Immediate help needed!!!

[xmikexsmithx]

i recently saw a 2003 mazda protege 5 hatch with 43k miles and the car is in excellent condition. guy with a broken acccent is selling it. he is asking 6200 for it. first off, i check edmonds, they say thats over priced, i check kelly blue book, and thats a great deal. which one should i trust and is that a good deal? also, if i make the purchase, is there any known problems for that car? since i will most likely be purchasing it for a family car. i rather not put my childeren a risk.

 

[Balls]

Get a carfax report for it. If he doesn't have one already, it is worth the $30 or so it costs you to get it. I almost bought one in pretty much the same situation. After a bunch of prying I found out it was a salvaged title, walked away from it and found a better one a few months later. good luck.

 

[CTt3P5]

Considering the mileage that is a decent price...I've seen some sell for around $4-5k with upwards of 100k....I bought my 02 in 2006 for $8900 out the door with 64k....

First of all, take it to a mechanic you know and trust for a once over and get his feedback. If that goes well, some areas of concern are the VTCS screws which were covered under a recall - http://www.protegefaq.net/tsb/3005C.pdf (thanks to theMan for the link) - seeing you are in Jersey, check the following areas for rust...the doors (inside lower sill), PS strut tower of the engine bay, side skirts (both front and rear wheel well areas), rear quarter panels (where they meet the bumper), emblems on rear hatch. Another gripe has been the egr valve tends to get carboned up but there is a fix for that (buy the Canadian egr) and caliprs can have a knack for seizing....

I've had mine for going on 5yrs and have had good luck....other than normal maintenance (oil, plugs, brakes, tires) the only things I've really had to fix are one seized rear caliper and ther rear windshield washer pump went out on me (approx $40 and five minutes to swap). I've got some rust on the rear quarters, side skirts and engine bay but will be attacking that soon.

About the biggest complaint you'll get here is that it is sooooooo damn slow. lol That said though, the car is a blast to drive and to this day she still puts a smile on my face when I get behind the wheel.

I wish ya luck!

 

[xmikexsmithx]

Excellent. thanks guys for the help. i actually just called this guy, and when i asked if the car was garage kept, he said, "i dont know bc the car is from down south and thats why it looks good, bc the weather is different down there." like i said, he is foreign. lol. i just get sketchy about used cars bc u cant trust people now a days. i will take the advice about the car fax though for sure. i will further check out this car in person most likely tonight and post my findings again and would still welcome opinion. thanks again for the heads up. any other comments or messages please post. the more informed i am, the better.

 

[booboo0809]

^ definantly follow what is said above and alsoturn it on and let it idle for a while to c if it does anything funny and of course try and drive it. Mechanic is always a good idea as a hundred dollar investment( or watever it costs) is definantly better than 6g POS that needs anouther2-3 in repairs.
GL with purchase!

 

[xmikexsmithx]

ok so i drove passed and took another look at the car. first off, he has the for sale sign over the vin number in the windshield. so i think i am gonna tell him i am very interested, test drive the car and whatnot, move the for sale sign, copy the vin and go from there. i also took a pic of the exhaust bc i noticed something. now seeing a car this cheap, i was immediately thinking flood damage car. so hopefully the car fax will clear that up. but look at the pic. it looks like the car exhaust has salt water damage or even some type of crustation growing on it..making the flood damage possibility look even more believable.

 

[mobius120487]

Def looks as if some salt water has dried on it, but that could just as easily be a splash and not flood damage, i live by the beach down here in galveston and i know i have spots that showed up like that outta nowhere, just salt water being everywhere, not great for cars but you learn to deal and wash it off asap

 

[SpeedToBleed]

Look under the car. If there's rust everywhere, stay away.
Also look under the carpet in the trunk to look for rust and watch for any musky smell.

 

[nilsonov]

hey there, I bought 3 p5's (kept 2 for myself & wife) early in 2009. 2 had ~53k miles, one in great condition for 5600 and one in good condition for 5200. the third had 80k miles but i got a great deal from a desperate dude for $3k. I sold the one with 80k within 5 days for $4k. Then I sould the one in good condition 2 months ago for 4400, but man, it was a huge pain in the ass, took months of waiting. most people werent willing to fork over >$4k.
Anyway, point of this post, $6200 is too much to buy just from some dude. Maybe from a dealer where they can give you at least some limited warranty, but not from some random dude 'from down south'. (ps - i have dealt with heavy accent dudes that bring cars from down south...they generally dont try to scam you, just flipping cars on craigslist).

 

[xmikexsmithx]

i cant thank you all enough for your help and comments. i definitely feel a lot more informed and i will definitely keep posting to let you know how things go. please anyone else keep posting.