I BOUGHT A CHEAP MAZDA 2 FOR £700

All right guys, how's it going? Welcome back. Well today you join me as I go to pick up a Mazda 2 that I've just bought for £700. At the moment it just seems to be that we're only selling the cheaper end cars. I'm guessing it's thanks to the uncertainty in our economy. And I hate selling the cheaper end stuff. They only attract cheaper people, then they break, then they call your names, then they threaten to take you to court and it's just a complete disaster from start to finish. But I've got to keep the wool from the door somehow and if this is all that's selling then I'm afraid I've got to roll up my sleeves and get on with it. With that in mind, yesterday I was offered this 2010 Mazda 2 diesel so I thought, why not? This is what seems to be popular right now so I can't really turn down a profit opportunity. And on the whole they're not bad cars the Mazda 2. I've had loads of them over the years and they always seem to sell well and they don't cost me a fortune to prepare. Most of the ones I've had though were petrol and this is a diesel and I'm not a big fan of diesel. Generally speaking, and I know some of you'll disagree with this, but diesels are only bought by penny pinchers otherwise you just have the petrol. And you don't want to buy a second-hand car of somebody who's being mean with money, there'll just be a load of deferred maintenance. That's my experience anyway, please feel free to disagree in the comments below. Like I say then, I'd rather this was petrol but with used cars you can only buy what's out there. There isn't some used car factory from which I can order what I'd like. You get what you're given, that's it, just got to get on with it. I'm guessing because of the low price it's either high mileage or very scruffy, or both. I'm desperately hoping though that it's neither. I've paid £700 for it, hopefully I'll only spend £300 on preparation so it'll owe me £1,000, then hopefully it'll be worth £2,000. That'll leave me a profit of £1,000. That's quick maths. I can tell from here that you're very impressed. Then again, I did get a B in mathematics at GCSE level, thank you very much. Right, let's go and have a look, shall we? These Mazda 2s always seem to be odd colours, this one will either be bright blue or that sort of plummy colour that's not black but it's also not purple, you know what I mean. Nissan do a similar colour in the Qashqai, I think it's to distract you so that you don't realise what a turd you're buying. Well I can't miss that, I told you they were all weird colours. This is a very bright lime green, actually it's not too bad, looks okay on the body. There's a small dent in the rear door, small dent on the bonnet, it's not too bad actually that. Before we look around, let me do a vehicle history check. So as always I'm going to use a company called CarVertical, all you need to do is go to carvertical.com, type in the vehicle reg which in this case is Foxtrot Echo 10 Tango Lima Victor Tel Aviv, check vehicle. I've done a deal with CarVertical so if you click the link below in the video description and use the promo code HYPEEK you'll get 10% off each and every vehicle check that you do. It's really important that you do one of these before you buy a car, it checks for mileage, fraud, accident history, outstanding finance, all that sort of stuff so it's really important that you do one of these checks. It doesn't cost much and it only takes a couple of minutes, it's just really good for peace of mind. Plus CarVertical checks databases in dozens of countries, it's crying out for a new set of number plates, it's even more desperate for a good wash, you can see all the leaves collecting there in the little channel near the wipers. I guess, didn't know that, at £700 it was either scruffy or very high mileage. It doesn't look too scruffy to be honest, apart from wanting a good clean, it doesn't look too bad so I'm guessing the mileage is up there. Right and the report's ready. So there's no mileage fraud, it's never been stolen, never been involved in any accidents and there's no outstanding finance so we're clear on those four fronts. It was manufactured in January 2010, registered in March 2010, oh April sorry, 04. Let's see if there's any MOT on it then. It last had its MOT test in September this year, that was only last month. Right okay and it passed but there were two advisory items, oil leak but not excessive, oil filter housing, and steering rack has slight play detected at steering wheel. That's it, that's not bad is it? If that's anything like the Fiestas then that might not actually be the steering rack, it might be the universal joint, the UJs fail and then it gives you like a bit of a clunk on the steering wheel. It could be that, rather than a whole rack. Right so let's look at the mileage then. So at the last MOT the mileage was 130. Saying that it's only, what are we in, 2022, 2010 car, it's only 10,000 miles a year isn't it, it's not particularly high, but average really isn't it, and they've done about 8,000 miles a year. Well that all stacks up then doesn't it? Oh this is interesting, so car vertical also gives you a rough valuation, so the trade price of this car is £1270 and the retail price is £2250. That's not bad is it? I was guessing that the car owes me £700, spending £300 on it and I should be able to double my money but that's telling me that it might be worth a little bit more. Let's go and have a look then shall we? Okay then let's go and have a look at Kermit the Frog. It's very green isn't it that? But the bodywork looks okay, there's a small dent there in the driver's door but not one that you'd bother doing. Quite tidy around the back, original number plates, it's a TS2 spec so it should have some