Help Deciding if I should purchase a particular '98 GSX

[X32WaysToDie]

Hello guys, this is my first post, and the main reason I created an account here. I'm in the market for a new car, and I found a really clean, mostly stock '98 GSX that I really like for $6,500 and has 88,000 miles on it. There are no engine mods, save for an intake. There's some suspension upgrades, sway bars, a performance clutch and flywheel, and that's about it. He states that the maintenance has been kept up with it (minus the timing belt, water pump, etc because supposedly "they looked great still"). The car has been kept in a garage since 2001, so it looks really nice on the exterior, and the interior looks great too.

Now, let me give you a bit of a backstory as to why I'm asking if this will be a worthwhile/reliable purchase.

This is not my first '98 GSX. I actually bought one three years ago... same color and everything. I loved it, until it inevitably kept breaking down, and I had to sell it about a year ago because I just didn't have the time or money to keep up with it anymore. In fairness, when I bought it, it had around 130,000 miles on it, had been raced pretty hard, and had a ton of engine mods, such as evoIII 16G, greddy bov, cam gears, etc. The engine ended up blowing after about 7 months or so of owning it, and I ended up taking it to "The Shade Tree" to repair the damage, and upgrade to forged internals. That turned into a nightmare, as the guy who owned the shop and did all the work basically didn't do any work on my car unless I pushed him to do it, and kept putting it off, so by the time I finally got it running and functional again (after finally pulling it out of his shop after 10 months and going to three others before someone would fix it), it was almost a year of it being in the shop. He put it together so haphazardly and unprofessionally.. often he lost bolts and nuts that were on it, so he'd either secure things with zip-ties, or just leave them with no nuts/bolts at all, and didn't replace any gaskets like he was supposed to, so I had a ton of oil leaks. It was horrible.

Anyway, I say all of this because I really did love that car, and have wished I'd been able to keep it, so seeing one that is (apparently) in such nice condition is very enticing to me, but I've just had bad experiences with the older one (albeit likely due to a shitty mechanic and aftermarket parts overload). My question to you all is: with no real engine mods, and apparent decent care, how reliable do you think it will be? I've heard a bunch of horror stories about DSMs aside from my own, and that basically they are unreliable, but I always assumed because people load all kinds of mods on them, and I'm not sure how reliable a stock one would be. Anyone have any experience or knowledge on that?

Thanks for reading and any help you can give me.

 

[dfootedsm]

Couple things why is the mileage so low? Does the car run? has the crankshaft endplay been checked?The cars are reasonably reliable if you dont cheap out on maintenance parts you cant beat the piss out of the car give is poor maintenance and iuse sub par parts and except its life to be magical. I think 6500 is a bit high even if its clean 4500 5000 is reasonable. 6500 is a gotcha price

 

[FluffyAWD]

Find out if that's the original timing belt. Those need to be change every 60k or less regardless of how good it looks as well as all other timing parts. Must use good parts not cheap ebay or you will just break your motor. Also where I'm from 6500 not too bad but 5500 would be more like it.

 

[cOmpressor]

Well a '98 with anything under 100k on it is really hard to find. That being said just low miles doesn't mean it will be reliable. You can drive a car 10 miles in 1/4 mile pulls at a time and beat it to hell by then ha. I understand you got burned before and are cautious but don't let that steer you away. I have a galant VR4 with 220,000 original miles on it before the motor took a dump. It stayed mostly stock with some suspension mods long before I got it and past owners used it to commute without problems. Regular service and a responsible owner go a long way. I agree $6,500 is a high price regardless of mileage and condition. With it being 16+ years old the value just isn't there at that price. If they can come down to $5k that would be a better starting point for you. Regardless of "they look good" or whatever he said you are going to want to do the timing belt and water pump. Some other gaskets, tuneup, oils, and general services. Tires along with other random things and you are looking at $800-$1200+ depending on how much you can do yourself. Hope some of that helps but it doesn't sound like a bad car, just need to get it for the right price. Good luck.

 

[SrKegler]

Seems like we never hear the good news. Most of the posts are about how to fix something that's broke. These cars are just as reliable as any other make. Just depends on how they are taken care of. I have driven mine for 20 years. Only major problem was the instrument cluster shorted out at about 350K.

