Original owner, black, fully loaded 2000 Sunbird GT, automatic, new Goodyear tires, large dent in drivers door, passenger door lock missing , new alternator, water pump. Needs brakes. Overall the car looks pretty clean, no visible rust, but haven't had a good look. Mileage is pretty high @ 240,000 kms. It might take $600 to get it on the road (brakes, exhaust etc.)
What should I check the car for? What kind of trouble areas could I expect with these kind on miles (150,000 miles). Is there certain areas to check for rust? If the car is rotted out, I don't want it. Most minor mechancial stuff I can handle. Would the tranny be good for another 60K?
The guy was asking $1200, lowered it to $900. I'm thinking about giving him $500 cash
How many more miles can I expect out of the car? At what point would you consider it not worth fixing? I figure, if I can get a couple years out of it I will be doing OK.
i paid 800 us for my vert.... it had 162k miles when i got it.. needed new tires and still needs a top. cars still ticking at 170.600 now. no signs of downfall as of yet. in your case i would offer the 500 haha
If it was treated right, it should be good to go for awhile yet... as for rust spots to look for... On the 2 door J's, they like to rust under the doors, and more common, right behind the door in front of the wheel. be sure to look there. In addition, $500 is a pretty far budge from the $1200 he wanted. I'd offer a bit more than that.
Good luck!
Did I mention I drive a 2000 Lumina now?-----wigm-tuners.org member
974drfire wrote:If it was treated right, it should be good to go for awhile yet... as for rust spots to look for... On the 2 door J's, they like to rust under the doors, and more common, right behind the door in front of the wheel. be sure to look there. In addition, $500 is a pretty far budge from the $1200 he wanted. I'd offer a bit more than that.
Good luck!
Thanks for the reply,
The car has been sitting a long time, right now its under about a foot of snow. I called the guy and he sounded pretty desparate to sell, hence the lowball number My big issue is that I don't want to throw $2000 in repairs at a $1000 car.
i paid 525.00 for my cav... 185k when i got it, 190k now. I replaced timing chain, and a cv joint, other than that... nada lada problems.
I wouldn't buy it for more than 500 bucks, i got my Z24 in mint condition, with 140,000kms last year in an inflated economy
in Calgary, Alberta, where the prices of everything are substantially more then everywhere else, and it came with brand
new winter and summer tires too.
At that age/mileage I would expect to start running into issues like, struts/mounts, control arm bushings, exhaust repair, ignition module, rad, hoses, etc. At least the water pump is already done. You already know that it needs brakes, maybe a repair to the door (depending on what you want to live with), and a door lock. I'd bet that he's going to want at least $700 - but you never know. The GTs are a bit hard to check for rust on, since the worst areas are mostly covered by plastic. That being said, perhaps the rust doesn't matter as much either...
In the past I had bought a few cars in that price range, and usually had an easy extra $1000 into it within the first 3 months of ownership. I would make sure that you have a budget available of at least $1500 over the purchase price available to cover unexpected problems - but as long as the engine and tranny are mechanically sound, you could be driving a car with quite a few new parts for under $2000. Any used car purchase is always a risk - at least this one has a fairly low starting price. If you like the car - why not go for it? At worst, it will be an educational experience you can look back on. If you bought new, you'd be giving the government more than that amount of money on top of the purchase price anyway - so at least this way you have something to show for it.
John