optional extras on it. It's just very green, look at all the mould or whatever it is, moss, it's everywhere. This should clean up quite well though, it's got alloy wheels and that tyre is on about 5mm, that's all right, that is a Kingstar, never heard of it. Up front again we're on about 5 or 6mm there, can't read the brand of that because it's covered in mud but it looks quite clean, well not clean but you know what I mean, quite straight, little dent there which will touch in, just need some green paint, I think that's the job for our own ball really. We've got a Landsail here I've just clocked with about 5mm, little scuff there it'll touch in, that's what I mean about all the leaves everywhere, this one's a very good clean, it's even got its own old tax disc look, so this only costs £20 to tax, that's what everybody wants these days, cheap. Another Kingstar on the back there with 5mm, well that's all right, wants a very good buff, good cleaning buff. Let's have a look inside then, my remote fob works, look at all the mould again, oh I've just seen the interior, oh dear, why do people keep their cars like this? I don't even know, what has been living in here? Straw, hair, leaves, looks like they've transported an old Christmas tree at some point, it's just disgusting. The back is even worse, never had a set of mats, gross, absolutely gross. It should actually clean up though, pop the bonnet there, ah we've got front electric windows, powerful mirrors, electric mirrors, manual windows in the back, quite a bit of leg room though isn't there for a small car, yeah and you've got isofix points, quite a sensible little family car this isn't it? Let's have a look in the boot, we've got a parcel shelf, it's just collapsed in my hand, right it's missing a pin there then isn't it? I'm sure we can make something up, right let's get this out of the way, look at the size of that, got the wheel there off a Ford Anglia, so I need to repair the parcel shelf, there's not an awful lot to do to this is there? And believe it or not guys, there is a retail car here, as I said this is what seems to be selling right now so I've just got to get stuck in. Now I know for a fact Mazdas have a digital service record, blocking wheel nuts in there, let's see if there's any history, right I'm just going to move you away there before I get done for data protection, ah we have got some history, all Mazda as well, serviced at 13 miles, then 14,000 miles, then 27,000 miles, then 42,000 miles, is there any more is that it? Please tell me there's more Okay well that was anticlimactic wasn't it? We've got full Mazda history to 45 or whatever as I just said, could be better but it could also be a lot worse. Fingerprints there, not sure what's taking place here, got a very stiff bonnet catch, needs a bit of WD-40, it's black but it doesn't look that old if that makes any sense, it's not sludgy, a bit of corrosion here, Japanese car, standard, got a new Bosch battery by the looks of things, yep digital service record, that's all well and good as long as you actually service them and update the digital record. Right well that actually looks okay, no obvious leaks that I can see, it said it was leaking oil didn't it or had a minor leak from its oil filter, I can't see anything obvious, it does look a bit damp actually under there, can you see that? I don't know whether you can see that or not, it's also missing its washer fluid cap. Right let's fire her up, quite surprisingly it doesn't smell too bad in here, looking at all the straw and hay you'd expect it to smell wouldn't you but it's not too bad, we've also got an auxiliary point, it's what any young person wants these days, it has done 130,000 miles, have we got any warning lights? Well it sounds okay, no cd in there, radio works, fan does that work? Fan works on all speeds, try the old air comp, straight away that's getting cold, ah that's positive, look at the green everywhere, I think then we should take this for a quick drive, see how it performs, oh I can hear the clunky steering now, can you hear that? It is quite pronounced that, let's open the barrier, what's rattling? Well the steering's clunky as it predicted or as it said on the previous MOT, a few rattles and stuff but then there was something loose and the boot wasn't as it might just be that, well we've got a long MOT with a couple of advisory items so I think what I'll do, because it drives well, is run it down to my workshop, get them to do a service on it, see if they can sort this steering out, I suspect it's going to need a new rack but then it's a 130,000 mile car that's 12 years old, how far do you go? What would you do? Would you replace the rack for a couple hundred quid or would you leave it? This is the trouble with cheaper cars, the costs run away with themselves and whoever buys it is still expecting a brand new car, I get this all the time, I had somebody last week buy an 09 car off me and then they whinged and whinged two weeks after buying it because they got a puncture and a bulb went out, that could have happened on a brand new £100,000 car and I guarantee the dealer wouldn't be putting a hand in the pocket but I did, people have got unreasonable unrealistic expectations and I found the cheaper the car is the worse that gets, with this car for example once I've turned it round at maybe £2,000 or £2,200 you'd expect somebody to just think well right okay I'll get two or three years motoring from it but no, what I'll get is somebody there criticising every last stone chip on the bonnet or somebody that brings their own mechanic with a yoga mat and gets under it and pokes some prods amongst every last little thing doing, I see it all day long, day in day out. Do my windows work? Of course they do, it's