Buying a 10+ year old car what could go wrong?

[canyonrider]

So my dad is offering to sell me his 2003 BMW X5 for $2000. He is the original owner with 72K on it, and it has basically been sitting in his garage for the last decade. I've owned a BMW before and am painfully familiar with the cost of maintenance, but for the price I'm tempted. We would use it for shorter road trips around CO, skiing, and some commuting. What could go wrong?

Other car is a 4Runner that would still be the go-to family vehicle for camping/towing, longer road trips, and more frequent abuse with the kids.

[gravitylover]

Tough to turn down at that price. What's the worst case scenario, something silly expensive goes wrong and you sell it for $5k...

[BmillsSkier]

So my dad is offering to sell me his 2003 BMW X5 for $2000. He is the original owner with 72K on it, and it has basically been sitting in his garage for the last decade. I've owned a BMW before and am painfully familiar with the cost of maintenance, but for the price I'm tempted. We would use it for shorter road trips around CO, skiing, and some commuting. What could go wrong?

Plenty.

We've owned 3. An 08, 11, and 12. Each had their own "quirks", with the brand new '12 going full electrical gremlin not too long after driving it off the lot. Look, I loved the X5s, I even was able to talk my wife into #3 after 1 and 2 became nightmares to own.

That said, you've got a smoking deal, from a family member who you know how they've maintained it and it's got low miles. That and that year was still back when everything was mechanical when it came to the drivetrain and steering - which is a good thing. The day they went to that electronic slush box is the day someone in Munich should have been tarred and feathered. They are the best driving SUV I've ever owned and are very solid in the snow.

I say go for it. But have the lifeboat ready should it head south.

[Bobby Stainless]

That's about wholesale for that car. As long as there are no lights on and the car is clean, carmax or a dealer would probably give that.

You could also flip it for 4, if it starts acting funny.

The 3.0 is better than the 4.4 and 4.6, but under powered.

[guroo270]

Attn: Mercedes diesel guys...

Thoughts?

2006 Mercedes E320 CDi with 262k miles for under $3k?

Can't you part this thing out for $5k really easily?

https://gulfport.craigslist.org/cto/5756134986.html

It's worth noting that I generally drive 3 miles /day, but occassionally make 8 or 9 hour road trips.

[stfu&gbtw]

Attn: Mercedes diesel guys...

Thoughts?

2006 Mercedes E320 CDi with 262k miles for under $3k?

Can't you part this thing out for $5k really easily?

https://gulfport.craigslist.org/cto/5756134986.html

It's worth noting that I generally drive 3 miles /day, but occassionally make 8 or 9 hour road trips.

Buy it and flip it to 4matic for $30k. He's a yuuuge fan of old, slow mercs.

[guroo270]

I don't consider 370 lb/ft of torque sluggish.

[BmillsSkier]

What's the expected life on a Merc diesel with nearly 300k mi?

[4matic]

Buy it and flip it to 4matic for $30k. He's a yuuuge fan of old, slow mercs.

My 2004 wagon has equal performance numbers to your fancy new sporty hatchback.



The Coupe would embarrass it.

[Timberridge]

What's the expected life on a Merc diesel with nearly 300k mi?

One that's been flooded in LA? I would never buy a car from LA unless I knew the whole history...for that reason and also their title process is sketchy. I knew of a guy in Houston who bought a Range Rover in LA with a supposedly clean title. Turned out the vehicle was a half and half...the front half one VIN# and back half another VIN#.

[stfu&gbtw]

My 2004 wagon has equal performance numbers to your fancy new sporty hatchback. The Coupe would embarrass it.

You're bragging that your Merc, that once sold for $100,000, can keep up with a VW Golf.

Oh, how far the mighty have fallen.

The Merc would in fact be faster... The Golf is limited to 155mph, so as long as there weren't any corners, eventually the Merc would catch up.

[guroo270]

What's the expected life on a Merc diesel with nearly 300k mi?

1/2 million supposedly. And like I said, I've had a Navigator for 6 months and put 2k miles on it.

