need quick advice- buying used car

my 180k 93 escort is rusting through, and i want to get a car i can
trust to last a while longer.

i just found a private seller with a 93 mercury tracer (same car),
180k. its in good aesthetic condition. pretty much no rust at all.
engine compartment clean. i have no history on it, though.

there is a flapping sound turning corners. im told it needs a new CV
boot, and that it will be done for free. anything i should check for
here? anything i should know about? how do i know if the joint itself
is damaged?

also, it is noisier over potholes than my car. the ride feels fine,
anything i shoudl check for? the bounce test feels fine. the shock's
rubber boots have broken down, like every other escort ive ever seen in
my life, but no obvious problems.

third, and most importantly to me, i dont know what mpg it gets. my
5spd 93 averages 40 on the highway. i am a sedate driver, and this may
contribute. can i expect this car to do the same? is there any way to
get an idea about how good the mileage is without actually burning a
whole tank of gas? i really dont want a car that gets less than 35 on
the highway. does my car do that well becuase it is a freak, or becuase
all escorts driven sedately get great mileage?

also, kelley blue book value, according to their website, is 1100 for
this car. do private sellers usually sell for more or less than blue
book?

many many thanks. im in a rush, becuase there are no other similar cars
around here and another buyer is looking.

thanks,
anthony

On 2 Feb 2005 13:28:40 -0800, "ant" >
wrote:

>my 180k 93 escort is rusting through, and i want to get a car i can
>trust to last a while longer.
>
>i just found a private seller with a 93 mercury tracer (same car),
>180k. its in good aesthetic condition. pretty much no rust at all.
>engine compartment clean. i have no history on it, though.


You have a '94 with 180k on it and don't trust it to last any longer.
Now you want to buy another identical car with 180k so that you have
something that you trust to last longer? Am I missing the punch line
here?

Any car with 180k is a gamble. It could make it another 100k or it
could fall apart in five miles. Depends on the maintenance history
and how the car was driven. You already know this one has bad CV
joints and from the sounds of it they have been going for a while.
This indicates to me that the cars maintenance history could be
questionable. If I were in this situation I would put my money in the
bank and save it for repairs on the car I already have

Steve B.

"ant" ) writes:
> my 180k 93 escort is rusting through, and i want to get a car i can
> trust to last a while longer.

how much milage would you want to put on it to get your money's worth?

>
> i just found a private seller with a 93 mercury tracer (same car),
> 180k. its in good aesthetic condition. pretty much no rust at all.
> engine compartment clean. i have no history on it, though.

sounds like it was better maintained than yours.

best you can do is test drive and look it over then decide.
you could offer to buy conditional on approval by a
licenced mechanic.

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On Wed, 2 Feb 2005, ant wrote:

> i just found a private seller with a 93 mercury tracer (same car),
> 180k.

Gimme a break. Unless he proposes to pay you to take the car away, you are
begging for expense and unreliability from a used-up 12-year-old Mercury
Tracer.

Start from the start: What is your budget and what are your needs?


> also, kelley blue book value, according to their website, is 1100 for
> this car. do private sellers usually sell for more or less than blue
> book?

If you pay anywhere near *half* this amount for a high-miles 12-year-old
Escort or Tracer, you are an enormous sucker.

> I'm in a rush, becuase there are no other similar cars
> around here and another buyer is looking.

Even when this is the truth rather than a mere sales tactic, you ought
not let it rush you into a bad decision.

This is a grocery getter selling for something near its market value,
not your only shot at some rare treasure nor a once-in-a-blue-moon
financial windfall.

If it gets sold out from under you in the time it takes to have it
checked out by your own mechanic, well, best of luck to the new owner
and the search for another car goes on.

There may not be any more just like it in your area right now, but
there probably have been and will be again; and certainly there are
other cars.

