Should I buy this P5? (engine replaced)

[willm]

Hi all,

Sorry in advance for this newb question. I need to buy a car soon and am very interested in the Protege5. I found an '03 one that looks pretty good but has a few things that are raising red flags for me, and I was hoping to get some feedback from you knowledgeable folks.

The current owner bought the car at 77k miles with a bad engine, and had it replaced with an engine with 52k miles and also replaced the timing belt. The car also has some minor bumper damage. Autocheck came back clean, no salvage title or accident record (although obviously there was at least something minor for the bumper), although it does show the title having changed hands a number of times which is a bit concerning.

So basically, I'm wondering how concerned I should be about this. Should I assume that a previous owner took really poor care of the car? Is it possible that the problem was limited to the engine and with that replaced everything else is fine? If the car was previously abused would a mechanic be able to tell from inspecting it or are there problems that might be hidden now but get bad later?

Thanks!

Will

 

[JC-MP5]

Link to the car? Or is it a private seller?

 

[willm]

Private seller...

 

[pasadena_commut]

Autocheck came back clean, no salvage title or accident record (although obviously there was at least something minor for the bumper), although it does show the title having changed hands a number of times which is a bit concerning.

The damage reports are only accurate if the insurance companies or police were involved. If somebody repaired the damage themselves, or even just paid cash to have it done at a body shop, it won't be listed in a Carfax.

The blown motor might have been a result of the VICS screw problem (search this forum). Look at the VIN number of this vehicle and see if it was in the range of cars where this was an issue.

How many is "a number of times"? The ideal used car has had a single owner, an acceptable one (of this age) has had two. More than that and, for me at least, the unknowns start to weigh heavily against the car. I have seen Carfax records where the car changes hands rapidly several times between two long term owners. I think many of those are cases where the first owner traded it in, then the dealer sent it to auction, where it was bought by another dealer, and then sold. Count the owners: original owner, trade in dealer, auction house, used car dealer, new owner. Such a car has only had two real owners, even though five are listed.

 

[willm]

The VIN does fall within the range that I found here: http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4395581&postcount=17 (thanks brentmc79 !)

JM1BJ**** 3* 181114 - JM1BJ**** 3* 219674

As for the titles, here is what I found (all were issued in Minnesota):

1/13/2004 - lien reported, first title
1/11/2007 - two titles at different cities
5/16/2008
7/14/2008 - two titles, same city

I don't know what the deal is with two titles being issued on the same day... Anyone have any ideas? So, one owner for 3 years, one for almost a year and a half, and the current owner for a bit over a year. That does look bad. Between 5/16/08 and 7/14/08 under a thousand miles were put on the car and I believe that is when the engine died, as the current owner bought it with a dead engine.

 

[ScratchNSniff]

I am the 6th owner of mine and have had it now for nearly two years...had 48,000 miles on it when I got it and had been from East Coast to West and back to East Coast again. I blew the motor up with around 85,000 miles in December due to my own fault, but I haven't had a problem other than that with it...

 

[raserx]

Will, there are quite a few P5's around. Why not look around on the internet a bit for one that's all original. Is that one a steal price-wise or something?

 

[MaxPower]

When buying a used car you should get a car with a known record. Anything else puts you at substantial risk of getting a lemon. There are too many well-maintained (with records), good condition one-owner cars out there--why get a car that has a spotty record? You'll pay a small premium for them, but it's well worth it. My advice is to skip this one, since there doesn't seem to be any redeeming reason to pursue it.

You should ALWAYS get a used car checked by a mechanic before buying it. It'll cost $75-100 and is completely worth it. It won't uncover everything, but a good mechanic can find mechanical problems that are potentially expensive to fix (blown struts, rusted exhaust, etc.).

 

[pasadena_commut]

As for the titles, here is what I found (all were issued in Minnesota):

1/13/2004 - lien reported, first title
1/11/2007 - two titles at different cities
5/16/2008
7/14/2008 - two titles, same city

I read that as:

Owner 1: 3 years minus 2 days, so probably a lease, nothing suspicious about the period. However, somewhat odd that this 03 wasn't sold until Jan 2004.

Owner 2: 1 year 4 months. Kind of a short ownership period. Why?

Owner 3: less than 2 months. If this was a real owner that is very bad. If it was sitting on a used car lot it is neutral.

Owner 4: 1 year 3 months. Kind of short. FOR THE SECOND TIME. Why?

I would look elsewhere. (Try to find a car where the most recent owner has at least 3 years of maintenance records.)

 

[willm]

I wouldn't say the car is a steal, I would say it is a fair price assuming it isn't a lemon (which I'm not going to do). Most other Protege5s for sale in my area now are in the $7000+ range which seems high to me, and is more than I want to spend.

pasadena_commut: It looks like owner three bought the car, drove for about 800 miles then the engine died and decided to sell it. Owner 4 gave a plausible reason for wanting to sell. I can't think of any legit reason why owner 2 had it for such a short time...

Well, seems like the consensus is that I shouldn't risk this. I'm not much of a risk taker so I was leaning that way anyway... I think the main reason I was trying to talk myself into this one is that my current car is dying and I want to replace it quickly, but the last thing I need is to replace it with another broken car...

Thanks for all the help everyone!