Hoping to buy a 182

[Fozzymandeus]

Hello,
I'm thinking about buying a 182 in the next few months as I want another hot hatch. A few years ago I had a 197 F1, and absolutely loved it. 4 years ago I bought a cheap 172 and enjoyed that too, until it saved my life against the armco on the M5 in a downpour. (sold for £100 on copart - sorry for killing one!).

I've a few questions about 182s and wondered if people could help me out:
1. I've noticed that most of the 1*2 cars I look at seem to have quite "rough" engines compared to the 197 - 197s, when started from cold, seem to be very smooth and quiet at tickover whereas I can often see 1*2 engines shake around on their mounts as they start and then idle very gruffly. Is this normal? Should I be looking for the same smooth behaviour in a 182?
2. If I get a non-cup chassis 182, is it easy/sensible to retrofit cup springs and dampers? Is the geo different and will it be difficult to get cup geo? I don't want an extreme setup, e.g. coilovers or anything radical. I definitely do not want the car to look overly low and/or have significant negative camber.
3. What options are there for replacing crappy rubber hand grips? I know about the Ktec carbon ones, but other suggestions are welcome.
4. How much should I budget for a set of genuine turinis?

Thanks in advance, and sorry if my questions are naive/just plain dumb!

 

[Sunglasses_Ron]

Hello,
I'm thinking about buying a 182 in the next few months as I want another hot hatch. A few years ago I had a 197 F1, and absolutely loved it. 4 years ago I bought a cheap 172 and enjoyed that too, until it saved my life against the armco on the M5 in a downpour. (sold for £100 on copart - sorry for killing one!).

I've a few questions about 182s and wondered if people could help me out:
1. I've noticed that most of the 1*2 cars I look at seem to have quite "rough" engines compared to the 197 - 197s, when started from cold, seem to be very smooth and quiet at tickover whereas I can often see 1*2 engines shake around on their mounts as they start and then idle very gruffly. Is this normal? Should I be looking for the same smooth behaviour in a 182?
2. If I get a non-cup chassis 182, is it easy/sensible to retrofit cup springs and dampers? Is the geo different and will it be difficult to get cup geo? I don't want an extreme setup, e.g. coilovers or anything radical. I definitely do not want the car to look overly low and/or have significant negative camber.
3. What options are there for replacing crappy rubber hand grips? I know about the Ktec carbon ones, but other suggestions are welcome.
4. How much should I budget for a set of genuine turinis?

Thanks in advance, and sorry if my questions are naive/just plain dumb!

I believe the 182's have a cold map with makes them run a bit tough until warm?

By hand grips do you mean the rubber steering wheel thumb grips? If so £140 gets you a full wheel refurb by a bloke called snappy. The rubber grips are replaced with leather.

 

[Fozzymandeus]

That sounds ideal.

Excellent. Going to look at an RB with, I believe, cup suspension (are anthracite wheels the pointer?) at the weekend, all things being equal. Now I know not necessarily to walk away if the thing is a bit gruff when its cold.

 

[Stay Puft]

That sounds ideal.

Excellent. Going to look at an RB with, I believe, cup suspension (are anthracite wheels the pointer?) at the weekend, all things being equal. Now I know not necessarily to walk away if the thing is a bit gruff when its cold.

After about 5 mins it should be smooth with no loud ticks etc. Just check for history of cam belt and dephaser, and usual car checks.

£3-400 for a set of turns with half decent tyres.

+1 for a snappy wheel.

 

[R3k1355]

If you buy a FF (Full Fat) model it's going to come with all the cup suspension anyway.
Some models out there do have the cup handling pack as standard also.

It doesn't make very much difference, personally I wouldn't bother putting it high on the list of things to do when you get a car.

 

[HarvB]

That sounds ideal.

Excellent. Going to look at an RB with, I believe, cup suspension (are anthracite wheels the pointer?) at the weekend, all things being equal. Now I know not necessarily to walk away if the thing is a bit gruff when its cold.

True when buying most hot hatches from <2005 really - a lot of them have quite a lumpy idle, especially when cold.

Watch out for odd ticking, but also be careful not to be dummied by injector noise - it's easy to think something is amiss when they're clacking away, even if they're fine. Most important thing is a documented belt+dephaser change really, everything else is cheap and easy to sort.

One mod I will recommend without reserve is polybushing the larger bush in the dog-bone mount. The kit is ~£35 iirc, and all I did was replace the softer of the two bushes and it's now perfect - much less engine movement (and hence better gearchanges) with no appreciable increase in vibration etc. It's one of those things that, without doubt, transformed the experience for me (being a fussy bugger about gearchanges while heel+toeing).

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

You can get replacement rubber thumb grips off eBay for £20

Had some for mine and they were bob on

 

[Fozzymandeus]

After about 5 mins it should be smooth with no loud ticks etc. Just check for history of cam belt and dephaser, and usual car checks.

£3-400 for a set of turns with half decent tyres.

+1 for a snappy wheel.

View attachment 171793

Now that is VERY nice and a definite improvement.

...Does he only do Clio wheels?
And thanks to everyone else for the input - I definitely remember my 172 was in need of some sort of engine/gearbox mount work so I expect I'll do that dogbone mount to whichever car I land upon. I will comment on how I get on on Saturday.

 

[Fozzymandeus]

Right then. Seems it's possible to get a 182 for less than 2 grand but...

...they are sheds.
First one had no history, high mileage and an engine that practically leapt out of the engine bay when started. Also had a swimming pool for a boot.

Next one was advertised as having had a cam belt and dephaser. Which it had. In 2010 - useful. Was otherwise tidy apart from the enormous power flow exhaust that had tried to eat the rear bumper. Also had no service history since 2012.

Third one had a steering wheel made of electrical tape, silly white LEDs for all the interior lights (not a biggy, buy why go to the effort of LED lights and then skimp on the bit you hold to drive the damn thing?!). Also, once warm the entire car shook when at idle. Buh?

I'm also noticing a bit of a theme with drivers seats that don't really stay in place when you move your weight around. Feature or fault?

 

[flebay]

That will be the white plastic balls broken that are inside the seat rail that the seats slide on,new rail needed to get rid of the movement.

 

[imprezaworks]

Right then. Seems it's possible to get a 182 for less than 2 grand but...

...they are sheds.
First one had no history, high mileage and an engine that practically leapt out of the engine bay when started. Also had a swimming pool for a boot.

Next one was advertised as having had a cam belt and dephaser. Which it had. In 2010 - useful. Was otherwise tidy apart from the enormous power flow exhaust that had tried to eat the rear bumper. Also had no service history since 2012.

Third one had a steering wheel made of electrical tape, silly white LEDs for all the interior lights (not a biggy, buy why go to the effort of LED lights and then skimp on the bit you hold to drive the damn thing?!). Also, once warm the entire car shook when at idle. Buh?

I'm also noticing a bit of a theme with drivers seats that don't really stay in place when you move your weight around. Feature or fault?

Become a member so you can view the cars for sale section mate

 

[Fozzymandeus]

I can see the classifieds already... am I missing something? (It's just been some guy trying to sell a BMW for the last while...)

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

Become a member so you can view the cars for sale section mate

The cars for sale section is open to non members mate :up: (read-only)

 

[imprezaworks]

But was never used to be or am I going insane in the membrane?

 

[Ol’ Tarby]

But was never used to be or am I going insane in the membrane?

Been like that for as long as I can remember mate lol

 

[imprezaworks]

Ah lol

 

[R3k1355]

Right then. Seems it's possible to get a 182 for less than 2 grand but...

...they are sheds.
First one had no history, high mileage and an engine that practically leapt out of the engine bay when started. Also had a swimming pool for a boot.

Next one was advertised as having had a cam belt and dephaser. Which it had. In 2010 - useful. Was otherwise tidy apart from the enormous power flow exhaust that had tried to eat the rear bumper. Also had no service history since 2012.

Third one had a steering wheel made of electrical tape, silly white LEDs for all the interior lights (not a biggy, buy why go to the effort of LED lights and then skimp on the bit you hold to drive the damn thing?!). Also, once warm the entire car shook when at idle. Buh?

I'm also noticing a bit of a theme with drivers seats that don't really stay in place when you move your weight around. Feature or fault?

They all have a pretty crap idle, although if it's particularly bad the cam belt might be a tooth out as it's quite common for them to be fitted wrong.
Generally the engines are quite happy to do high miles and don't really have many common faults.