1997 Mitsubish GST Worth It?

[Seekr]

So I am thinking about buying this 1997 GST from a private seller off of craigslist. The car has 104,000 miles on it, body and interior are in very good condition, no rust. The asking price was $4900. I called him up today and asked about the car, he says it may need a new alternator, car clicks sometimes before it starts up. Has a new battery. The only other problem is it needs turbo seals because the car smokes a bit and a new door handle on the driver side. He has the door handle for me to put on. He also lowered the price down to $4000 so I can have everything fixed.

My question is, is it worth it?

I would be driving 2 hours to go and pick it up. This will be my first DSM, always wanted one and I will be driving it daily. Says he it sat all summer but it runs fine and he drove it around the block yesterday. What other info should I get out of him?

1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse GST

The help would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Cory

 

[slugo17]

4k is still kind of high for a fwd, but those are relatively low miles. And the click is probably the starter, not the alt.

 

[Jessem220]

Make sure the alternator will keep charge long enough then take it to a shop to get it rebuilt or buy a new one. I'd make sure you know a shop that can fix the turbo before you buy it. All in all, I'd get it. Gst's are nice cars.

I hope this helps

 

[Eeeeky]

I would go for what mods he has so much "invested" in, this could be good or bad, he could have done a crappy job and messed something up. I would go test drive it, listen for anything weird, also take a compression tester and do the test. It looks good, but looks can deceive

 

[douglaslovin]

close to what I just paid for my 99 RS but mine had zero problems.

 

[Seekr]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Don't know why I said alternator, meant starter. How much should I expect to pay for a turbo replacement / labor if it happens to come to that? My budget is $5100. Stock is t25 right? How much would the seals be?

Wish I knew more about cars, only know the basics though. As far as mods go, I believe he only upgraded suspension components and put in a new clutch.

Thanks,
Cory

 

[Misterbeechy]

yea.. run a compression test on the cylinders.. that would give you some health on it.. as per the turbo.. get yourself either another T-25 just to keep stock, or go for the evo3 16g if you are looking into modding it in the future.. Good luck .. also test drive it.. and red line that sucker (after a good warm up first) to see if you get ## power throught most of your rpms.. i bought one that would die at 4700 rpms drastically..

 

[ktgurl87]

I just want you to know... replacing the starter (if it indeed needs to be replaced, could just be faulty wiring) can be kind of tough. $4k is kind of high. I'd seriously go look at it, pop the hood, and ask him EXACTLY what he has done to it. I believe Jusmx141 rebuilds turbos, so you could pm him and ask how much he would do it for, or how much (roughly) the going rate is. I noticed the gauge pods on the pillar, any idea what each gauge is for? You could also ask the guy to send you a picture of the engine bay, to avoid driving out there at first, to just give you a general idea of what you're looking at. Hell, you could even post it on here and get a general group idea of whether or not it's worth it from the people on here who look at these EVERY SINGLE DAY of their lives It looks nice from the exterior, interior picture isn't super clear, but from what I can see, it looks pretty clean. I'd definitely see if you could talk him down after he tells you what he's got done on it, if it's nothing huge. If he just rebuilt the engine, then you probably couldn't talk him down too much

But that's just my 2 pennies. Maybe if you have a mechanic buddy or someone who could go with you that works on cars, you could get a better idea of what you have ahead of you. If it all checks out, I'd say go for it. (Seriously though, see if you can get it just a hair cheaper) Good luck!

 

[Guzman08]

Dont buy it.. I know u can find a better car for that price. Wait it out and i bet you can find an awd car for less. Looks are easy to fix. You should buy a car that runs right. I found a talon tsi for 1800 has some problems but most can be fixed. Just find something 3500 and down. And u have all that extra money to play around with.. Trust me. In the past 2 years i have had 3 dsms'. Upgrading each time.

 

[nightmares GS-T]

Everyone saying go for one cheaper hell I paid 6k for mine. Granted it had lowish miles and was in top notch shape.

 

[Seekr]

I think I'm going to take Guzman's advice and not buy this one. Slim pickings on craigslist though..anyone in the New England area willing to part with there GST/GSX for under 5k?

Thanks for the help,
Cory

 

[jeyventura]

Too much
I got mine with 103 k no rust florida car no mayor problems for 2000 and that was in november 2008

 

[gusu]

Fairly decent condition T-25 turbos are usually 75 bucks. 14bs are usually around 150 though you would need mods to run the 14b.

I'd have to say though 4 grand for a GST with problems is pretty insane.

 

[beachbum2185]

Fairly decent condition T-25 turbos are usually 75 bucks. 14bs are usually around 150 though you would need mods to run the 14b.

I'd have to say though 4 grand for a GST with problems is pretty insane.

you wouldnt need any mods for a 14b, other than the install kit

 

[Guzman08]

one more thing .. the guy could go down to 3300 in about of month of not selling the car. . . once he finds out he has the price to high he will lower it. trust me. . if he wants to sell the car he has to compromise. . patience is a virtue.

 

[Boostdclips99]

Granted that is the best color the Eclipse came in. You could probably find a GSX for around that price and with some good mods. Coming from a person who has owned every 2g Eclipse made (except for a Spyder) there is a night and day difference between FWD and AWD. GST is fun to drive and a GSX is just too easy. If it were me, I'd shop around.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

Yea that seems high we got a auto gst for 5200 that had 56k miles on it so I would try to get him to bring it down some but hers was bone stock

 

[mezzio]

Its a tough call. I'd see how much you can talk him down. I just picked up my 95 GST from a guy on CL for $2800, and it barely had 100k miles on it. It's had a few issues that I've been ironing out, but it hasn't cost me much to do. If you're not in a hurry to buy, You could always wait until a better deal comes up, and one will. I think I got pretty lucky with my buy, and usually my only luck is bad luck. You could also check other area's as well, maybe you'll see a car that you may not be close to, but another member of the forum is that can go look for you, you may be able to save yourself a couple thousand dollars.

 

[Tanro]

Over 3k for that car is too high. Tell him to fix it and you will give him 4, if he can't afford to fix it you need to haggle him down as close to 3grand as possible. And look for other hidden problems.

Check for any leaks. Check for strut tower rust, check cv boots. Bring a jack and jack it up and check wheel bearings by grabbing the wheel at 9 and 12 o'clock and try and wiggle it in and out. Check the synchros in the gearbox by stopping it and trying to ease the gear shift into each forward gear. If the rpms dip slightly the syncro for that gear is good.

 

[bradselph]

paid 2,500 for my spyder

id talk him down to atleast 2500 with all them problems

 

[bmwtuning]

id get it

 

[derrickeclipse]

i got mine for 4200. talked guy down from 6k, money talk BS walks. I'm sure if you took 3500 cash to him he would take it. as for the turbo being bad. you can find those turbos all day long. theres a few in the classifieds right now. CHEAP. start is cheap and fairly easy to fix if you know something about cars. try to talk down a tittle bit more. just like every one else said, check compression and ask what work he has done do it. just don't go on his word. ( people are just about making money these days) see if he can prove that parts he says he fixed are there or with receipts

 

[perks563]

Small world. I drive by this car every time I go to my gf's mom's house. I actually just drove by it yesterday. All I can say is that it looks clean and the guy has a nice mustang and truck in the driveway also.

Good luck!

 

[zrsnopro97]

Id personally look for an awd, but id like to have a spyder too.

 

[Project2G]

i say get it

I agree. Or find a gsx.