The Hunt (Quest) for my first dsm

[bryanw0087]

Alright, im in search of a secondary vehicle. i currently have a 2005 chevy trailblazer 4x4 as my daily driver / winter vehicle. for the past couple months i have been looking for a dsm on the cheap side. yes im picky on what i want and picky on the price too. since it will be a secondary vehicle a (project) dsm is fine with me as long as it isnt something horribly major (replacing engine or tranny).

Well im going Saturday (2days from now) to look at a 1996 2g Eagle talon TSI AWD, 5spd, 120k on the clock. the pictures i have been sent look pretty good but who's to say until you see the thing in person. has 3" hks exhaust, and a t-28 turbo. he claims there is no rust on the car what so ever, and the strut towers and everything are in perfect condition.

(now for the catch) It will not fire or keep running due to head gasket (im fine with doing the head gasket work.) its also no longer inspected because it was a husband and wifes spare car so they just leave it sit in the garage with intentions to fix it and never did and at some point the inspection has run out.

<b> Update: he doesn't have title yet which contradicts his story. Which means he couldn't have owned it very long because i recently bought a car and had the title back in less than 45 days. He wants me to give him money and he will write a bill of sale and would call when it comes but i wont do anything till he has the title and now he is getting pIssy about it so i think im going to just keep looking. </B>

So just wondering some things to look for knowing i would not be able to run it for very long (or at all) and also would not actually be able to drive it obviously since its not in running condition.

his asking price is 1500 obo, which isnt bad then i would just have to have someone trailer it home for me and begin the work on replacing gaskets.

basically im looking for a cheap DSM that can have some flaws but will eventually be made into a fun toy to drive around in when im bored etc...

so any info would be much appreciated also any thoughts on the price is it worth it with everything in question or should i negotiate a better price (1000-1200) etc.

Thanks

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[GsXdSmKingGsX]

Thats an uber clean TSi.. maybe 1300-1400? Dont lowball too much because by the sounds of it, its pretty decent.. And the pictures look like something I would buy

 

[bryanw0087]

yeah thats what i was thinking, but at the same time for all i know it could have a messed up tranny and a bunch of other things i wouldn't know until after i replaced the head gasket and got it running. so at the same time i dont want to pay too much and turn around having more into it than its worth and PA is crazy about inspections but if its as nice as the guy says it should be a decent deal and shouldnt need much. im really cautious because i just bought a house and dont have alot of extra money to throw around if i were to end up getting into something more than a head gasket.

 

[1997_GSX]

No rust in a Pa car, good luck. Looks clean from the outside but it looks like its worth 1500, it has the rarer 2gb talon wheels not the ugly swirlies.

Its hard to beat a panda on looks Good luck, hope it works out for you.

 

[bryanw0087]

yeah, in pa its hard to find them that arent Rusted out. im doubting its rust free. but i guess we will see and all ive seen are pictures so for all i know they were from before it may not look that good now because i know people do and say anything to sell you their stuff

 

[GsXdSmKingGsX]

Wait what are these inspections people keep talking about? In Oklahoma and Minnesota we didnt have anything like that..Oh yeah Arizona too!

 

[bryanw0087]

yes unfortunately in PA, inspections are a must, im just debating on getting something like this or spending a little more and getting one i can actually drive home. but then i would most likely get other issues like much higher mileage or quite a bit of body work needed

 

[Clinical]

yes unfortunately in PA, inspections are a must, im just debating on getting something like this or spending a little more and getting one i can actually drive home. but then i would most likely get other issues like much higher mileage or quite a bit of body work needed

I'd say go for it. Worst case scenario the head may be warped as well but still even if it is, if you payed like $1200 for it, it'd still be a good deal for such a clean shell and I'm assuming the rest of the drivetrain is all in good shape.

 

[bryanw0087]

Here is where it is getting fishy. He doesn't have the title back from the dmv yet which means he hasn't had the car very long and wants to do a bill of sale until the title comes back but im not going to give him any money until there would be a title transfer so we will see i may still be searching for a dsm

 

[1badpurple]

does it have to be a 2g?

 

[bryanw0087]

No i like looks of 2g better but it doesn't matter to me i want turbo and 5spd prefer awd running and drivable can need work. The guy just messed up his story and it sounds fishy now because he said it has sat cause they were driving it but were going to fix it and stuff but now he says he doesn't have title bck yet which means he hasn't had it very long it all seems fishy so i think im going to keep looking

 

[90tsiawdturbo]

That looks great man!!!! I would jump on that...the price is low enough to where I wouldn't even try to talk him down... If that's a true hks exhaust then that's worth a nice chunk of change right there

 

[bryanw0087]

That looks great man!!!! I would jump on that...the price is low enough to where I wouldn't even try to talk him down... If that's a true hks exhaust then that's worth a nice chunk of change right there

too many strange things going on with this car, like with the title and how he said he had it for a while but he really didnt considering he doesnt have the title yet and some of the stuff he told me earlier in the week is different from now, im saying he is saying whatever he can to get me to come buy it and why buy something without a title? im going to continue my hunt... on to the next one

 

[whyadsm]

something is very fishy about this car. Be careful.

 

[bryanw0087]

95 eclipse gst need gone

theres another one im looking into, but it has chatter (im thinking lifters or a valve problem hard to say wihtout hearing it) he said hes changed spark plugs 3 times since january which seems odd to me. if my hunt goes into spring i may just save more up and buy a good all around dsm for around the 5000 range