Buy a Fuego?

Paul Smith

Active member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
May 10, 2000
Messages
614
Location
Camperdown, NSW, Australia
I am looking at a (very) cheap Fuego - it is registered until December and is for sale for less than the rego. It has been serviced by European Autocare who tell m it is a good buy.

What sort of things should I look for in a Fuego? I have no Renault experience. I have been warned that the clutch is a bit heavy - the car would be for a smallish lady to drive.

I have lots of Citroen Experience - so am not daunted by the French car bit.

Thanks for any advice


Paul Smith
 
Hi Paul,

ahh, a fuego... Does it have bald tyres? I know dumb question but go check the price of those shitfull trx tyres.

Just check the basics, in the door openings there will probably be stress cracks in the bottom corner. The motor shouldn't blow much smoke (they get the living sh*& thrashed out of them fuego's do). If the fog lights are smashed, just remove them for the RWC. The plastic wipers turn brittle and break. If the clutch is heavy check the alloy cable pull on the bell housing (the bit the clutch cable outer locks into). It may be cracked or not lined up.

The gearbox's are quite weak, but if the synchro's are OK you should be right. If it's an earlier non power steered car the steering will lighten considerably if you can fit some standard wheels (see dave's posts on wheels on this page) with low profile tyres.

Parts for the front end of these cars are hard to get, they all understeer off the road cause of the shitty trx tyres smashing the front in...

My brother and cousin have fuego's, they thrash the living shit out of them and they still go well. They appear pretty unkillable considering the way the get driven.

seeya,

Shane Leviston
 
Hi Shane,

I have read the TRX tyre stuff - this car has actually good TRXs - and it will be driven by someone whose main experience is in elderly beetles, so any form of handling would be an improvement!

It needs some minor work to get a pink slip for rego transfer - Denton at EA says about half a day - so I will go and have look at it later in the week.

Paul Smith
 
Let the person who is going to drive the car have a go, as a non-power steering Fuego can be a heavy and tiring car to drive, especially if they have come from an easy steerer like a VW Beetle!

Check the TRX tyres, there are plenty of bad retreads out there, also old TRX's have a nasty habit of cracking the sidewalls quite badly, as well as going rock hard giving the previously mentioned understeering problem in the wet!! See if the worn wheel bearing roar of the TRX's is acceptible too, I found it more irritating than the fan whirr in a VW!

Do all the usual checks for electric window operation, bad plastic cracks, operating speedo and instruments as well as check for rust in the front scuttle (under the heater fan motor) water gets between the soundproofing and metal leading to nasty rust.

Also these cars need the cam belt changing every 100,000k's. Check the driveshafts, the boots seem brittle and crack very easily, also check the inner joints, these sometimes have a habit of losing their lubricant through the crimping of boot to the shaft while appearing in good condition. If the car has its coolant expansion bottle in the scuttle check that the top isn't brittle from sun exposure through the plenum chamber vent they can explode if brittle and under pressure, oh also that the electric fans cut in, sometimes the connections corrode leading to not operating cooling fans. Depending on the price of the car, and its present condition, the price of replacing the crappy tyres and metric wheels is probably the only major consideration.

Simon
 
Top