Tuffguy610

Hello all,
My name is Mike and I am from the Philadelphia area. I just joined ScionLife and I have been scouting the local listings for Scions for a few weeks. I finally test drove one today that was listed for sale privately. The carfax came up clean, and the people selling the car seem honest and straight forward. The car has 62,000 miles on it and it is a manual transmission. They are asking $7100 and they are negotiable in price. The car drives great and does not squeak, leak or shake. However, the car does have some cosmetic flaws from being in the city and parked on the street (a few scratches). Do any of you have an idea of what this car is worth? I plan to offer $6,000 because it is going to need some minor cleaning and reconditioning. Can I expect to get another 100,000 miles out of this car with routine maintenance? I plan on making the purchase soon, but wanted to get some advice. Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

xBleach

If the scratches are few and minor then your offer is pretty low. $7100 is a fair market value for private party for that car. A dealer may be asking $8500 for the same car; just detailed a little better. (maybe)

The few xA's that have been driving a lot have gotten up near 200k miles with only minor maintenance. You can expect easily 180,000 miles out of the engine and most major components.

Occam

It's a better styled and appointed Toyota Echo. You can't kill those things!

(My ex-wife had a 2003 Echo... I remember thinking "If they could lose the frumpy styling and the cheapo appointments, this car would be a great success." It was surprisingly fun to drive, with a great engine and transmission duo. Less than a year after she bought it, the Scions hit the market.

xars2.0

Mike,

If I were you, I'd buy it. I bought mine 2 years ago with 25k on in for $10400...which was high, but it was exactly the one I wanted. Too, there was a guy on here up in PA or VA selling his RS w/ a turbo in it, I do believe...might want to see if you can find him and see if his is still for sale. If I hadn't bought mine before seeing his, I would have bought his.

Bottom line, I've got about 88k on the car now and it's perfect; I've never had any problems. Above all, it's still a toyota so you're going to be able to drive it until the wheels fall off. A lot of the maintenance can be done at home, same for if you want to change things about the appearance, styling, etc. Wiring is very easy to change in the car and all the pieces just pop off (which is scary at first), but it's nice so your mods are easier to do.

I'd offer 6k but if they don't go for it, I'd take it at selling price.

Tuffguy610

Thanks for the reply xARS2.0, I already bought one. I think the post is around here in the engine section. I got a different one thru a Scion dealer (non RS 2.0) with 4,000 more miles on it, way less scratches/rust, and a warranty for $7300 out the door after all was considered. Its been a good car so far, but I hit a massive pothole while merging on a high speed highway and I think I need an alignment now . Once the alignment, new belts, and new fluids are done, I think I'll tint it, put some HID headlights in it and just cruise it!

xars2.0

Congrats! Sounds great! Welcome to life with an xA Feel free to ask if you need any help with anything!

frbl

Congrats, Tuffguy610! I just noticed from your byline that you are in Aston, PA - if you see a silver 2005 xA that would be me! If you need help with something let me know. I've done all kinds of things to mine from maintenance (changing brakes, struts, shocks) to silly (a bypass filter!) to repair (just fixed my spiral cable/clockspring).

Mind you, I'm an old guy (47) so I haven't done any JDM or "ricer" things to mine. Still, I'd be glad to help with any questions you might have.

Tuffguy610

Hey frbl,
Nice to hear u are in the area. My xA is just a run of the mill metallic blue one all stock. I may do stuff eventually, but I save the modding for my 99' LS1 Camaro. I am very familiar with cars, but what is a bypass filter (pvc valve?) and what is a spiral cable/clockspring? I get scared when I don't know what something is at this point!

frbl

bypass filter = oil filter that routes small percentage (10%) of oil flow and filters down to 1 or 2 microns. Full flow filters filter down to 15 microns or so. A fair amount of wear is caused by particles between the 2-15 micron range. Most people would say that the wear saved is still minimal in the average life of an average gasoline powered car. (It is much more important for soot-producing diesel engines). Still I want this car to last as long as possible. I have 150,000 miles now.

Spiral cable/Clockspring = device in the steering wheel that routes wiring for the horn and airbag circuitry and/or also steering wheel audio controls and/or cruise control controls. It is designed to prevent the wires from getting tangled up while steering. It is essentially a wound ribbon cable in the steering column. Mine wore down and set off the SRS (airbag) light. I had to research it and diagnose it to figure out what exactly was wrong.

Super-Stormtrooper07

Where exactly is this bypass filter located?

frbl

It is a system I added on that draws a small percentage of oil from the oil pressure port (a small tee was installed routing oil to the pressure sensor as well as to the bypass system). The oil goes to the bypass filter which I squeezed into a space by the passenger side strut mount. After it is filtered, the oil is returned to the system via hose attached to the oil pan drain bolt via a banjo bolt.

I'll have to try and get some pictures. I just have a lousy cell phone camera though.

zzbear

At 135k I hit a deer and had to replace most of the front body panels. After the accident, it looked like a demolition derby car - no grill or front fender, driver's side quarter panel mostly gone. Absolutely no mechanical damage except for the wiring (headlights, fuse box). Even the police couldn't believe the car was drivable. This weekend I'm having to do my first repairs - exhaust finally gave out from cat back (I do live in Michigan), tuneup (bad ignition coil), and clockspring change - airbag light is on.

A previous poster mentioned the "snap together" qualities of this car - everything from door panels to dash snap or screw off easily. I inherited a newer Taurus and was going to sell the xA - after finding out how much repairs cost on the Taurus, the xA is staying. It's too much fun to drive and cheap to own.

Nexyss

I just installed a hitch on mine, and had to lower the exhaust to do it. If you are installing the new exhaust yourself, I would highly recommend buying an exhaust hanger removal tool. I fought with that stupid exhaust hanger for a little bit, and bloodied up a finger before searching for a better way. The tool is only $18 on Amazon, and will save a ton of grief.