Advice ?

[bluecruiser]

Yo, I currently have a 2007 Touring edition 4-door with 49,000 miles. I've really been itching for a convertible lately. I found one at a local dealership in great condition with a clean Carfax. 3 owner car with all owners in NC. No rental or auction. It's a 2005 Touring edition ragtop with the turbo and an automatic. They have it listed at what seems to me to be a pretty good price of $6400. My only concern is the mileage. It has 86,000 on it now. I don't put a lot of mileage on my cars since I only live 7 miles from work. But I'm hoping to be able to keep the car at least another 5 years. How much more can this motor take before I would have to be concerned or am I already getting there now? Any advice would be great ! Thanks

[Santa Guy]

Blue,

If all the maintenance was done properly you should be fine. My understanding is that you will need a timing belt and water pump around 100,000 and some smaller things like stabilizer bushings before then.

I hope Miss B will comment. that seems about the mileage on her '05.

I love my ragtop.

[parmil]

blue,
My wife bought an '07 Convertible with 29K miles in April. Now have 35K on it and love it. Its the plain jane model but performs well. At 70 to 80 on interstates its almost as smooth and quiet as my Towncar.
We paid $10.9K for it. Looked all over the southeast and found it in Charleston, SC. I believe the specs call for timing belt at 60K miles. Some may run theirs longer. It is reccommended to change the water pump at the same time since it must be R & R'd to replace the belt. My wife loves hers so much she wants me to buy another low milage one and put it in storage for when she wears out the one she has now. You won't regret getting a "Vert".
parmil

[parmil]

blue,
Forgot to say, from my reseach in finding Millie's vert, it sounds like a very good price on the one you're looking at. It may have already had the belt and pump change. That would save you money and show excellent maintainence. Look on AutoTrader.com and see what most are going for. Good way to compare, price, mileage, equipment, etc. There's probably 100 to 150 verts listed in 300 miles of SC. Good luck.
parmil

[FlowRW]

I know several that have well over 200k miles on theirs. Wayne in Savannah had over 250k and a soda truck totaled it. Daryl in Atlanta probably is pushing 300k on his. I know more with high mileage than those I know of having an early failure. These are not turbo convertibles. With those you may have just a few more potential maintenance issues but it's not so much the mileage as it is how it has been taken care of.

[Miss B]

Blue, my 2005 convertible is the Touring Edition 2.4L Turbo, automatic. Sounds like what you're looking at. I'm shocked that it's only $6400!

I currently have 73,000 on mine (I've slowed down since I bought a 2nd PT for a daily driver). I keep the maintenance up on mine and the only problems I've had is replacing the airbag sensor and the trunk latch. Have I mentioned it's been wrecked twice?

The timing belt (and water pump while they're at it) needs to be changed at 90,000. Since that car is only 4K away from that I'd make the dealership go ahead and change those out and you should be good to go! I'm sure if they want to get rid of the car they'll do that.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

Becky

[DizzyDevil]

Timing belt/water pump change out is anywhere from $700- $1200 so I would definitely have them do that before I purchased it. I bought a used 2005 Convertible last year with 61K miles on it and found out the Head gasket was cracked. After fighting with the dealership they replaced that for me, month after the water pump went, I paid for that and had the timing belt done at the same time. (no sense in going back in in 20-30K). I did pay more for the car and it is not the Turbo, $9500. It also had a clean car fax and came out of Flowery Branch GA as one owner. I have heard the Head Gasket crack is common on the back of the engine upper left. Causes them to slightly leak, but to me any head gasket issue is an issue so I did have to throw a fit to get it fixed even under the dealers warranty. (the warranty was a joke, I've canceled it after they did not want to fix the car).

My Sedan has had no issues, and I did have the timing belt etc. changed on it at 83K just as a precaution. I don't drive it as much though anymore, only to shows.

[bluecruiser]

Oh well, thanks for the advice, but they sold it Tuesday.