Scotty, a private seller near me is selling his 2005 Ford Freestar for $1,300 bucks. It has a little over 200,000 miles on it but he says it has a clean title and no mechanical issues. Would this be a good deal for me to buy?
Depending on what you expect from it - I wouldn't expect much, they're terrible money pits especially with that kind of millage.
But if you can't find anything else, like a relatively low milage Ford Focus with a DuraTec engine and a manual (also usually cheap but not that huge of a money pit from my experience), for $1.3k if you're aware that you'll spend probably more then that in a year of driving on repairs alone - maybe.
No.
he says it has a clean title and no mechanical issues
and you believed him?
I agree, don't get into this especially with 200k on it. I had a 2000 Windstar with just over 120k on it that had endless problems and it had a new transmission when I bought it at 80k. I traded it in for a '07 Toyota Sienna a couple years ago and got $500 for the Windstar. If you buy it the good news is there are lots of them in junk yards if you need parts, but I think they only made these things for 4 or 5 years. Save up and buy a used Sienna, preferably a 2007 or later as that's when they started using timing chains. Look at the vans currently on the road. Most of them are Sienna's because they last. Best of luck to you.
We had a slimeball come to the forum a little while ago, who was trying to sell that exact vehicle -- a 2005 Freestar with 210,000 miles -- in the TX, TN area.
