Well I have my eyes set on this car...

'97 VW Jetta GLS:
151,000 total miles
$4,500

Now I am not familiar with german cars and how long they run untill problems start occuring one right after the other. This price seemed a bit high when I saw it for how many miles the car had. I checked out autotrader.com just to see what average price was for this car with more than 100,000miles and a lot of them are in this price range ($1-$5000 (most are in the 5000 range)). I took the car for a test drive. When I drove it evertime I would shift into third gear it would make a rattling noise, I'm not sure if it was me or the car. Other than that the car ran extremely smooth, looks great, kinda smelled like sea food, but it an overall nice car.

Okay well I kinda got side tracked. All I want to know is if I can get the guy to go lower and if so what should I ask. And if I do have to pay the full price that he wants should I just look for a different car?

http://autotrader.com/fyc/searchresu...el=JET&x=0&y=0

Offer him $3,000 and go from there. I don't think it's worth more than $4,000 as 151,000 miles is alot for any car.

http://www.kbb.com

$4.500 is too high, at least where I live, and there are no rust problems here in Arizona. Personally I wouldn't buy any car with that kind of milelage unless it was a classic. If the tranny is bad, it's not worth much at all.

my friend payed 2000$ for a 1996 canadian and it was the 2.0l.. i dont know if that ones the 1.8 or not, ether was 4500 american is to much.

I think that non-american motors are better though my dad has 2 toyota camary xle's and they have 250,000 and are still running strong

that kbb.com place said this
http://www.kbb.com/kb/ki.dll/kw.kc.u...tta&9;VW;N4&&&

But toyota's are known to go for a long time where as VW's are a german made car that well won't make it as far. I would listen to AntiM because if the tranny goes bad you will be looking at $2,500 at least for a new one.

I'd offer up to $3,750 for that ride, my stepdad bought his 1999 GTI turbo m/t (Diesel version; f**** LOUD!!!) for $6,000 and it's pretty fast but had been lowered quite a bit when he bought it..

Quote: Originally Posted by SirDavisCarrots I think that non-american motors are better though my dad has 2 toyota camary xle's and they have 250,000 and are still running strong that kbb.com place said this http://www.kbb.com/kb/ki.dll/kw.kc.u...tta&9;VW;N4&&&

Reliability isn't just a Japanese thing anymore. Besides, nowdays some Hyundai's are made in America, some Honda's in America, some Chevy's in South Korea and so on. Hell, even some Asian car makers are owned by American car makers.

A little off topic but Toyota makes more cars in America then Ford. Just thought I would throw that fact in here.

Quote: Originally Posted by SPECIALBLEND218 But toyota's are known to go for a long time where as VW's are a german made car that well won't make it as far. I would listen to AntiM because if the tranny goes bad you will be looking at $2,500 at least for a new one.

try 700$ canadian installed

How so cheap? The Dealership my dad works for charges $2,500 on the cheapest tranny installed (I'm thinking Honda civic but not sure). They're a dealership for Toyota and Honda. But most Tranny's run about $3,500 installed.

Also most places will charge you $1000 just to rebuild the tranny.

F**K money whatever happened to a good olde thing we called GTA... just kidding

Thats honda, vw parts are really cheap if u look around, u never go to dealer to buy parts... there like 3x more, becouse thell come straight from vw.

Quote: Originally Posted by Dr3w Thats honda, vw parts are really cheap if u look around, u never go to dealer to buy parts... there like 3x more, becouse thell come straight from vw.

So your talking about after market parts?

no parts from anywhere else but the dealer?..ebay,junk yard,parted car, and last but not least any volkwagon garage which is what u should do..

My dad can get things at cost from the dealer. So no need to go elsewhere.


I still wouldn't want to buy a car then go searching through junk yards for the parts to rebuild a tranny on a car that was just purchased. Just seems like a waste of time and money.

it takes like 10 minutes to find a tranny in a junkyard ? you dont rebuild the tranny, u get a new one. ether way id rather pay 500 american then 2500 american

i buy junk yard parts they are cheap and they work just fine.

why are u getting the gls ? on that page in your first post, the jetta above yours is a gt model and the one under it has a vr6 and there same price.. proves to u that its way to much for a 1997