I am meeting up with a guy this afternoon to look at his SVTF. it is silver with every option except EAP, and it has 32,000. he says it is in "like new condition". he had it listed at 8500, i asked if he would consider 7000 for it. he said he would. so if it is in good shape and drives nice, do you think it is worth 7k? also how are these cars in the snow. it has traction control, and i would probably find some rims to put snow tires on for the winter. i live in St.Louis so our winters are not too bad, but we get some snow. thanks for the help.

I live near StL and I run SVT contour rims with Blizzaks......real bummer that I can't call into work anymore due to snowed in. Sounds like a good deal. If you want me to look it over with you,I know what to look for.

Hopefully i like it when i check it out in a few hours. the seller has a loan on it, so it might be a little complicated to buy it, but if he takes 7,000 for it, then i will have a car that should hopefully be reliable for a long time. i may take you up on checking it out once i get clsoer to buying it. i was just in arnold on monday taking some ASE tests. should of stoppped by and said hi. is there a decent SVTF scene in STL?

If its in good conditon, I doubt you are gonna find many more opportunites to get a low mileage SVTf for that cash. Double check KBB and NADA just to make sure the numbers are fair.

Nice find! [thumb]
32,000 miles is awesome...
If everything checks out, and he'll take 7,000 for it, you'll have yourself a great ride.

I'm debating about selling mine with 33k for $8500 so anything less than that would be fair. Of course mine also has about $4k in extra goodies on it.

I'd make sure to ask him about the clutch or anything that could of been replaced...also Check that carfax. I almost bought a svt, guy said it had a clean carfax and no accidents, but then I noticed the rear window wasn't sitting right, and where the trunk and taillights meet there was a little gap. Looked underneath and found a bunch of overspray. Also remember it takes about 2 months for an accident to appear on a carfax

well i checked out the car and while the actual car was filthy, i dont know who shows up to sell a car with it being covered in dirt and brake dust but that will wash off, it was pretty much in perfect shape. only defect that i saw was the bumper thing on the driver side door was chipped up on the very edge, so it was doing its job. the car had the original tires and brakes on it, and they were toast. tires were beyond gone, and brakes were almost metal to metal. i think i am going to ask him if he would take 6,000 since tires are going to be really expensive, and im betting brakes wont be cheap, even though ill be doing them my self. the interior was like new. the carpets were still covered with the factory plastic! the only major thing that is wrong with it, is that the HID headlights are really cloudy and yellow. i am pretty sure they will clean up just fine. is this common for these cars? I took off in second and it was super smooth, i was really surprised how easily and quickly the car got to 7k, i felt kinda bad taking it to that high of rpm on a test drive. the last thing that i was concerned about was the shifter, it felt kinda sloppy and sounded really "clunky" is this a normal condition for the svtf? it shifted smooth, just felt loose, and sounded different. thanks for any info, i hope i can get into this one. im tired of deals falling though.

well my dads had his focus for 70k miles and gave it to me last month, so ive been driving it for the last 3 years now altogether. never have the HID's ever got yellow/dingy like your saying. can you send the link of an ad for this car? and dont feel bad about gettin the rpms that high, you need to make sure that the car runs ok at high rpms

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/cto/1889982788.html

the headlights look worse in person, but i saw a clean spot, and it does not look like there is anything on the inside, so i should be able to spend a few hours buffing them out and get them looking as good as new.

Sounds like a good find. A little elbow grease and it should be fine. The scene in Stl is decent, we have a few cars a some good folks. As for the price, if you tell him you'll give him 5500, then work your way to 6000, he'll feel like he's getting a deal. Be honest and let him know the car needs repairs and it is filthy. Tell him filthy cars usually are a sign of neglect.......just say it with tact.

Don't lowball too bad or the guy will pretty much tell you to f off and won't even deal with you. I tried selling my Miata and got a bunch of guys like that. One was serious about buying and kept begging me to sell it to him at my full asking price, after he offered half of it. I don't play games with lowballers. I had my 91 Mustang with 15k sold to a guy who drove from CT and tried lowballing me as he was picking the car up and after we agreed on a price. He drove 8 hrs back with an empty trailer. I wouldn't offer anything less than $7k if you're serious about getting the car.

