Sarsfield Motor Company Kilmainham good or bad?

Marty McFly

As per thread title I'm wondering because they have a car up for sale I was planning on going to have a look at today ( but can't have a viral infection) so done a search on the garage and found a few suggestions of them not being the most ethical of places but there all a few years old.

Have they changed or is it a garage to avoid?

carzony

I know a few lads that are friends with the owner of that garage, I know that he has often gave lads a lend of his cars for the weekend and they've rallyed the balls out of the them..

I wouldn't feel comfortable buying anything of them..

jake walsh

My dad purchased an Audi a3 for himself and an Audi a4 from there a couple of years back. He doesn't have one good word to say about them. The cars were suppose to be serviced but they never bothered to do so. He found them very unsatisfactory and wouldn't recommend buying from there to anyone.

MetzgerMeister

I bought the 6MPS and the 335i from them. I found them alright to deal with, not as professional as they should be but not bad either.

Both were serviced when I bought them (I checked the air filter in both) then again, they may have just changed that on its own but I gave them the benefit of the doubt.

The problems with the wastegates in the 335 wasn't their fault nor was it their problem as I knew what I was getting myself in for when I bought it. Thing is, they tried to fob me off by saying that it was the heatshield :rolleyes: Wasn't covered by the Mapfre warranty I got as it was a wear and tear item, not sudden failure.

I got the 335 checked over by Nissan Doc and they were more than happy to let me take the car for as long as it took for him to check it out (4 hours in the end). IMO, if they had something to hide, they wouldn't have let me take it at all, let alone for so long and I didn't once get a phone call from them to know when I'd be back.

What car are you looking at?

Marty McFly

I was all set to give them a miss after the first two posts and then you came along and threw me in doubt again, wont be able to go for a few days now anyways doctors orders.

But I was looking at the 335i they have for sale

http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/335-I-SE/36113703614041480/advert?channel=CARS

Guess it's a case of look at it but be very careful with them.

MetzgerMeister

"EYE-DRIVE" haha

If you hear any loud ticking from the bottom driver's side of the engine, you have wastegate failure on your hands. Take it for a test drive and park up somewhere, get out of the car and rev the engine. The ticking will get faster with the revs.

Here's what it sounds like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViuBG9s3a6w

If I'm around Dublin when you check it out, I'll go with you if you like but I would seriously advise you to at least make an appointment with Nissan Doc and have him check it over.

Big Nasty

I hear dem 335 yokes are dirtboxes! :pac:

MetzgerMeister

MCMLXXV wrote: »

I hear dem 335 yokes are dirtboxes! :pac:

Says Mr. Bimmer himself :P

Big Nasty

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Says Mr. Bimmer himself :P

Itching for a new bimmer myself - having withdrawal symptoms at this stage! :eek:

OP - Never mind who's selling it. Get it checked out independently and if everything matches up go for it. Just beware that their after sales / reputation for standing over warranty ain't great.

Marty McFly

Thanks for the advice , and thanks for the offer Metz I'll see what the craic is when I get the chance to go look at it.


I'll certainly keep an eye out for the wastegate issue as I've read it's an expensive fix.

ian87

€11950?! Wow that's a lot of car for not a lot of money!

Marty McFly

Bit of an update, just back from viewing the car cheers Metz for the offer but afriend of mine who is a mechanic came with me. The body on it was spotless bar one tiny mark on the back bumper, took it for a spin everything felt and sounded perfect apart from after about 5 minute engine fault light came on saying loss of power and to drive carefully which does make me hesitate.

Although my friend said there was no loss of power despite this.

Returned to garage he said hadn't seen it before but they would obviously suss it out and fix it before being sold.

Offered me 4250 for my own and said for an extra 200 they give a 1 year warranty.

Would the engine fault be enough reason to avoid this? Couldn't hear any rattle from the wastegate.

MetzgerMeister

It depends on what the fault is. DId a picture of a half "filled" engine appear on the dash?

