SO, I currently have a 2004 RA... shes all beat up and I don't have much cash to beef her up. ~130k miles no AC only heater, really faded Phoenix Red.

With that being said, I've spotted a couple of nice RAs on Carmax... what do you guys think about dealing with them? I have worries about warranties.. and turbo'd cars coming used...

heres a link to one from carmax... http://www.carmax.com/enus/view-car/...results%20page, I'm sorry if i went the wrong way about putting a link in!

 

Never dealt with car max, fwiw I paid 18,999, for a 2011 sportback 24k miles, a year ago. Small dealership

 

As far as reliability goes, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Maybe ask if the dealer has already done or would be willing to do a compression test and see how healthy the engine is. I'm guessing the previous owner put in those little carbon fiber bits around the shifter, so it comes into question was the engine modified and then returned to stock before trading in?




I suggest a compression test, and checking the car thoroughly to see if it looks like the exhaust/intake/piping have been removed and then put back on. Not much else you can do unfortunately.

 

I dont advise getting a ralliart without warranty.
Not a smart move.
The transmission is the weakest link here and is pretty expensive to replace.

Keep in mind that the maintenance of this car is pretty high.
Every 15K you need to change the differential fluids. (Pretty cheap)
Every 30K you need to deal with the transmission oil and filter (400-$500 if you do it yourself)

If you want reliability you need to do those.

Keep looking around. I was lucky enough to get an used 2015 RA with less than 10K miles for $23,500. I took me a long time to find this car but the wait paid off.

Good luck.

 

carmax can be a little shady. just make sure you check everything out before buying. especially tires, brakes and filters are where they like to cut cost.

On the positive, The maxcare warranty that they offer is one of the best on the market. It is worth getting their highest warranty.

 

be careful, i bought a 2011 RA, at 50k miles it needed new clutch assembly replaced due to recall. if the previous owner beat on it without doing the 15k and 30k maintenance they you may have an issue when you get to 45k-50k miles.
i bought my 2011 RS for 12,400 private sale and had to have the ECU and TCU reprogrammed. Carmax is so shady, be very careful.

 

only buy it with good records and maintenence