i might get a GSX...

ok so there's a GSX near me i found on the internet...it's a 97, red, all stock except rims, bov, and cat back...the only thing is, it has 140,000mi. and the price is $7800 on the ad....so i called him up and we set up a time for me to check it out...so an hour later i headed down there to see it...met him at a sam's club. i got out and the car is in beautiful shape. the body/paint is close to a 10 on a scale from 1 - 10. the interior is 100% perfect. this car is SUPER clean. the engine bay was a bit dirty, however but nothing major. the dude seemed pretty cool and he let me take it for a drive...so we drove around for a bit, talking about the car...he told me to get on it through 1st to 3rd, so i did...the car pulled extremely hard for having a stock T25 with 140k on it and had no hesitation whatsoever. motor seemed strong and sounded excellent. the only thing i was concerned about was the transmission...i grinded 2nd twice just normally driving it, and i NEVER grind gears. well it seems that his clutch engages pretty much ON the floor, and the damn floormat kept getting stuck behind the pedal. i think that was probably why i wasn't so hot with the shifts (HOPEFULLY). but the shifter felt ssooooooo much sloppier than mine. i never realized how much my shifter bushings and short throw helped. my shifter is a lot stiffer and isn't sloppy. so after the drive he told me he'd take 7000 instead of 7800...which i think is fare for what kind of condition it's in, but the 140k miles is what's scaring me.....anyone have any input?

hmmmmm........... it IS a GSX and from what you say its in good shape, however the tranny and the 140k is what gets me. Also did you check it for crankwalk?? If not DEFFINANTLY do that. Not just turn left with the clutch pedal down and see how the pedal reacts. You MIGHT be looking at a rebuild soon so keep that in mind also b/c that will cost $. I say give 6,500 for it, but its up to you.

Well ask to see some previosu maintance records (if any)! Make sure to see that the timing belt was changed! Check shaft play! Also check the life of the tires...thats a great way to dock point off of the price of the car!!

Other than that, just make sure that all electrical stuff work!

Good luck!

i'd say go for it, although try talk him down a bit more if you can. if it's as good as it sounds i'd go for it, nice CLEAN dsm's are becoming harder and harder to come by. even if it needed a little TLC, i'd still say go for it (although not for $7000 if it needed a little work)

i checked for oil leaks, and there was this real sharp left curve i took at about 50, and the sign said take it at 30, and the clutch pedal never stuck. CW isn't an issue anyway, if the motor DID CW, i can swap my motor in it....the only thing is, if the tranny goes, then i'll be looking for a new tranny because my tranny isn't for an AWD. i didn't know GST'GSX's could last 140,000 miles lol (j/p). i've seen 98's with less miles in absolute horrible shape....it all depends on how well it was taken care of...he told me he bought it for 9k off of some 60yr old guy (which was the original owner). the thing i'm not too thrilled about is having 2 car payments, but i could live with it. here's a link with some pics of it...

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/obxman16/detail?.dir=b155&.dnm=276c.jpg&.src=ph

pic #7 is really the only flaw with the interior. a minor rip on the seat.

i need to make up my mind...i've always wanted a GSX

looks like a VERY clean and meticulously taken care of car. I'd be all over that thing if I was in the market for a GSX.

go for it man. also it wouldn't hurt to do a carfax on it too.

I think odds are if it hasn't crank walked by 140K it probably wont. I say go for it.

Definitly drop the price though! Start at $6000, but $6500 would be a good buy! Or start even lower if you have the guts...hey...you have nothing to lose!

GL

WTF $7'800k!??? NO F*ING WAY!! The GSX that i was suppose to get was also 95 red clean outside and in and they was asking 6'500 and the mile were only 97K compared you your 97 140k? F That i would give him 5k no more. The miles are too damn high! if it was 97 with 97k then 7 is ok but 5k is good enough.

That thing is clean as hell. The car books for about $5k, so I would offer him $6k and consider it a good enough deal. You won't find that many 2g GSX's in that nice of shape, regardless of mileage. Grab that shit up.

:iagree:

Looks real nice. Good luck!

Yeah I would do it. Clean cars dont come around too often and trust me, getting a car that needs work isnt fun. I do think that 7g's is a little steep for 140k, though. Talk him down if you can, but even if you cant, I would still do it.

140K is a lot of miles. Also 7000 sounds like a lot considering blue book value is around 5K for a 97 GSX. try to talk him down man, show him blue book value and also tell him the car has a lot of miles. Why dont you swap the engine with your GST's ?
The car is however in almost Excellent condition.
To tell you the truth, if I were you I'd buy it right away. GSX's are awesome and I know you would love it too. I would buy the GSX and take the 16G turbo and other mods from the GST and put em on the GSX, put the stock T28 on the GST and sell it.
A car in that condition is hard to find trust me.
But yeah, sell the GST and get the GSX. I think you can get around 6-7K for your GST. Put it on autotrader or dsm tuner and I bet some one would buy it. try to get him a little down on the price though. Good luck. If this car was around my state I would have bought it by now :).

yea for sure just buy the car steve you know its your dream car and you want a new one anyway and you know your gst will sell for a damn good price. leave the mods on it and stick it on ebay or something like that. if i had a chance like this i sure wouldnt pass it up. plus then you can shut jim up

How well the car was taken care of means more than its mileage, and that one looks pampered. Considering book, like the other guys said, I'd see where a touch below 6.5k gets you. The 97-99 models go for a premium at any mileage, so I wouldn't expect a buy at anything less. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know, though :).

Pretty ride, good luck with that.

Personally I'd pay 7800 for the car if i had to. But if the guy already dropped the price i'd say try to get him to go cheaper. The thing about blue book is that the prices are usually way too low for the car, I don't think the take into account the high demand for these cars, for instance my brother's 240sx (93 coupe) books for like like 1300 but you'll NEVER find one for that cheap. If this guy doesn't really know too much about these cars he might go cheaper, it's worth a shot.