akbass907

i am currently in the process of selling my toyota 4runner so i can buy a 2005 scion TC, completely stock with tiny dent in front bumper, other than that its perfect, the current owner is an idiot when it comes to mechanical ____ so i am curious about what kind of issues i could be looking at by getting this rig, it is a stick with 130k miles, anything i should look for before i purchase it? other than obvious things like slipping clutch, leaking fluids and how its fluids have been regularly changed.
any advice would be great, im super excited to get a scion and am already planning on rebuilding the motor and adding a turbo, and already have a full sound system ready to install including high output components front and back, 18inch sub, 3000rms of power, and a high output alternator is on order.

criminaltc

**Face in palm, shaking head**

akbass907

Problem?

criminaltc

Yeah, you want to put $20K into a $5,000 car.

torqueTc

iTrader: (11)

If your dumping that much cash into a 130k OLD car, get a Cert Pre Owned WRX. You live in Alaska. Get an EVO. Get something thats AWD. Get a AWD Juke or something. Your going to burn up a LOT of money, and get something that will turn out to be unreliable most likely. 130k is a lot of miles IMHO.

criminaltc

But Al, he's rebuilding the motor remember....

torqueTc

iTrader: (11)

Yeah, but I would wonder why rebuild, when you can get a used short/long block for much cheaper than trying to rebuild

Go to a wrecking yard OP, take cash and haggle them down.

But, you live in Alaska... I know how much snow I get here in Pennsylvania, and if it was worse than that - I'd score a AWD/4WD for my daily driver, and for your toy car, get whatever you want.

I guess what Tom and I are saying, is that if you do what you say you are going to do, you will waste a lot of money, and when/if you resell the car - you are not going to get crap back for it. Motor swapped or not.

Boosted tC's are great cars, no doubt - but whatever you "plan" on spending, double that for breaking parts, maintaining, trouble shooting, and wear and tear.

AND stay away from the TRD S/C unit. That WILL eat your motor at some point from either oil scavenging, bearing failure, or something else. Plus, it's not worth the little bump up it provides.

If you want something fun, and cheaper to do - just go I/H/E+ tune, and call it a day. Save some money for snow tires + cheap wheels. You WILL need it where you live.

The smarter thing to do, if you don't have money up front to "pay to play" would be deposit on something and finance. Look into a used Golf R, R32, WRX (bugeye for your budget?), EVO, Juke etc.

I found a 9,000 mile Golf R (2 years old) for what a new GTI sells for, with a full extended warranty for $26k.

If you want an affordable project, you can stay N/A and get a swapped civic hatch and tear up the streets. Seriously.

Tom and I both have boosted 8thgen civic SI's, and personally, I have never owned a car like that that was so responsive to boost. I have a Kraftwerks SC kit (google it) and I pull the crap out of STi's, 370z, and v8 stangs on the street. And its a total sleeper. Its so quiet, you just get up to 130mph and wonder what happened?! Go on youtube and type Kraftwerks vs. and see what the 8th gen's do. Or go for more power like Tom did, and be pretty much unbeatable on the streets.

06ScionTc5sp1

I know it's probably late for this and you probably got your car now, lol. My advice is to take that Scion for a test drive and see if it runs and drives. The amount of money you put into it is your thing. I just bought an 2006 Scion Tc (5spd) with 158,000 (hopefully highway minds :D) about 3 weeks ago. Any miles less than 170-200k is basically still low miles these days!!

Fuzzgumpies

I have an 05 with just over 100k miles, aesthetically modded (drivetrain hasnt been tampred with), I'll sell for the right price!