Hey guys,

I currently drive a lifted armored 2002 nissan xterra and I'm looking into purchasing an '05 Neon SXT as a daily driver. Found one I liked with 61k miles for around $4k, haven't gotten a chance to go look at it yet though.


My question is what are some key things to look out for when looking at used Neons?

Bad rust spots, certain mechanical issues that are prevalant, things that are easy fixes or things that should tell me to GTFO.


Does it really get 36 hwy and can I improve that at all? And what any gas saving mods that are a must do? Not really looking to do anything more than drive this around until I ship to OCS next June.


Driving now:



Looking at:




Thanks in advance for your help, looking forward to gettin to know some of you.

 

-My '05 SXT gets me 37 mpg on vacation trips. Regular highway driving to work and back, about 65/35 highway-town driving gets me a bit lower at 31-32 mpg. About the only thing to keep an eye on with these cars are the lower control arm bushings and outer tie-rod ends. I replaced the bushings with Prothane urethane bushings before Christmas due to excessive noise in the front end. Seems to be a Dodge thing with the front bushings.

-Also before you hit 100k, replace the timing belt, tensioner, and water pump. Yep, they are a major pain to do. Zero tolerance engines don't like the valves and pistons kissing if the belt lets loose. Besides that, these are pretty good little cars. I've had mine for 3 1/2 years and have put 75k on it. Bought it in July '07 with 19k and now I sitting at just under 95k.

L8R,
Matt

 

Do I know about timing belts, just had it done for my Xterra. Good to know this thing has a timing belt too. Thanks.

Think $4k is a fair price at 61k for a 2005?

Also, any specific questions I should be asking the dealer?

 

So I'm going to see it Saturday

Only thing is, it has been in an accident, from the pictures and the chipping paint I'm going to guess it was rear-ended, air bags were not deployed.

 

-If it's been in a wreck, I'd try to get them down a little bit more. Maybe $3500. But if it wasn't in a wreck, private party sale value would be around $4900 in clean condition. Is it from a dealer or just someone selling their car? Either way I'd definitely expect a little lowering of the price.

L8R,
Matt

 

Look for broken torque struts, which can lead to a broken motor and trans mount. Check the condition of the motor oil and transmission fluid (if auto). If auto, make sure the transmission fluid is red in color and doesn't smell sweet like antifreeze. Find out when the last change of both of those fluids were. It hasn't hit 100K yet, so you don't need to find out if the timing belt, water pump and tensioner were changed. Check for any electrical tape on the wiring harness in the engine. Perhaps do the "key dance" to see if there are any codes just in case.

Perhaps we can get everyone's input on this, and make a "What to look for" sticky for anyone. This has been discussed before, so I'll look for those too and try to compile everything.

 

Everything darth said check out and I love your blacked out xterra wow and the lift kit on that is amazing . Love the eblues in sxts nice color choice.

 

-It's a private dealership.
-From CARFAX:
02/18/2009 New York
Damage Report
Parts requested to repair damage after an accident or other incident
Left side rear door assembly
Right side quarter panel assembly
-Not sure exactly what you mean by the "key dance"
-I like the idea of a sticky, came here thinking there might be one, tried to search but not too familiar with the forum couldn't really find much.

-Show, thanks, I love it too, it's a beast off-road but paying for 16 gallons of 93 octane to go 200 miles is killing me slowly. And yea, there's not many cars I like in blue, this is definitely one of them.

Thanks!

 

Well as for gas mileage on a road trip from Florida to Maryland I pulled out 41 mpg's ... As for KBB price on my 2004 with 115,201 miles it had a value of $5,225.00 so them asking $4,000 isn't bad but as always you try to bring them down a little bit.

If you can bring it out on a test drive see if you can get a body shop to check and see if the frame is straight. If it was hit on the l/s door and the r/s quarter panel was also repaired it might be tweaked ...

 

The key dance means you turn the key from off to on (not start), three times one after the other, ending with the key in the on position. The odometer will flash any trouble codes if there are some, then it will say "done." Just a quick check for anything out of order.