I've been looking st this 2000 trans am firebird and it seems to still run strong. It has a new water pump, battery and alternator. Owner claims to have done head seals as well. (Gaskets I'm assuming). Only real mods are a short throw and exhaust. But my only issue is that it has 217k miles on it. It's daily driven and I'm not sure if it's a good idea to go forward with it. He's asking about 7k as of now. Is this a good deal or should I steer clear of this to avoid future issues? I don't plan on using it as a daily, more of a weekend type thing or even to get to work here and there.

 

Neighbor scooped a black one up for 6,000$ the other day. It is auto, and I don't know the year or mileage but the paint is rough

Stick pulls a premium. People are now asking 12,000~15,000$ for stick shift C5's

A quick ebay search shows the dropout for a LS1 & T56 package (with high mileage) are being listed for over 7,000$.

This is what happens when LS1 T56 are the engine trans combo that every airhead thinks of first when they want to swap some shitbox

But yeah 7,000$ seems like a fair deal but obviously try to negotiate


Edit: this is a LS1 stick we're talking about correct?

 

I'd think you can talk him down a little on it. My bigger concerns are, body and transmission. I've owned higher mileage LS cars never really thought twice about the motor in these things. I did HCI on my 1998 this year and was surprised at how clean everything was for a 24 year old car with 110k on the clock. if it is still lingering for sale after 10 days or so consider making an offer in the 5800-6400 range and just see his reaction. Inflation is at a 40 year high, companies are slowing down hiring, gas technically is down but it was as high as mount Everest before the 40ish cent reduction. the first thing people sell is **** they dont need or dont use as often any more. I'd expect some deals to be popping up soon and have already seen cars on other pages start the ole price slash.

 

Yeah it's a manual

 

I say 'no' to any car with that mileage. Even if the drive train seems fine, there are 217k miles on every component of the car. i would advise friends and family to avoid a car of this type if they asked me. I'll give you my same advice. This high mileage spells 'money pit' as the years go by.

I've put serious $$$ into my 80,000 miles one owner Trans Am. It's my favorite car of all the cars I have owned over my 51 years of driving. Putting money into it is part of the ownership experience and I keep it as nice as possible. I seriously doubt the previous owner(s) did the same with the car with nearly triple the miles. That financial burden would then fall on you. AVOID!!

 

So avoid this car? Because when i drove it everything seemed fine but if thatsbyour advice ill probably have to take it. As cool as the car is the parts aren't that expensive if anything was needed. Yet again I've never done anything major to a car besides a belt change so I wouldn't know about repairs. But the owner claims that some things have been done to it.

 

If it's a ws6 TA, it may be worth it, but be prepared to invest some money in it for repairs and maintenance.

 

It's a totally different story if you can repair your own car. I can't. My friends can't and my family can't. Parts are not expensive as you mentioned but labor sure is. My rear end was almost $1,000 last year. I could not do my water pump or machine the rotors either. I can't even change the spark plugs in an LS1. It adds up to lots of $$$. My car is rarely floored, lives in a climate controlled garage and has many easy 'highway' miles.I am the only owner. Cars always need things especially as the years roll by, now 21 years on mine. The car you are talking about has triple my miles so Lord only knows what other issues will arise. How many owners has that car seen? If one or two, that's pretty good. If 4 or more, I bet one of them didn't love' the car. No thanks!

Even buying my car would cost you $$$ down the road even though it needs nothing right now. It would not be a 'money pit' from neglect or abuse however. It would be normal repair items. I think i am making my point here. The 1st photo shows my car when it was still 'new' with about 3,000 miles on it. The 2nd photo is last week with 80,000 miles on it with every repair and maintenance need documented.

 

Okay so my 01 SS which had an LS1/T56 that threw a rod at 150,000 miles, fast forward seven years to 2014 and now it has an LSX427, KOOKS 2" headers, KOOKS 3" offroad true dual exhaust, RPM Level 6 T56 Magnum,Strange S60, All BMR tubular suspension with Viking DA's. I spent over $40,000 dollars on the car with over half of that tied up in the engine. This is how she sits with 168,457 miles on it. LME machined the block but I wanted to build my first engine and didn't want to spend 3K to have them build and dyno it which is very fair if you ask me but the experience gained along with the pride of doing the work myself made it all worthwhile. I know I will never get back all of the money I've invested into it but don't care about that either.

 

If you're paying someone to do every job on your car then yes things stack up pretty quick. However, if you're learning and willing to do the work yourself I would not be afraid of a high mileage F-body...as long as the transmission and engine are strong. I read a few forums, watched a couple youtube videos and I was able to swap heads and cam with 0 **** ups and no prior knowledge of engine disassembly and re-assembly; just followed the forums/videos and asked for help when I got stuck. to be honest the extent of my mechanic abilities stopped at doing my own brakes. which by the way, brakes, rotors, wheel bearings, suspension components are not that hard to work on in your driveway with hand tools and a jack; just did shocks, struts, springs and sway bars all in my garage. If this is your daily and you rely on it to run 100% all the time then maybe not go with such a high mileage car but if you can afford to have it down for a few weeks while you passively fix things and cruise it on the weekends etc.. then try to meet the guy in the 6k mark and i think you'd have a good deal.

 

217,000 mile LS1/T56 T/A for $7,000 seems pretty high. I wouldn't buy it unless I really loved the car and had $3,500 set aside for possible issues and maintenance etc.

​​​​​Anyway, I fell in love with a high mile 02 Z28 and 239,000 mile-02-z28 is my experience with since 2018 with a high mile LS1 4th Gen. It might be worth a look to see basically a best case for a high mile LS1. Paid $4,500 for the car. The car was maintained to an extremely high standard. The 02 Z28 has 262,000 miles today and is going strong as a daily non winter driver. I expect to be ~$25,000 to $35,000 into the car by time a 408 stroker etc goes in eventually.