Ran across a pretty nice IS300 with OEM manual 5-speed. He's asking 6500 but it has a little over 200k miles. Not sure on LSD or much other info yet but pictures look good with maybe a repaint at some point.
I think the asking is too high for mileage but I'm also don't know a lot about these cars. What would you pay?
Seems, like a solid price to me, assuming it's been maintained well and doesn't have too many stupid mods.
For reference, I have a friend in California who couldn't find a manual one under 10k - it ended up being significantly cheaper for him to buy an automatic one and manual swap it...
I've got an acquaintance that recently sold his, '02, quality performance parts, exhaust, Ohlins coilovers, fancy wheels, higher end stereo, etc. and a whole bunch of really recent preventative maintenance done, parts replaced. The car had 250K miles on it, he listed it at $7,200 and it sold in <8 hours. I'm not sure if he got asking price, but as quick as it sold, I imagine he must have gotten pretty close to asking.
I paid 6500 for a manual sport pack one with 140k on it a while back. It needed a rear bumper cover. I sold my srt turbo, manual swapped sportx for 16,5.
This thing looks like it was bro'd hard. Id pass on it unless you absolutely gotta have one.
Wasn't really looking at them but seems like a good price then. Still trying to get more info on it though. It's a lot cleaner than most of the other is300s around here that's for sure
Those cars are very, very expensive for what they are even in rough shape. I wouldn't buy it, but that seems about normal.
I really liked the IS300, but man, that seems expensive for what it is with that many miles.
But if you have to have one, it sounds like that’s what they go for.
Tk8398 said:Those cars are very, very expensive for what they are even in rough shape. I wouldn't buy it, but that seems about normal.
That has always seemed to be the case in my experience. I started shopping them in 2006 when they were more common. I quickly moved on to E46s which, dollar for dollar, usually had 50% to 75% of the mileage on them.
In reply to Duke :
10 years ago I owned a 5-speed IS300, and then owned an E46 330 a few years later. The only real thing the IS had going for it was general Japanese quirkiness and cheaper maintenance cost. The fuel mileage was abysmal and the front seats were impossible to get comfortable in.
I would have another if the goal was to heavily modify it, I also think the styling has aged very well, but it objectively was a worse car than the E46.
These cars are not deprecating like the german counterparts because they are anvils, with 200k my manual sedan (which I beat like a redheaded stepchild) was absolutely resolutely reliable. Dynamically they can use some stiffer bushings and good spring/damper combo or coilovers (I had kw v3s on my sportx and they were very very good). Some breathing mods and cams work wonders if you're not boosting, but we all know you really should be ;)
The w series trans is not super strong (350 wheel is considered the approximate practical limitation) and there are some great manual trans swap options. R154/ax15/ar5 is pretty good, v160 is expensive and geared kinda wrong, g35-350z trans is problematic from my experience, If I was doing it again, I'd do a tr6060 or t56 (there are kits). The rear ends are stout as are the axles. The driveshafts are strong but the u joints arent serviceable so I went with a dss one piece and it was good.
I've never seen a manual one without an lsd but its worth checking theres a tag on the drivers door jam that can be decoded with an internet search. If not a brz diff is the same but geared a bit shorter. I had an auto one in my sportx and it was nice to have the shorter gears 3.9 vs 3.7 iirc.
I think the fact that few MTs were built is also a factor in the price. Edit: Maybe not, seeing some similar prices for autos in my area with similar miles. Yikes.
The reliability is definitely the draw, as Carbon mentioned.
The car I drove felt like a lot of an E46, plus some interesting styling, minus the BMW ownership worries. If the MPGs weren’t so bad, I’d be after one myself.
Everybody talks about BMW worries, but I drove my E46 for 11 years and 130,000 miles. It never once stranded me and in that whole time I did brakes, 1 battery, 2 window regulators, and a window switch. All of which were cheap and easy to do.
We’re in a global pandemic. Real unemployment is high. Bankruptcies are high. Prices on toys are.......um......well.....high. Go figure. I haven’t been able to figure it out. Last year $6500 would have been laughable. This year, not so much.
A 401 CJ said:We’re in a global pandemic. Real unemployment is high. Bankruptcies are high. Prices on toys are.......um......well.....high. Go figure. I haven’t been able to figure it out. Last year $6500 would have been laughable. This year, not so much.
I agree, we live in a really bizarre time. Stocks are really high too, with the exception of companies heavily in real estate. In my area houses in the bottom to middle of the market routinely sell for 20-25% above list. The average house price here is up 30% year over year. People are normally more cautious during a recession (or depression as the case may be!), but not this one... The other thing is that the top 25% percentile has basically recovered in terms of jobs. A lot of these people saved an unusual amount of money this year, hence the ability to splurge on toys. The bottom 25% has a very high unemployment rate and is no where near where they were this time last year. I suspect this car would be purchased by a young guy, who would very likely be in the bottom half.
It's a niche car and it looks attractive, so it's possible it's priced correctly if the right buyer can be identified. I personally wouldn't be in the market for any 200k mile car.
You'll need to log in to post.
