Handy930

A low mileage 2004 with X50 on auto trader. I would be interested if my 930 was sold. Seems like a fair asking price.

cmd4

Link? I've been keeping my eyes peeled for one

red330i

I think that car was listed on one of the forums recently and it is a buyback.

Handy930

Heller Ford 877 248 80158, stock no. U12801. Several interested. They posted on AT a couple of weeks ago without any details because supposedly they did not have the car in possession. Good luck

Macster

Car was discussed back in 2007.

Someone bought it:

Purchased a 2004 X50 with extensive leather options (org. MSRP 152705.) 11000 miles. It was repurchased from org. owner for rotten egg smell from exhaust. I was hoping to sell for $80000. what do you think, if I payed too much I will just keep it

I suspect the car is a stinker...literally and figuratively.

Atrox

$80,000 Seriously.
Uh bro you're car smells like farts. Malox in the fuel tank will clear that up.

996pp

Thats what happens when you park your car like a trophy. Tiny little chickens get in the exhaust to stay warm in the winter and lay eggs in there.

FRUNKenstein

Wow, that car has only 16k miles and priced at $45k? The only problem with it is rotten egg smell reported back in 2007? What am I missing here fellas?

fknlo

Kind of wondering the same thing. I'm gonna give them a call today and hope they're open and try to find out some more info.

e: They show closed today. It does show a buyback on the title records. Not really sure how big of a deal that is, especially if it was just for a smell.

Freddie Two Bs

What could possibly be the source of that smell?

Macster

Rotten egg smell is hydrogen sulfide. My info is the converters can produce this if they get off on the wrong foot, chemically speaking, at cold engine start. At some point the converters should get on track, so to speak, and the odor should be gone.

Very rarely as in maybe 2 times a year if that often my Boxster would emit this odor, not very strong either, just a hint of the rotten egg smell. Have to note that I can't recall the last time my Boxster's exhaust emitted this odor. Maybe replacing the converters, one was noisy from a loose brick and occasionally would generate a CEL and P0430 error code, has helped keep this odor at bay? Or the fact I switched from a discount gasoline to a name brand gasoline is the explanation? Who knows.

Regardless, I don't recall my Turbo ever emitting this odor.

At any rate, barring a CEL pointing to a possible problem, the recommendation is to if the problem persists to switch gasoline brands.

I find it hard to believe the car would be bought back for just this odor problem. But it could happen, I suppose. Possibly the buyer was a very good customer of the dealer's and a "deal" was worked out.

fknlo

My initial thought would have been catalytic converters as well, but all of that would have been replaced before the car got lemoned. Getting bought back for something like that would have depended on how lax the laws in whatever state it was done in. Looked like California(?) so whatever their laws would have been a decade ago. Might have been an easy way out of a car that someone was in over their head on?

I'm assuming that the reasons for the buyback would have been documented? If you have documentation saying that it was for a smell and said smell is no longer there, I don't think it would be a huge hit to future value of the car. The really low mileage is the most troublesome thing to me since I know these cars like to be driven. But at that price, if everything checked out, you'd have a really good deal.

Macster

One would think that before the car was bought back the converters would be replaced.

However, even if this "fixed" the problem, the owner could have still insisted on a buyback, and the dealer (if not the factory) may have accommodated him.

I know -- 2nd hand know as the salesman involved told me -- about one "buyback". A guy bought a new 996 and shortly afterwards the engine developed a valve tick. The lifters were replaced and the noise addressed. However, the owner refused the car back and arrangements were made for the dealer to take the car back and I guess supply him with another car. I do not know the financial details but the dealer might not have had to suffer any in this exchange.

In another case a "very good" customer of a dealership ordered a new model Porsche. As this car would take some time to arrive from the factory she wanted something else to drive so she bought a new 996, something the dealer had on the showroom floor. She drove this car a month or so until her new car arrived and the dealer "bought back" the 996 she had been driving. Again I do not know the financial details but this customer, one salesman told me, was the dealer's best customer. She was *extremely* rich and bought and traded in cars often and apparently was not concerned about prices.

One more case: A guy bought a new GT3 and when it arrived it showed some paint damage. Nothing "major" what had happened is the protective film had been put on the car too soon after painting and this put some texture to the paint surface. There was a tiny spot on the spoiler/wing and another spot on the roof. These areas were block sanded and the texture removed. It was only in the clear coat not in the pigmented paint.

But the customer rejected the car so it was bought back by the dealer. I looked at this car and was questioning its low low miles, special color (special order by a customer), and was told how/why it ended up for sale with so few miles. Also, even after I learned where the areas were block sanded I could not find any reason to reject the car. That the dealer had tacked on a healthy "premium" for the low miles, color, though, put me off the car.

Back to the stinky car... I'm of two minds. One is the possibility the car was "bought back" to accommodate a very picky, but very good, customer, and whatever was wrong with the car was addressed. Thus the car could be a good car, albeit with the "stigma" of the "buy back" and of course the issue of very low miles, essentially still a new car without the protection of a new car/CPO warranty.

But on the other hand, the car has been around, so to speak, and has not found a permanent home. One has to wonder why? What have other shoppers spotted or found out about this car to put them all off it?