Thank you for having me.

I registered for this forum in the hopes of getting some advice for potential vehicle purchase. I'm trying to teach myself how to drive a manual transmission car. A local dealership has a 1998 S70 that I'm going to look at in the hopes of being able to buy a car that will last me a year or so while I decide if I really like driving a stick. It's got 247,000 miles on it. It's front wheel drive. The engine is the 2.4 liter B5254S. The dealer wants $3,500.00. What should I be on the lookout for? Does it sound like a reasonable deal so far?

Thanks again!

 

So other than a manul transmission, there's not a lot to this car. It has high miles so it will need repairs. Good news is this car is very similar to the naturally aspirated 850s so its pretty easy to work on and all the issues are well documented. Big ticket maintenance items are 1) timing belt service (I think this car is 7 years/70K miles ) 2) PCV system - these engines gunk up the PCV port and breather tubes and you need to lift up the intake manifold to access 3) has the clutch ever been replaced? 250K miles on the original clutch says its due. 4) AC systems can develop evaporator leaks or have compressor clutch gap issues. After that its just fixing stuff when it breaks. On the upside, when you are done with this, you can buy a matching T5 and use this car as a MT donor to do a transmission swap and make a real keeper :-)

 

I would think $800 would be plenty for this car. So that is the big problem I see is the investment. They are not easy to find, but then again, all you want is a manual transmission. You might argue that you can't find anything "as reliable" for reasonable money, but it's a 25 year old european car with 247,000 miles on it. Is there really no better option?

They're very decent. I will say that. Easy to fix.

 

I agree, the pricetag seems a bit high. Then again, it is a dealership so they probably expect you to talk them down unless its a no-negotiation dealer.

Also, if you want a fun manual, I know a guy (my brother) selling a 05 mini cooper S with a reduced supercharger pulley and upgraded intake for cheaper than that car with less miles (mostly highway). Located in Connecticut.