Hi!

I am about to buy another car for the winter, and found a cheap Dodge Neon -98 for about $290 dollars.

It has some defective areas, such as bad brakes and leaking from the engine (has'nt seen the car yet).

Should that be hard to fix? It's the model with the SOCH-eninge (132 hp) and 3-speed automatic.

Thankful for any answer!

 

Not to put down the neons but for a winter vehicle in Sweden you are better off getting something bigger for driving in the snow. It sounds like there are a lot of problems already and the money you will spend on repairs would be better spent on a more trustworthy vehicle, like a Dodge truck with 4wheel drive. The price of $290 is what we pay for a parts only vehicle not a everyday driver. The last thing you want to do is break down in a Swedish snow storm. So in my opinion i would spend more money and get something you can trust not something you have to work on in the cold weather. Lots of luck.

 

Hi and thanks for answering!

Well beside the fact that a Neon is'nt a car fot the winter, is the price fair for the car in that condition?

I'm thinking of offering the guy $200 for the car, and to get it running I might have to spend, lets say $50 on the oil leak?, and 70$ on the brakes and then get it approved and pay the tax and insurance on it, so lets say the total will be around $500 something.

What might the oil leak be? Hard to fix in general?

Btw, the snow is coming down pretty much now.

 

Well its hard to say where the oil leak is coming from with the info you have given but $50 is being optimistic to say the least. It also depends if you are planning to do the work yourself. It sounds like you are looking for a project car to rebuild just for the fun of it and in that case i'd say go for it if you can afford it. Just be aware that it could get quite expensive in the long run. Lots of luck

 

if that is all that is wrong (which I highly doubt it is) then sure good buy. But there is always something else wrong lol. depending on where its leaking, it can be as easy as the oil pressure sending unit ($12) to the rear main seal which you have to drop the transmission and all that fun stuff to replace.

 

Now I have no idea what is leaking, or just how bad the brakes are, or if in Sweden they use a lot of salt/sand on the roads during Winter and that you may have a lot of rusted parts underneath, etc.

But here is my 2 cents (which would be worthless in kronors) worth.

Is this car going to be your daily driver and are you going to be depending on it? If the answer is yes, then I agree with the 1st poster and walk away from it. Get yourself a better car. Oil leaks can be horrible to fix - and sometimes expensive depending on where and what is leaking. Front or rear oil seal or head gasket? expensive! Oil pan? cheap.

If you are looking for a cheap transport to get you through the winter as cheaply as possible, and if it breaks down, you are still able to get around using one of your other cars, then you might want to go ahead. God be with you if you get stranded in the middle of nowhere with no cell service......

I don't know about Sweden, but when we lived in Iceland ('71 to '73), cars that old were completely worn out and rusted out and *******ly useless. Winters there eat cars for breakfast, lunch and dinner and leave them nothing but big money pits.