u/Ok-Woodpecker8658

Recently had a 2000 jimny jlx come up for sale near me with only 23,000 miles for £4250. It’s had the underneath covered and a few bits of welding but has a seemingly really good mot. I’m going to see it on Saturday and was wondering what I should be looking for? I know rust in the boot is a big one.

Any general advice would be great! My car knowledge is very limited and my only other car (that’s getting sold imminently) has been a 2014 Fiat but I’m starting uni next year and it’s windy country roads whenever I want to come home so reliability is my main priority😅

Thanks in advance!

I bought a second hand 2014 fiat 500 two years ago to try and motivate myself to pass my test, I did just that and it’s been absolutely perfect until recently. Last September a gear cable snapped, AA fitted a “temporary” fix but he said it was the exact same as the fix I’d get a garage so I left it at that. A few months later the alternator and aux belt went. Then literally a week after that the gear control cable snapped. Once I finally got it back it was making weird noises and not reversing properly, turns out it had a faulty part put in so it was back in the garage once more. At this point I was hesitant to drive it at all just incase more broke. Most recently i drove it to its MOT only to get a call saying they were having to wait for it to cool down before they could test it, somehow it managed to pass but with 4 official advisories ( new tires and a minor exhaust leak) and an unofficial advisory that the engine cooling trigger wasn’t working. Its cosmetically in really good condition and it’s still under 74,000 miles but I don’t think I’ll get much more than £1000 for it :(

Whilst I don’t currently need a car for much more than popping to the shops, I’m starting uni in September and am gonna need to do longish drives home round lots of country roads. I don’t know much about cars and don’t have anyone around me that does either, most of the garages near me have a really bad reputation for scamming people.
I just really need some advice and tried asking in a different general car thread and instead just got snarky fiat comments 🥲 Thanks a lot in advance! :)

I bought a 2014 fiat 500 two years ago to try and motivate myself to pass my test (fix it again tomorrow, I know.), I did just that and it’s been absolutely perfect until recently. Last September a gear cable snapped, AA fitted a “temporary” fix but he said it was the exact same as the fix I’d get a garage so I left it at that. A few months later the alternator and aux belt went. Then literally a week after that the gear control cable snapped. Once I finally got it back it was making weird noises and not reversing properly, turns out it had a faulty part put in so it was back in the garage once more. At this point I was hesitant to drive it at all just incase more broke. Most recently i drove it to its MOT only to get a call saying they were having to wait for it to cool down before they could test it, somehow it managed to pass but with 4 official advisories ( new tires and a minor exhaust leak) and an unofficial advisory that the engine cooling trigger wasn’t working.

Whilst I don’t currently need a car for much more than popping to the shops, I’m starting uni in September and am gonna need to do longish drives home round lots of country roads. I’ll be lucky to get £1000 for it but really do t have more than a few thousand to replace itI don’t know much about cars and don’t have anyone around me that does either, most of the garages near me have a really bad reputation for scamming people.
I just really need some advice. Thanks a lot in advance! :)