Prospective Beat Owner

[willy-t]

Hi all,

I'm in the market for a Beat and was wondering if I could be cheeky and ask for advice on running costs, insurance, what to look out for when buying, how much should I pay for one in reasonable roadworthy condition etc. Apologies if this is covered in a FAQ but a search didnt find it. :confused:

I'm already bidding on a red one on the bay of Fleas which is apparently owned by someone on here, so a little history of that car would be appreciated too if thats not too rude a question. :o

To explain myself I'm after a car to enjoy those long summer days in and a Beat seems ideal - small, mid engined, soft top, revvy engine and Japanese reliability. The previous summer car died from terminal body rot (a 1987 MR2) so I don't fancy a rust bucket but I don't mind one which just needs a bit of TLC.

Thanks in advance,

[beardo]

Hi and welcome. Rust is a major factor when looking at a Beat. You don't want a rusty one. We bought a rusty one and spent a fortune restoring it. Then I bought one that was older with next to no rust. So hard to say whether they are prone to tin worm. Get underneath and check the sills and floor pan. In fact, check everywhere, panels are expensive. You really just need to be aware that parts are difficult to obtain and they're not cheap. A cracked rear light for example will set you back around £200 from Honda. Don't let that put you off though. There is usually someone breaking one. Check that everything works, ac especially. Check the history, if there is no record of a belt change, get a discount and get the belt done. Make sure it drives straight with no nasty bangs or knocks. Once it's warm, get the revs up to 8500 rpm at least. (whilst driving) An engine that won't rev that far has issues. Check the oil. They do burn a bit and low black oil indicates neglect. Good luck finding the right one, they are loads of fun.

[old'uns]

tax is £120 ?
insurance: we pay roughly the same as our '99 Ibiza cupra gti group 10 so assume group is prob lower but weighted by being sports/convertible

tyres: limited range available but at cheaper end of market £45-50 ea?
i've yet to find a 'proper' stickier tyre yet in sizes suitable but had no probs with the ones on there

as with any car check as much as you can to see it works
sometimes you have to trust your gut reaction & decide whether or not to walk away

Beat specific parts can be expensive so check first

remember that any probs can be bargaining tools

good luck

[willy-t]

Thanks for the info.

Hmmm. Not good for checking rust as the only ones for sale are always many miles away from me so going to check one out gets expensive and time consuming. And in the winter the light is gone by 4 :(

I do have some competency at welding so the odd patch here or there isn't beyond me, but I'd obviously rather not have to go to the hassle.

So essentially:
Check for rust.
Check for cam belt change history.
Check that it'll go straight and true, general tracking/suspension checks.
Check for being able to rev high (8500+) when under load.

That last check sounds like fun :)

[willy-t]

tax is £120 ?
insurance: we pay roughly the same as our '99 Ibiza cupra gti group 10 so assume group is prob lower but weighted by being sports/convertible

tyres: limited range available but at cheaper end of market £45-50 ea?
i've yet to find a 'proper' stickier tyre yet in sizes suitable but had no probs with the ones on there

as with any car check as much as you can to see it works
sometimes you have to trust your gut reaction & decide whether or not to walk away

Beat specific parts can be expensive so check first

remember that any probs can be bargaining tools

good luck

What size and fitting are the wheels? Can a more common size wheel be fitted to give access to a bigger range of tyres? Although £45-50 per tyre sounds like a bargain! My daily diesel is £100 a corner for the mid range tyres...

[old'uns]

thats what i pay,old schoolfriend:) i run 4 cars so get nice prices

13" front 14" rear but a few people have gone 14 all round

http://www.u-ukhbc.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=282&highlight=wheel+sizes

[willy-t]

So 14" wheels will fit, cool so plenty of options potentially. Is it a 4 stud 100mm pcd? I just happen to have some 14" 100mm pcd alloys in my garage. They're offset is 37 iirc so may well fit within the arches too...

But anyway I'm getting waaaaaay ahead of myself here. :rolleyes:

Now I'm off to scour this site for information on how to fix leaking roofs.

[Mylee]

Lots of info on here on the common issues with Beats, just remember:-

Most Beats are H, J registered as this is when Honda massed produced the Beat, therefore most are 15+ years old. Some are younger but in limited numbers.

Cambelt servicing is essential. There were also a batch of poor quality distributers which can lead to belt failure and £xpensive engine rebuilds, again do a search and all the info is available.

The roof leaks, simple. Replacements are available, this may stop leaks it may not.

The drivers seat bolster will be knackered. this can be repaired but the original material is no longer supplied by Honda. This can be sourced, just depends how original you want your Beat to be.

The stereo buttons fall off.

The original zebra mats are like gold dust in anything but knackered condition

Good luck, get the right car and it's worth it!

[beardo]

Reading between the lines there are a lot of reasons why not to buy a Beat. You need to set these aside and concentrate on the fact that you will be smiling all the time you're driving it. They sound great and turn more heads than cars costing 10 times the price. Nothing better than driving a Beat with the roof down. They handle like go karts. Reasons to buy far outway reasons not to.

