What do I look at when buying a used car?

Question

Possibly buying a used '97 Intrepid. They are bringing it by today, what kind of things should I be looking at. Basically does anybody know of any things that are typical to this car that I might need to be more aware of. I have a friend who is somewhat mechanically inclined to help me look at it but I really don't know anything myself. Just looking for some pointers.

Answer 1

Well dodge was know for having faulty transmissions. You really need to watch them at around 150,000 miles. But I really haven't heard or seen anything really bad about these cars. My friend has a 94 stratus, which is basically the same. His only problems were trans and stuff seemed to break easily

Answer 2

Don't kick the tires.  GRAB the top of the tire and rock it in and out, hard.  You shouldn't hear anything.  If you do, the wheel bearings are bad.

Smell for lots of cleaning products.  If there is a lot of cleaning product smell, what are they trying to cover up?

Look for cigarette burns.  That's an automatic dealbreaker with me.

Drive it.  Listen for clunking during sharp, slow turns.  That's a CV joint going.  Listen for surging at idle.  Turn on the AC, listen to be sure the engine doesn't stumble from the added load.

Any bad sounds during braking?  Unusual hesitation during acceleration, like one of the clutch bands in the tranny is slipping or not engaging quickly?  That's a hassle, and sometimes an expensive fix.

Test everything electrical to be sure it works. EVERYTHING.  Open the trunk, smell around.  Try all the doors.

Turn off the engine and open the hood.  Look for smoke.  Smell for hot oil or coolant.  If you don't see any signs of either, that's good.

There are bound to be more good suggestions, take them seriously.  And perhaps most important, take the car by a mechanic you trust and ask him to check it out.  Pay his fee for the job, it's way cheaper than getting stuck with a stinker car.

Look around and count how many other Intrepids you see today.  If your count comes up less than five, that's a bad sign.  It indicates it was an unpopular car (which means repair part inventories will be low since sales were low, and therefore parts will be scarce and expensive), OR all the ones that did get sold are already dead and squashed to make into hot pot trivets and radial tire belting.

Answer 3

Intrepids are a very UNreliable car. the 2.7 engines are destined to blow up. the mounts for the engine subframe fail way too soon and cost a lot of money to replace.

I've not met one person happy with an intrepid.

Answer 4

look up vin number and get vehicle history report is #1...find out whether its high-way miles or regular miles....for a 97, more than 90k miles is too much or if its highway then its fine...inspect the engine also, check the alt. belts and hoses

Answer 5

1993-1997dodge intrepids suffer from transmissions,there engines are decent but i have seen the 3.2 withengine cooling problems,the 3.3 is way much better.they also suffer from front stabiler links.i would say test drive car with radio off,windows rolled up so you can here or look for noises,first drive normal so you can feel transmission shift points,then get on the xpress way to make sure trans is shifting properly.do a car fax or auto check as well to make sure abt mileage,and accident history and to be on the safe side,and see if you can have a trusted auto mechanic check the car as well.