[stfu&gbtw]

Just test drove a 996 Turbo for the first time... I couldn't quite shake the idea that maybe I'd like it, so I decided to go try one. This one only had 40k miles on it, but it had obviously lived a pretty hard life. What really struck me though was just how detached everything felt inside. 3rd gear, 50mph, foot down and you know the magic is happening, because your seat suddenly feels deeper and there are these two lines sweeping across their respective gauges on the dashboard... But that's it. No noise *at all*. Not even a little. And this especially loose cabrio sounded like I was shaking a can of bolts over every expansion strip. Cornering felt great, but sounded like we were risking structural failure. Underneath all the nonsense was an undeniably capable car... But what a yawn fest. Holy shit. I've felt more drama at my kid's elementary school play. I'm sure it'd be a fun car in the right environment, but on roads around here, between 40-80 - meh.

[BmillsSkier]

That's because you're coming from a car half its size now. Anything is going to seem like a luxo-barge in comparison.

[stfu&gbtw]

^ Anything except a CL550, obviously...

Just actually checked... The 996T weighs almost 400 lbs less than the VW, and the 996T wheelbase is 10" shorter. And somehow, despite having 120 hp and lb-ft of torque more than the R, when it was new, the 911 only had .8 s on the R from 0-60...

What strange times we live in...

[delco714]

^ Anything except a CL550, obviously...

Just actually checked... The 996T weighs almost 400 lbs less than the VW, and the 996T wheelbase is 10" shorter. And somehow, despite having 120 hp and lb-ft of torque more than the R, when it was new, the 911 only had .8 s on the R from 0-60...

What strange times we live in...

I'll just sit here with my popcorn loving my boxster every time I get behind the wheel

[stfu&gbtw]

This just popped up on the radar...

[BmillsSkier]

This just popped up on the radar...

Without even thinking about it, yes. And it's a Florida car? Yup.

I've thought once or twice about trading the 997 in for a 997 4S but then I moved to gods country for driving where it only snows every 4 years or so.

[Bobby Stainless]

I'm back. Send me a pm if your buddy still needs a Vantage.

[Bobby Stainless]

Fkna that car has some eyeball.

I spent a good deal of time, mistreating a DB11 this past labor day. 600hp 5.2 V12tt...

Wrong side of the road... Puckering moments were had.

[Game Over]

Jesus that Aston is beautiful

[Game Over]

Speaking of (well sorta. A name is similar and it was a nice ride) ->

We were in Malibu last week sitting at a light across from the McDonald's. As we were cracking jokes back and forth about the classiness of said McDonald's a guy pulls from the drive thru in a brand new Maserati convertible. As I say to my wife something like "look at this rich asshole everyone eats this shit" he gets to the street and we are 2 lanes away... It's Ashton Kutcher. As he pulls out he fully rolls over the curb.

[shroom]

fugal. I can dig it.

[stfu&gbtw]

I forwarded that link to the Aston in PC. I'll get in touch if my friend shows any real interest.

Tempted by that 997. Pretty sure that would be a 997.2. I've never driven a 997, so I'll see about trying one before I ask them to ship that one from FL. Besides, I didn't find the CarMax guys to be all that good to work with. The tool who went on the S5 test drive with me kept talking while I was trying to listen to the car. Had to tell him to be quiet probably 5 times in 10 minutes, and he was one of those guys who's trying to end to test drive before I've buckled my seatbelt. Pretty strange considering they'd just shipped the damn thing 1500 miles for me to look at it... But, interested none the less.

[Sirshredalot]

I forwarded that link to the Aston in PC. I'll get in touch if my friend shows any real interest.

Tempted by that 997. Pretty sure that would be a 997.2. I've never driven a 997, so I'll see about trying one before I ask them to ship that one from FL. Besides, I didn't find the CarMax guys to be all that good to work with. The tool who went on the S5 test drive with me kept talking while I was trying to listen to the car. Had to tell him to be quiet probably 5 times in 10 minutes, and he was one of those guys who's trying to end to test drive before I've buckled my seatbelt. Pretty strange considering they'd just shipped the damn thing 1500 miles for me to look at it... But, interested none the less.

You could spend 10 seconds googling this if you weren't mentally handicapped: the car max salespeople are paid per vin sold, and it's pretty flat. They have no reason to give a rat's ass about trailering tour shitbox.