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venomz

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Location
Greenville
2002 LS w/ Sport Package
110k
Airbag light on (due to faulty sterring whell airbag module), Check Advancetrac, passenger-side dome light won't go off (these are all problems the dealer says he'll fix.)
Mildly ripped middle armrest, worn out bolster on driver's seat, one light ding in driver's door, in need of paint job(but not badly).
$6,000.

Do I buy it or not?
 
Not. For 6k, find a gen 2 (03+)
And thats quite some miles for that money
 
I should mention that I have to make payments - I can't buy it straight up. So I am forced to purchase from a dealer, and with bad credit, it also means that I need to peruse buy-here, pay-here lots.

If that makes any difference in the advice I am offered.
 
Dont give them your real address lol

I would still look for a newer model, or one that doesnt need a paint job lol
 
Red flag for me is that it's in need of a paint job. A good paint job costs almost as much as a damn engine or transmission swap. If they want 6k for a first gen with ragged interior, in need of a paintjob, and over 100k miles, I'd look elsewhere.
 
Honestly, those lots always make me nervous. They usually get a lot of higher mileage auction cars and they rarely know anything about the history or true condition of the vehicles they sell. You may get lucky and get a decent car, but there's a good chance you'll end up having to spend a lot of money on repairs and maintenance.

You may be better off with a less expensive, little reliable car for a bit while you save up some money for a well cared for LS. That way maybe in a year or so you can be more selective and find one you're really happy with. If you don't have the funds for repairs, you might get suck with a headache.

That's probably not what you want to do, but something to think about. Sometimes a little patience really makes the end result more satisfying. Best of luck!
 
Yeah, not to be a jerk or anything but if you're on a really tight budget the LS isnt the most budget friendly car. Premium gas, synthetic fluids, replacement parts are scarce and pricey. If you are intent on an LS just make sure you're comfortable with doing your own work and you'll save a lot of money there. Also don't buy anything without running a carfax, which wont catch everything, but can be very illuminating to major issues like salvage or flood titles. Your best bet though is if you find one you REALLY want at a shady dealer try and get a mechanic to go with you on a slow day at the shop and look it over, offer him $50 and lunch or something.
 
Not what you want to hear, but you need to put off buying an LS for a while.

If you can at all live without a car for a while, do that and put all the money you would be paying per month into a savings account. At the end of it, you will be able to buy twice the car with the same money, because you won't be paying loan-shark interest.

If you truly need a car now, get a cheap, simple car. When you are on your feet enough that you can get real financing, then you can look at an LS.
 
Carfax gives it a clean bill of health, apart from a engine replaced three months after the car was bought. I'm taking it to my mechanic as soon as the dealer tells me it's ready, but yeh, I'm leaning towards letting it go, though KBB tells me that in good condition, it's worth more than they are asking for it. I'd rather get a decent deal. If they give it to me for 6k including finance charges, I'll probably get it, but I wouldn't expect them to do that. So I don't expect to get the car.

I usually do my own mechanical and bodywork anyway, so typically, mechanic bills are not a huge problem. I'd have the money to buy it straight up in three months or so, but then that also means that I might be best finding a more expensive and recent LS anyway, and making payments on that instead. I'd love to make it an 2004-06 anyway.

I was in a bit of rush at the time I posted, but the truck I'm borrowing is available to me for an extended period of time, so the rush isn't what it was. I'm not much interested in a cheaper car. I make enough money to support the LS and my family without missing a beat - my TC just gave up the ghost and I was in a hurry to snatch up something.

I'd been looking at S-Types, Lses, and CTSes, in that order. This just popped up and I thought I'd get an educated opinion from the community most prevalent to the car.

Thanks. I suspect I'll be back.
 
Dude dont buy that car unless they have warranties to cover for like 3 months if they claim its in good condition. Get a Lincoln Mark VIII :rolleyes:
 
It already sounds as if your heart is set on the car regardless of your circumstances. With that being said, foresee expenses to keep it in the road and get your rainy day fund going now rather than later. Also, start sizing up local salvage yards to see if the used part segment in your area will allow for cost effective replacement of LS parts.
 
Pass on that particular car

Keep looking! There are cream puffs coming to market everyday! Keep looking!
 
tireman said:
Keep looking! There are cream puffs coming to market everyday! Keep looking!
Click to expand...

+1.

$6,000 is a lot for a 2002 in better condition and fewer miles. With your description of the car, it seems $2,000 should be the selling price. Sounds like you setting yourself for some financial problems in the future with the place you are thinking about buying from.
 
Pass on this car. If you're low on money, as mentioned this is an expensive car to repair even in parts only and 100k miles is where things start to go bad at the first level.

Carfax and the like are not foolproof. Mechanical and body work can be done off the radar by shops.

I'll give an example. Been looking for a first car for my granddaughter. 2005 Ford Focus came up at a very good price at a NJ Ford dealer, Carfax shows no accidents or major work. Dealer selling without warranty, as is. In person the car looks very, very good with only a slight crease in the driver rear fender. Visual exam looks really good all around exterior, engine looks great, fenders and front radiator support shows no removal of any fasteners or wrinkles. Drivers headlight shows it's aftermarket supplied, and on closer look, the pass side light is a touch cloudy in comparison. Still could just be a replaced broken light, and a hood with a few light front dents.

Ignition on and airbag light not on, but runs well with the exception of a little more idle vibration then I'm used to in a Focus. Plug in my Autoenginuity to do a computer check and there's no communication with the Airbag module, something I've seen before when a backdoor repairer does not want to replace airbags that have gone off.

Walked away.
 
Venomz,

That LS should be worth no more than $4,500. And, i wouldn't take KBB too serious, i don't know who is the person typing up those numbers for the car on KBB, but they are wrong.

Here is an example of what $7,500 LS looks like with 120,000 on the clock. You get an interior that looks cleaner than any car you will find with 30,000 miles on it.

5026756936_00d02a1d8d_z.jpg
 
Well the issue isnt actually KBB pricing structure it's that poeple always overvalue their cars. When searching on craigslist EVERYONE lists "the KBB value for this car in excellent condition is XXXX so I'll let it go for $200 less because the paint is peeling off, it's leaking oil, the interior is ripped and the windshield is cracked". Yeah here's the problem though, you should have valued your car at "poor" and then knocked off money from their. Most cars that have just been driven off the dealership lot dont even qualify as excellent condition.

Additionally you'll find the sweet spot for private party pricing between the KBB resale value and the trade in value.
 
be ready to put money up for anything that can go wrong

i bought mine up front , after haggling went from 5200 to 4300 cash, i found out it was salvage AFTER i bought it , ive done about 1300 dollars worth of stuff to get it up to par and still having issues with misfire cyl 1 , even the shop i go to cant figure it out , usually after 250 miles the light comes on for the same thing , new computer later and still same problem , rough idle at cold start , the shoip i go to i got lucky with and they dont charge me sometimes for pety stuff , all i can say is spend 20-30$ for the carfax and see what its been throught , what i liked about mine is that the first owner had it for about 10k miles and the 2nd owner for the rest 150k but all the work had been done at the dealer,
 
Lots of great advice here. I'll be looking for something else, and will post in this same thread for further advice once I've found something more appealing. I appreciate the time you've all taken.
 
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