what to watch out for when buying second hand ?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

Am in the market to buy an RCZ 200bhp as a fun car to replace my Celica which has been banned from several cities due to Low Emission Zone rules...

What I would love to know, is which things I should look out for when getting one apart from ythe obvious
I really want a low mileage one (preferrable 25.000 or less) so what are the weak points ?

From going through the forum it seems that there could be issues with the timing belt (or is it a chain ?) and there seems to have been a recall for some suspension bits too ? Please correct me when I am wrong and please do tell me what else are known weak points.

Thanks in advance

Frank.

 

[DKZ5745]

If you choose a Mk2 with the LED DRL's instead of foglights, the timing chain issue has already been resolved on those, so the chances of that are pretty slim.
A common fault on all Z's is the jacking point issue, so you should check the sills to make sure they haven't bent/split from the car being jacked up using the useless jacking points (always use atrolley jack on the cross members).
Some have had electrical issues from water ingress to the boot lock, but that's not that common.
Other less common issues, coil packs, high pressure fuel pump, and yes, there was a notice issued regarding front suspension strut top mounts, if there was a knocking they were replaced FOC, but no actual recall.

Overall, they are very reliable (Mk2's in particular) but even the Mk1's are no less reliable than most cars. Most of all, once you have one, you will not stop grinning, and the number of times you will look back once you have parked up, trust me it never goes away, over two years on & it's like I bought it yesterday. There are forum members that have said they intend keeping theirs for life, some have had 3 RCZ's, and others that own 2 at the moment, so I think that says it all.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the reply


However I do like the older design better...
If the timing chain issue occurs, and you notice in time, will the fix solve it for the future too ?

Totally agree on the grin factor

 

[DKZ5745]

The replacement part is a modified version, as fitted as standard on the Mk2, so yes, once replaced it should be good for the rest of your ownership.

There have been many debates on this forum regarding Mk1 & Mk2 preferences, and indeed one member was actually banned for his quite strong opinions.

It simply comes down to a matter of your car your choice. It cannot be debated however that the Mk2 has suffered from far less "common" faults, presumably as Pug realised where they had made mistakes, and corrected them.

There can also be no debate about the fact that both version are beautiful cars and a dream to own. I have had some really nice cars, but this Z is so many levels above any of them. I cannot imagine any car remotely in my budget that I would want to swap it for.

 

[neilgsxr69]

Hi, looks like the revised timing chain tensioner and guides do sort the problem out but only if you keep a close eye on the oil level and frequency of oil changes. :thumbup: