My father in law is looking at a 93 with about 100k miles on what I belive is the original engine. I have never been in the market for an FD and have only owned FCs.

He said that the car was in great condition and that it did need a new clutch. The seller (a dealership) was wanting 12,500 but would take off 1,000 for sale with the bad clutch.

Is this a good price for the car?
I told him to make sure and have a compression check done on the engine before purchase. What numbers should he be looking for in that department?


thanks for any advice.
heffner

 

Engine will probably need to be rebuilt/replaced soon if it is origional, depends on how well it was maintained also. That could run a few grand.

 

100k on the original engine with no reliability mods (assumed) & trans problems - I wouldn't pay more than 8k, and that's assuming the rest of the car is in very very good shape. You're going to have to spend about $3-4k on an engine practically immediately, plus about $500 for the clutch, assuming you do the work yourself. The dealer should consider that as a price adjustment. If they won't reason, look elsewhere. There are plenty more fine examples of FD's with lower miles, that are well taken care of by knowledgeable people - check out the for sale section

 

I have a 93 touring with 40K original miles. So far, 7 K spent, and I'm not yet finished. IT is and always be an 11+ year old car, and all mechanical parts wear/age. No matter what FD you buy, it is an expensive hobby, not a daily form of transportation.

Without leaving this topic, the FD is the coolest car every dreamed up.

 

I think that is too much mileage and money to be purchasing from a dealership. If it were a direct purchase where you might have maintenance records or something that might be cool, but not from a dealer.

Chances are the engine is week (~$2k parts) and the turbos (~$2.5k parts) are probably leaking oil already. Rear suspension bushings probably need to be replaced (~$300+parts). The engine wiring harness I'm sure is brittle and will need to be replaced (~$660 parts). Etc. etc.

You can't buy these cars cheap w/o dumping money into them. Better spending 13-17 buying from a real owner who can demonstrate what has been replaced and what might need to be replaced.

 

I bet you they paid about 7k for it on trade in....ask them to show you the card that show how much they are in it for and pay 500.00 over that...

 

thanks for the help...i just copied and pasted all of your remarks and sent him an e-mail.

thanks again
heffner

 

I would look elsewhere.

$12500 should be able to get you a car in similar shape with a rebuilt motor and no clutch problems or a car with the stock motor and less than 70,000 miles.

They are asking about $3000 too much; I dont think that car is worth over 10k