Mr. Two

Just joined, nabbed my liscence yesterday and have been looking for my first car.

Took a look at the thing today, in kinda rough shape. Slightly riced, looks dericeable. Body kit and CF hood have crackage, looks like he may have hit someone and replaced the front bumper. Exaust is loud and rattles a tad. Some bucket seats in it, installed improperly, can't adjust them at all. No Cd player / Radio, the shift **** definately needs to be replaced. The clutch is really worn, and the suspension definately needs to be replaced. The owner was also a smoker. Looks like it's gonna need new paint soon, too.

On the positive side, the engine and transmission seem fine, and well taken care of. The engine bay was clean, has AEM CAI and header. It has 94,000 miles on it, which doesn't seem that bad.

More bad news; the dealer wants 10,500 for it. Rediculous considering the shape it's in. However, I love the wee Sol, and as I understand, Sol Vtecs are kinda rare. If I can get the price down to ~3.5 - 4k, would it be worth it? I wouldn't mind working on it, and I have a lot of experience to draw from with my brother and his friends.

Flatland2D

10.5K for that?! That dealer needs a reality check. If I was looking for another del Sol I wouldn't pay more than the two thousand range based off your description. Maybe it looks nicer than you described it. Sounds like the dealer is trying to sell you the cracked CF hood, body kit, seats, exhaust, and other crap at full retail value.

I'd say forget the car and never speak to the dealer again. There will be plenty more Sol's coming your way. Just be a little patient. Every car at that age is going to need a little fixing up so you'll still get your chance to work on it.

Also, try to stay away from buying at a dealership if you can. Go third party and have a mechanic look over the car for you. Some people here will look up the VIN for you to check for accidents and such.

Shoot, I still can't get over 10.5K. You could buy a very nice looking stock del Sol, drop in a fully built B18C1 and boost it like crazy for that much money. That'd totally waste a "normal" del Sol VTEC.

TorquelessB16

Dude, if you want my opinion:

A) never buy a car from someone who modded it unless you know them and trust their work.
B) you should have laughed in that dealers face for 10 minutes straight
C) shop around a lotttt before you get your first car

addiction2bass

dito!!!!!
for a cracked up riced up smoked up car..... HELL NO! way to much money!
i only paid 8,200ish for my 99civic EX coupe with 88K miles. and i still practicaly paid top dollar for it but it was the only one that wasnt sold in my area that still had ABS brake option

i must say i love this car tho! great milage and style with very little work done. performance kinda sucks but its a auto..... kinda sucks driving stick thru town REALY early in the mornings going to work.LOL

best thing you could do it you REALY want that one... point out everything and say what its gonna cost to get this and that fixed... that replaced.... this covered... this repainted.. these seats replaced.LMFAO EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! basicaly act like you want that sucker straight stock like it should be! and if he doesnt chew MAJORLY with the price... walk out man... keep looken!

i got my little car lot guy down to come down like about 400bucks give or take just be pointing out every little dent, burn hole, broken clip, stained carpet, low tranny fluid and even the slow passenger power window motor.LMFAO
he was kinda a ***** for not going down very easy at all... BUT in the long run that was more money i could put into the car tint has made the biggest improvement i must say so myself!
also had my tint guy redue 4windows as well seeing how they had bubbles.LMFAO
im kinda a hard customer.... i want things right or im gonna bug the crap outta ya.hahahha


good luck tho man..... JUST REMEMBER YA DONT HAVE TO SETTLE!!!!!!! JUST KEEP SEARCHING FOR THAT KILLER DEAL AND KILLER CAR! DONT GET IN A RUSH! your wallet will thank you

Mr. Two

Oh, there was no way in hell I would take that for 10.5!

I was asking if it would be worth it if I negotiated down to ~3.5k.

For the record, we did laugh in his face and drove out of there

I have been looking for a few months now. I was so close to gettng a black on black RSX Type S before my father reconsidered.

I had stumbled upon a Del Sol SI earlier this week, with 100,000 miles. It is in extremely good condition from the pictures, and the engine bay is very, very clean. Completely stock. Guy was asking 8k. I was leaning towards the Del Sol Vtec, if we could negotiate the price, because it already has a B16, and is much closer.

