Ok, I know this car was brought up a little on a previous thread. But, seriously, as I'm determined to get back into an 8 or 9, unmodded with decently low miles... And unwilling to wait forever for one to maybe pop up for sale (as I just got screwed out of a perfect '06 MR w/58k for a good price )......

What would the possible issues be with purchasing an '03 with only a little over 8k miles? It must have been purchased by someone who lives in the boonies of PA (CarFax) who barely drove the car. It looks in brand new condition and has never been tracked, as I know you may wonder..... It's been for sale a little while now, since the dealer wants an arm and a leg, but I've been debating going for it.

But, I've been holding off because the car has averaged less than 1,000 miles/year, and that worries me somehow!

Thanks for your opinions!

 

go look at it. should be fairly easy to tell from carpet/seat/steering wheel wear if the car really has 8k miles. also tires will probably be stock ones still

 

Happens with these cars more often then you might think. My shell has a little over 8k miles on it. Sometimes they just don't get driven very often. As previous poster said, just go look at it. If it really is an 8k mile car with no major issues you will be a happy camper.

 

Yes, it is stock. That I'm sure of. It does have the original Advans on it, which obviously will need replaced. I just wonder what may go wrong mechanically prematurely due to lack of use?

 

As long as the car hasn't sat for very extended periods without driving it should be fine. Keep in mind most exotics don't even get 8k miles in that period of time and do just fine.

 

So, I shouldn't be worried if it's truly original miles??? I mean, it's not like the car's still under warranty, so I just don't want it to end up costing a fortune in the long run.

 

Have a mechanic you trust look it over. Taking it for a drive will tell you a lot. At the end of the day you have just as much chance of running into major issues with a car with 48k miles as 8k.

 

to 'sdevo13' ......you know I did own both an '03 viii and an '06 ix MR in the past...... I didn't have the MR very long at all unfortunately. But, I do remember not loving the 6-speed as much as I thought I would.... even with a lot of highway driving (put 14k on it in 7 months... ha!).

 

Thanks for the input, as I may just drive down to take a look next weekend!

 

Was probably used as a Sunday driving vehicle more then likely, my thoughts on the basics is make sure it turns over quick and easy still, brakes and rotors aren't seized or warped and that the oil has still been changed based on monthly value not mileage value of course, don't want 9 year old oil in there lol.
That's all kind of worse case scenario though.

 

I'd buy it. If it's running properly now I wouldn't worry about future out the norm problems. As you must already know, it cost alot to maintain an evo anyway. Might as well spend it on a low mile evo.

Like someone else said, exotics get barely driven and they do just fine. Just change all fluids and check the little things.

 

In my opinion cars were meant to be driven every single day, and if this car was left for extended periods it could cause trouble down the road. Carfax should be able to tell you how many miles were driven between registration renewals at least, if you see multi year gaps of no new miles, that would be a red flag for me.

And I'm not sure what people mean by exotics are fine after 8k miles in 10 years. Do you people have experience with owning a 10 year old exotic with 8k miles? From what I've see on ferrari chat at least, the least problematic vehicles tend to have higher mileage.

 

8000 milies is seems way too low IMO. Does it still has original tires? How we know if original owner ever change any fluid or oil?

You will never get an answer from here. like someone already said, ask local evo shop to go PPI. That's only one way you to know if car is worth to buy or not.

 

8k is really low so it had to be sitting for quite a long time. Most likely needs an oil change along with other fluids changed as the car has been sitting for far too long. Fluids must be black from sitting too long by now...

 

Well, it seems the car was probably a Sunday driver til 2 years ago...... But it's only been driven 600 miles in the last 2 years.... According to CarFax.... ??