Aspire Spotted

[gdawgs]

I found a 97" Aspire for sale in town from a private party. He just replaced the clutch(he said he is getting rid of the car because his wife doesn't like driving a stick, so I'm guessing she smoked the clutch). It has a few small dings but overall in very good shape. The only problem I'm aware of is that the odometer reads 53,000ish but it's not correct. When the guy bought the car, the title states the odometer reading is not accurate. He never talked to the original owner, so he doesn't know what was wrong or how many actual miles are on it. The odometer is currently working, so he's thinking maybe the speedo cable broke and they drove it a while like that.????

Price is $2,000 OBO. I'm looking at it for my mother-in-law. What do you think, if I can get if for $1,800 would that be decent. Judging by the looks of the vehicle, I don't think the mileage could be all that far off. I doubt that it has over 100,000 miles on it. I'm going to test drive tonight.

[Andrew]

buy it!!

have a look at the clutch and brake pedals, the amount of wear will tell you how old the car is. the rubber came off of my car at around 65,000 but the brake is in good condition and i'm at 77,000 now.

[gdawgs]

Ok, here's the low down.
I test drove the car, and didn't find anything too majorly wrong with it. Engine and tranny sound and work well(as to be expected with these things, right?) When I shifted, the shift lever made kind of a squeak sound, nothing to worry about I don't think.

Problems
1) Airbag light blinks - I'm guessing a sensor
2) Pulls to the right when you brake. I heard a squeak the first time I hit the brakes fairly hard, so I'm guessing it probably needs some pads. I didn't hear any grinding, so maybe it's something else. I suppose we could have a bad caliper or a pinched line. Any other ideas here??
3) Windshield washer fluid pump doesn't work. It was getting dark so I didn't get a chance to check fuses. So it might need a different pump.??
4) The odometer reading that I mentioned earlier. I did take a look at the pedal covers(good idea by the way) and they have hardly any wear on them, probably half the wear that my Festy pedals have at 125,000.

I offered him $1,600 and he didn't sound too enthusiastic about that. I'm going to call him back and offer $1,700 and see what he says.

[gdawgs]

Well my mother-in-law decided she would like an automatic and needs something with air(menopause hot flashes). So she is going to pass on this nice Aspire. Too bad, it would be a good car.