And I know what you mean about the price, for that much I could get a base Del Sol and put a B18C5 in it, like my brother's civic >=D

nhlfan

I wouldn't even bother, I couldn't see a dealer coming down $7,000 on a $10,000 car. He will find some sucker to sell it to.

Toyo TI-S Spec

Whatever you do don't buy a car from a dealer. Trust me. Buy it from a private party reguardless of how rare the car is. Actually a Del Sol VTEC is not as rare as you think (given the area your in and where most of us are at). You can actually buy a del sol for around $4000 and do a DOHC VTEC SWAP and still have change left over if you're looking to spend around the $7000 range.

Also the car you described doesn't really sound like its in good shape. I think you should wait and look for another car. When buying a car you kind of get into a rush because you really want a car but wait for something good and you'll thank me later.

Mr. Two

I guess I'll save myself the trouble of argueing the price down then, thanks fellas.

There wouldn't happen to be a better site to search for cars than Autotrader, would there? Not much is turning up, and while I did find an SI, I would prefer a Vtec

Toyo TI-S Spec

I know this sounds stupid but why don't you start out with a 92-95 civic and starting making modications to that then slowly creep into the motor swap crowd. I've owned a 97 integra but I've always come back to my 92 civic hatchback because its simply the better car in my opinion. CRXs and 90-91 civics aren't that bad either and neither are the non SOHC VTEC ones of the newer gen.

Getting an older car and saving up money simply is what many of us are doing and its cool because we can still mod them with a very small amount of money and be satisfied until we have enough $$$ for something really great/another car.

craigslist.org also has good listings of Honda's. Its free to list so many people list on their unless you are located in a non Metropolitan Area. CA,FL,WA and many other states have thousands of people posting on their while some states have barely any.

Edmunds.com and cars.com also have good listing including your local newspaper PI, they should have a website with car listings. Ebay also has a lot of listings but the downside is you cannot test drive the car unless you live really close to the buyer which does happen somewhat often for many.

addiction2bass

when i was looken for my civic i looked thru several online places.
http://www.cars.com
http://www.autotrader.com/
http://www.craigslist.org/about/cities.html
http://www.carmax.com

also YES
http://www.ebay.com


just search for the car model youd like and click on the NEAREST LOCATION
http://motors.listings.ebay.co...mList
Sort by: Distance: Nearest first

and just hope thier are some close enough to you going for a reasonale price.
and just contact the seller asking if you can come look at it and then try to work out a price thats in your best range

THO REMEMBER ALWAYS!!!!!
IF YOU BUY FROM A DEALER.... CHECK OUT
http://WWW.KBB.COM AND CHECK OUT DEALER TRADE IN VALUE and see how much THEY probably gave the last owner for it.LOL
also check out private party value as well and as well the Suggested Retail Value


just type in all the cars options, miles, your zip and do your research on what this car is realy worth. and if ya realy wanna make it look like you know what your doing if the price is way to high.... print those papers out and bring em with you... THO DONT SHOW THEM until after he sets the price out and youve looked all over the car AND FULLY CHECKED THE CAR OUT! i checked out everything on my civic car besides the motors compresion when i went and looked at it!LMFAO

and if the price is low DONT SHOW EM the papers. BUT if the price is high... bust out dem papers on thier @ss!!!!!!

just dont rush yourself! you dont wanna be stuck paying a few extra thousand bucks on a car when those few extra thousands could be going right back into the car and realy making it your OWN creation!!!!

thier might be more online car sites in your area youd just have to check and ask around. ive seen most of these online sites on tv or online.

phanatic

Yeah man shop around. Never settle. I know people who just got anything for a first car and it was in the shop more then they were driving it. Plus they bought american cars and i hate american cars. Everyone my parents had had something wrong with it every month.

excivicboy96

yah dude big rip off. he'll sell it to some other kid with no knowledge of actual price. i got my 96 civic ex for 5600$ with 85,000 miles on it.

mr.coupe

Sweet....no one flammed my brothers first thread! Ha....don't worry bro....we'll find you a good car man. Tell me next time when you go test drive man! I would have liked to laugh at that guy too....lol. Thanks everybody for helpin my bro out too btw.