I am making a last minute trip to look an 05 roadster limited/auto on Wednesday. 32K miles. During my inspection of the vehicle which BTW checks out great on CarFax & CarCheck is there anything that are known problem areas that I should know about? I plan on a nice long test drive both interstate and city. Any last minute help would very much be appreciated. Thanx in advance and sorry for being such a newbie.

Tired

 

A limited auto Roadster with 32,000 miles? Sounds like my car!


Well, there are a lot of little things:
Is there oil leaking from the valve covers? Is the back window glue failing? Is there rust starting on the bottom of the doors? (Probably the biggest one!!)

But nothing I can think of as deal breakers. The leaking oil thing is easily fixed, as is the back window.

I'd do a search here for a thread called "stop the rust while you can". That is the only thing I can think of that I'd worry about OTHER than the normal stuff you check on with a used car.

 

Thanx Pizza!! I wlll look for those things.Going to check out the car in an hour. I am sure the dealer will not be too happy if I pull the weather stripping off the bottom of the door. Rust like that is a common issue in Vermont and we keep an eye out for it. I also have a friend who owns a body shop so that is a help.

Tired

 

I would still look at the door area, If the salesman doesnt like it ask him to have his service dept pull it while you look.
Nice thing about a 2 seater is that you can put your wife ( or friend) in the passenger seat and there is no where for the salesman. Then you drive out of sight, pull over and check anything you want

 

Rusty wheel arches and inside of bootlid

 

If you were checking it out at 7:30 this morning, then this post is too late. Check every accessory switch and option, especially the heated seats. Try to obtain a service history. Otherwise these are very reliable cars.

 

Thanx for all the replies. The deal did not work out. Turns out the car was not quite as mint as the dealer led me to believe. Very deep scratches on right side door and quarter where someone overbuffed to the point of going through the clear coat to the base coat. The dealer says, yeah we really need to paint the door and quarter. Interior silver plastic scratched 3-4 places and ash tray will not close. Right valve cover leaks. (Thanx Pizzaguy for the heads up on that one!! Only one key, he says that's all he's required to offer. Then he says "Oh, there will be a $399 Conveyance Fee for processing paper work, title and registration, but we're not going to do the registration, you are, we'll give you a dealer plate and you go home and mail it back to us." Is that legal? Are you freakin' kidding me?

I turn to my wife and say "it's time for breakfast."

My wife drives me back and forth for seven hours. New Coach Bag for her.

Still looking but fall is getting shorter.

Tired

 

Dont ya love dealers

 

At least you didn't buy it

 

The roadster or the Coach bag?