Dsm Longevity

[micus]

hi, first post, nice forum,

my question is, that in about a week im going car shopping. The car that i have my eye on is a 95 eagle talon tsi, it looks pretty minty leather interior is all in really good shape, and the car looks just generally well taken care of.BUT the question is this. it has 130,000kms on it. I was wondering is this too high? should i be worried about reliability with this amount of kilometers? i guess its about 70,000 miles,( im canadian,so...)

i looked in the FAQ section and didnt see anything on this, so forgive me if this question gets asked every two days, feel free to delete this thread if that is the case,

Mike,

 

[eclipsegsx1736]

That's pretty low mileage for a 10 year old car. It doesn't matter how many miles it has if it was treated poorly. If it was treated well, 70k miles is fine. The average mileage of the cars people here buy is probably above that.

 

[Tsi-Tuner]

how much does the car cost

 

[Tweaker_911]

70K on a 95, that's not bad at all (Price?) !! Have you driven it ? (does it smoke, fire right up, rough idle etc..)

A couple of must do's before you buy it....

1. Look at the motor, was the previous owner into mods, if so what was done to it. You don't want to jump into something that might require a lot of hands on or high maintenance, that is unless your familiar with 2.0L motors already.

2. Compression Check, I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem letting you take it to a local mechanic to get one done.

3. Timing belt, when was the last one done? (should have been done recently, around 60K), if it needs one you might be able to get them to knock a couple hundred off the price tag to help compensate for the repair work.

Sounds sweet, take some pics and let us check it out.....

And to answer your original question, gsx1736 has it right, if the regular maintenance was done and the owner wasn't trying to be Jeff Gordon on the weekends, the motor should still have a lot of good milage left in her....
welcome to the DSM community, that is if you decide to stay/join !!!

 

[micus]

hi, so thanks for the quick replies, the guy wants 9000 for it, thats canadian, so i guess that would be like 7500 american. its from a used car lot and they have warranties available so i think ill bargain a 6month-1 year warranty in there,. but yeah before any money switches hands ill get a shop to check it out,


so u guys says the compression and timing belt are the things to get checked, is there anything else so i can put it on a list maybe?

 

[Brill]

I bought my 99 GS with 60k miles on it for $7000, entire car is 100% stock and in mint condition.. Im guessing that price sounds right for a TSI

 

[Sotarts]

I would definitely fully warm up the car and open it up on the road BEFORE buying it--quite a few problems could be revealed. Check axle boots (inner and outer). Check engine/trans oil condition. Is it auto or 5-speed? Check transmission/clutch performance. Check the brakes. I would check the Carfax (if that applies to Canadian vehicles), check the service record if at all possible, take the VIN to the dealer and check if all recall work has been perfromed (if any).

Basically, all the stuff you can think of when you buy a used car. But pay more attention, since these cars tend to be abused more often than ordinary family/economy sedans or similar cars.

 

[Corbic]

I have a '95 TSI, has almost 150k miles on it, runs "fine" transmission and clutch are strong, engines smooth, turbo is well "worn". When I bought it "(130k) shocks, and struts where shot, bushings are shot, valve-gasket was leaking.

Bottom line, with any old car, the regardless with miles ruber and plastic is going to age and crack. Bushings, hoses so forth. Also if the car only has 80k, make sure the major maintence is done, timing, water pumper, gasket, sparks, filters, ect. This is when most of that stuff starts needing replaced and it will add up in cost. Previous owner of my car had all that done with in a year of selling it to me, quite nice, seeing I only paid $2,700 for my beater/toy.

 

[Steve_P]

I have a '92 TSI AWD; 260,000 miles and still runs great. Never been rebuilt, head never off. Uses one qt oil/1000 miles. The 4G63 is epic; it will run forever if you treat it right.

Price sounds a little high IMO, unless it is perfect shape.

 

[Spoolin4Ever]

"The 4G63 is epic; it will run forever if you treat it right."

Ummm it's a 7 bolt, possibility of crankwalk exists, and they are not that strong compared to a 6 bolt.

A timing belt job with all the other stuff is about $1000 American at the dealership.

Sounds nice, but proceed cautiously.

Crankwalk is a mojor problem, you would end up needing a new engine.

If there is no proof of timing belt (and balancs shaft belt, waterpump, timing belt tensioner, idler pulley, etc.. about $400 in parts alone) being done, then assume that it has not been done.

 

[micus]

ahh, crankwalk, ok now your scareing me, so far my mechanics list looks like this


-inner out axel boots
-compression test
-timeing
-timeing belt
-timeing belt tensioner
-balance shaft? belt
-water pump
-idler pulley
-any signs of crankwalk <---- scares me.

so does crankwalk just pop up out of nowhere, or just when the bearings go?, like if this car was one that was built with a defective crank, wouldnt it of shown a long time ago?

