Looking to buy 88' prelude.. questions.

Theres an 88 prelude i saw up for sale on a classifieds website. it has 180 000km (112000mi) on it and it looks like its in great shape from the pictures. no rust, nice rims, great shine. the interior looks great and SUPER clean. cleaner and more well kept than my car. theres a picture of the odometer at the 180 000km mark and it doesnt look tampered with but with all of these good pros in hand, i havent seen it in person yet and have yet to get a reply on when the timing belt was changed and when the brakes were done. And i still wonder why it only has that much mileage.. with it being such an old car and all of 21 years.. So what should i especially look for when i check out the car? any sounds i should look out for while test driving it? It will be my first car and its selling at $1400 canadian and its negociable. the dude posted up in his ad: "a little love to be given to a great project" whatever that could mean. but it looks really well kept.. so where should i start?

Thanks :)

Be straight up, ask why he's selling it, and what all is wrong with it. Go under the car, check everywhere for oil spots, drips, check the belts, oil level, make sure it looks well-kept. Bring a flashlight if you go under the car. Brakes are easy to change, and cheap. Timing should have been changed, but that isn't alot of miles at all. I have a '94 with 210,XXX mi. Maybe it's just a good deal. And if you've got an iPhone, I'd run the VIN on Carfax.

As an example, I happen to own an 1993 saturn with only 71k on it. The previous onwer was a 1-car family, but the husband only lived about 5 miles from work and could easily take the bus to work since parking was tight there. The car would often be left for the wife to run errands such as to the store and back. I think this was probably the case with the owner before that as well.

And sometimes low miles can actually be a bad thing because it means a lot of city driving at low speeds. Lots of hours on the engine, but fewer miles.

Whenever I buy a car now, I insist on running a compression test on the engine. Take a good look at everything and decide if the owner has been putting off required maintenance or taking car of the car. My Saturn was a mix in this regard - the mechanic he had didn't want to be seen as "nickel and diming the owner to death" on an older car, so they let the brake fluid and coolant go way past where they should have. The good news is that no costly damage came from that and I could fix things myself for little cost. But the fluids are a good indication of how well the car has been maintained.

Take it to a shop to have it inspected. Most shops offer this service for free to gain your buisness when you do buy the car or a car. Expect there to be some flaws being its used. just add up the amount of repairs it needs and use it for bargaining