Japanese, what about the mirrors? They're noisy but they work, Christ they are noisy. This should be quite an easy car to turn round, I'm going to drop it at the car wash now and then once again run away quickly, then in a day or two pick it up, fit a set of fresh mats, fit a set of fresh number plates, touch in the paintwork and then run into my mechanic once it looks cleaner. I always think as daft as it sounds you've got more chance of a car being condemned when it looks like this, if I turn up at my mechanic in an immaculate car chances are they'll think it's all right. Apart from the clunky steering it drives very well, clutches nice and light, engages all the gears correctly, it pulls well, turbo's engaging, the brakes work and even the air conditioning works. So I think I've caught this just in time, another six months at this rate and this could be fit only for the scrapyard, but I shall try my best to give it a new lease of life. I think then that's it, there's no point going any further in it, I'll catch up with you in a couple of days. You're not going to believe this, you might want to sit down, I've bought a cheap car for once that hasn't been condemned. How good's that? It's actually, believe it or not, sitting into quite a nice little thing. After we last spoke I dropped it off at the local car wash for a full valet, that cost me £50 and they've completely transformed it. I ordered some tailored mats for it from eBay, they cost me £12, I've put those in and now the interior's very clean, it doesn't stink either. Great success! When I got it back from being cleaned there were a couple of little marks on it, mainly fingerprints, I guess kiddie fingerprints actually, on the outside, so I got my little buffing wheel on it and some paste and buffed them off. I ordered some new number plates for it from Harrods. Now I should have mentioned on the last video when I mentioned Harrods, I don't mean the one owned by Mr Fired in Knightsbridge, I don't mean that Harrods, there's actually another one in my village which sells motoring bits. So I ordered two plates from there, they cost me £12 and again they've instantly lifted it. I think I've got a stone stuck in a tyre there, all you can hear is ch-ch-ch-ch, a bit like when you were a kid and you put a playing card in your bicycle spokes. After I fitted those plates I then took it to my mechanics for a service and I asked them to look at that knock-in steering. Remember it had quite a long MOT on it already but there were two advisory items, one for the knock-in steering, which they thought was a rack, and the other for an oil leak. To my amazement my mechanic called me this morning and said right your little green Mazda's ready. I said really? I thought you'd have condemned it. She said no it actually wasn't that bad. She said a couple of the tyres had slow punctures so we've replaced the beads, the oil leak was coming from the seal around the oil filter housing so we've cleaned that off and replaced it. We couldn't find anything wrong with the steering so as always I was a bit suspicious but I've been and picked it up and I can't hear it clunking anymore. It must have bought the only car that's fixed itself. I've got it advertised for £1,995 and I'm pretty sure it'll sell. This is the kind of stuff that's selling right now unfortunately. In times of economic uncertainty you can see why can't you? It only costs £20 a year to tax, I've just stopped and put £15 in it which has bought me half a tank of fuel and I'm guessing it'll do 60 miles per gallon if not more. It isn't for me, it's not exactly my dream car, it's not a Ranger or a Vogue but it'll do somebody I'm sure. What I'm going to do now is find somewhere to park and go through my costs which for once shouldn't take long. Can't believe it. We're in uncharted waters here ladies and gentlemen. I'm just passing the local church, I've just had a chuckle to myself at the cars. We've got a Yaris, we've got a Honda Jazz, another Honda Jazz, we've got a beige Skoda Roomster. If ever there was a car that screamed local do-gooder it is a beige Roomster. Come on, get a buzz through there pal. And last but not least, a Polo Dune. Dune. Oh I sold that, that Antara there. I'm not going to make eye contact in case he's not happy with it. I sold that about four years ago. Still going strong, the old high peak autos. I think this will have to do, quite like this little spot. So let me get my calculator out, turn her off, horrible diesel engine. So we started with £700, that was my purchase price. On top of that I paid £50 for a clean, £12 for some plates from Harrods but not the Mohamed Al Fayed one. Another £12 on some mats from eBay, £78 at my mechanics. What else was there? That's it. £852, that's what this car currently owes me. Oh, £15 a diesel, I may as well count that as well. So £867 all in. I've got to advertise for £19.95. If it sells for the asking price of £1,995, which I'm pretty sure it will, I will walk away with £1,128. Not bad is it? This in theory should be what every one of these kind of deals is like, but it's so rare to find a car of this age and mileage with a bit of life left in it. Most have been run on a shoestring for the last five years and they're completely flogged to death. They're fit only for the scrapyard. So it's made a nice change to get something with a little bit of profit in it. Makes up for all the other dross where I've lost money. So I was going to say on that bombshell, that's a top gear line isn't it, but it is a bit of a bombshell. On that bombshell, thank you once again for watching. Make sure you give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it. Make sure you subscribe if you haven't done already. 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