Some Advice for my MSP

[Zelse]

Hey everyone.

So I need some advice regarding my MSP. Long story short (sort of a full version below...) I bought a MSP over 3 years ago and the engine blew within two weeks of owning it. I took the dealership to court and now I can finally sell it and get it off my hands. Given the condition of the vehicle and everything that happened, I have literally NO clue what the recommended way to go about this is-- whether I should simply sell it as is, part it out, or fix some of it up then sell it. So I figured the community would know best!

Thanks to Altspace for hosting up pictures I took on 12/28/2008; you can view them all at
http://www.altspace.com/marc/



Story:
- Bought the car in August 2005 - 2003.5 Mazda MAZDASPEED Protege with only 25,000+ on the car
- Engine blew a little over two weeks into ownership (Not racing...Driving highway, speedlimit in the slow lane, cruising to NH to play arcade games at Funworld :/)
- Got towed to Dealership
- Dealership claimed it was my fault and gave me crap, claiming I put a aftermarket boost controller in the engine (which they neglected to tell/show me it came with the car. I knew nothing of cars at the time..I was a young kid.)
- Got attorney and started lawsuit and all that...
- After half a year I finally found out where my car was and was able to tow it back into my possession. Then I found out it was vandalized.
- The boost gauge, radio head, shift knob, trunk speakers, and trunk amp were all stolen, and the rear passenger quarter window was broken
- I threw the tarp car cover over it and sat it in my mother's driveway and waited until further notice from attorney
- As of December 2008 I can finally sell it
- Naturally, an ice storm hit the NH region...a tree went through the windshield and scraped the inside dash a bit and damaged the roof
- 12/28/2008: I removed the tree as carefully as possible and cleaned up the mess all around the car. Took a truckload of pics, put the tarp back on, and topped that with a second car cover.



Info:
- It has been sitting on pavement with a car cover for the past 3 years
- From what I have been told by a dealership mechanic... The turbo blew and seized the engine
- Tree scraped dash and slightly damaged the passenger airbag compartment
- Dents are visible alongside driver side roof
- Hole through windshield
- Radio head missing
- Rear passenger quarter Window broken
- Shift knob missing
- After market boost gauge is missing
- Trunk speakers and amp missing
- 27,000+ on the car
- Brand new tires
- Only mods is a silly windshield sticker I put when I was young, and a boost controller in the engine (not put by me, left by dealership).

Any help, suggestions, more info needed, or interest, please let me know. Thanks everyone.

[808MP5]

hmmm... sad story...
i think it all depends on what you expect to get for it...
but definently parting out a vehicle will get more money but may take more time...

boo... i know i know... vultures
but i want dibs on the rear brakes if you do decide to part out....
im sure if you start an official part out you'll get a lot of interest because there's a lot of parts i can see that ppl would want... and probably some stuff you can't see that ppl will want

[dstmsp03]

Depends on what u r trying to get outta it.. What do u want for the whole car?

[Zelse]

Well like I said, what should I expect to get? I'm not going to say what I'm HOPING to get because I really don't know if that is reasonable or not. Know what I mean? I'm just looking to be fair is all.

So I guess, what should be a expected price if I were to sell it as is?

[Metallic36]

With the way it is, you'd be best selling it as a parts car or to someone that wants to rebuild the motor, it's a wee bit rusty from where the moisture has gotten to it and from it sitting so long. I'd say at most $2k for it, but that's just what I would pay. If you found someone that wanted to rebuild the engine, and sell it with that thought in perspective, I'd say maybe a little more. But I dunno.. there was one on here for $4k that ran and just needed some work, and it still took him a while to sell it, and it had some good mods. It's just that this one will need a rebuilt/replaced motor, some work to make it look pretty again, and if anything you would probably be better off replacing the engine with another FS engine, and selling it as running.. really depends on how much you want to just get rid of it.

[Zelse]

Gotcha. I suppose that makes sense.

[dstmsp03]

if u part it, I want the front oxygen sensor

[blkspdfreak]

so did you get stuck with the bill and screwed out of a car because mazda didnt tell about a boost controller. thats f-ed up and id be going apeshit on them. i would of made them fix all repairs plus fees and other bs they made you go threw. id be pissed if i were you.

[Zelse]

Yep. That's exactly it...but here's the problem. I bagged the case (finally ugh...) but the dealership is no longer active with no assets or anything..thus..no money. :/

[blkspdfreak]

f-that man. go straigh to mazda, there is always someone higher in the chain. id be going for blood. so there not giving ANY money? did they atleast give you the balance for the car?

[Packerfan]

interested waiting for price on whole car

[Greenblurr93]

Zelse here - at Blurr's work hanging out.

I didn't buy it from Mazda..bought it from a Mitsubishi dealership. They went out of business and Mazda took themselves out of it because I bought it from the dealership with the aftermarket parts in there. So..Yeah. :/ nothing I can do captain. Did everything I can with the attorney.

Packerfan - I'll get back to you. I just want to do some more research and all on how much this is worth in its condition.

[Metallic36]

Probably only going to be worth what someone will pay to either rebuild it or part it out, and if they part it out they're probably not going to pay that much since they will want to still be able to make money off of the parts.. and without having a running engine, that really doesn't help the price.

[daonly1around]

it will be very hard to get much for it as a whole...

Having sat for three years now, it will be hard to prove what works and what doesn't. Tranny and turbo are the first things that come to mind not being able to prove if they work well or work at all. I think anyone that buys this will buy it to part it out, i know i wouldn't mind buying it to part it out if the price was right, but it's too far away for me.

Best bet is to part it out, but as others have stated thats a long and pain staking process. BUt i wish you the best of luck.

[Omar MSP]

thats fawked up!!!

[Dparks7]

just post the pics and say come get what you need in a partout.

[Ricktalife]

god didn't want you to have that msp.

[Zelse]

god didn't want you to have that msp.

Apparently not.

Really in truth, I don't have the storage, place or even the tools and time to really part out the car. I'm not looking to put money into it to fix it neither as I don't see the justification or even the point there. I have next season coming up in April and I need to get my RX8 ready for that, so pretty much most of my funds are going into that.

So I suppose in reality, I'm looking at probably just selling it as a whole. So I really need to just look up how much I could possibly get for this. If anyone has any ideas or anything, or heck even offers, feel free to toss them by me so I can have some sort of idea/direction. (crazy)

[blkspdfreak]

god didn't want you to have that msp.

lol....that happened to alot of us....but we still fight to keep the damn thing.

[sailinMSP]

If i was in your spot I would just post it on craigslist for the amount you would like to get for it but keep it OBO and make sure to list a real short story of what happened with the car. You could get lucky and catch a person wanting a newer project car.

[Zelse]

^-- Good idea. Waiting for next week and we'll see what I decide. Thanks for the help guys.