Looking to buy 97 850 Turbo.

[zbyers]

Hello,

I had a 96 850 which was sadly totaled in December 2013. I found a 97 850 T5? (Turbo) for $1900. It has 215,000 mile on it. The body looks to be in good shape. I was wondering if there is anything that really needs to be checked over for the turbos. Is this a reasonable price for the car? I definitely think so, but I've been wrong before lol. Carfax says it's clean with no accidents and has had 5 different owners. What's everyone's opinion?

Thanks much,
Zack

[j-dawg]

service records?

i'd definitely prioritize that. if the owner doesn't know when the timing belt / water pump etc were done, budget for having it done asap. if he doesn't know about the pcv, expect to do that too.

i don't think there's too much else that'll cause catastrophic failure, but there's plenty of nickel-and-dime items that'll get you if you miss them. look for records of complete and thorough servicing - all the little things, not just oil every 5,000. of course you can buy a car without all that, but if i were in that position i'd definitely want to get the price down to account for all the money i'd potentially spend getting the car back to stage zero.

[zbyers]

It is actually from a dealership. They bought it at an auction. I'll email them and see what they say.

My 96 definitely nickel and dimed me till it died with about 250k on it.

Thanks for the info though, J-Dawg. Definitely appreciate it