hello,
first a little about me,
My name is Mike and I'm 28 and have a motorcycle shop in titusville, fl. me and my wife are expecting our first child in November. I currently own a 93 civic hatchback with 348,000mi on it and it still runs strong. unfortunately I cant fit the family in it. time for a suv
I was really taken by the montero and outlander and have heard great reviews on them.
I found a 2004 outlander with 250k miles on it. the car is extra clean with no issues with it. the gentleman wants $3,500 for it and it really seems worth it and that's pretty much my cap on what i can spend.
I'm just really scared and cant afford to buy this and then everything starts going wrong with it.
any advise or tips would be greatly appreciated.
thanks

 

Mike, I went into edmunds.com and priced a 2004 Outlander LS with 250,000 miles and they show it for around $3600 for a private party sale, so the price seems fair. Here's what I would do. Spend a little extra money and have the car checked out by a mechanic you trust including a compression test on the engine. Also take it for a drive on both the highway and in city traffic to make sure the transmission shifts smoothly. Good Luck and congratulations on your first child being on the way.

 

Mike, wouldn't be a bad idea to open the oil fill cap...see if you can see nice shiney metal parts...if they are all varnished...may want to walk away. See if they have any maintenance records...if not, ask when the last time transmission, differential, cooling, power steering, and other fluids were changed.

One good thing going for it, that guy averaged about 35k miles a year...that means lots of highway miles, which are way better than city driving miles.

 

thank you for the responses. I will see if he will let me bring it to my shop where I can test the compression and other stuff. he does have all the maintenance records too so i can take a look at. I'm really feeling strong about getting it.
thank you for the congratulations AZJAKE, we are really excited.