 

[Denji]

dont be scared of crankwalk, check and see if the car is in good shape and think nothing more of it. I bought my car with 115,000 miles on it, it now has 140,000 on it. It doesnt have any problems and still runs strong. I would say if it seems to be in good condition, the normal checkout seems fine and you compression check it, buy it. I own a 7 bolt and i consider it very reliable, especially for 140,000 miles.

 

[Thor06]

Yeah, I think 70,000 miles on a GST is a pretty sweet find, I'd do it up if everything checks out ok. Definately feel everything out, feel how it shifts, how well it brakes, smooth idle, etc. That price is pretty steep though, I would offer him like $6500 if the timing belt is new, $6000 if it still needs to be replace (<--- those prices were american, I dont know the conversion rate)

 

[Spoolin4Ever]

People are very optimistic with someone else's money.

Do a search on crankwalk, there is a ton of info on it.

The odds of it having crankwalok are somewhat low, but it is possible. It shows up at different mileage intervals.

 

[micus]

yeah, ill read up more on crankwalk, but actually for around here that price ( about 7k american) is very good. its a used car lot so u can always bargain them down, especially rite before christmas, everyone needs money!.so its a eagle talon tsi which i think is similar to the eclipse gsx.

 

[Thor06]

Is it awd? AWD (GSX, TSI AWD) or FWD (GST, TSI) I'd suggest getting it, but if its all wheel drive and you arent getting it, I will .

 

[MyBeatGSX]

Sounds good, especially with a warrenty. Be sure of what it covers and then drive the snot out of it for the first week and then go through it OCD style and have them fix anything and everything that's covered. That's my advice from working at a dealership, use and abuse the warrenty. Also typical used car places have $1,000-$3,000 gross into most cars. So bargan hard. I got my car with 105,000 miles, a 6 bolt swap, and a 16G for $6,000 USD. All it needed was an oil pan gasket and tires.

 

[Spoolin4Ever]

Eagle Talon TSI IS the exact same as an eclipse Turbo, but TSI can mean FWD or AWD, so you will need to check on that part.

To check for Crankwalk, you can grab the crank pulley and try to move it side to side. If you can move it; it's either crankwalk, or just the bad pulley.

Honestly, it sounds like a great deal, but you really should inspect it for crankwalk. Obviously you want to negotiate. But if you don't know it's got CW, you may not talk them down enough. Like the price of an engine and a the labor.

 

[Steve_P]

"Ummm it's a 7 bolt, possibility of crankwalk exists"

DOH! Agree. How about all 6 bolts are epic and some 7 bolts, but not all, are also!

 

[90turbotsi]

The miles on the car your looking at is not bad but lets not forget the typical miles of crankwalked 2G cars... So just be careful that its not being sold for that reason, not tying to scare you. Just that 2 of my friends 2G cars walked between 60-75k and the shop I worked at it was common to see 2Gs in for 6bolt swaps around 60-75k as well. But if the car was not modded then theres a stronger chance it will be fine.

As far as the motor lasting... if cared for right it will run a long time, one of my 90 AWDs has 220K on it and runs great. Needed at new turbo at 150k due to bad seals but after that fix its fine.

 

[micus]

hey, yeah ill go over it and see if there are any mods, its an AWD, ive been watchin vids of awd dsm's like absolutely killing mustangs and bigger v8's, so im gettin more and more interested as i read, but it seems like lots of ppl really knock there reliability, so i kindof have cold feet......




EDIT: hmm so not good, i just called the guy whos selling it, and i asked if there were any previous mods and he said it had a cold air intake, and aparently " you can turn the turbo up" and theres guages. so now im really iffy on buying it. on the good side, he can give me a 1 year 20k warranty on it for 400 bucks, so.....

 

[leftovercrack]

from the sound of it youre looking at dropping some good amout of dough into you car since youve "been watchin vids of awd dsm's like absolutely killing mustangs and bigger v8's." if thats the case, 9000 canadian would go alot farther in a 1st gen but thats just my .02

 

[MyBeatGSX]

People like to hate out of jealousy. Keep in mind that when you're hearing about DSM's blowing up left and right that these are usually cars running high boost and making lots of power or just high mileage cars. Considering that many people are pushing 18+psi through bone stock motors, the fact that you don't hear about more ventilated crankcases is a testiment to how strong and reliable they are. Your buddy's *insert newer car name here* is going to be more reliable because he spent $20k+ on it and its 1 year old. Most DSM's are bought dirt cheap and are 10+ years old. Even still only my friends with Hondas have turbo cars with less down time on the year than I do with my 10 year old 111,000 mile car *knock on lots of wood*.

EDIT: Missed your edit

That's why you need to get it comp. and leak down tested. Just because he turned the boost up doesn't mean its dead, but you're right to be careful with it.

Again, dealership experience says its probably had the crap beat out of it by everyone that works there (I remember the day we got an S4 in...). So be careful, but I wouldn't bag it completely until you test it.

 

[micus]

haha, im not saying ill be puttin lots of money into makeing the car really fast, its just impressive to see a 2.0L car comeing outa the hole so strong,