About to purchase a VR4

Hey everybody,
My daily driver is currently an RX-8, but that is undergoing a rebuild and I'm looking for a second/winter car. Ever since I was a kid playing Gran Turismo 2, I've thought that Galant VR4's were pure badass-ery and the time I spent in Japan only solidified that notion. I found one near where I currently live that is in pretty rough shape, I guess it needs a power steering pump, window motor, and radiator fan and J-pipe (although the kid insists it needs to be fabbed?) and possibly soon a new tranny. I'm fully aware of the scarcity of VR4's in the US but IMO, I think that he is asking way too much for it (close to 2k).

I guess he drives it everyday despite these issues. I haven't got a chance to go look at it yet, but I guess I'm wondering if the parts I need will be difficult to get due to the scarcity of the car, or if its even worth purchasing a car that sounds like it has so many issues. With the rebuild on my 8 in progress, I don't exactly have a ton of disposable income to drop on a second car.

Anyways, I appreciate your insight and look forward to hopefully joining the VR4 community.

Cheers

 

Post pictures of it if you can, then we can determine value.

Or even better have one of the guys one this board with plenty of knowledge on the car go with you to check it out, if there is someone nearby and willing to do so that is.

 

Here's the link to the listing, the pictures really aren't that great though. Hopefully I'll be able to go take a look at it this week, if somebody from the forum is in the Springfield or Worcester MA area and would like to tag along that'd be great. I'll buy em a beer /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Craigslist listing

 

If its not rusted i'd offer 1500.. body looks to be clean but always try and haggle.

Also i see it has some aftermarket parts a good list would help also.


Jesse

 

$1500 sounds fair, try to get an extra $100 out of him for having bad writing skills too.

 

Haha yeah, poor English seems to be rampant on Craiglist these days. I'm going to try to take a look at it tomorrow. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

[mikus]

looks to me like the type where you need someone familiar to look. It could be a total basketcase, basically a shell --- could have $3K in parts on it.

It needs a new dent in the rear pass. door, and those don't come cheap.

 

If you don't have a lot of disposable income then a 20 year old turbo sport sedan that hasn't been well cared for is probably not the best decision. I'd suggest a newer model honda civic for reliable low cost DD use.

 

Quoting mikus:
It needs a new dent in the rear pass. door, and those don't come cheap.


/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

Naw but in all seriousness I understand where you guys are coming from, I even said that it seems a bit sketchy in my original post. If there is anybody in MA who is down to come with me, I'd love to take them along.

I just figured I'd ask around to see what the general consensus was before I went out to look at it. I obviously wouldn't buy it if I got there and it's a total garbage heap, I just have never owned a DSM, I've always been a rotary guy so I wanted some opinions.

Any input is helpful, thanks again.

 

[DR1665]

The closer a car gets to a $1000 asking price, the less likely it is to depreciate any further. I mean, let's be real, here. $1000 is pretty much the bottom line.

I paid $1500 for my first Galant. The guy I bought it from bought it from another guy who nuked the head gasket and let it sit - outside - with four cylinders full of water (this is the 4-door DSM mentality talking) for about three years. That block is STILL locked up on a bench in my garage. I drug the damn car across two states with a vehicle barely capable of towing that much.

I replaced the engine, put a little elbow grease into it, and when the insurance company totaled it almost two years - to the day - later, I got $3500 for it.

The front end was cut off, a new one tacked into place, I got the car back on the road, and have since stripped it down. Kent's got it now. I should be racing the sh*t out of it by summer.

195/2000

I sold my 86 Volvo 245GL to my father-in-law and took a lowball offer on my 97 Talon (original owner, 210k on it) to come up with the $2500 cash to pick up my second Galant before the first Galant was fully repaired. The front end (and some of the passenger side) on this one had been cut out and replaced before I bought it. The title got washed when it left California, but whatever. I wanted it.

I replaced the sunroof, re-installed the AC, and when the insurance company totaled it almost two years - to the day (I sh*t you not) - later, I got $3600 for it. Would have gotten more out of it, but none of the lazy fawkers who sell the Galants through this site ever update the FS thread with final selling price, so I got as much as I could for it.

I used a hammer to clearance the back door on the driver's side. It's even got a nice buckle on the D-pillar, but I daily drive it. When the rally car dies, this one will take it's place.

464/1000

THE POINT is that's the sort of blinkered, philistine pig ignorance I've come to expect from non-creative, 4-door DSM-thinking garbage. They sit there on their loathsome, spotty behinds squeezing blackheads, not caring a tinker's cuss for the rarity of these vehicles! EXCREMENT! Whining, hypocritical toadies, with their Xbox 360s and their fancy-pants, Evolutions and their bleeding Masonic secret handshakes! They wouldn't approve me for a loan, would they, those blackballing bastards! Well, I wouldn't buy an Evo now if they went down on their lousy, stinking knees and begged me!

Sorry about that. The POINT is that these cars are growing exceedingly rare. While the 4-door DSM mentality results in them often leading rough lives, the simple fact of the matter remains, YOUR FIRST PRIORITY WHEN SHOPPING FOR A GVR4 IS A CLEAN, UN-FUCKED SHELL. Aside from the prop shaft, the entire drivetrain is basically a DSM.

The engine, transmission, suspension - EASILY REPLACEABLE.

So, IMHO, as that one guy who seems to fight the insurance companies every other year over GVR4 values...

$1000 will buy you a clean, straight, complete ROLLER (no engine/trans/ecu)
$1500 will buy you the same car with a DEAD (BUT SALVAGEABLE) ENGINE/TRANS.
$2000 will buy you a COMPLETE, RUNNER.

Beyond that, it's a question of how well the car was maintained, and reminding the seller he's not going to recoup more than about 20% of what he spent on mods.

If the car is straight and clean, $2000 is a damn fair price.

They are SO worth it.

 

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif DR1665 can you tell us the point one more time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsugh.gif :wuv:

 

[DR1665]

Lulz. I can only speak to the sub-$3000 price point. Once you start getting up into the 5k, 10k, 20k price point, well, let's leave the backhanded comments out of this one, shall we?

 

I'd venture to say that $2000 would get a runner, but it would need quite a bit of elbow grease to make it a nice driver. This can be where the costs start to add up fast.

 

[Hondakiller]

I'd give 1500 for it. Parts are not to hard to get.

 

[alansupra94]

I paid $2500 for a runner. Quickly became a non-runner though. Still worth it though since I rebuilt the motor and upgraded to a better ECU system by selling some of the parts (including a DSM-Link v3). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif