You are looking at a very rare car. Toyota only made this all wheel dive vehicle for about 5 years. It treated me very well for the many years I drove it but it has sat idle for a few years and need to make room in my driveway (and I had plans to restore it) She was running fine when I was driving it, except towards the end when going over mountain passes (it would decelerate badly for some reason). There are many new parts I put in this rig. Including a new clutch! I estimate there's at least $3,000-$5,000 new parts I put into this while I owned it. Anyways, I hope this post finds someone who appreciates this rad rig and will hopefully restore her. Serious offers only. No trades. Cheers.
It has a manual transmission (which I want to learn to drive) and 218K miles. I feel like everyone is going to call me dumb for spending $2K on this but the thing is…I already love it. And I’d rather pay extra for something I really fucking like, than save on something I’m not particularly excited about. Even after 6-7 years of being homeless I’m picky like this, and I feel like it’s worked for me. I’ll actually go spend money on clothes that fit me and are actually my style, which helps my self-esteem just a bit, etc.
Unless you have years of grease monkey experience, I’m seeing way too many red flags.
Vehicles hate sitting unused for years, and they really hate sitting unused for years outdoors.
Even for 2k, for your life situation all this is going to take you to is a world of pain.
this ^
its not not a cool car, but it will probably be a big money pit to get and keep it on the road, especially at first shaking out everything that went to shit over the past "few years"
at least in my area, you can sometimes get cars with some life in them for 2k, or in the past even sub 1k, but they aren't cool. They're generally rusty ugly cars with a lot of miles that aren't particularly cool or desirable models. particularly gnarly examples of common cars like corollas, or more obscure models with odd but fixable issues that the owner doesn't bother with because of the cosmetic damage.
At the very least get something that hasn't been sitting idle. a shitbox that gets a little care (just like, not running it out of fluids even) and gets driven every day will outlast a formerly decent car that sat for a year undriven.
Yeah...sitting for so long means the soft parts, like cv joints, valve seals, hoses are probably hard as hell due to lack of use. Likely to start cracking and leaking when it starts getting used
It was already having problems before it sat for several years (notice all the vagueness), and those problems were evidently not diagnosed. Please don't do it.
There are some cars in decent condition with manual transmission in the market, like this one: CL Link
Aside from whether it runs or not and whether basic maintenance has been done, you'll want to look for rust and ask for paperwork showing that the timing belt (unless it has a timing chain, which you can check online) has been replaced on schedule. Usually the water pump, pulleys, etc are replaced at the same time, but you should confirm that as well. Someone who's better at cars can give you a complete rundown of what to look for.
the timing belt (unless it has a timing chain, which you can check online) has been replaced on schedule. Usually the water pump, pulleys, etc are replaced at the same time
oh.... am i supposed to be doing this stuff?? lol why do people own cars
do not
ever
let me reiterate that last point
ever
buy a used car with an all wheel drive system. you do not need all wheel drive and it's just gonna break. guaranteed the last person who owned it didn't know how to drive and let the awd compensate for more shitty situations than they needed to be in, causing it to wear prematurely.
with that said that's a $500 project car, not a $2000 anything. a car that has sat idle for even one year will need new tires and will need all new fluids, so expect at the very least to have to do a brake flush, coolant flush, replacement oil and filter, pump out the gas tank and put new gas in before you start trying to figure out if the engine's seized, where youre gonna get a new battery, if it'll turn over once the engine's unstuck, if the brake lines are rotted out, if the gaskets are rotted out, if the fuel lines are rotted out, what the water that leaked in past the bad gaskets got to, mold, animal piss and shit and weird smells.
get a different car to rely on.
E: Christ, i clicked on the picture and it's even worse than i thought, the tires are flat, you can see gaskets peeling apart/panels pulled up and its covered in at the very least lichens if not mold.
given that the license plate looks oregon and it sat outside, multiply my concerns by ten. sitting out in rainy, humid weather is a million times worse than sitting outside in the desert.
do not
ever
let me reiterate that last point
ever
buy a used car with an all wheel drive system. you do not need all wheel drive and it's just gonna break.
I guess this is okay advice for non-car people who just drive around cities, but all I've ever owned are used all wheel drive cars and literally never had a problem related to the drive train. My parents also both have used all wheel drive cars and have also never had an all wheel drive specific problem.
this is the kind of car that is a fun project when you already have a dead reliable daily driver, a garage, and a roll-around tool chest full of tools
if you don't have all of those things, this is the kind of car you spend two thousand on and drive for a few months before it gets permanently parked
this is the kind of car you spend two thousand on and drive for a few months before it gets permanently parked
except the current owner already did the fun part and it's currently in the "permanently parked" stage, probably needing major repair to get back to fully roadworthy
unless you're ready to spend hours of your day doing research online scraping ancient fourm posts so solve "weird issue the car is having #1356" and then spending the rest of the day using your garage full of tools that you definitely have to fix said issue, dont buy a car as old and run-down as that one.
I own a 199x honda integra with 25x,xxx miles on it, its a phenomenal car and runs fantastic, but god damn if it sometimes doesnt throw the strangest issues at me. many of which stemming simply from the fact its over 25 years old and parts age and degrade.
like i tell all my non-car-person friends, dont get a project car unless you want to be poor forever
basially, unless you know what you're getting into, and are ready to become a car-person, dont.
I would avoid it. I would also only buy a car like this if it came with a decent warranty or you took it to a shop of your choice to get it inspected first. The most expensive and risky parts of a car are all internal and require a proper inspection. Alternatively if you got a fantastic deal from a trusted person that's trying to help you out (which must be distinguished from a charlatan telling you they're helping you out while ripping you off).
You have the right idea though imo. A Corolla with less than 150,000 miles is right in that price range and is the most likely thing to keep chugging along for years.
I think you could get a better deal on a different car, although I'm not very familiar with the used car market. Consider how much it will cost for repairs/what you can do yourself.
Prices on used cars are basically 2x what they were pre-Covid. Anecdotal of course
Its absolutely nuts. I spent $3,500 on my first car in 2012 and if I wanted to buy that same car today it would be $6k even though its 12 years older now.
I would be hesitant to spend 1k on this car. I have a 2005 kia spectra that is just about to hit 150k miles and it is MAYBE worth 2k. Blue book says 2.5k but it has all kinds of random fucking problems coming up.
I would not spend the money you got on this
old toyota > old kia in terms of reliability but honestly you're still correct, even if it's worth 2k to the right all-trac fan, its not worth 2k in terms of "working car you can use right now"
How much time energy and money are you willing to spend to keep it running? The fact that it has sat idle for several years probably means a lot of work to get it running. If that's something you enjoy them I would go for it. If not, probably don't.
That's a lot of miles, even for a Toyota. If you can get a mechanic to look at it and say it has at least 50k more miles in it, sure. Around me $2k can't even get you a parts car anymore.
Is $2K for this car fucking dumb?
This is one of those many cases in life where if you have to ask the question, you already know the answer... The car hasn't driven in years. A car is already a terrible investment for people with stable income, it's a deprecating asset. Do not buy a car.
I paid $1500 for a 91 Subaru Legacy with 200k miles like 15 years ago, so $2000 in this market doesn’t sound too bad tbh. I’d take it to get looked at before committing any money though.
Edit: oof, it sat idle for years. Definitely get it checked out, could be gunked up or filled with mice holes by now.
Edit: oof, it sat idle for years. Definitely get it checked out, could be gunked up or filled with mice holes by now.
Every single piece of rubber and soft parts on this thing will have gone brittle while idle. It will start leaking every single fluid as soon as it's run even a little bit.
