Hello all. New here. Just wanted to come to a place to get some advice.

I am obviously a young male in search for a car, have never doubted the Camaro's likability from this gen. Still very quick.

Have been looking around for several cars (very into cars, so not buckling down on choosing just 1 car to look for).

Found a '94 z28 6-speed not too far from where I live. Blue exterior (pics shown below), price $2600 neg but "cash talks" statement from seller, so definitely willing to go down in price.

It has 140k miles, claims to be adult driven its whole life, new tires, new brakes, new battery and flowmasters. It is, however, a hardtop. I would like t-tops.

My real question is: Do you think, (if the above statements are true), it's a good deal?

Also, what's the average MPG for a z28 6-speed driver here with a little of a heavy foot? It would be a big change from my 99 camry le v6 daily driver that gets roughly 28 on highway trips and 22 mixed driving I'm sure. Especially with the regular to premium gas conversion price.

And the biggest question: How's reliability on these models at these high miles? It's obviously below average for it's year, but still high for me, am I going to be putting a lot of money into this car after the sale (I know it depends on the maintenance of the person before me). But in general.

Thanks for your time fellas.

 

How dependable the car will be wll be directly related to how well it have been maintained and used. How long have the current owner had the car? did he buy it from a friend? What someone tells you about the car should not mean as much as what you can tell by looking.

Does your family have a mechanic? Someone you can trust? Not a hobbiest unless he is a Camaro hobbiest. A pro mechanic can tell how a car has been maintained.

These cars can be money pits if you do not do all your own work. You figure if it needs a clutch, and Opti and head gaskets (typical repairs) that will cost more then the car if you pay to have someone else to do it.

Car is worth the money even as a project car but if you need this car to be a daily driver right away get it checked out. Also check on insurance before you buy.

 

Gonna carfax it later today, but said that it's a two-owner car and the guy selling it now purchased it 14-18 months (in that range) from manufacturer's date. So he would have owned it for 14 years roughly. Under my dad's insurance, the quote is probably not too bad at all for a '94, it won't even be under my name. The guy selling it is a mechanic (he's selling it for a friend) and has supposedly done all the work on the car.

 

That mechainc has a vested interest in the selling of the car. You need to have a mechanic that answers to you and that has no involvment in the selling other then judging the current state of the car (should cost less around 50$. Like I said these cars can be money pits, deep money pits. Just getting the headgaskets done could cost you $1500 . Opti/water pump $1000+ and a decent clutch almost 1K, If it need a brake job and a set of tires... well you get my point, the other thing is he is selling it too cheap. The 6 speed cars with high miles normally sell in the 3-4K range. I have seen 6 speed cars with blown motors sell for $2300. Just the transmission setup is worth $1200 to a hot rodder building a car.

You will want to check the insurance. I have a daughter on my insurance who is 20. For me to insure my 6 speed Z28 with just the min insurance required is twice what my V6 cost. I talked to my agent and he said once she is off the policy the V8 will only be about 20% more then the V6. She not even listed as the driver but here in PA everyone on a policy is covered to drive any car, that is the law.

If you are not a mechanic, anytime you buy a a car 5 years old or older you should get it checked out by a Pro. Anytime you see a car for sale under market price there is a good chance it is being dumped, anytime someone has their mechanic "helping" them sell a car there is a good chance it is being dumped instead of repaired. I was a Pro and I used to get paid to go to auction to check out cars before they where bought. You would not believe the amount of cars that go thru an auction with masked problems hoping two guys will miss the issue and buy it at full wholsale price. The old term "buyer beware" fits the used car market better then any other.