[TADO]

the nice thing with buying a beat is that generally there's so few of them that the chances are most of the owners have been members on here at some point so you can go back and look for your cars history.
the bad points are as above really - they do tend to sup oil a bit and dont hold very much of the stuff so its essential to keep an eye on it.

parts arent bad (usually either within a couple of days or 3 weeks) but they are expensive. any honda dealer should be able to get parts for you - theres some very helpful ones about if your local one doesnt want to know.

tuning/shiny things have to come from japan which is expensive and addictive! :suicide:
finally the noise 8500 rpm makes behind your ears is pretty infectious and can cause you to use whole tanks of petrol for no practical reason at all! :D

[Wh1teLeopard]

I love them I do.

I love the way people let you out at junctions because they think it might say what the hell it is at the back... or is it a kit car? no wait... it has a H badge... is it a new honda?!?!

And I love the way you get self styled experts at shows tell their mates "they're 660cc turbo's they are" and I love the look on their face when you tell them they're not turbo'd hehe

And my most favourite moment ever was at the Donny show when someone came up to my Beat and said with hands held out wide "THAT'S NOT A HONDA!" and I said "DAMN IT, They've lied to me for 3 years" and he went bright red and walked away...

They're just so much fun, driving them, working on them, confusing the peoples with them :D

[old'uns]

i see you're in Dudley, if you need a test drive in mine i can meet up no problem, subject to passing MOT on tue
shouldn't be a problem he says confidently!

[marge602]

Hi. Most points have been covered already, but i've recently redone my insurance, and discovered some interesting things. Some companies do agreed value classic car policies, and define a classic as any car that's more than 15 years old. I've had properly old tax-exempt classics before and figured i could go down the same route, and save a packet. Whilst the Beat certainly falls into this category, i've yet to find a company that will insure it on an agreed value basis. This seems to be because the Beat is an import, so doesn't count somehow. However, mine is insured by Adrian Flux, who have told me when it becomes 20 years old it will count as a classic. As it is it costs me around £250 a year fully comp, which isn't too bad. It's on the driveway, my postcode isn't that great, i'm 35 and have 2 years NCB. I've never regretted buying mine, it's a riot to drive, it never gives up or goes wrong(touch wood)and i firmly believe the Honda Beat is the best second car there is.

Regards

Marge

[Andy V]

Had our Beat for almost 6 years now and still love it.

The cambelt renewal is an essential, but other than that (we checked our dizzy when we got her and it isn't from the dodgy batch - how many of those dodgy ones can be left now?) the car has been and still is great fun.

Ours is currently insured through Tesco at £197.40 plus add-ons for NCD protection, legal protection and temp replacement car making a total of £269.85.

I've had no trouble with parts so far (although when I lived in Doncaster the Honda dealer there didn't want to know) and have got what I need either from other Honda dealers or via other members on here.

Ours has no rust problems and even the original roof doesn't leak. Does get through a bit of oil though, but we check it regularly so no real probs there.

All in all ours is great to own and drive, and the Mrs uses it for regular commuting as well as us driving it for the 'big grin' factor.

[willy-t]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Missed the red one on Ebay (note to self, bid the maximum I'm prepared to pay not enough to make me the high bidder!)

What sort of money should I be expecting to pay for a Beat in servicable condition? There don't ever seem to be many for sale so it's hard to gauge what I should expect to pay. I'm thinking £900 for one that is worth saving maybe, £2000 for one thats a little tatty but generally well cared for, does that sound about right? I'm mostly going off MGF prices which is the closest thing I can think of.

Old'uns - yes I'm not far from Dudley - Wednesbury to be exact. And I'd love to take you up on your offer, always good to know what a well kept one should drive like, then I won't fall foul of "they all do that sir" type excuses. Although Probably best wait until the snow has all melted to avoid any :eek: moments.

Hopefully insurance shouldn't be an issue if I put it in my garage. I'm 28 next week and have 6 years NCB on my main car, my MR2 was only £200 on a limited mileage so I imagine a Beat would be similar. Although no doubt I'll have to put the other half on it, she's not the most careful driver :(

[old'uns]

MOT now passed ok, emissions a little bit tight, hopefully the service will sort that out, been 2/3 yrs since last service:o

Wednesbury, even closer, prob tax him next week

[TADO]

prices sound about right to me - you can get a decent one for about 1500+ tho as long as you're aware that most of them are 17/18 years old - its really luck of the draw about whats available when you're ready to buy.

there were 3 available when we bought ours and we actually ended up going for the cheapest on the understanding that it needed a bit of tidying love but it was totally rust free. 3 years on and prices have definitely come down a bit. we've still got the little sod and have never regretted it.
infact we love it so much its currently enjoying a full respray thats costing twice what the flinkin car did! :p

[Mylee]

At the other end of the scale I paid £4000 for my beat 18 months ago.
Actually the car was only £1900 the rest was in shipping and tax, as I imported my Beat direct from Japan after spending 6 months looking in the UK and not finding anything.
A few months ago, I was selling the Beat on Fleabay and it reached £3800, just sort of my reserve.

[old'uns]

you could always try e-mailing or PM'ing a few on the for sale list from the last few months?
they might still be for sale? not everyone comes on here regularly