Blue TTop

I would support Carfax adding a category for a car that has been smoked in. It is clearly a disgusting habit (addiction) that has a high probability of diminishing value.

Ed Hughes

I would think that Truspeed would have tried to eliminate, as they typically sell nicer than average cars, and take care of known issues.

TTKan

You really have to commend TruSpeed for being forthcoming about this issue. Most dealers would probably try to hide the smoking smell, perhaps with some scented air freshener. A Lexus dealer pulled this on me once and I returned the car two weeks later after the air freshener stopped working.

CorrdoBrit

Maybe they tried but the odour is so pervasive that they did as much as they could and gave up.

Ed Hughes

That was my point. Probably an indicator of how bad it is.

95_993

OhioLefty,

I would pass on this one. As others pointed out, the likelihood of ridding the car of the smell will be virtually impossible and you will be reminded of it every time you get in the car. It will slowly suck the joy out of owning a car that has a truly unique smell of its own every time you get in it. Just when you think yo've gotten rid of the smell, it'll rain and the smell will suddenly appear again. The tar from the smoke penetrates and coats every surface (carpet, padding, seat foam, etc).

Rinty

I bought a Subaru Legacy, with leather interior, from a smoker. I did nothing to it, and the smell went away after some time.

CorrdoBrit

It could disappear over time or even diminish with careful treatments. But do you really want to take that risk? The next owner, if you decide to sell, is going to go through the same thought processes and having this problem will ultimately hurt your sales strategy. A dealer is definitely going to knock it down a few points. I'd pass, unless I was a smoker and intended to continue that practice in the car.

NP993

This is the typical experience. I guess 993's are so special that the interiors smell smoky forever and ever.

Bobby G

A few thoughts:

1) If you inherited a car with smoke and had to deal with it, you've received great advice as to how to best remove most if not all of the detectable smell.
2) But you are not inheriting the car and have a choice. It raises red flags for me that a dealer like Truspeed acknowledges the smell. Surely they know about the various techniques to clean cars, and I'm sure that they know how to vent the car for days/weeks.
3) As to ionizers, I use them in our house and they're effective, but slowly. Use the search function as I recall reading on this site a post about how the ionizer can ruin the plastic parts in the dash
4) two months searching is nothing. If you find the "perfect" 993 after two months, you're either exceptionally lucky or you're compromising. See above. My own experience is that it took two years, two near purchases, and I ended up with one that has exceeded my expectations.

I'd keep looking. If you're like some of us on here and detest cigarette smoke, your nose will be itching to detect the smell, even after you gut the car and air it out.

Amfab

If it is really bad and you have to ozone it repeatedly for extensive periods of time the high concentrations of ozone break down the seat foam much faster than normal.

Rick Lee

I would support Carfax adding a category for an accurate Carfax. When they can get that right, maybe they can move onto the more important stuff like how a car smells.

NP993

I would support a Carfax category to cover all cases of "disgusting habits that may lead to diminished value."

Smoking, of course. Then there's obesity (higher likelihood of condiment stains on upholstery & prematurely worn seat bottom foam and brake pads), marital infidelity (possibility of condom wrappers under seats), excessive flatulence (similar to cigarette problem), late payment of child support or mortgage (increased likelihood of late oil changes), and shabby personal appearance (probably didn't wash/wax/vacuum car frequently enough).

Get a grip people.

goofballdeluxe

Some people get it; some don't.

That's why almost everyone who posted on this thread wouldn't buy a car that's been polluted by tar/smoke. There's a reason for that: common sense. Why buy a car with a problem, when you can buy the same car without.

Get a grip: not everyone is the same. As others have pointed out, some are more sensitive to smoke smell than others. A point that some here just don't want to face is, some may not have good sense of smell because of age or being a previous or current smoker, etc. Just because one person doesn't smell it, doesn't mean it's not there.

I think the OP got his answer, and he chose NO to a smoked in car. And almost everyone agrees.

Case closed.

Rick Lee

I'll make the wild guess that the dealer may have had a better offer or less discriminating buyer on the line and therefore told the OP to not bother coming down to see it for himself. Why else would they take in such a car and then tell someone to not buy it? You'd never know my car had been smoked in, but then I couldn't care less about diminished value. My car has been hit, resprayed, highly modded, still looks and drives amazing and I'll live in it before I sell it.