Might buy my sister's beater... Your thoughts? **BOUGHT IT**

[slugg]

Hey guys. My sister just got a new car and she can hardly get anything for her old car, a 2002 Mazda Protege. I'm thinking about buying it, catching it up on maintenance, and keeping it as a beater/appliance. Thus, I'd be selling my 2000 Honda Accord.

She'll sell me her 2002 Mazda Protege with 120k miles for $500.

Brief history of the car:
Never been in an accident, but has cheap body work and paint done on it (Maaco). The car was parked next to a construction site and two cinder blocks were dropped on it. She has lug locks and lost the key. She's the original owner. Didn't really take good care of the car, but she did keep up with oil, spark plugs, transmission fluid, timing belt and water pump. She got a new transmission 2 years ago; she drove 100k on the original transmission fluid. Since then, she's made sure to service ALL FLUIDS correctly. I made sure of that, since I had a feeling the day would come that I'd buy her car.

What the car needs:
- Two new tires (the other two are fine)
- Front swaybar bushings
- Brake light bulbs (not sure which one(s), she just mentioned them, but it's cheap)
- Coolant reservoir
- Intake tube & airbox/filter
- Shampooing and serious cleaning of the interior
- * Rear passenger side window does't work
- * Front auto locks don't work
- * Needs a paint job - the paint feels like sand paper (silver)

* = I could live with this. I'd just leave it if I can't fix it for free or pennies.

I'm a noob mechanic. I've only done a few basic things, but I'm pretty sure I can handle all of these fixes. The only other thing I can think of is any unexpected stuff, which is bound to happen.

My goal here is to convert my Accord into a reliable beater and cash in my pocket. The Protege, even though it's still an automatic, is definitely a lot more fun to drive and just generally feels better.

So what do you guys think?

---

EDIT: I bought it. Scroll down...

 

[AstroManLuca]

$500 for a car that runs and only needs cheap, trivial fixes.

There's no reason not to do it!

 

[slugg]

I'm trying to do some research on common problems and life expectancy of the car. If you guys have any input, it'd be greatly appreciated. I value personal experience from people on here over random Google results, if that makes sense. Still, I'm searching

 

[vshah]

how much could you get for your accord?

 

[slugg]

4k maybe?

 

[BoberFett]

120K isn't really very many miles for a $500 car.

 

[SearchMaster]

Yeah I'd do that in a heartbeat. Looks like you may end up with two beaters (no offense, I absolutely love my 98 Accord but it IS a beater) but between the two you should never be stuck without a car.

 

[Arkaign]

Good stuff, and those cars are really easy to work on (even compared to other Mazdas like the MX6, ugh).

 

[evident]

$500 is chump change for a reliable vehicle with a known history.

 

[slugg]

Yeah I'd do that in a heartbeat. Looks like you may end up with two beaters (no offense, I absolutely love my 98 Accord but it IS a beater) but between the two you should never be stuck without a car.

My Accord is most certainly not a beater. It's not perfect, but it's nowhere even close to a beater. But I'll be selling it

 

[jagec]

Wow, what a bargain!

 

[mvbighead]

I dunno if I'd sell my old one, but I'd definitely grab a $500 beater.

if only to fix it up and get some extra money out of it.

Just popped onto Craiglist and it seems that those'll go for about 5k in decent condition around here. Might be high, but if you're grabbing it for 500, you could easily get a bit more out of it with some general maintenance.

 

[Throckmorton]

How often did she change the oil?

 

[unokitty]

That's an outstanding deal on the Protege!

While I've never had one, a lot of the fellows over at Miata Net rave about them. (My Mazda was a Miata.)

My expectation would be that you get several years of reliable and economical transportation.

Rather than getting it conventionally repainted, I'd be tempted to just shoot it with some matte paint... But that's just me.

Best of luck!
Uno

 

[SearchMaster]

My Accord is most certainly not a beater. It's not perfect, but it's nowhere even close to a beater. But I'll be selling it

Gotcha - I misunderstood the comment "my goal here is to convert my Accord into a reliable beater".

And I bet my 6g Accord looks as nice as yours but I still call it a beater It's 14 years old with 230K miles, how can it not be?

 

[slugg]

Yea haha! Well my Accord will hit 99k miles this or next week. For a 2000, that's great.

As for the paint on the protege, I'm just gonna leave it. I honestly don't care. So I'm going through with it - I just need to figure out logistics now. I'm in Tampa, she's in Orlando, and the car has a flat front tire and the other doesn't look good either. Turns out the timing belt and water pump were serviced really early at 60k miles "she thinks," so I'm throwing that in, as well as plugs, plug wires, and a valve cover gasket for piece of mind.

 

[SandEagle]

How often did she change the oil?

probably never.

how often did she have someone change her oil?

 

[BurnItDwn]

Id consider it if I had a use for the car.

 

[nerp]

Get it and glue on spoiler and tack on that silvery bling windshield wiper arms.

 

[slugg]

Get it and glue on spoiler and tack on that silvery bling windshield wiper arms.

Spoiler's on there. Semi low-pro wheels too. Now I just need tint, slammage, 10k watts of subwoofers, and a stock radio. Oh and stickers galore.

 

[BUTCH1]

You mentioned it needed airbox/filter, is the car being used currently without an air filter?. Other than that concern $500 is a good price IMO..

 

[RavenSEAL]

Damn, what a steal D:

 

[slugg]

You mentioned it needed airbox/filter, is the car being used currently without an air filter?. Other than that concern $500 is a good price IMO..

Oh there's a filter, it's just that the tubing leading up to it is cracked and duct taped.

I just threw 4 new tires on it today (odd, expensive size of 195/50/16) and drove it home 110 miles away. The car seems to be fine, it just needs some basic things. Two very pleasant surprises: ice cold AC and a fully functioning sun roof!

All the "bad" stuff is superficial. Blown out speakers, the interior kinda smells of something fruity, power locks in the front make noise but don't work, and a bunch I random things like that all over the car. It is a LOT of little things, but it's just little things. Besides the swaybar noise from missing an entire bushing, the car felt mechanically sound for those 110 miles. I won't be driving it until the timing belt and water pump are done. Some time this week, methinks. But I think the whole project will take 2-3 weeks before I'll be content.

I'll post a pic later when I'm not on my phone. I'm pretty happy with it so far!

 

[slugg]

I deliver:

... and now I'm tired. Must sleep... Autocross tomorrow... still have to prep my car... have to wake up at 6 AM... FML....

 

[manimal]

Nice!


now restore those headlights they are nasty