I brought my SSB coupe home yesterday. My wife was driving behind me all the way home and when we got out of the cars in our driveway, her comment was "it looks really nice from the rear". For her to notice any car is unusual. To elicit a comment like that is truly rare.
Mind you, she never gave even a shrug for my Alfa's, XR4Ti, Vette's, Supra, GTO, or S2000. She's actually excited about owning the Crossfire because it's an automatic that she can drive.
So, I'll be driving my S2000 until May 9th when the lease ends. That gives me roughly 5 weeks to do routine maintenance on the SRT6. To recap, the car is a mint condition SSB SRT6 with 17,500 miles on it. It was put in service in early 2006 as a Chrysler corporate exec's vehicle for about 18 months and 11,000 miles. Then, it ended up in the hands of a local Chrysler dealer and was sold in mid 2007 as a CPO car to the owner I bought it from. He put another 6,500 miles on the car over approx three years. The total mileage is 17,500.
Here's the stuff I've noticed or have planned.
- Paint - flawless not a scratch or chip to work on.
- Wheels - flawless except driver's front wheel has residue from a wheel weight. I'll clean that up.
- Interior - Driver's seat has a small scuff mark on the left side bolster like something rubbed against it. I'll dye match it and give it a coat of leather conditioner.
- Tires - Original OEM all season Conti's. They have some life left but at 5 years old, I'm not comfortable with them on a performance car. And I'd rather have a summer performance tire anyway. I've narrowed down the replacements to Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT's or Conti Extreme Contact DW's. I'm leaning toward the Dunlops but the Conti's are supposed to be quieter and give a better ride.
- Oil - The oil is clear, not even dirty but with only 6,000 miles in the past three years it's a safe bet that the oil may be aged. So, an initial oil swap is on my list.
- Coolant - Again the car is 5-6 years old, right about the time I usually do a complete coolant flush and replacement in my cars. Not sure what Chrysler recommends though. I'll do some research. Better safe than allowing any corrosion to start.
- Interior - Stink. I think the car has spent so much time in storage that it's picked up a feint musty garage stench. It's very slight but I can notice it. I'l scrub all the carpeted areas with Resolve multi fabric cleaner and alternate with time outside opened up in sunlight and closed up time in the garage with trays of charcoal and baking soda to eliminate the stinkies.
- Brakes - Plenty of wear left front and rear. No action required.
- Transmission - Check fluid but otherwise leave it alone for now.
- Grease fittings - Hit all the fittings just in case it hasn't been greased in 5 years.
- Headlights - All bulbs working and lenses are clear and free of chips. I was intending to start with fresh bulbs but now, I think I'll just wait for the OEM bulbs to fail.
- Wipers - It's a safe bet that the blades are 5-6 years old. Time for a set of Bosch Icon floppy blades.
- Air Filter/Engine - Will be checked and replaced if dirty.
- Air Filter Cabin - Will be checked and replaced if dirty.
Anything else that I should be considering on an SRT6 of this age and mileage? I assume the fuel filter is probably in fine shape. The diff is clean. I'll check fluid level but don't plan on a change.