Opinions needed for GST car purchase

Hi everyone,

I'm actually in the process of purchasing a 98 GST. I have two sellers who want to sell me their car. One has a automatic version w/ about 35,000 mileage on it. However, that one shows some leakage in two parts of the engine. Don't remember where at the moment, but it was something with a tube for the turbo and some valve cap (estimated cost of fix from a mechanic was $500) The rest of the car was inspected with no problems. Oh, there is that sunroof rattling noise , scratches on the bottom of the front bumper due to her driveway, and there's a few rock chips and a ding on the body. Overall, the body looks good. Seller 1 is offering me the price of $9,300 for her car. It is completely stock except for tint in the rear window and a radar detector included in the car. The owner is a woman, has records of maintinance, and fairly protective of the car so it seems she takes care of the car. Furthermore, she's the only owner of this car.

Seller 2 has a 1998 GST with manual transmission and about 69,000 miles on it. This car has HKS exhaust, intake, and BOV installed. The clutch was replaced a few weeks before he bought it. It does have some problems also. The first trouble spot is the "engine check" light going off and on occasionally. The seller says that he had his mechanic check the engine and there's nothing wrong with it. Second, the tires need replacing. Third, there are a few dings on the car. I'll have the car inspected by a mechanic (probably AAA) when I go look at it soon to see if there's anything else wrong. He's offering to sell it for around $9,000. This seller is a teenager who is the car's second or third owner, currently asking for his maintenance records, and he most likely used it for racing. He only bought it a couple months ago, so it's hard to tell. Not that teenagers don't know how to take care of their cars, but it's hard to drive slowly in one of these babies. Either way, I would like to have the opinions of people in this forum on which car I should buy and things to look for before purchasing. Thanks.

i wouldn't buy either. asking too much money for their condition.

the automatic with 35k miles is worth $8,350 blue book in excelent condition. and its not in excelent condition. how would you get a car loan for a car if its not with it? you won't i tried. unless you have the cash to over the difference.

the manual with 69k miles is blue book $7,930, don't buy someone else's toy. especialy if you don't know how to mod DSM'l you'll be jumping into the middle of the project not know where to begin. also did he have the timing belt and the rest of the 60k milage stuff done?


spending ANYTHING above bluebook is a rip off. Don't buy are car that has problems, they are getting rid of it because they are sick of problems. and if the car is leaking ship at 35k miles its either a lemon or has been beat. most eclispe's have issues because the owners beat the hell out of them. and since they are getting old, they have issues. don't think you are going to buy a 7 year old car and not have some maintnece to catch up on either.

I bought my 99 GST 5-speed with 71k miles for $8500 from a dealership. car came with a 6 month/6k miles power train warrenty. car was in mint condtion body, and pretty-damn-good-for-an-old-car engine wise. i had it check buy a mechanic before i bought it. it was leaking oil, clutch oil, and coolant, and the tires were shady. dealership fixed all the leaks, vaule seals, left transaxle seals, and a crap radiotor plug. i ended up trashing the old tires and buying winter tires. all in all i've rip the car top to bottom looking for maintnesce to do. car came with all the 60k miles warrenty paper work. only thing gone wrong is the A/C clutch, but getting it fixed under warenty.


point being you can find a better car with less issues, and never buy a gst with an auto tranny its such a waste. keep looking you'll find something and when you do you'll know it.

I don't know about you guys but I have NEVER been offered or able in any way to get blue book prices. The lowest I've ever got anyone was $500 to $1000 above blue book. This is for a GSX though and people know how rare they are. But that's the thing, in certain areas the rareness of the car makes it impossible to get blue book. If you dont live somewhere near Illinois you are, how do I say this, Fucked.

I don't know about you guys but I have NEVER been offered or able in any way to get blue book prices. The lowest I've ever got anyone was $500 to $1000 above blue book. This is for a GSX though and people know how rare they are. But that's the thing, in certain areas the rareness of the car makes it impossible to get blue book. If you dont live somewhere near Illinois you are, how do I say this, Fucked.

I agree, in my area I have never heard of someone not getting more than blue book for a GS-T or GS-X. Around here GS-X's and Spyder GS-T's go for significantly more than blue book. I know for a fact (I have been offered many times) that my car is worth thousands more than the blue book.

Although I agree that the blue book is good for things like honda's, fords, etc.....It doesn't seem to factor in the "rarity" of the vehicle you are interested in. I had to look for 7 months before I found my Spyder, it was one of 3 that was what I wanted (Spyder, Turbo, 5-Speed). That just goes to show how rare they are.