'88 5KCSTQ

[Iain Mannix]

DeWitt is right - I've had two of these, an 87 and now an 86.  I've
got decent skills/tools, and pretty good connections wrt parts -
but even so, they occasionally bite _hard_.  Some stuff is expensive,
some of it is not, some is easy to deal with, some is not.

My first was an 87 wagon - got it _cheap_, and it nickel and dimed
me for the first year(and quarters and dollars and tens and twenties),
but it was a good car.  My 86 was also inexpensive, and there have
been some teething pains, but in this case, I knew the condition
of the car a LOT more intimately - and so far, so good.

They're potentially very scary cars.  I'd personally look around
for one owned by someone on this list, someone who knows them well.
$3500 does not sound bad for a good one around here(CO), although
they seem to be cheaper in other parts of the world.  I looked
at an $1800 csq in Denver recently - I'd not have paid $500 for
it; not a -bad- car, but it had a cracked exhaust manifold,
weird wiring "fixes," the turbo afterrun pump had been
bypassed, felt loose, etc etc etc.  198k miles, too.  That
car would have needed several thousand in things I could see,
much less things that were on the edge of failing.

I love 5ks/200tqs, but be leery - they're not cheap to maintain.
Once on top of the curve, they're great - but getting them
there can be frustrating and expensive.


Iain (cracked manifolds are a great big hassle, esp. on an
east coast car - a lot of stuff has to come off, frozen
fittings, etc.  East coast of the US, for those on
other islands....)


On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, DeWitt Harrison wrote:

> On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 08:20:11 -0800,
>      "Baker, Spencer @ Pittsburgh" <SLBaker at cbre.com>
>
> > I am looking into the purchase of an '88 5000 CSTQ with 97k miles.
> > [ ... ] Any other words of wisdom
> > would be appreciated, I can get the car for around $3,500 which seems like
> a
> > fair price depending on my inspection.
>
> I am biting my tongue. Now breathe. Ah ...
>
> OK. The miles are low for the car and that's good. There are
> potentially many more where those came from, (automatics
> excepted). But it is a very expensive car to maintain if you
> aim to keep it in good shape, especially if you generally do
> not do your own work. It's not an easy car to work on either.
> Not a car to cut your wrenching teeth on.
>
> As a guess, an additional $3,500 would be a reasonable down
> payment on bringing most systems up to snuff assuming
> the car already appears to be in good condition. Knowing
> what I know now, I would not recommend anyone
> consider one of these that has not been religiously and
> verifiably maintained unless they need a science project.
>
> DeWitt Harrison
> 88 5kcstq
>
>