thinking about buying a DSM

[PunkboySL2]

So I have the possibility of picking up a 2nd gen Eclipse TSI fwd automatic. It's in pretty darn good shape besides needing the clear coat fixed up in a few spots and a good overall cleaning. Has full power options including a sunroof. Car only has 36K miles on it!

Sooo..... what's a car like this worth? I know how much she wants, but pretty much I'm looking to pick it up, play with it for a bit, get it clean and resell.

[SleeperGoat]

Well if its marked Ecplise TSI then the owner doesn't even know what he has lol. Is it a Eagle Talon TSI or a Ecplise GSX/GST or maybe even a Plymouth Laser lol. Most likely not the 3rd just thought i'd group them all together.

[TalonTsi97]

Thats actually exactly what i'm looking for to daily drive as of late. Care to share what year, color, and anything else about it?
At 36k it has low miles but maintenance on a car of its age needs to be done at this point either way so budget it unsuspected issues and some that will need to be fixed.
As for what its worth is a tough call, most dsm enthusiasts know there going to mod it so paying extra for a perfectly stock car isn't the norm. Also being auto & fwd is a big turn down to many dsm enthusiasts. I have personal reasons why i want that exact setup but for most they want at least a 5spd.

Definitely not trying to deter you from buying it, but as i think of things i'll post back.

[jesus_ralliart]

def need more info on the car. also, the gauge cluster can say 36k but it might just be a gauge cluster that says that.... lol

[EklipzGSXkid]

Like Talontsi97 said about the fwd, And auto...

If you plan to just buy it, Drive a bit and flip, It's going to be tough. It's very hard to sell one of these cars in an auto, And it's even harder to sell one in an auto and FWD , No matter the milage. In a dsm, The milage don't really matter. I bought one with under 30k, And it needed a complete restoration.

[Erik@R/TTuning]

The low miles is a huge plus but the combo of front wheel drive and automatic kills the resale value of it. I'd say it is probably worth about $2k at this point.

Breaks my heart to say so. I remember when a 1999 GSX was on the dealer lot for $26k.

[PunkboySL2]

whoops, haha I meant GST, my bad. I was falling asleep when I posted this thread.

The lady who owns it is in her 70's so I don't think she was swapping clusters at any point. I already offered 2500, but unfortunately she wants more than that. I've seen some of these go for good money on here with low miles, that's pretty much why I was wondering if I'd be looking to get more than KBB for it.

Car is red, fully loaded, tan leather, sunroof, turbo spoiler, stock silver 5 spoke wheels, bone stock. That's about all the info I have on it. One downside is that it's been sitting for about 2 years so obviously would need all fluids changed and whatnot.

If it's really worth my time I'd think about doing a 5spd swap and light mods to help it sell. I've done plenty of trans swaps (not on these cars), but I'm positive I could handle it if I don't need to swap subframes, full harnesses etc. That's just kind of more than I want to put into it, besides that I don't want to put more than a few hundred bucks into it as well.

[Erik@R/TTuning]

It would not be worth it. You would spend more money swapping it and fixing it up than you could sell it for in the end.

[Got Insulin?]

Buy, strap a big ol' snail on the front, headstuds and gasket, slicks, and terrorize everyone. At this point, you'd be doing all the maintenence that you'd do to build a car anyways, so I'd go for it.

[EklipzGSXkid]

Just to give you an idea. I sell these cars for $ 5,000 - *$6k max unless it's something extreme* , And for 5k, I sell them with every bolt on mod that's either new, or has a few hundred miles on them all, A full new fresh color change to any color, New rims, Tires, ETC. They don't sell for as much as you would think, Anymore. Just like Erik said, I also remember when these were close to $30,000. It's a shame they dropped in value so much, But alot of the people buying these cars are younger kids with not alot of money. They rig them and hack them together, And blow them up or crash them. Then, They sell them off as an ''unreliable dsm''.

[jesus_ralliart]

Just buy one from rob. The dude does great work.... thats obvious. U said she regected your 2.5k offer...It sat for 2 yrs and will need a full resto.

[dsmtuner]

What year is it? Just by saying 2nd Gen spans 5 model years, and there is a big difference in price when talking about a 99 as opposed to a 95. If you can pick it up cheap, it would probably make a nice daily driver to keep for a while, but I never recommend anyone buy any car with the intention of 'fixing it up and flipping it' for more money. It almost never turns out profitable and you just end up with a lot of time and hastle in it. Plus, as mentioned, most people looking for DSM's either 1) Don't care about the mileage because they are looking to rip everything apart and replace with aftermarket stuff anyway 2) Are young kids who don't have any money and looking for something cheap to make fast, or 3) Just plain don't want an auto, FWD, and epsecially not an auto FWD,lol. Good luck with it if you do decide to buy it.

[TalonTsi97]

I wouldn't pay what shes asking, i wouldn't even get involved with 5spd swapping it and what not. Now that your saying its been sitting expect to be fixing a lot of small problems as they pop up (not just a dsm thing any car would be that way after sitting especially after already having low miles of no use)

[bl@ckvr4]

If the price is right, I'd pick it up! Especially if it's a 2gb. Swapping it to manual is really not hard at all.

[PunkboySL2]

Yeh, I'm not sure of the exact year, but that would be easy enough to find out. I was entertained at buying it after seeing the $8k eclipses going up for sale. She pretty much wants KBB value for it, so IMO after what's said in this thread it's not really worth the time for me to swap parts and resell if I'm not going to make some money on it. If I planned on building it up for my own as a daily or something like that I may offer her 4k as final offer, but she seems stubborn to drop the price so I think I'll skip over this one. Also I already have a daily that is reliable and gets good mpg, which I know this car won't be getting 30mpg especially if I got my hands into it haha.