Quote:
Originally Posted by dbarton62
Unless you get really lucky I think 5k is not reasonable for a 3.0.
You may get lucky but more than likely at that price there will be many thousands $$ worth of maintenance and new parts required to bring to standard.
Cooling system and suspension come to mind of what I had to replace immediately.
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+1
I would also add, get a pre-purchase inspection done and don't buy the first car you find!
In October 2016 I picked up a 2003 automatic 3.0i with 121k miles. I didn't know much about these cars other than I REEEEEEALLY wanted one. So I drove from So. Cal to Vegas where I did a visual inspection and agreed to buy the car for $5.5k after a 10 minute test drive.
Since then, I've probably dropped another $2k - $3k on a newer (working) convertible top, 2x thermostats, newer suspension, spark plugs, oil sensors, a front bumper refresh, new stereo, and various odds and ends.
If I were to go through the process again, I would probably have budgeted about $10k, and would have looked for a 2006+ manual..
Nevertheless, it's been very enjoyable getting to work on this thing and getting to know the M54 engine...
Good luck on your search!