Should I buy this car?

[TRBD DSM]

Here is the deal...after just wanting to get rid of the car because of other things my teacher is selling her 98 5-speed AWD talon with 115,000 on the clock for about 2 grand. The car was ideling at the bank one day and the balance shaft belt broke and caused the timing belt to jump. It bent all the intake valves and damaged the pistons. The block is fine, the car itself looks good, interior and exterior, just needs a little cleaning up and its got a brand new t25 turbo with about 15,000 on it, the whole car is completely stock. Here is a pic I took one random day of it when it was up and running. The engine bay is a different story.....its got the typical rusted dsm strut towers. Almost barely through on the drivers side.....passenger side isn't too bad. Considering she wants 2 grand for it and the engine needs work should I buy her car? If I would buy it how much am I looking to spend to fix the engine(guess) and the rusted strut towers? How much should I offer her for the car?

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p79/mrsky51/0525081237.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p79/mrsky51/0525081237a.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p79/mrsky51/0525081237b.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p79/mrsky51/0525081240.jpg
http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p79/mrsky51/0827071420.jpg

[pearl]

tell her to give you an A and youll take it for free.

[xEJ20x]

Tell her you'll give her 500.

Cause theres a lot of work that needs to be done on the engine and the bay.

[CarbonIS]

i'd say no more than 1k

[06evors]

1500 or less just b/c the body is in such good shape. the strut towers would worry me though. And you should get an A in the class and possibly a BJ.

[broski]

that rust is ROUGH dude
no more then 1250

[Erik]

tell her youll pay her to take it off her hands.

the A and a BJ sounds good too.

[Scapegoat]

2grand for a vehicle that doesn't run sounds like a great deal to me

[CarbonIS]

not when the strut tower is about to implode

[sherwood]

dont do it.

[Gorilla Unit 33]

no way, id say $800. Only because you might be able to double your money off parting it out. Them strut towers wont last another year or two, thats ugly.

[NoizePollution]

i'd say no more than 1k

1k sounds about right cause of the rust issue as well near the strut towers and such... Might be of concern.. Rust is never a good thing :(

[Nors]

I bought a car in way better shape then that for $1k(its a 93 AWD Tsi, older but no strut towers looking like that!). After dealing with some bull, I am selling the car this week to someone for $550 and that includes a Fluidyne rad and Poly mounts. These cars arn't worth much, especially blown up. The pics of mine when I bought it look exactly like your first pic.

[Scapegoat]

buy the car

I'm tired of telling people not to do stupid things, so I'm turning over a new leaf... go for it.

[twastheglow]

^ That is the best response I've heard so far!
*mike*

[nuzzlenut]

I would buy it simply because it is a 98 Talon AWD. Someone, somewhere could fix those towers.

[twastheglow]

^ Yeah, but you have to ask yourself if that's a cost effective move. Probably not.
*mike*

[SvicksTc]

Like a majority of the people on here i wouldnt waste my money on something like that, the rust looks pretty hurting on those towers,and who knows where else on the car that you may not see, and yes the possibility of parting out is there but doubt thats your plan and tough to do

[dragonfly2k3]

the strut towers CAN be fixed, but deffinately not for cheap, id say 800 for the car, thats the most anyone with a straight mind would give her for it.

[smokey240sx]

negative

[WRX_JB]

I'd say do it .... only because i want to see the build posts

Edit: if its under 1.3k

[wonner]

lol@ $2k

It's not worth any amount of cash.

[Cardriverx]

how hard is it to cut out the rusted part of the tower and weld a new peice in? Doesent look hard..

[97TurboDSM]

not for $2k. my '95 with 103k on the clock, with mods, no rust, clean everything, was $3500. i would say offer 500-1000 as everyone else said. theres quite a bit of work there

[russiankid]

If you know how to weld well then 1k should be alright as everyone else stated. I've learned that buying a car that needs work really ends up needing more work. However, it is worth it in the end. If you do not have a big budget, stay away.

[JKrome]

dude... no way should u pay 2 grand..... I bouth a 97 RS... with wheels.. full exhuast.. intake.. and full suspension.. and it only has 55k miles on it... IN PERFECT CONDITION... and only paid $4,500...... dude give her id say $800 max with all the work that needs done on that beast

[dragonfly2k3]

dude... no way should u pay 2 grand..... I bouth a 97 RS... with wheels.. full exhuast.. intake.. and full suspension.. and it only has 55k miles on it... IN PERFECT CONDITION... and only paid $4,500...... dude give her id say $800 max with all the work that needs done on that beast

yes, but by the nature of the car, the rs is worth nothing. I feel you over-payed. In the end the RS is a fwd n/a model.

[ItsStetch]

buy it but not for that price. She wouldnt get two grand for it anywhere

[WRX_JB]

Did you buy it?

[Renegade_]

If it was surface rust on the strut tower and a day with a bunch of sandpaper could take care of it it would be worth more. You gotta find out how much it would be to repair because it will need it as I can almost see metal peeling off...

[dotmichael]

gopher it

[enigma]

between 500-1500, and fixing the strut towers isn't technically hard, you just need, time, sheetmetal, a little bit of sheetmetal know-how, hammers and dollies, a welder, grinder, bodyfiller, paint gun, and GOOD paint.
To make it look good, probally at least 12 hours per side, between fabricating the new tower caps, welding them in, and blending them into the sheetmetal, and a few coats of primer, painting them to match the engine bay will be a bit more.

Just a feeler, i bought my 90 talon, same motor condition, but with less miles, clean body, and a great interior for 300 bucks. There was also an ad in a recent auto-trader for a 97AWD tsi with popped motor, for 1000 bucks or so.