Buying a 1999 Protege LX

[d1ck]

Hi, I'm a new member and I figured a forum with a bunch of protege owners would be the best place to ask this. I know guy selling a 1999 Protege LX and I'm considering buying it. He wants 2700 for it, although I'm pretty sure i can talk him down to 2400 or 2500. (keep in mind I'm in Canada.) I'm just wondering what possible problems i should be looking for. I'm pretty sure the main thing is rust, as I live in newfoundland and they use salt on the roads which completely eats cars. Also, do you guys think 2400 or 2500 is too much for this car, even if it is in really good condition? (which I'm pretty sure it is.)
Thanks for your help.
Richard
EDIT: I was just talking to him and he said there is no rust and there's 186,000 km's.
EDIT 2: He also said the struts were replaced last fall and that it burns oil when it's cold which makes me think the rings might be getting bad. What do you guys think?

[99 Pro]

Hi, I'm a new member and I figured a forum with a bunch of protege owners would be the best place to ask this. I know guy selling a 1999 Protege LX and I'm considering buying it. He wants 2700 for it, although I'm pretty sure i can talk him down to 2400 or 2500. (keep in mind I'm in Canada.) I'm just wondering what possible problems i should be looking for. I'm pretty sure the main thing is rust, as I live in newfoundland and they use salt on the roads which completely eats cars. Also, do you guys think 2400 or 2500 is too much for this car, even if it is in really good condition? (which I'm pretty sure it is.)
Thanks for your help.
Richard
EDIT: I was just talking to him and he said there is no rust and there's 186,000 km's.
EDIT 2: He also said the struts were replaced last fall and that it burns oil when it's cold which makes me think the rings might be getting bad. What do you guys think?

Hey. Welcome to the forum!

Personally, I don't think that $2500 CDN is too much for a 1999 Protege with 186K. My car has 95K right now, and I haven't had any problems yet with it. As long as there is no rust and the car is generally in good mechanical shape, that is a pretty good deal IMO.

[d1ck]

What about the whole burning oil thing? I'm going to take a look at it this week sometime and I'm thinking about finding someone with a compression tester to see if the rings are getting bad or not. Is there any other common problems I could look for on '99 Protege's? Thanks a lot!
EDIT: I was thinking, assuming the rings aren't too bad, would some seafoam save it?