Unless there is something uniquely good for you about this make, model,
and year (I would imagine instead that it's a pleasant but
unextraordinary vehicle in a large and highly competitive class), or
you have an emergency need to replace your present car (sounds as
though it's still getting you to work and you're just exercising
foresight in the effort to replace it), time is on your side, no?
Best of luck,
--Joe

Ad absurdum per aspera wrote:
> Unless there is something uniquely good for you about this make,
model,
> and year (I would imagine instead that it's a pleasant but
> unextraordinary vehicle in a large and highly competitive class), or
> you have an emergency need to replace your present car (sounds as
> though it's still getting you to work and you're just exercising
> foresight in the effort to replace it), time is on your side, no?
> Best of luck,
> --Joe

there are a couple reasons i am so jazzed abotu this particular model-

93 escort has a great reliability record compared to other years. the
parts are dirt cheap and very available. my car gets great mileage
(40mpg hwy average) althouhg i dont know if this is normal for escorts
or just mine. plus, i really like wagons, and this is one. and i insist
on 5spd, and there arent nearly as many 5spds escort wagons as autos ,
i find.

finally, ive done a lot of work on my car, have the manuals already,
the FSM, etc. and that means something to a guy who has limited car
work experience.

my car is a rust bucket now. it looks worse everytime i peek under the
car. this car lived in southern cali its life, apparently, and doesnt
have any rust on it. looks well taken care of, but of course- the big
question to me is whether the engine works well, high mpg, etc.

if i could buy the thing for 1300 and get another reliable 25k at 40mpg
(like i did for my car) without dropping more than a few hundred
dollars on parts, than i woudl be ecstatic.

another thing- under the hood everything looks clean, but everything is
coated with a thin film of oil. just enough to make things look a bit
glossy. is this normal? does this mean there is a pressurized oil leak?
anthony

> under the hood everything looks clean, but everything is
> coated with a thin film of oil. just enough to make things
> look a bit glossy. is this normal?


No; and if it is clean but is coated with oil, one hypothesis would be
that somebody cleaned the engine and its surroundings, possibly to make
it sell easier, but didn't solve the problem that had made them dirty.


> does this mean there is a pressurized oil leak?

Possibly; or power steering fluid if applicable. Or somebody drove
around with the oil filler cap off (some engines can really launch the
stuff out that hole and then the belts and fan fling it all around).
Anyway, if it is oil rather than some sort of shiny coating, you
certainly need to find out where it came from and what to do about it
-- this is not normal.

A digression on pressurized leaks of power steering fluid: I've used a
fire extinguisher four times on cars and know two people who have used
it once each. Of that total of six incidents, five were underhood
fires caused when an aerosol of power steering fluid, usually from a
pinhole in an aging high-pressure-side hose, hit some source of
ignition.* Power steering fluid burns with a smoky underachieving
yellow flame, but burn it does, and once it has gotten into things like
the hood insulation and the wiring it can make an old beater
uneconomical to repair even if you keep your head and find your
extinguisher and put the fire out.


Whatever the reason, this only reinforces my hunch that the car might
be for sale because it looks a lot better than it really is. (This is
easy to encounter with California cars. People in the urban areas
there tend to drive a lot, and mild climates in most areas, with
mountains and beaches as possible exceptions, remove some of the more
obvious Northern cues as to the age and weariness of a car. And after
12-13 years and 180,000 miles it could be quite old and weary indeed).
Also the importance of getting a trusted mechanic who has no vested
interest in the sale to go over it and speculate on what it's been
through and what you're in for.


Cheers,
--Joe

* The sixth case was the dashboard wiring of an E-Jag just celebrating
Guy Fawkes Day for no apparent reason. The owner demonstrated the
strength of character needed to get your groceries in an antique Jag by
pulling out some access panel, giving it a couple of bursts of
dry-chemical tough love, and finishing his commute with the rest of the
extinguisher close at hand.

Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:
> You are going to get screwed my friend.
>
> With your budget you shouldn't be looking at a specific model, you
should
> be looking at the best car for your money.

yeah. but i dont know much about cars, so dont really know what
classifieds to look at. this one just fell into my lap, the exact model
i had in mind, so i got kind of worked up. anyways, it was bought by
another seller the next day. kind of a relief, really.

> And you should also be looking at a private sale, not a used car lot.
> Everything you said smacks of a used car lot.

it was private. and i try my darndest to filter out the car lots when
im looking at classifieds. i check autrotrader.com and cars.com. are
there other sites/resources to dig up used private sale cars?

> Your letting your emotions cloud your judgement. People that do that
> end up making decisions they later regret.

yeah. thanks for the advice.

anthony