It can be anything from HPFP (high pressure fuel pump) to wastegate failure to rear wheel slip i.e. tyres are bald and the wheels lose traction.

This happens with the wastegates due to the turbos not meeting the set pressure so the engine thinks the turbos themselves are fooked and cuts off the whole boost system to avoid any potential damage to the engine itself. It all comes back to normal again after shutting the car off and on again.

Since there was no loss of power and if the car idled properly and started properly you can rule out HPFP failure. Since there was no rattling, you can rule out the wastegates. Did the car lose traction on your test drive?

That one you drove had iDrive so you should look up how to find the fault code on that. All the automatics in Ireland had iDrive whereas the manuals didn't so it's a different way of finding it on mine. You could try my way though if you can get another drive of it.

On the indicator stalk, there's a scroll button (wheel type) and you press this up or down until you come to "Check Control". Then you hold in the BC button which is at the tip of the indicator stalk.

Marty McFly

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

It depends on what the fault is. DId a picture of a half "filled" engine appear on the dash?

It can be anything from HPFP (high pressure fuel pump) to wastegate failure to rear wheel slip i.e. tyres are bald and the wheels lose traction.

This happens with the wastegates due to the turbos not meeting the set pressure so the engine thinks the turbos themselves are fooked and cuts off the whole boost system to avoid any potential damage to the engine itself. It all comes back to normal again after shutting the car off and on again.

Since there was no loss of power and if the car idled properly and started properly you can rule out HPFP failure. Since there was no rattling, you can rule out the wastegates. Did the car lose traction on your test drive?

That one you drove had iDrive so you should look up how to find the fault code on that. All the automatics in Ireland had iDrive whereas the manuals didn't so it's a different way of finding it on mine. You could try my way though if you can get another drive of it.

On the indicator stalk, there's a scroll button (wheel type) and you press this up or down until you come to "Check Control". Then you hold in the BC button which is at the tip of the indicator stalk.

Yeh it was the picture of the half filled engine alright, the traction felt fine aswell, there was nothing obvious wrong with it at all it drove fine. The fault appeared fairly quickly we had just turned out of the garage and gone about say at max 50 feet when it popped up.

MetzgerMeister

I'd be very weary of it but at least try and find the code before you make up your mind. I have a bookmark of the list of CC ID codes on my computer at home. I'll post it later on.

Marty McFly

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

I'd be very weary of it but at least try and find the code before you make up your mind. I have a bookmark of the list of CC ID codes on my computer at home. I'll post it later on.

Yeh I will do, they said they will fix it but if it one of the more serious issues I can't imagine they would be to willing to fix it properly. Thanks Metz .


Will say they are a lovely car though, nice sound to it.

MetzgerMeister

By "fix", they will more than likely just clear the code and hope it doesn't appear the next time.

You better come to a meet with it if you do end up buying it. I wanna see what the auto is like :pac:

Big Nasty

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

By "fix", they will more than likely just clear the code and hope it doesn't appear the next time.

You better come to a meet with it if you do end up buying it. I wanna see what the auto is like :pac:

You can bet your life that they did see it before too.

MetzgerMeister

MCMLXXV wrote: »

You can bet your life that they did see it before too.

Of course they did! These things don't just appear when a potential customer comes to test drive it!

Marty McFly

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

By "fix", they will more than likely just clear the code and hope it doesn't appear the next time.

You better come to a meet with it if you do end up buying it. I wanna see what the auto is like :pac:

Yeh I thought that.

:pac: no bother, in all honesty I would rather a manual one but they seem to be fairly rare over here a lot more auto's.

MCMLXXV wrote: »

You can bet your life that they did see it before too.

That's exactly what I thought gave me the whole speel of really jasus was only driving that a few hours ago was grand.

MetzgerMeister

When I was buying, mine was the only manual for sale amongst all the autos. I don't know if I would have gone for one if I couldn't get a manual. It's a personal choice that I prefer manual and I have nothing against autos but I'm not into them.

