Should I Buy This Car?

[drkchild]

Hi all!
My husband and I went to a used car lot on Saturday looking for a 2nd car (our primary car is a '03 Galant). The dealer is willing to sell us a '97 Ford Taurus. It has 135,000 miles, radio and ac works, and the inside of the car is in fair condition. Do you all think that 135,000 miles is too much and is he selling the car for a low amt of money? This is leading us to believe that there is something wrong with the car that he is not telling us. Are '97 Ford Taurus' an overall good car? Any help is appreciated!

[Willyum]

You didn't mention the price but an interior in "fair" condition gives you a clue that the car wasn't taken well care of. Any vehicle with this many miles is likely going to need this and that. Is worth having someone take a mechanical look at it, the Ford dealer will do that for you for about $75 and is money well spent. If the lot won't let you do that is another clue that you should stay away from it. If the price is over $1500, is too much. I have an '02 in near perfect condition and the Ford dealer told me is only worth $4500.

[pontiacfreak_81]

I drive a 98 taurus with 131,000 and was just told last week by a dealer that my car was only worth $1,000 on trade in so id say anything more than 1500 would probably be to much also

[drkchild]

I'm so so sorry. He is willing to sell it for $2,000

[drkchild]

We were going to put $1,000 down and finance the other $1,000 and he gave us the price of $2,000. We have the cash to pay for it out right now so we were going to go back there and negogiate with him since we will now be paying with cash, but I wanted to do a little research on the car before we did.

[Willyum]

You really ought to check the car out or have it checked. It have good regular service? Especially critical - has service been done on the transmission according to Ford recommendations? You could be walking into a money pit.

[wesner1]

Carfax.com - $20(requires VIN); my '97 has 189k+ if that helps any....