Ok, im gonna be lookin at a car for $4k which is a little less than edmunds appraisal (4.2k) which makes it pretty cheap for a gsr in the bay area, ca. Most gsr's sells for $1k over the KBB.

Car has a Single owner, clean title. Supposedly the guy said hes taken care of it and has had regular maintenence but has to check his records to see if the timint belt/water pump were changed for the 2nd time yet.

Questions::::

-Should i have a compression OR leakdown test done? Explain
- I know of the common things to look for which are smoke out the tail pipe, irradic idle/weird cold start ups, oil in coolant or some mushy brown crap in there. Anything else that i should look for?
- Any common problems i should look for?
- Owner is an older guy mid 30's so i doubt it was modded or nethin like that.

FURTHER QUESTIONS::::

- Average price for a regular engine rebuild?
- Average price for TRANSMISSION- SPECIFIC (Ie they only do transmission work) to drop an old tranny and install another one? Labor only, assume i provide a tranny for the shop.


All answers will be appreciated !!! Damn finding a decent priced gsr in bay area, ca IS A PAIN IN THE ASSETS