Marty McFly

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

When I was buying, mine was the only manual for sale amongst all the autos. I don't know if I would have gone for one if I couldn't get a manual. It's a personal choice that I prefer manual and I have nothing against autos but I'm not into them.

Yeh to be honest I'm the exact same myself really, when Im older or If I ever do a lot of mileage I might prefer the idea of an auto but until then If I can I prefer the idea of sticking to manual.

Was going to go look at this until Nissan Doctor thankfully steered me clear

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Nissan/Skyline/CPV35-2D/34113658552579020/advert?channel=CARS

Sure ill just keep looking I'm sure Ill find something I like eventually im in no rush as long the Accord is running fine. The engine fault has made me to weary for that 335i I reckon.

MetzgerMeister

Don't let it put you off just yet, wait until we find out what the code relates to. It could be something else altogether. The fact that the car was at full power when that light came on is a good thing as it usually sends it into limp mode.

It's also a bargaining chip to get the price down

Marty McFly

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Don't let it put you off just yet, wait until we find out what the code relates to. It could be something else altogether. The fact that the car was at full power when that light came on is a good thing as it usually sends it into limp mode.

It's also a bargaining chip to get the price down

Yeh well it did say power had been restricted but there didn't feel like any power loss.

But yeh ill try suss out the code before I give up hope altogether.

MetzgerMeister

Marty McFly wrote: »

Yeh well it did say power had been restricted but there didn't feel like any power loss.

But yeh ill try suss out the code before I give up hope altogether.

You'd need to be used to full power before you can really tell if it's been restricted but if you got it out on the N4 for a proper drive you'd certainly notice it.

unkel

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

You better come to a meet with it if you do end up buying it. I wanna see what the auto is like :pac:

Faster than yours. A lot faster

MetzgerMeister

unkel wrote: »

Faster than yours. A lot faster

Who invited you in here?! Fook off back to your Swedish car lovin'!!!!

MuppetCheck

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Don't let it put you off just yet, wait until we find out what the code relates to. It could be something else altogether. The fact that the car was at full power when that light came on is a good thing as it usually sends it into limp mode.

It's also a bargaining chip to get the price down

It's absolute madness buying a car with a known issue unless you have it properly diagnosed beforehand and know 100% the what the cause is and the cost of rectifying it. What else are they leaving out if they are prepared to retail a car in that condition.

I known you bought from them and I'm not having a go but a relatively specialist car like that needs to be 100%.

MetzgerMeister

MuppetCheck wrote: »

It's absolute madness buying a car with a known issue unless you have it properly diagnosed beforehand and know 100% the what the cause is and the cost of rectifying it.

This is what I'm trying to find out and is why I offered to go with him when viewing the car.

unkel

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Who invited you in here?! Fook off back to your Swedish car lovin'!!!!

Saab 9-5 is a decent bangernomics car, but it ain't no BMW...

I miss them

I'm coming up to 2 years now without owning one, after 10 years of V8, V8 and 6L BMWs...

MetzgerMeister

unkel wrote: »

I miss the BMWs too

I'm coming up to 2 years now without owning one, after 10 years of V8, V8 and 6L BMWs...

I presume you mean IL6??

unkel

Yeah. E34 V8, E38 V8 and bog standard E39 2l I6

Marty McFly

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

You'd need to be used to full power before you can really tell if it's been restricted but if you got it out on the N4 for a proper drive you'd certainly notice it.

Yeh very true and since the engine fault came on before we even had the chance to properly accelerate and not being used to the car there's no way I would have noticed any power loss from it, having never driven one.

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

This is what I'm trying to find out and is why I offered to go with him when viewing the car.

Yeh cheers, I'm going to take it that offer was an open invitation and may call ya on it again . My friend who is a mechanic and has always fixed any problems with my cars so do trust him but he also admitted when we were there he' not to familiar with BMW's.

uberwolf

I test drove a car from there a few years back and then had a mechanic friend have a loin at the same car. He reckoned the car drove and felt like a car with 50k more on the clock than it showed

rocky

If you treat it like a private sale, you'll be fine. They are cheap for a reason. I also wouldn't trust their 200 euro warranty...