From the description, sounds like the car has been pretty well taken care of other than the timing belt.

What I would do is get an estimate from a dealership on changing the timing belt. The owner knows it needs changed and he probably knows how much it costs. Probably why he's selling the car. Shop probably wants around $750 minimum.

Use that to reduce the price of the car down to around $4500 - $5000. Sight unseen, I think thats a fair value and leaves you some wiggle room for the little stuff you're going to need to fix.

To me, you have to be able to do repairs yourself. Only way you can be sure things are done right. If you're not mechanically inclined though I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[X32WaysToDie]

Thanks for the quick replies guys. He said there's no issues with it... No oil leaks, no transfer case leaks, etc. NADA places the car in that condition at $5400. He was initially asking $7900, but I talked him down to $6500. His reason for asking so much is he just spend a bunch of money on tires and a tint and crap. He said it's the original timing belt, because it still looked good. I'm not sure about the crankshaft. I know the 7 bolts (pretty sure it's 7 bolt) are prone to crank-walk. It's in Austin TX, and I live in Oklahoma City, so it's a 12 hour round trip for me, and I'd hate to go down there and then come back empty handed.

I've also been looking at some other cars, such as a 2008 STI Hatch (I know, I know ), a 2013 Focus ST, and a 2004 Jeep Rubicon. I have missed my GSX since the day I sold it though.

 

[cOmpressor]

Are you looking for something to work on and enjoy or buy to drive without thinking about? Those other cars you bring up are COMPLETELY different than owning an older GSX. It will need work, it will need seals (no matter how "good" he says they are, and it will need money into it. Those other options are cars that cost way more but will be turn key (for the most part) and drive. We can give you a straight idea of what that GSX is worth but you need to really think out what's best for you. I don't want to talk you out of coming back to the dark side but think this through very carefully.

Btw Blue Book has that GSX listed even in Very Good condition as $3,406 just for reference. I'd show the guy those numbers to open his eyes a bit.

 

[Aaron_FTT]

I guess for me it comes down to what reason you want it. My gsx is a toy. I drive it casually here and there but usually only take it out at night on weekends. In my experience, these are a bit hit or miss. I've purchased complete duds (bone stock) that seemed ok initially, but halfway home I'm hearing the unholy knock of death. But hey, if the body and interior are immaculate, that's usually a good sign. Typically means it didn't fall into the hands of some teenage ricer kid who beat the crap out of it and changed the oil every other year. I wouldn't just assume it's cherry because it looks cherry, but it's definitely a sign of something.

 

[FluffyAWD]

IMO when someone who still has the original timing belt from 98 with 88k on it probably doesn't care too much about maintenance. Makes me every unsure about that person. I would either walk away and wait for another gsx to come available or 5k would be my max.

 

[Aaron_FTT]

I would either walk away and wait for another gsx to come available or 5k would be my max.

Pretty much this. I paid 4k for mine 3 years ago. Had comparable miles but was a little beaten up and needed some love. 5k sounds reasonable to me.

 

[X32WaysToDie]

Yeah, my thing is that I need something reliable that's not going to break down all the time so I'm not bumming rides to work and having to borrow cars from my parents and friends. I had planned on getting a motorcycle as well, but in Oklahoma, you need something that's driveable in sleet/snow/ran/sub-zero/110degree/hail/tornadoes. . That's why I'm kind of concerned about reliability. I'm gonna probably check it out and see how it is. I just don't wanna get screwed.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Its a car and they do break depends one what car you get regardless and how you maintain it, and maintain it. My opinon.

 

[pauleyman]

No way id drive it home from austin on that belt. Its a time bomb regardless of how good it looks. Say what you want about price and worth. I paid more for my 97 but I found a one owner 52k mile car in 2011.

 

[v8srslo]

tell me about it, i live in canada with 3 driveless awd dsms

 

[lasershark]

Timing belts always look good until the break I agree with paulyman, a 12 hour drive with a belt that should be retired will/might leave you disappointed.

 

[Type1DSMr]

So did you buy the car or not?

 

[0nall4s]

So did you buy the car or not?

 

[0nall4s]

i agree, you never know what your getting into, but regardless i wouldnt recommend driving on old belts or anything you cant visually determine how its been treated, start with preventative maintenance and go from there, depending on what your going for a dsm is always a good choice