Getting my first car :)

[Wojtek]

I went to look at a car today.

It was advertised as follows:

DODGE NEON 4dr SPORT 1995
210,000Km (130,500miles)
1700$ cdn (1300$ usd)
Exterior color : Dark blue
Car options : Air conditionning, AM/FM stero radio, casette, 2 air bags, rear defroster, mags, wipers, electronic assisted steering, trunk remot opener, tinted windows, adjustable steering wheel.

pic of advertised car:

Upon arriving at the place (arab or armenian or rumunian lil garage), I took a good look at the car.

I immidiately recognized it from far with its nice shiny dark blue metalic paint.
Upon taking a closer look, my smile kind of faded away.

Cons:
- missing radio
- missing cigarette ash tray
- missing cigarette 12v lighter
- some scratches and invard bumps on the driver side
- some scratches on the passenger side
- passenger window won't open
- tinky grinky hissy sounds comming from the front when driving
- the engine isnt as smooth when idling as I'd like it to be. It's not harsh, but i can feel the car moving a little.
- only 2 windows tinted. rear winow and rear driver window. go figure why rear passenger is stock
- 1 tiny crack in windshield, 1 somhow bigger. But I didnt notice them until about 20mins into the inspection.
- some rust here and there
- no tachometer

Pros:
- Manual transmission
- Nice paint
- strong engine when driving, very good acceleration
- shifts very well, dosnt skip gears
- working air conditionning :classic2:
- single wiper conversion, heh

They gave me a price drop. 1250$ with front sound / passenger window fixed or 1600$ with debumping of the body and repainting the bad parts of it.

Here are some pictures of the parts to fix:

Is the 350$ they'r asking a fair price to fix that or I should get a better deal to fix that somewhere else.

And lastly for 1250/1600$ is that a good purchase?
As a first car I'm not very demanding, It needs to be cheap, look good and last me 2-3 years from now. And this seems to fit the bill, except this uneven idling that is kind of bugging me, maybe its not so bad and some premium gazoline and some oil changes will fix that, but I don't think I'll find a better price for such a car.

 

[Mandrake]

If the $350 includes fixing the damage right and repainting it to where it matches the rest of it, then I would say that's not a bad price. That's some pretty major damage when you look at it all together. The uneven idling could be a lot of things. Could be as simple as needing new plugs in wires, could need the fuel injectors clean, or it could be as major as low compression on one cylinder. If the engine's okay, it's a good deal. If you know someone who's a mechanic, I would take them down there to check it out and they might be able to have a better opinion of the engine issues.

 

[loggerheads]

whatever you said about the transmission being good is not an issue, a manual doesn't skip gears unless you tell it to. But whatever, if they fix it up it should be good, uneven idling is not something to worry too much about, car's can be slightly messed up for years with no real problems. Obviously though if you can afford/know a proper mechanic then it's better safe than sorry, but it sounds alright to me.

 

[Gayowulf]

make good friends with a mechanic, Wojtek.

neons aren't known for their reliability. especially after 210000 km.

but i guess the price kinda reflects that. no one is going to get a trouble free car for $1250

have fun with it. The Day I got my first car was one of the best days of my life.

I crashed it about 2 months later, though

 

[Spiral]

There is a reason that 1995 car is selling for so cheap. It will die, soon.

Neons are very cheaply built cars, as Gayowulf stated a bit more politely. On top of that, it looks as if that car has been beaten to hell and back. You get what you pay for.

 

[stu]

If it were up to me, I wouldn't buy it. The list of cons far surpass the list of pros (which I don't really think are pros anyway). Not sure what skipping gears means but that sounds extremely bad for any car

 

[darkcurves]

Looks like the previous owner(s) trashed it up. Not sure the market price of used cars in USA but looks like this car is not worth it.

 

[trenzterra]

Crack in windshield - bad.

The car seems to be in poor condition...

 

[nitroboy]

I wouldn't buy it, especially not a gazoline engine with 210,000km on it.

However, 350$ is a fair price to repair all damages.

 

[foo2thabar]

neons aren't known for their reliability. especially after 210000 km.

Save for the SRT model, they are notorious for blowing head gaskets.

 

[cowax]

make good friends with a mechanic, Wojtek.

neons aren't known for their reliability. especially after 210000 km.

This man speaks the truth. I wouldn't spend $1300 on a 95 neon that looks like its in near perfect condition. Half that, maybe. But with everything wrong with it, you better not pay anymore than a grand.

 

[Wojtek]

As for the headgaskets, I'll be checking if it's equiped with the MSL headgasket. That one doesnt brake.

If it is, I'll deal down the price cause of false advertisement and if i'm happy with the price I'll probably take it.

I was intending to replace the radio anyways
And I can get an ashtray from ebay for 6 bucks so really after the body is fixed up it'll look pretty good.

That is, if it has the MSL hg

I'm going back there on friday. So I'll post back on friday if I came back in my neon or not

 

[foo2thabar]

If it is, I'll deal down the price cause of false advertisement and if i'm happy with the price I'll probably take it.

how exactly would it be false advertisement....

 

[Wojtek]

They advertised it beeing a Sport model while I checked the VIN and its a Highline.
They advertised as having am/fm radio casette while its nots there. Same for remote trunk opener

That's enough to be false adverisement.

 

[Robert]

They advertised it beeing a Sport model while I checked the VIN and its a Highline.
They advertised as having am/fm radio casette while its nots there. Same for remote trunk opener

That's enough to be false adverisement.

What is a highline?

Neons are sports cars.

 

[Wojtek]

Different trims

Baseline
Highline
Sport

Each is a lil better then the other.
For example the sport has a Dohc engine with 150Hp, compared to the base and highline Sohc 132Hp.

So I can wine then engine is inferior to what was advertised



And Ben, I don't have money for an SRT.
If I'd had, I'd be purchasing my 300ZX and not some shitty neon :wink2:

 

[notnamed]

Try looking at a Ford pickup, if you're into anything. I'm quite happy with my 1990 (1991? I don't remember) Ford Ranger. It looks like crap, but has quite decent fuel economy. And, y'know, it drives, and stuff.

 

[Wojtek]

ish, im not a pickup guy, far from it :wink2:


I found a 03 Tiburon GT for 6500$. Driver door and rear axle is busted. We'r looking at what? 1000-1500$ in repairs?

So for ~8000$ I get a brand new 03 car with 9000km with 10yr waranty, full leather interior, 179hp V6, 7 speaker sound system w/ sub, a/c, and all the other goody stuff

I'll go inspect it tomorow and hopefully the bank will give me the loan

 

[foo2thabar]

And Ben, I don't have money for an SRT.

Maybe you misunderstood me, I didn't mean "Get an SRT," but I meant that all Neon's except for the SRT models are notorious for blowing head gaskets, or so I've heard.