MetzgerMeister

The warranty isn't with Sarsfield Motors at all but with Mapfre who are a specialist warranty company.

Big Nasty

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

The warranty isn't with Sarsfield Motors at all but with Mapfre who are a specialist warranty company.

And aren't worth a w@nk!

MetzgerMeister

Sorry for taking so long Marty but HERE is the page with all the error code definitions and HERE is a page full of DIY's.

JP Spratt

I recently bought a BMW X5 from Sarsfield Motor Group. The car was independently checked over by my own mechanic as are all cars I upgrade too.
The jeep was 100% & I was more than pleased with the customer service I received. Would definitely recommend...

ba_barabus

Thread dead 8 months then someone decides to post first time about how good they are?

JP Spratt

Just spreading a bit of positivity...delighted with my new motor! Just thought I'd have alook & see what other car buyers thought of the company! Got messed around from Murphy & Gunne Milltown so when I found the jeep I was looking for & didn't have to put up with salesman bull**** I thought I'd give this company the credit they deserve!!

power pants

Im delighted for your purchase and good experience with Sarsfield. Its good to hear positive feedback

Turtle-TM

Couldn't help laughing my ass off at the obviousness of the above post saying how good they are.


I bought an Audi from them for 15k, the car had 5k worth of work to be done by Audi to be brought to the standard that sarsfield claimed they were selling me.

No service, pads and disks not done, water ingress into the cabin.

Took them to court, got my 5k back, they owed close to 10 in costs. Happy days for me, but looking at the cars they currently have advertised they haven't learned from their lesson.


Hopefully this resurrected zombie thread serves as a warning to any one looking to buy from them, I'd avoid them like I'd avoid that crowd on the n4 at palmerstown!

JP Spratt

Turtle no offence but when ye part with €70K for a car ye do it with caution & I got more than a good deal. An AA mechanic serviced the car for me so I knew exactly what I was buying. I have been screwed in the past & I honestly am always on my guard when purchasing a motor. There is no alterior motive here just a satisfied customer.. People just seem to use boards.ie to complain & then when they have something positive to say everybody becomes suspicious...if I could upload the engineers report I would....

high horse

JP Spratt wrote: »

Turtle no offence but when ye part with €70K for a car ye do it with caution & I got more than a good deal. An AA mechanic serviced the car for me so I knew exactly what I was buying. I have been screwed in the past & I honestly am always on my guard when purchasing a motor. There is no alterior motive here just a satisfied customer.. People just seem to use boards.ie to complain & then when they have something positive to say everybody becomes suspicious...if I could upload the engineers report I would....

What's stopping you uploading it?

JP Spratt

Horse I've no scanner..if I had I'd upload the pic of the car too..

Turtle-TM

JP Spratt wrote: »

Turtle no offence but when ye part with €70K for a car ye do it with caution & I got more than a good deal. An AA mechanic serviced the car for me so I knew exactly what I was buying. I have been screwed in the past & I honestly am always on my guard when purchasing a motor. There is no alterior motive here just a satisfied customer.. People just seem to use boards.ie to complain & then when they have something positive to say everybody becomes suspicious...if I could upload the engineers report I would....

You spent €70k at a used car dealer?! Brave man

high horse

JP Spratt wrote: »

Horse I've no scanner..if I had I'd upload the pic of the car too..

Take a photo of the report and post the photo here?

You can understand why people would be suspicious of you when you resurrect a thread to praise a garage on your very first post?

Turtle-TM

JP Spratt wrote: »

Horse I've no scanner..if I had I'd upload the pic of the car too..

If the aa inspected the car for you then the report is emailed to you. Had it done last year for a car

Big Nasty

JP Spratt wrote: »

Horse I've no scanner..if I had I'd upload the pic of the car too..

Sure take a pic of the report and the car with your phone for us all to see.

If you've any difficulties with it sure we can talk ya through it.

JP Spratt

Ye but I had my own mechanic with me....ok this conversation is now getting silly ! Good night..