Should I buy a 2001 Impala with 119k on it for $4150?

Question

Semi working gas guage, semi working blower fan, a lil rust on the corners of the doors (seems to be surface). It was a rental for the first 22k but the guy who owns it now (and has for the last 5 years) seems to have fixed any wear and tear that might have occured from it's 9 month rental period. The guy seems straight forward and seems like he's telling me everything that's wrong with it. I brought it to a garage and they say it seems to check out ok. There's a little bit of clunking in the steering wheel when turning left but that is from an imporperly lubricated intermidate steering shaft (a common impala problem) that is easily fixed by a $70 trip to the garage. It gets 28-32 mpg. He's replaced the front ball joints, rear breakes (pads, rotars), turned the front calipers (new pads) and all matience seems to be up to date. Timing belt not needed for another 20k and interior in good condition. It does have a column shift which I'm not thrilled about but can live with. Please help!!

Answer 1

Sounds like you gave most of the information you need to make your disission.
First I would say get a kelly blue book and check out its resale. I think it is a little on the high side , but that also depends on where you live.
A lot of cars today will go a lot longet then it used to. but here is some thing you can check
remove the oil cap and run your fingetr around the inside. If it comes out slugly walk away, it means the oil has not been changed in a long time.
Check out the trans fluid is it read, pink or does it smell burned, kinda like burnt toast. If it dows walk away. Look at the frount axels is the rubber in good shale or do thy need replacing.
If you need more things to check out let me know

dons auto at [e-mail]

Answer 2

well it depends on what types of vehicles you are looking at, as a general rule i tend to not go for cars that are former rentals. People tend to be very hard on rental cars even though it only spent 9 months as a rental. If i were you, i would maybe hold on a little, unless you need a car right now, wait a little and spend some time looking around. As for this car, id say that it is maybe a little over priced, see if you can talk the seller down about $500 before you go with this one.

Answer 3

The car is definitly worth that money, but the only reason I would try to lower the price is because it was rented, and you can use this to lower the price. And the person before me that said the car is worth 1,000 must have the inpala confused with a Kia Rio or dosn't know anything about car values. And also for that same person: you find me a car like that for that money in chicago area and I will buy it right away.

Answer 4

purchase a Ford ,U advise grew to become rotors u do no longer turn calipers! for a 2001 it seams slightly wiped out why plenty fix on a 2001 ? to plenty has long gone incorrect with it do no longer purchase it, my ford has 3 hundred,000 and the different has one hundred seventy five,ok and neither one has had one million/4 the maintenance that vehicle has had performed, reliable success my opion is not any

Answer 5

Looks like you looking at a bad deal,that car is worth around $1000.00 .

Answer 6

NO!!! Way too many miles....this car will continue to fail....GM cars have just do not have the parts quality that they use to ....plus this car is way overpriced for the miles

Answer 7

this is the 2nd time or maybe the 3rd time I have seen this question!
Buy or don't buy the thing, but stop asking the same question over and over!

Answer 8

use that money to get a 96 impala

Answer 9

Are you trying to talk us into it, or yourself? If $4100 dollars is a lot of money to you, then do not do it. If you can blow it, do it. Simple economics.