliability,

Like would I have to do weekly maintenance on one if I got one?

What if I traveld 200ish miles, are the cut out for journeys like that?

[Kris M]

i think you should join up as a full member and make the most of the help and advice first

[SCHWARTZ]

worth the fee just for the discounts. let alone the help and parts available from peeps on here

[kayzee]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

Only one thing im worried about is the Reliability,

Like would I have to do weekly maintenance on one if I got one?

What if I traveld 200ish miles, are the cut out for journeys like that?

Well I've owned one for a couple of months now, it's spent more time on my driveway than the road

[SCHWARTZ]

Well I've owned one for a couple of months now, it's spent more time on my driveway than the road

mine too but when its working its all worth wile

[Penfold aka The Dealer]

One thing i would say is....

Going on your mums insurance is illegal (unless your actually going to be using ur mums car on a part time basis), if you have a prang ur insurance company are not stupid, how any middle aged women have a GTT... they will investigate and you can find yourself driving without insurance and loose ur licence.

Insuring a GTT is never gonna be cheap at a young age, but a good tip.. Pass plus, putting your mum, +anybody else with a full clean licence for a long period of time will help (I have 4 people named on my insurance... they may drive my car, but if they dont my insurance is still valid + often cheaper)

Get a good alarm/imb, put it in a garage, keep mods senseible etc..

Oh and joining RTOC can lower your insurance.

[Spooky]

Oh and joining RTOC can lower your insurance.

I want to see the facts and statistics to back this up

[J$£5GTT]

dont save you that much by joining rtoc...its the parts..the parts....the addiction...

[garya]

One thing i would say is....

Going on your mums insurance is illegal (unless your actually going to be using ur mums car on a part time basis), if you have a prang ur insurance company are not stupid, how any middle aged women have a GTT... they will investigate and you can find yourself driving without insurance and loose ur licence.

Insuring a GTT is never gonna be cheap at a young age, but a good tip.. Pass plus, putting your mum, +anybody else with a full clean licence for a long period of time will help (I have 4 people named on my insurance... they may drive my car, but if they dont my insurance is still valid + often cheaper)

Get a good alarm/imb, put it in a garage, keep mods senseible etc..

Oh and joining RTOC can lower your insurance.

Or get a campus conversion like me mega cheap insurance

[dangerous dave]

buy a standard one if you want a standard one.. if want to have a project and spend thousands then go nuts.. but there are some really good cars that come up for sale and you could snap one up and save yourself a fortune buying bits and tuning..

i must have over 4k of parts for my gtt kicking about in my garage and thats not including the car that cost a thousand or the parts i paid for and missplaced around the house..

if i was smarter i would have bought Gohers car off here and been quids in.. a better car with more money in my pocket

i knew all this before i started spending and its my toy at the end of the day..

[Tony Walker]

There is a buying guide on the site in the articles section. Main things are check for rust, around rear arches petrol cap, around windows, sills inner and outer, front jacking points rear axle mount front cross members, make sure there all rot free (rust is expensive to fix), the rest is cheap enough to fix, engine rebuilds can be done pretty well for around £400 or you can blow a years wages on all sorts, its up to you. I personally would join, find out who the well known members are and buy theres lol

[garya]

. I personally would join, find out who the well known members are and buy theres lol

Agree

[wrightygtt]

I'm not going to lie, i wouldn't buy one of these cars if your looking for reliability, fun second car yes, everyday driver no. Unless you know what your doing with them (which I don't I might add) I've owned mine for 7 years and its been off the road half of that, mainly due to general wear and tear/ although its nearly uptogether now. In all honesty just saving the lad from spending ****e loads in the long run.
Thats my opinion, but being a renault club its going to be biased.

[kayzee]

I wouldn't own one as a first car if I didn't live so close to my work place! I have a reserve Punto GT on my driveway as I'm too scared to just rely on the R5

[benj88]

mines an everyday driver

[wrightygtt]

mines an everyday driver

and looks a very nice car too!

[Penfold aka The Dealer]

Or get a campus conversion like me mega cheap insurance

Technically it can be classed as a kit car so your right... but if you havent told your insurance about the engine swap then you could be f*cked if you have a claim

[garya]

Technically it can be classed as a kit car so your right... but if you havent told your insurance about the engine swap then you could be f*cked if you have a claim

Yeah your right.But who tells there insurance everything .for instance when you put alloys on your car you are suppose to tell them or any engine mods.

[benj88]

Yeah your right.But who tells there insurance everything .for instance when you put alloys on your car you are suppose to tell them or any engine mods.

My first car was a 1.3sr nova with a c20xe in! Was on the log book as the 1.3 still, I wudnt have another unledgit car again it's not worth the risk! There's loads of sneaky c20let corsas about with 1ltr insurance though lol

[benj88]

and looks a very nice car too!

Cheers mate!