Roscoe

its back.. I remember some of you guys had comments on this car.. How did anyone drive 40k in one year anyways a good deal or no?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...545318049&rd=1

frayed

I have the full story on the car, but decided to delete it in the other thread. PM if you want it. Bottom line: It's worth 20k more to get a clean, lower mileage car. Right now I'm tired, as I drive 3.5 hours each way from Austin to Dallas to trade my C2 and buy the GT3.

No deal.

Holger B

Jeff, what's the deal?

Do tell...

frayed

OK, but if this causes problems, I should delete it (or an admin/mod). Here goes. I've already cut and pasted this into 6 pm's, so I'll put it up.

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What's that old saying saying about 'if a deal is too good to be true, then it is'. . . OK fellas, the original buyer backed out of the deal, and I got a call from ecarlink. Hurrah! I thought. Not. Today, I wasted 400 miles of driving and my Saturday. The following is not intended to bash anyone, but convey the facts:

1. ecarlink: Just OK to deal with. They seemed generally too busy to deal with me on the whole. For example, when I bought my C4S, I had the seller (leasing agency in West Palm) call the prior owner, and see if he would talk with a prospective buyer (me). He said OK, and we had a pleasant conversation. When I asked ecarlink to do the same, I was told "that is inappropriate" followed by "OK, we'll inquire". But, they never made the call. Note: I respect a prior owner's wish for privacy and not to be hounded. However, my request was to simply ask if it's cool for me to call him or vice versa.

2. car: I was hoping that it appeared to be well cared for. I wasn't freaked about the mileage, just wanted it to be as in as good shape as my C2 with similar miles. It wasn't. My frame of reference is my C2; used but properly cared for.

a) interior was rough. Pictures do not convey. Had a wet 'mildew' smell. Dash had an indent (not a hole) right in the middle b/t the passenger and driver areas. Would have driven me crazy. Several interior pieces were sunfaded and worn, including center storage cover, driver door compartment cover, seat belt receptacles, seat belt hangers (b-pillar up by your ears). The surface covering on the emergency brake was beat up and worn, with a hole worn into the leather. Looked generally 'used' and run down. Verdict: noticably worse than my C2 and my C4S, each purchased with similar mileage.

b) detailed vin service records showed quite a bit of work, including tranny replacement and R&R of RMS twice from what I could tell. Car also overheated according to service notes. Clutch has been replaced. 22 pages of service issues. See details below.

c) paintwork. front hood and front bumper resprayed by ecarlink and it showed. Lower corners of hood were 'dimpled' and rough. Obvious respray. Would have driven me insane. Front fenders are mildly stonechipped, but they did not spring to have them repsrayed/blended apparently.

d) body. When looking down the body of the car, you could see numerous 'creases' in the paint. Some on rear fenders, not sure if paintless dent repair can handle those.

e) drivetrain. Holy Moly. Uhh, I think the diff is going south. Not entirely sure, but I've driven a Gt3 with a roasted diff in the past, and this seemed to exhibit (to a lesser degree) weird 'rubbing' feel and groaning when accelerating slowly and turning right. Hard to describe. While I'm not a tech, I have spent time on the track and this to me feels like a diff issues. details of service history on this issue really give me pause. sidenote: car pulled like a friggen freight train though, seemingly faster than two other GT3s I've been in, but it was unusually cool in dallas today.

f) front radiators were completely beat up (looking). Impacted with stones and lots of dents. Front center seemed completely clogged with debris. By appearance, they were frighteningly poor looking.

g) tires: replaced with Yok AVS. ACK! Some of you may like them, but I don't. I'll take PS2s any day. I would have been counting the days until I wore them out.

h) misc: most of the emergency kit/tools were missing. No compressor. Just a few random tools under the front floor in the boot along with the stryrofoam tray. The floor piece itself was completely worn out and frayed. Interior boot moldings were chewed up and really rough. My bet is lots of stuff got hauled back and forth to the track and the boot showed it.

i) can't be CPO'd, but was planning on spending $3100 for a GE-underwritten warranty. has to be purchased right away, before the car sees another 200 miles (ie, before it hits 50k)

j) brakes: Jesus, WTF happened here??? Originally they were PCCB, but the fronts were converted to steel. Needs new front rotors (heat cracks and grooved, I knew this in advance). BUT> > > the rear rotors are still ceramic. Great. More schit to deal with.

k) grinding: Full lock turning left, a bad grinding sound from the front right wheel. Sounded metal on metal, but couldn't tell what was going on by visual inspection.

l) overall: car had a rough life.

I was hoping for a very clean car with 'expected' wear that you'd see from an attentive owner. The car appeared to me that it had a rough life and is need of a bunch of reconditioning for someone like me to be happy with it.

I've decided to not be a cheap bastard and spend the money for a clean GT3.

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Service record details

49725; engine and tranny pulled, seals , oil temp sender and fly replaced
39266; front brakes/rotors
38050; front/rear brakes
24298; "client states when turning, noise from back of car" service records indicate: tranny and engine pulled, tranny replaced, clutch replaced; over $11,000 in repairs
24298 continued; looks like owner had an off at MSR; replaced front R headlight and front R wheel housing and associated ducting
24298 continued; repaired cracked tranny mount. repare was 'sublet', which I take to mean the repair was farmed out. I'm betting welded offsite
24298 continued; oil tank replaced (entire dry sump resevoir?) cost was 2 grand
24297; 2 grand in brake repairs
24297; cooling system repairs for overheating
21019; brake pad replacement
19053; brake work

The above are some highlights from the documents. I hope I have better luck with my GT3.

healeyg

just so you know, normal on gt3s:

e) differential makes funny grinding sounds when turning at low speed
h) usa cars do not come with a complete set of tools
k) tires rub the brake ducts under full lock

these are not bad signs, just normal

frayed

Thanks. Didn't know any of those things. Comments:

e) the diff noises were only when turning one way, and weren't so much clicking or anything, but a reverberation/vibration through the chassis. Like you said, could be normal.

h)As for tools, shouldn't it come with necessary items to fix a flat? Compressor, jack, lug nut wrench?

k) seems odd that it would only rub under left turns but not right

mooty

my diff is very noisy on slow turns on both of my gt3's. but no vibration or shaking.

no jacks IIRC, they give you a bottle of chemical to fix flat. i think there's a compressor to pump up after you use the can of chemical.

brake duct rub sometimes only happen on one side. my 04 never rubs, my 05 rubs both side. btw, the duct is held in place by one patheticly weak plastic rivot and two lousy clips. they come off easily.

David A

I don't care about the body work as long as it is in fair condition but mechanically I want a clean car.My best friend as a porsche shop and he gives me 30% off when he works on my cars.

frayed

If you are ok with the above-listed, get it.

My issue was that with 3 grand for an aftermarket warranty and money needed to fix the paint,interior pieces, and other things, I would have been inching toward the price of a much cleaner car.

Probably a great track car though.

JS

Bottom line, you get what you pay for.

frayed

Sold again.