Too high mileage?
05-06-2007, 07:52 PM
#1
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Too high mileage? I'm looking at a 98 Trans am for 5000, all stock, with 152xxx miles. That too many? What problem areas do I need to look for? It's an a4 with t-tops.
05-06-2007, 09:14 PM
#2
My brother bought a 98' TA in San Antonio with 160,xxx miles and it has been great.
The car was owned by an older woman (I know...you hear that alot but this one was real!LOL!).And was an A4 as well.
The only problems were chips in the front from highway travel (the lady ran a home nursing company and traveled all over from SA to Corpus,Boerne,San Marcos and Austin...Racked up a ton of miles but has service records of how she followed its maintenance with the dealer.Interior was PERFECT CLEAN.
Problems the car did have:
Leak from the power steering.
Differential was "sweating" a bit but,no noises.
Warped rotors (theres a surprise with F-Bodies...LOL).
Coolant sensor was bad...again,another common problem.
This was about 2 yrs ago when he bought it for $4200.
Since then he has moved to Colorado and has even driven the car from Texas to Colorado.Car is still going strong and in the two years has had to change out a water pump and the fuel pump.Oh and clean the MAF sensor.
I would say not such a bad deal for my brother.
If you are not mechanically inclined,I would take the car to a good mechanic and have them give it a good going over.It will be money well spent.Or maybe a friend who knows his way around a car would be a little more cost effective.A compression test might be a good idea for the engine.
Kelly blue book which isn't always on target puts the car you are describing at a private party value of $6180.But at least that will give you a ball park figure as far as that goes.
If you plan to get very "hard core" with modding and such,you might want to find something with less miles or possibly be ready for a rebuild right around the corner.
If this is going to be a cruiser/driver and it checks out in good condition,I would give it a shot.With those kind of miles,I doubt that this car belonged to a hard core racer type of person.Of course I don't know how many owners this car has had either.
Which brings me to getting a Carfax.It doesn't always tell you without doubt if the car has been in an accident or not but,you can see how many owners it has had and if the car was at anytime registered to anyone that lives/lived in the hurricane Katrina stricken areas of the US gulf coast.
Anyways....Sorry to make this soo long,hope there is some info that might help you in your decision.
The car was owned by an older woman (I know...you hear that alot but this one was real!LOL!).And was an A4 as well.
The only problems were chips in the front from highway travel (the lady ran a home nursing company and traveled all over from SA to Corpus,Boerne,San Marcos and Austin...Racked up a ton of miles but has service records of how she followed its maintenance with the dealer.Interior was PERFECT CLEAN.
Problems the car did have:
Leak from the power steering.
Differential was "sweating" a bit but,no noises.
Warped rotors (theres a surprise with F-Bodies...LOL).
Coolant sensor was bad...again,another common problem.
This was about 2 yrs ago when he bought it for $4200.
Since then he has moved to Colorado and has even driven the car from Texas to Colorado.Car is still going strong and in the two years has had to change out a water pump and the fuel pump.Oh and clean the MAF sensor.
I would say not such a bad deal for my brother.
If you are not mechanically inclined,I would take the car to a good mechanic and have them give it a good going over.It will be money well spent.Or maybe a friend who knows his way around a car would be a little more cost effective.A compression test might be a good idea for the engine.
Kelly blue book which isn't always on target puts the car you are describing at a private party value of $6180.But at least that will give you a ball park figure as far as that goes.
If you plan to get very "hard core" with modding and such,you might want to find something with less miles or possibly be ready for a rebuild right around the corner.
If this is going to be a cruiser/driver and it checks out in good condition,I would give it a shot.With those kind of miles,I doubt that this car belonged to a hard core racer type of person.Of course I don't know how many owners this car has had either.
Which brings me to getting a Carfax.It doesn't always tell you without doubt if the car has been in an accident or not but,you can see how many owners it has had and if the car was at anytime registered to anyone that lives/lived in the hurricane Katrina stricken areas of the US gulf coast.
Anyways....Sorry to make this soo long,hope there is some info that might help you in your decision.
Last edited by MJK; 05-06-2007 at 09:22 PM.
05-07-2007, 08:45 AM
#3
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With the car being almost 10 years old, with 150k miles, I'd say you've got a lot of leeway in negotiating the price. It probably wouldn't hurt to try to bring the price down some.....
05-07-2007, 10:40 AM
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hell if u got em to drop the price...pay that bitch off in 6months...and rebuild the motor...building these motors insnt quite as expensive as it used to be...all these damn LS series enigines now a days 
....LS1, LS2, LS3 , LS6, LS7 
....LS1, LS2, LS3 , LS6, LS7
05-07-2007, 11:51 AM
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That is the reduced price, they wanted 6k for it. I'm wanting a good quick dd that I can pay cash for, I could go for lower miles and a car note but I want something paid off. I might have to go lt1 to get a lower mile car.
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05-07-2007, 05:51 PM
#8
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I would pass on that one. You stated you didn't want payments but I see 'payments' coming your way in the form of repair bills. You can do WAY better than this car, especially for $5,000. Ouch!!