93 festy advice and info

[hannaganscr]

I am going to buy a 93 ford festiva my first festy its an L model manual trans with 153k on it and looks like new. Anything I should look out for or any advice on about what I should pay at the most for this car.

[Safety Guy]

Hi!

First places I check after a basic look would be:

-a thorough test drive of course, including turning in reverse (check & insure correct tire pressure first!)
-brake line corrosion, and hidden corrosion in general, including spare tire well
-rear wheel bearings
-make sure everything works so you know what will need attention
-BALL JOINTS! Always check these!
-steering rack boots
-any unusual tire wear
-CV boots and listen for clicking...

Stuff like that. Others should list more things to check. Mind you things that need attention are not necessarily bad, just consider how much work you are willing to do and how much money it will cost.

Hope it checks out and you get it!

Karl

[hannaganscr]

I do to Karl and thanks a bunch I am going to give around 1400 for the car if it checks out ok.

[Safety Guy]

When determining wear on the car, make sure the body condition, pedal wear and odometer all "make sense."

These speedo clusters are easy to interchange with others, so a "low miles" Festiva would be an easy con. Also check for paint overspray inside door and hatch edges and engine compartment and anything that "doesn't quite match." Another thing to check would be strength of bumpers at each side: sometimes repair work weakens one side of a bumper or other. (My Chevette front bumper was like that, plus it had English bolts on one side and metric on the other--it had apparently been in an accident!)

If it all looks really nice and checks out, it may be worth that price!

Still, try to get him down one or two hundred if you can. Don't appear to be too eager and take your time!

Karl

[hannaganscr]

Will do and thanks again Karl

[TominMO]

+1 on everything Karl said. The price is too high IMO. He should come down. But if you really want it, buy it for whatever you can get him to take.

[hannaganscr]

http://masoncity.craigslist.org/cto/1713182347.html here is the link with pics. tell me what ya think about it so far

[Roboskittle]

I posted this on another site a while back and hope it can help you....

I would deffinately take your time with this one. Buying a project car can be quite the adventure and can be very rewarding if you pick the right one. Pick the wrong one and you can have a money pit on your hands that you can lose interest in really quickly or end up dumping more money into it than you were originally hoping. Make sure you take a knowledgable person with you. Make sure they are well versed with the type of car you are looking at. Do not take a V8s Rule kind of person to look at an import. Do not take some one who has never owned or seen a rotary to go look at an RX7. Exterior and interior of a car can be deceiving with the actual condition of a vehicle. Exterior is just as important to me as the running state of a vehicle. Rust turns me right off on any vehicle. Surface rust is easy to deal with however cancer can get expensive to fix and if not done properly you will have it right back sooner than you will like. Dents are another turn off if they are on panels that cant be easily replaced without cutting and welding. With all this said be picky be extra picky it is up to you the consumer to reveal secrets about a car that you are gonna buy. Most sellers will not tell you every flaw that is wrong with the car to try to get every dime out of it possible.

A huge problem with cars around the local area I have noticed is wiring. I am a wiring Nazi and almost lost a car and a truck to faulty wiring from previous owner hack jobs. If you cant properly identify or fix wiring problems take some one with you to inspect stuff like that as well. Just a few things to look out for are.....
Random wires coming off of the battery, starter solenoid for Fords
Random wires from under the dash hanging loose
Wires dangling in view from under the car
If there are added accessories such as Gauges, Stereos, Amps, anything look the wiring over for ghetto fabulousness.
If you see wire nuts used in household electrical stuff that is a bad sign
If you see household looking extension cord wiring that is bad
If you see speaker wires used for anything but speaker wires that is bad
Electrical tape wrapped wires can be a bad sign but not always
exposed wires with broken or chaffed insulation is a bad thing

Remember all this stuff can be repaired but again if not done properly can be a major headache in the end. Solder and electrical tape or heat shrink is not always the best option here especially if not cleaned properly. Flux is very corrosive and will deteriorate your connection quality if not cleaned completely.

Other things to look at on cars is condition of tires, wheels, brakes, suspension, exhaust, do all the lights work, will it atleast crank if it wont run the usual stuff. Check the oil level and condition. Check trans fluid and condition, brake fluid level and condition, coolant level and condition. Im not about to go into what all the different fluid conditions represent. You can find that on a lot of websites.

