mattbatson

I hope this is a good place to ask this.

I've been shopping, and today went and looked at a 2005 ep3 with 77K miles for 7500 dollars. (the craigslist ad showed no pictures, so sorry..but it is silver and looks bone stock). The seller said he had owned it for 3 yrs.

The owner immediately struck me as someone who was probably trustworthy...a middle aged Asian man who loved acura's and Honda's (his other car was a TL type S), but has also owned evo's and other fun cars in the past.
The ep3 is actually a third car, and this is why the low mileage

He told me he bought the car from a friend, who had done some ricer **** to the car.

According to the seller, the previous owner had lowered the car. The seller showed me the struts in the garage, and they looked bone stock to me. The seller told me that he replaced the struts because of a noise in the front end. The new struts (kyb gr-2's) did not fix the problem. So next they replaced the upper strut bushings, and that apparently fixed the noise issue.
He also replaced all the suspension bushings front and rear with an energy suspension master kit...he showed me the box. (his mechanic did all the work, this guy doesn't work on his cars).

I looked at everything under the car, and couldn't see anything out of place.

I did notice aftermarket camber adjusters on the rear. He said he installed it as the rear camber was out of whack (didn't occur to me to ask, but after raising it back up, I would think camber would be fine)

On the test drive, I immediately noticed it pulled pretty hard to the left.
I pulled the steering wheel from right to left, and the suspension felt like it was working and the steering didn't seem to be stiffer/lighter when going in one direction or the other.

My concern is that maybe something is bent, and that is why all the suspension stuff was replaced, and they couldn't fix the pull and now he is selling it.
He also said it had new front wheel bearings (I think he said it was while chasing the noise that ended up being upper strut mounts)

I asked him while driving it if he had every had an alignment, and he said about a year ago...and then said it might need an alignment.

My thought is that alignments don't usually go that far south in a year?
I did check the tires specifically to check for abnormal wear patterns, but saw none, however they looked newish...not sure how new though


He had also replaced the clutch master (we all know about those problems), and the shifting was excellent.

Engine power was fine, and everything else about the car was in great condition....everything worked as you would expect with a 77K mile Honda.

So, he is going to talk with the bank tomorrow and give me a call.

I just now sent him an email asking for the vin so I could check for accidents.

However, I know that sometimes they go unreported.

What do the ep3 experts on here think about all this?

Should I keep looking or just buy it and get it aligned and hope for the best?

I could even make an agreement that we both drive into a shop, I pay for an alignment, and if it fixes the pull, then I buy it...
But, if that doesn't fix it, then I'm out 80 bucks, lol


thoughts?

mattbatson

I should also note that the guy was firm on the price...
vin # SHHEP33605U500380
I'm asking around with friends to see if anyone has unlimited carfax membership...otherwise, I'll pay the 40 bucks...even though it isn't foolproof against an unreported accident
thx

mattbatson

carfax is clean.
I'm talking with the seller today and telling him I want to take it to an alignment shop and then re test drive.

we'll see