I'm in the process of buying an '01 s2000 for 16,000 with 48,000 miles at Vandergrift Acura. What I know of the car is that the previous owner drove an average of 9,000 miles a year in it, traded this car in for a new acura and paid for it in cash. I'm assuming this guy is old enough to where he has some disposable income (meaning he is an older gentleman) and he is also the only owner of this vehicle. Sounds too good to be true or is this a steal?


2001 S2000

 

Looks clean. Has every OEM exterior accessory: Front Lip, rear spoiler, side strakes.
Sounds like a good deal.
Shoot for $15.5k

 

Thats exactly where my negotiations started, they won't give it to me under 16,000.

I'm still happy with the price regardless.

 

The ad has a VIN on it - have you run a carfax?

 

Sounds like a good car. Try and shoot for a lower price though, you want as close as you can get to get the car for trade in value so in your case 14500. You want this break even on a loan and not be upside down. Not to thread jack but i have an 02 57k asking 16500 and willing to work.

 

Yeah, they gave me a free carfax, it should be on the cars.com website too. From the looks of it on paper, it looks great, but I was just a bit weary of things that I may have overlooked.

Dirtymat: I would have worked with you if I didn't have my Accord but I need to get rid of my trade in, the easiest way for me to do that is to just sell it to the dealer and purchase their vehicle. Thanks for the offer though.

 

Oh yeah duh... well it looks like a good car. look for paint defects, exhaust welds, missing bolts where aftermarket parts may have been installed, oil and vert top and motor. We might go look at cars this weekend, ill let you know if i trade it in so you can go look at it. ill tell you what they gave me for it too so you can haggle the crap out of them. But if you try and get that 01 get the price lower. 15500 sounds like a deal, if they dont do that make them give you frre oil changes for a year or something to even it out.

 

Best thing is to take it to a mechanic. I keep telling folks on here that I wish I had spent the 100 bucks or so to have it looked at. The dealer should have no problem with this if they really are honest and want to sell you the car. A compression test, leakdown, overall inspection, maintenance records, etc will help you in your choice.

Remember, this is a high performance car, and the previous owner may have (and probably did) treated it like it was. I just don;t want to hear you dropped 16K on a car that had to have a new lower end in it 10K later like I did.

Tx_Phantom

 

Ah, thats a good point. I will get a local mechanic to check it out. As for body paint and engine, this car looks mint. Everything to my surprise was very close to flawless in the exterior, the interior however shows some wear on the seats and the engine is clean and still shiny (if that is any indication of previous use). But until I get a mechanic to take a look at it, I haven't any idea what the internals of the engine looks like (if there is a lot of wear and what not). We'll see how it goes. Thanks a lot for all your input, they've been a lot of help!

 

Just cause the car was paid for in cash does not mean an older person drove it...I live in southlake and have a few friends who fathers have bought them cars in cash....