So I'm about to buy a '95 240SX. But I'm unsure about whether or not I should make a lower offer than what the guy wants for it. He's asking $4000 for it. KBB value for the car is only $3700...but with these cars, you really can't go by that. Or so I'm told. Anyway, before I go on, some more details on the car.

First off, the positive. The car is in good shape overall. The interior is super clean. Driving it, I felt confident that it was in good shape mechanically. No leaks, noises, vibrations, or anything like that. It's a 5-speed, and the clutch felt fine to me. The shifter was a bit wobbly, but that's normal from what I understand. The paint was good except for the normal dings and scratches. It's never been in a major accident. Oh yeah, and it has front and rear strut braces installed.

Now for the bad. It's got 150k on the odometer. I think that's an accurate reading. While I know that it'll go for a lot longer than that, 150k is just hard to get over. I've never owned a car with mileage that high. Second, the front bumper is split, and will need to be repaired, even if it's just epoxied together. Also, the headlights are way fogged. But, he has a set of JDM lights that he wants to sell for $500. Third, it's not an SE. Although it does at least have alloys.

So what'd be a reasonable offer for a car like this? I'm thinking I'll ask for $4250 with the JDM headlights. Sound reasonable?

P.S. - Sorry about the weird title, I wasn't sure what to call it.

 

3500 max, maybe 3800 with headlights

 

agreed. jdm headlights suck anyways

 

Around $3000, if it has split bumpers and dings and scrathes.

 

5 dorrars!

 

you type like a dolphin

 

Ugh. So apparently the motor is dripping oil a bit. He said something about a crank seal being bad. I'm not quite sure what he was trying to desribe. Also, the water pump will need to be replaced. I've got to admit, with 150k, I wasn't altogether ruling out that it might leak. But he said it didn't leak at all, so I'm a bit disappointed. I can understand why the guy's asking $4000 for it, since I'm up here in Denver, and 240s are rare here. I've never even seen another one in the three months that I've been here. But even so, I don't think it's worth $4000 with all these problems. He only wants to come down to $3800, and fix the water pump for me. But I think that's the lowest he'd go. I guess it's time to start shopping around...and I was so happy to finally be getting a 240... :-/

 

tell him you give him 3800 with the headlights, and he has to fix the waterpump and front main seal..or rear, whichever is leaking..

 

I highly doubt he wants to pay to have the front / rear main seal changed...but, he is a mechanic, so maybe he'd be able to do it for cheap. Aside from those two problems, it seems like a great car. (And I secretly want nothing but a 240 now...haha...)

If he doesn't come down, I may get this:

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...g=1&cardist=59

Actually, I plan on using that ad as a way to get him to come down. If they can ask $4000 for a car of the same year with 30k less miles and no cosmetic issues, at a dealership, then he damn sure better come off his $4000 asking price.

My question now is this...if I fix the water pump and main seal(s), how long can I expect to drive it before something else major goes wrong?

 

you can fix that yourself, really easily. dealers are usually cheaper than private sellers

 

I guess that does make sense, as inflated as the price of these cars is now. Anyway, for a rear main seal, doesn't that require a motor pull? I don't have the time, not to mention the equipment, to do that. Maybe the seller does, though. I'll try to work something out with him. Either that, or buy that gold one if it checks out. I'd much rather have the red one...that gold car doesn't look like it has any options at all. I don't care so much about that, but it doesn't even have alloys.

 

the champagne 240 is base model thats why it doesnt have any options

 

Yeah, but the red one is a base model, too. Well, it's not an SE, anyway. I guess it's kind of in between.

 

why don't you just wait and find exactly what you want... zenkis are not hard to find

 

check and see if it has 4lug if it does then its base
in 95-96 there was just base and se
in 97-98 there was base / se/ and le
the le didnt mean sheit except leather and some le's didnt even have that