Also paintwork or even accident history really doesn't mean anything as long as it was fixed right, even not 100% perfect doesn't matter. Most cars that are 5 year or older have some kind of paint work done. Either from an accident or when they were traded in at the dealer, something is most likely repainted. Unless it's a ridiculously rare and expensive car, you won't find too many people or a dealership willing to come down on a price because of accident/repaint history. I've worked at/with car dealerships for 15 years.

i offered him 6,000 today and gave him a price on tires and brakes that total around a grand. i really want this car and he seemed to be halfway ok with my offer, he saiod he had to talk to his wife about it, but that is more than enough to pay off his loan on the car and i think that is what he is after. so if i get it for 6,000 and put about a grand in it with tires and brakes, i will have a car that has not even rolled 32,000 yet. the whole car needs to be cleaned top to bottom, but that is kinda fun to do when you get a new car. i am looking forward to bringing the head lights back. should be a good time.

the only thing im not looking forward to is dealing with the lein stuff. i need to go through a bank to pay off his loan then figure out how i liscen it.

yea but if a car has frame damage, then thats not worth it. like i said the one i looked it was not fixed right so i wasnt going to take that chance..little fender benders and such are alright, but 6k seems fine for an 03. i got my 04 svt 70k miles and w/ the 150k mile warranty for 6k. if your worried at all about how it drove, you could always just go to a dealership thats selling one and drive that around, then after driving it just tell them "you know, i really dont like it now that i drove it"

i offered the seller 6000 for it today, he did not seem excited, but did not seem pissed. i told him the prices on tires and brakes i got and made sure that was enough to cover the loan, which is the big part. he said he was going to talk to the wife and let me know. i really want this car and i think that once i get new tires and brakes on it, i will have a good DD for a couple years at leaste.

Good luck! I can't seem to find one with such low mileage.

if he does make a counter offer, i wouldnt go more than $6500

yea 6500 is the most i could do. i am paying cash for the car, so i dont have a whole lot more money to do tire and brakes. do you think it would be possible to do four tires and a pad slap for 500 bucks? I could always throw the SVTF EAP wheels and tires off my Merkur on the Focus to get me by, that would kinda kill the merkur though.

I just bought some bottom of the barrel Fuzion HRI tires from Tire rack for 76 a piece, and they are rubber things that hold air, nothing fancier. Nothing really cheaper than that, but they're okay. I say try to buy it, even if it's been slightly neglected 32K miles is not much.

hmm id say close to $200 for breaks and rotors, then another $500ish for decent tires. looks like the rims are of though

what do you mean the rims are off? im not following you on this one.

i meant ok**

ohh right, i read that kind of wrong to.

yea 6500 is the most i could do. i am paying cash for the car, so i dont have a whole lot more money to do tire and brakes. do you think it would be possible to do four tires and a pad slap for 500 bucks? I could always throw the SVTF EAP wheels and tires off my Merkur on the Focus to get me by, that would kinda kill the merkur though.

I'd say $6500 on a car needing that work should be fair.

Discount Tire Direct has Falkens pretty cheap. Take them to a local garage and they'll most likely only charge you $40 to mount/balance them. For rotors/pads, try www.topbrakes.com They've got very good prices on some real good pads. I ordered my race pads through them for about half as much as one of my catalogs wanted. You're looking at ~$750 for everything though, and that's with doing the brakes yourself. You might be able to shave off a couple hundred if the rotors are able to be turned.

Keep in mind you might also want to do a complete fluid flush when you get it. Those fluids are 7 years old. The first thing I did when I got mine home was change everything out and replace all the filters.

talked to the seller today, and i we agreed on 6350 for the car. is that a decent deal for a 2003 with 32000 on it? there is a small chance they will be buying my car that i am driving now, a 00 zx2, which i think is pretty much shot, but they sounded interested.

Good deal IMO. Car does look a bit neglected, but you can fix that.

Sounds like a good deal. Good luck with the buy

thanks, i am betting that i will be able to have the rotors turned,or just put pads on it. hopefully i can get away with a cheap set of all season tires, and have it road worthy for about 500. i'll post pics when i get it.