Right, while my pal is doing the plums and custard for me, the wife suddenly found herself without a car. As we are even broker than broke (it is Christmas...) we went out and bought the modern peasant car - a Daewoo Matiz.

1999, 38k on the clock and sounding and looking very tidy. Hammer down at the auction for £350. Can't complain.

Drove home lovely, drove again great in the ice this morning, but the only niggling thing in my mind:

When we bought it the last owner hadn't even bothered to empty out all their crap! Lots of fliers and bits of stuff on Chopper clubs and easy riders and the like, so I'm assuming the previous owner was a bit of a biker and only had it because he needed a car. Then we find a half empty packet, described as "Daewoo Head Set" full of gaskets and things. Now considering that it's actually half used, and we don't seem to be overheating I don't THINK the head gasket is playing up, and there doesn't seem to be any bubbling in the water or any excessive water use so I reckon the chap has changed what he needed to, but I can't help think "I am a bit rubbish mechanically and have only ever practiced on air-cooled"...

Anyone think I should worry, or do I just keep my eye on the water levels?

If it is buggered, is it TOO much a hardship to sort out?

Cheers!!

might have been cheaper to buy a top end set than the individual gaskets they needed for whatever they had to do?

if its not broke dont fix it

what colour is the water?
you always worry about a new hack untill you just settle down to carefree neglect
Sean

Dont worry , that my advice.

Daewoos are known for having iffy head gasket issues, worst on the nexia and nubira cars i think though.

My mum had a matiz for a couple of years, just make sure its got clean oil and coolant and drive it

Cheers guys - I think you're right, it's the Missus that's making me worry! a 39k car for £350 always seems to be a bit too good to be true, but there you go... At last I'm group 1 motoring now, if nothing else.

Roll on the D*lly! Watch out this spring!

Hmm, you say you are 'broker than broke' but had £350 to spend on a car? Don't tell me you've just come back from taking the family to Disney World, you've got a £1500 respray lined up and have spent £200 on your wife's Christmas present.

Sorry, only joshing, but when I'm broke, I have zilch until my pension arrives at the end of the month.

I hope the Daewoo is OK after all that.

Okay - I'll rephrase that - we can't afford HP, we've spent all our money as it's christmas and we're doing up a house and we had to put something on a credit card that we knew we could afford - therefore had to be:

1) Cheap to buy
2) Modern (my wife crashing the bay window camper is what has caused her to need a new car - now she's nervous!)
3) Cheap to insure (see above accident)
4) Economical (the van was getting 20mpg and her job is making her do 100+ miles per week now)
5) Doesn't require financing

Oh yes - I'm proud to say I've never spent four figures on any car I've owned, haven't been on holiday in three years and both my wife and I aren't buying Christmas presents for each other because we've had to buy the car instead. Oh - and my beloved van is coming off the road because we can't afford to tax and insure both vehicles.

Sorry - off the high horse, but we work so damn hard just to make ends meet that I'm proud of my frugality!

*edit* Please don't read that as me being rude - I'm clearly in a bad mood because not only is my 2cv going to be months off, my van is now off the road. No offence meant.*edit*

As were/are Rovers with K series engines which is why I banked on having to have a look at it when I picked up one at auction for similar money a couple of years ago.

Sure enough after around 10K, it needed some attention so I just got a full kit (which included crank seals, valve stem seals etc.) as well as a new cambelt, figuring that I might as well change it whilst the head was off. Ok, I didn't need everything in the whole kit but sod's law says that had I only got the gasket, I'd have needed a lot of other stuff as well.

My money says that's what happened with yours.

A close eye, at least until you trust it. But I'd be doing that on anything I bought, even without finding scary clues in the boot...



Nah, just shove it in an auction and keep schtum. Some poor unsuspecting fool will think they've got a bargain, and you'll have got rid of a liability...

<thinks> Oh, wait a sec...

£350 sounds like a lot of money to spend on a car to me, it must be a beauty for that kind of cash!


It'll be reet.