My brother and I went and looked at an 89 RS today. The owner said that the rear differential was leaking fluid and that the A/C needs a recharge. It has a new paint job from everyone's favorite place, Maaco It seemed to drive fine and the engine bay was very clean. It also needs new tires and will need new weather stripping come winter. Other than that it's in good condition, the interior looks like new. Is this worth it? Also, is there anything else I should be looking for? We have to buy the car tomorrow afternoon or else the owner is going to sell it to someone from san jose who said he'd drive up and buy it from him on the spot. I'd hate for my brother to miss a good value, but this will be his first car and I don't want him to end up with a $1,900 mistake. Thanks, Joe

 

Well , how many miles are on the car ?

 

oh sorry i forgot that it, it's got 91,xxx miles on it. It one of the lowest I've found around here.

 

That seems like a real fair price .....91 thousand miles is not many miles because you can get 100 thousand more out of this car if its well taken care of .

BUT , take a look under the hood , check for oil leaks !!! Check the oil , is it dirty or clean ? If the oil is clean , and don't see any leaks , I say it's worth it !

 

Thanks for the response wayne. Anybody else have an opinion?

 

I'd check the rear diff fill hole, see how low the fluid is. You could always pay a mechanic $50 to check the car out- good or bad, the mechanic still makes his $50, so you'll get an honest opinion. Just don't go to the seller's mechanic!

If it's an automatic, by '89, GM made the 700r4's pretty sturdy. You might want to sniff the dipstick anyway to make sure the fluid isn't totally black and burnt-smelling... same with the oil. Make sure there's no coolant in the oil. See if the guy will let you do a compression test. I get between 135-160 PSI between all my cylinders... so if you find a cylinder that's way off my +230,000 mile specs, you might want to pass on the car.

Take him down an extra $100 by pointing out the scuff marks on the outside sidewalls of the front tires, near the tread. Tell him you'll need an alignment and some front tires. Little does he know that every 3rd gen will scuff it's sidewalls due to the suspension design!

And look for RUST! Rust is EVIL! I'd rather do engine work for months than fight rust.

 

You should buy mine for $2300. I'm looking to get rid of it. Email me if you want more info... Check the sig...

 

check out kbb.com 3-4 years ago when i bought mine. 86 bird 2.8 168,000 miles good shape lots of new parts.

its blue book was still 2,600.

I paid 800