[builthatch]

welp, i went and checked the car out today. the owner was very nice and accomodating. he had his wife drive it to his tile business and it was parked inside.

Armand from VAC came up and helped me out with a PPI.

mechanically, the car is great. no weird sounds, leaks, seepage - there was one small hose for what i assume is to a coolant reservoir that looked like it needed replacement but everything worked as expected.

the problem? the car is trashed cosmetically, at least on the outside. it had dings and deep scratches all over the place. it had a full on dent middle-high on the passenger side door and a more crease-like dent underneath. the front d-side fender had two vertical scratches that were laser straight and had creases to go along with them. major ones. the driver side door had a dent positioned rather high and also a lower ding. the front lip was attached by a parking block and cracks eminated from that into the portion of the valance above it. i couldn't not believe the condition of the vehicle for being driven so little and garaged.

the owner, as i mentioned, was very nice, but ultimately - he's not a car guy. apparently he wasn't aware of the passenger side dent! this thing was the size of a football! he didn't notice the creases behind the scratches.

i felt terrible as i paid money for a PPI that wasn't necessary due to the cosmetic issues and also that such a gem of a car has been treated so poorly.

i threw him an offer that was a lot lower than he wanted but i don't care. it would take me a lot of money to make that car acceptable. it's a shame, it really is.

PS - i'm 6'4", 330...wide and not fat. i have driven a lot of cars. i'd say the tightest modern car for me has been the lotus exige. well, this car is tighter. the left shoulder area is non-existant for me. i could adjust as i always have, since i love small sports cars, but wow...i was amazed at how tight this thing is. it's not much bigger than the z3 coupes, if at all.