Buyers beware: I personally went to see an NSX posted in the for sale forum (white 1994 with around 19K miles, sold by a gentleman named "Charlie", this is the link: http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=71036), and it was not what one would expect or what one would wish to consider spending nearly $40,000 hard-earned dollars on.
I am currently located in the DC area, and have been looking for a reliable NSX, well-kept, something that will hold good value when I own it. I called up the owner of this vehicle, "Charlie," and asked all the usual questions a buyer would ask of a used car. I was reassured the vehicle was never in any accidents, and that no problems existed on the vehicle. Mind you, Charlie knew I lived in DC and that I planned to drive nearly 1600 miles round-trip to Florida to view and purchase the car. Of course, I take a few days off work and blow a few hundred on gas only to arrive in Florida and wake up the next day, call up Charlie the morning before I was to view the car, when Charlie decides to disclose that the front bumper had been repainted.
I went to view the car anyway, and found something totally different. Theres a laundry-list of issues with this car, and the owner is not an honest fellow for sure. First of all, its not only the front bumper that was repainted, the driver's side door and front fender were both hit and repainted. You can easily tell from the poor workmanship and poor paint job. The bolts under the hood securing the front fender are suspiciously clean, while the opposing side bolts are rusting like crazy. The rear bumper also looks to be a horrible match of paint, more of an off-white color compared to the adjoining panels.
Aside from all this, the front window is misalligned, most likely due to bending/deformities of the chassis from the hit to the driver's side door. This is sure to have a bunch of water leak into the car.
The A/C is totally non-functional, and the owner refused to admit it didn't work. He only said, "Well, it was just working yesterday" when I asked why it wasn't cool in the car. Don't know of an A/C that "works" part-time.
The car drove ok overall, shifting was smooth. Clutch was good. Intake (aftermarket...K&N popcharger) sounded nice. However, there was a bad vibration in the steering wheel at civilian speeds. We got out, and I checked the rear tires. They were upgraded rims, and the rear tires are 225's. The stock width is 245. The brand is not well-known, which means they were probably very cheap. The offset on the rims looks wildly off-par, and looks like the wrong offset for the NSX...from the wheel wells, they stick out further than Pamela Anderson's chest!
The seller Charlie disclosed a scant few records from Acura service. In one of the entries, it says the car was hit from the rear and sustained rear damage in addition to the front driver's side damage. This occured sometime in 2004 according to the date on the invoice. Rear pieces had to be ordered for the taillight assembly, etc. The ownder denied any accidents on the car, and when asked why the car was repainted, he simply replied, "I dunno." He kept reiterating that carfax was clean, but we all know carfax only reports damage when the cops are called to the scene of an accident. If your car gets hit by a friend, the cops would never know, and thus car fax would never know either.
That said, if you're a buyer in the Florida region and don't mind dropping nearly $40 g's on a car in fair shape (you'll definately have to make repairs, including A/C which is expensive, new rims with the correct offset, new rear tires to correct wrong width, repair front window misallignment, and the hit you'll take from future buyers detecting that the car was in an accident...it all adds up), then I say go for it. But, if you want to spend 40 g's and have a great buying experience from an honest seller, I'd definately say shop elsewhere. This was one of the most dishonest sellers I've ever met. Someone who makes me drive 1,600 miles, THEN discloses that the car had been repainted, THEN when I still go and see the car, theres a LOT more major issues which he conveniently left out, and then sarcastically says, "What do you expect me to do? Cut you a check for the gas? Ha!" does not sound like the kinda guy i'd like to buy a car from. You decide. Thats my experience with this NSX.
I am currently located in the DC area, and have been looking for a reliable NSX, well-kept, something that will hold good value when I own it. I called up the owner of this vehicle, "Charlie," and asked all the usual questions a buyer would ask of a used car. I was reassured the vehicle was never in any accidents, and that no problems existed on the vehicle. Mind you, Charlie knew I lived in DC and that I planned to drive nearly 1600 miles round-trip to Florida to view and purchase the car. Of course, I take a few days off work and blow a few hundred on gas only to arrive in Florida and wake up the next day, call up Charlie the morning before I was to view the car, when Charlie decides to disclose that the front bumper had been repainted.
I went to view the car anyway, and found something totally different. Theres a laundry-list of issues with this car, and the owner is not an honest fellow for sure. First of all, its not only the front bumper that was repainted, the driver's side door and front fender were both hit and repainted. You can easily tell from the poor workmanship and poor paint job. The bolts under the hood securing the front fender are suspiciously clean, while the opposing side bolts are rusting like crazy. The rear bumper also looks to be a horrible match of paint, more of an off-white color compared to the adjoining panels.
Aside from all this, the front window is misalligned, most likely due to bending/deformities of the chassis from the hit to the driver's side door. This is sure to have a bunch of water leak into the car.
The A/C is totally non-functional, and the owner refused to admit it didn't work. He only said, "Well, it was just working yesterday" when I asked why it wasn't cool in the car. Don't know of an A/C that "works" part-time.
The car drove ok overall, shifting was smooth. Clutch was good. Intake (aftermarket...K&N popcharger) sounded nice. However, there was a bad vibration in the steering wheel at civilian speeds. We got out, and I checked the rear tires. They were upgraded rims, and the rear tires are 225's. The stock width is 245. The brand is not well-known, which means they were probably very cheap. The offset on the rims looks wildly off-par, and looks like the wrong offset for the NSX...from the wheel wells, they stick out further than Pamela Anderson's chest!
The seller Charlie disclosed a scant few records from Acura service. In one of the entries, it says the car was hit from the rear and sustained rear damage in addition to the front driver's side damage. This occured sometime in 2004 according to the date on the invoice. Rear pieces had to be ordered for the taillight assembly, etc. The ownder denied any accidents on the car, and when asked why the car was repainted, he simply replied, "I dunno." He kept reiterating that carfax was clean, but we all know carfax only reports damage when the cops are called to the scene of an accident. If your car gets hit by a friend, the cops would never know, and thus car fax would never know either.
That said, if you're a buyer in the Florida region and don't mind dropping nearly $40 g's on a car in fair shape (you'll definately have to make repairs, including A/C which is expensive, new rims with the correct offset, new rear tires to correct wrong width, repair front window misallignment, and the hit you'll take from future buyers detecting that the car was in an accident...it all adds up), then I say go for it. But, if you want to spend 40 g's and have a great buying experience from an honest seller, I'd definately say shop elsewhere. This was one of the most dishonest sellers I've ever met. Someone who makes me drive 1,600 miles, THEN discloses that the car had been repainted, THEN when I still go and see the car, theres a LOT more major issues which he conveniently left out, and then sarcastically says, "What do you expect me to do? Cut you a check for the gas? Ha!" does not sound like the kinda guy i'd like to buy a car from. You decide. Thats my experience with this NSX.
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