Close but no cigar....

["Matt Daniels" <matt@sumus.com>]

My hunt for a good used car continues.

Today I discovered a really nice looking '85 4000 quattro at a local used
car dealership. I thought I found the perfect car. The body was in excellent
condition, the interior was nice, the engine bay clean. The window switches
in the console didn't work, with the exception of the drivers window, but
the rears did roll down by using the swiches in the back. The speedometer
didn't work, or the tach. It drove great, the exhaust was a little throaty,
but nothing major. Best of all - 75k miles. $3k was the asking price.

I take it to the shop that did the inspection on the other 4k earlier this
week. They didn't have time to do a full inspection, but in their limited
time, they told me this: it's been completly repainted, needed new shocks,
some new tail light lenses, some sensor in the motor needed to be replaced
(I didn't catch the name of it), and the engine bay was just detailed,
that's why it looked good. Also, they said the milage was more like 150k.
There verdict: do not buy this car.

I wrote down the VIN number, and once I got back to work, I had a Carfax
report done on it. While it did have a clean title, there is a report of the
car being in a California Inspection station on 11/01/91, it passed
inspection, but the Odometer reading at the time was 75,399. Hmmm....it's
only been driven a few hundred miles since '91? I don't think so.

Anyway, I think I'll pass on this one also......

Matt Daniels
'93 90S