hello all.
i'm a first time driver and i saw this car on craigslist.
ofcourse im not dumb and i will go see it with a mechanic before thinking of buying it.
but i was wondering if it was a ''good'' deal.
here's the specs.
%26quot;Hey guys... This is a Black 1991 Nissan Sentra. It's a 4 cylinder engine, with an automatic transmission. There's a lot of great stuff about this car. Here's the list of positives and negatives: (remember this car is a 91, there's gonna be some negatives too!)
PLEASE CHECK THE PICTURES BELOW!!
Positives:
-Only 107k miles on the car. NO rebuilt engine or trans.
-Transmission shifts smooth every time, no jerky gear changes.
-Brand new alternator (replaced it in June), and a battery that's about a year old.
-Brand new stereo (with AUX input for MP3 players, ipods, etc) and 4 brand new speakers put in about a year ago.
-New front brakes put in about 5 months ago.
-Has a sunroof installed and it's still completely functional and works 100%
-Gets about 30-35mpg, higher if you go on the highway (I've gotten over 40mpg when doing long highway-only trips)
-It used to be a sun-faded red color, but it's painted black now (check the pics out)
-New distributor cap, new spark plug cables, and new spark plugs installed about two months ago.
-Fully functional spare tire included, along with the jack and lug wrench
-Original floor mats included, in great condition
-Two front tires under warranty from Sam's Club (60,000 mile warranty, I've put about 2,000 on them since I bought it)
And now onto the negatives:
-There is a leak in the head gasket.
-The driver side locking mechanism will lock, but it won't unlock. You've gotta use the passenger side lock. Someone tried to pick my lock and it broke.
-Sometimes the car needs to be in neutral to start (the parking gear solenoid doesn't always catch for whatever reason, but it starts in neutral 100% of the time with absolutely no hesitation).
To tell you the truth, fixing the lock is fairly simple, it's putting a rod back on the locking lever, but I didn't want to take apart the whole door for that. Same with the starting problem. Read on to find out how you can fix it!
Now, I know you're probably about to hit the back button... But let me tell you something else. This car comes with the Factory Service Manual (yes, I bought that stupid thing!), and it tells you how to fix almost EVERY single thing on the car, and tells you exactly what tools you'll need, down to the sizes of wrenches. It tells you how to take apart the engine to fix the head gasket, too, if you were wondering.
Now, this isn't the type of project I'd recommend to someone who's never done any car work before, but this book goes step by step and shows you the exploded view of each component, and it's pretty easy to follow if you're even mildly mechanically inclined. I would fix this myself, but I just don't have the time. Going to school full time and working full time really lowers the amount of free time you've got!
Be swift if you'd like this car, so you can fix it up and get it back on the road where it belongs :)
What I'm asking is 800, or your best offer. This car has got a LOT of life left in it, once you stop up that head gasket problem. You could even take it to a mechanic to fix it up if you didn't feel like doing the work yourself, but I'll still throw the book in for you, because it really is a great resource. The pictures are down below, and I've tried to get every angle possible that I thought was important. Let me know if you want more pics and I can take them ASAP.%26quot;
i emailed him and he said he's willin to negotiate price with me.
he said to fix everything in the car would be about $700-800$
so hes willing to be flexible with the price.
so please any opinions would be nice. thank you.Should i buy this car?It's a high mileage 17 year old vehicle. The fact that the engine and transmission have never been rebuilt is a negative, NOT a positive. It already has engine problems in that it has a blown head gasket. If it were all that easy to fix, the owner would fix it and sell it for more, wouldn't he?
Just the head gasket alone, if everything were done right, would be more than the $700 to $800 he's estimating.
I'd pass.Should i buy this car?Okay, whoa! Way too long!Should i buy this car?ehhh i wouldnt only cuz theres a lot of miles on itShould i buy this car?No. A new head gasket will cost more than the car.Should i buy this car?The miles are not bad for a Japanese car of that year. The main concern I would have with the car is the leaking headgasket. The headgasket will need to be replaced sooner or later, probably sooner. If you have a place and ability to fix the gasket and want to work on it, offer maybe $600. If you have to have a shop repair the headgasket you need to add about $800-$1000 to the cost of buying the car for how much the car will cost. It looks like you really want the car, just know that for the true value you may be able to get something newer at the same or less price.Should i buy this car?i don't think it is worth it. why don't you call around and ask how much a head gasket cost. for my dodge cara van it would have been around 700.00 to fix that. and it wasnt worth it because i paid 700.00 for the van. so no i would not buy it i find that it will take time to find a good car. save up what you already have and keep adding to it to get a newer car. that don't have anything wrong with it.
