Anyone that is afflicted similarly to me will recognise the slightly sick feeling when you aren't sure whether what you've just bought will turn out to be a disaster and a money pit. That was the kind of feeling I was having on day 1.
I'd done a vehicle check and there were no red flags apart from the fact it was an import. When I came to insure it, my current insurer didn't insure imports so I had to take out a new policy with a different company. But the premium was comparable to what I have paid previously for my cars.
What did I find from a more leisurely inspection?
When I opened the door, it was a lot more smelly than I remembered it! Full of rubbish; filthy carpets. One of the seats on the middle row was very damp and it looked like water had been dripping onto it from an aerial in the roof.
The tailgate had moved from being "temperamental" to "stubbornly defiant" and wouldn't open.
The engine started readily from cold and still sounded good. I put a litre of oil in to bring it back up to level.
Bodily, the roof is covered in green algae and it all needs a good clean and then longer term cutting back and polishing.
The bonnet needs rubbing back and repainting but the rust is definitely just on the surface. Above the windscreen is similar; slightly deeper but not penetrating as far as I can see.
The driver and passenger door windows both have nice deep wind shields on them - great for a camper as you can open the windows for ventilation without rain coming in.
The rear bumper is slightly pushed out from the corner bodywork, although it doesn't look like it's had any significant impact. Maybe it can be resecured or possibly some zip ties underneath to add extra fixing? It's not terrible as it is though. The paint on the bumper is poor and needs respraying. There's a towbar fitted that needs rubbing down and hammeriting.
The rollers in the sliding side door hinge have collapsed making the door difficult to open and causing it to scrape on this cover panel.
The wheel trims are really tatty, but the tyres seem to have plenty of life in them.
I put the battery on charge for the day. The next morning it was still showing 12.3V so looks like it's holding charge and it was showing high 13V with the engine running so looks like charging ok.
The ABS light was illuminated on the dash. Having researched this a bit, it can often be caused when there has been a low voltage or change of battery and there is a reset routine to try. A couple of days later when I went out for the first drive after charging the battery fully I noticed that the light had gone out of it's own accord.
That same drive confirmed a creaking from the front end when turning through bigger angles - I think this will probably be one of the tie rod ends or bottom ball joints that has partially seized. It's not a huge or expensive job to replace them and I might do them all just as a precaution.
I spent the afternoon clearing all of the crap out; hoovering and washing down all of the plastics. Then I got some upholstery cleaner onto the two bad seats with a rotary brush in my drill followed by a wet vacuuming, which improved them a lot. I stripped all of the mats out for a proper cleaning. They are very good quality, original mats and look like they'll clean up nicely.
I wouldn't say it was a deep clean, but made it bearable to be inside at least!
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