If possible take the car for a test drive if it is capable. Do not just drive it at lower speeds around a parking lot. Take it on the highway, it can reveal highspeed shakes or shimmys and also reveal if the there are any seal leaks (suction noises). It will also allow you to test the transmission through all the gears and make sure it shifts smoothly or reveal any syncro issues or clutch problems depending on the type of trans. Again all these types of things can be repaired or replaced but it is up to you to decide a basic budget for this project.

Before looking at a car I try to get a good idea how much replacement parts are such as suspension parts, brakes, trim, interior parts, any body panels, headlights, tail lights, starters, clutches, engines, transmission, fuel pumps, sensors, relays and so on and so forth. I also look at forums for answers to high rate failures like Ford Aspires eat up distributors and fuel pumps. If its not running you have 2 possible fixes right there and can get a quick estimate of what it will cost you to fix it and get it running.

Next I try to get a rough estimate of what the car is worth in whatever condition it may be in. I go off of three things... Kelley Blue Book, NADA, and what identical cars sold for recently local to the area. You have to remember that high interest cars such as Civics, 240s, Supras, RX7s, etc etc etc have what I call Ricer tax added to them right off the bat. People are willing to buy these cars for a little more over what it books for and sellers realize this if they know what they have.

Ok now you know what its worth, whats wrong with it, what it might cost to repair and what it can be potentially worth in the end, its time to make a deal. Say the car books for 2000 dollars high end retail in good condition, and 800 for it in the current condition. The seller is asking 1000 dollars for it. We will say the car is in less than good condition. The car doesnt run needs tires and some cosmetic work. You know that recently some one on the forums sold a car in the same type of shape for 1200 dollars. Your first offer needs to be less than what it books for. Start at 500 the worse thing that could happen is you get laughed at and told no way Jose. You will likely get a counter offer of 8-900 dollars. At this time start pointing out flaws with the car that you have noticed and give off prices to repair these issues and make another offer at 700. If he accepts than awesome you got the car cheaper and have 300 dollars to repair what might be wrong with it. If not than it is up to you to decide on how high you want to go with the offers.

Remember do not rush any car buying. If you dont get the deal you want than simply walk away. A lot of times the right car will find you and you will know it as soon as you see it. It is a great feeling to buy a car and only you can help yourself with making it a good investment. Remember investments do not always have to involve money. Investments can teach you things, give you a hobby with others and you can make new friends or get closer to a family member. I know some of this is obvious info but a lot of guys make mistakes early in life when purchasing cars. I did all this to help out the young crowd on here and give them some pointers when purchasing any car.

Hope this helps and good luck with your search, Jeremiah.

[Safety Guy]

Good stuff, Jeremiah!

From the ad, I see a nice shape blue (my fav color, so I'm biased!) Festiva with either alloys or wheel covers that look just like them. The seller mentions the "2 stage thermostat" so he sounds like he knows what he's doing and may have taken good care of the car.

You get an MP3 player and remember to take it on the freeway to confirm how he says it drives. Check the heater, too.

On the other hand, those who know their stuff are also in a better position to dupe you, too!

The Only Thing Wrong I See With His Ad Is That He Capitalizes Everything!

Karl

[Tim]

Take off the oil cap and look inside the engine.

If it's sludgy, has a dark varnish or other deposits the engine has been abused or neglected.

If it's light brown to golden, with no deposits, the car got regular oil changes and chances are good that it was well taken care of.


-Tim

[hannaganscr]

The guy says hes a festy enthusiast and seems like an honest guy. You guys are great keep the advice comming. I am going to put a stereo system in this weekend if I buy it that is. I am so damn excited i cant stand it...

[wybnrml]

I do to Karl and thanks a bunch I am going to give around 1400 for the car if it checks out ok.

I would offer less then that, you never know, especially if you have cash. But it does look like a nice Festiva.

[Roboskittle]

I too would make a lower offer. Right now there is a Festiva for 3500 dollars on craigslist local to me. I laughed and immediately continued on to other ads to look at. The car only has 55k miles on it but to me its still just a Festiva. I dont like paying more than 1000 dollars for any used cars. I have had more problems with cars I pay more money for than the ones I pick up dirt cheap. Shoot him an offer for 1000 cash. Make sure you say cash. Cash drives people crazy when they see it so pull it out and start counting it and than say "I got 1000 cash right now" See what happens maybe he will take it. Maybe he wont but deffinately dont settle for 1500.

[hannaganscr]

Well this didnt go so well the car had major hail damage and to top it all off both rocker panels were gone not rusted but gone. I asked to at least drive it and he said no it dont have insurance on it so I said bye hope your find someone dumb enough to buy it.