Which year to buy?

[mjkadel]

Hi,

 

I'm looking into buying a Del Sol and have so far been focusing on the 95-97 model years because of the redesign top. How big of an issue was the leaking? Should I look at 94s for the airbags? All the way back to 92?

 

If it makes a difference I'm looking for 2 seats and good gas mileage, not the summer breeze in my hair. I will likely never remove the top on this car. If it has AC and a manual transmission I'm happy.

 

And while I'm at it, of the three cars I've called about one of the sellers wouldn't let me take it to a mechanic to have it inspected. A pre-sale inspection is pretty common, right? I'm not being ridiculous?

 

Thanks,

 

Michael

[Gary Elkins]

The seller may be reluctant to turn his car over a stranger to take it to a mechanic (I think I would be). But perhaps you could go together to the mechanic to have it checked out. If he's not willing to do that, then that would raise a red flag in my mind.

[mjkadel]

We didn't even get as far as who would be taking it to the mechanic. Just the mention of taking it to the mechanic got a "No way, don't waste my time." It's good to know it's not a crazy request.

[Xeryon]

I've had cars taken to a mechanic for a pre-inspection. I am a pretty fair mechanic myself and have only done this in remote purchases where I could not view the car in person - aka eBay and Autotrader. I paid for everything, including a little extra to thank the guy for his effort.

 

95, 96 and 97 had improved seals and a slight redesign of the bumper and foglights. As you already know, 94 and up had two airbags. First gen airbags aren't all that great and caused injuries themselves during accidents that might not have had injuries otherwise (me included). With a car approaching 20 years old the funcationality of the airbags would come into question (based on no facts, just my gut feeling). For me personally the airbags would be a moot point. The leaking on the older ones can be significant. It entirely boils down to what previous owners did for maintenance. Well maintained seals can still leak, while poorly maintained seals always seem to leak.

 

I had a 92 i bought off ebay. I'm in Ohio and it was in Florida. Paid a mechanic to inspect. Previously had 18 owners (was a buy-here, pay-here ripoff shop). It leaked like a seive but ran well aside from some suspension and steering maintenance that had been neglected.

[mjkadel]

Xeryon, thanks for the input. These are harder to buy than I was expecting, at least within my craigslist location. I may have to do some flying and driving. I'll expand my search to include the older models and pay close attention to the seals. I did some searching and found you can buy newer seal kits, so I figure if it still leaks I can either replace the seals, or worst case, do some creative caulking.

[Xeryon]

Your location in CA is perfect for finding these in good condition. Likewise, seal condition would be less of a factor then if you lived in FL or WA. If you don't mind the drive, AZ, NV, UT and NM's arid climates were all kind to these machines with regards to the inevitable rust.

 

Paint fade tends to be pretty bad, espicially on the red ones. The door panels and rear corner speaker panel vinyl will all be cracked at the top where it curves around to meet with the windows due to the intense UV in the SW. The seats should be pretty faded with the outside bolsters worn and split. The splitting seats and cracked vinyl are not as much of a problem in Ohio since we have less sunny days. Just about every sol in existance has a broken or missing ashtray in the center console. These are somewhate minor issues, but issues no less. If you find one that does not have these problems you might be looking at a car that was better kept.

 

On a car that you suspect has a leaking roof the floor pans can rust out. Most people won't let you pull their carpet out to inspect but a tell-tale sign is rust will wick up the legs of the seat. If you look at the feet of the seat and there is no rust the seals are probably better then most or it was garage kept.