Hello Community,

I am new to the Camaro Forums community and to muscle cars in general. Computers is my sweet spot, you can ask my anything about it and I can help! However, when it comes to cars, I am slowly learning!

I sold my GSX-R a few months ago and have been interested in Trans Am's or Camaro's. I really like the way they look and sound with SLP Loudmouth exhaust. I have been looking for a 1998-1999 Trans Am or Camaro (which ever fits my price range or I can get at a good price) for a few months now. All the ones (in my price range $4,500-$5,500) I have looked at are not in the greatest condition. They either have ripped liners, shattered dashes, or leather is tore to shreds. I know it will not be perfect, but would prefer one where I don't have to dump a lot of money into it.

Right now, I am looking at a 1998 Camaro Z28 for sale. It has 174,416 miles. It is going for $2,995? Is it worth the $3K and getting with 174K miles? Is there any potential/foreseeable problems if the future that I may encounter?

Here is the Carfax: CARFAX Vehicle History Report for this 1998 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z28

Here is the car: 1998 Chevrolet Camaro $2,995 - Coughlin Automotive - London - London, OH 43140 Dealer

Any advice from the community would be appreciated.


Here are some more pictures that the dealer took today and sent me. For 3K the car looks in really good shape. He also told me that they just replaced the clutch. He mentioned the owner of the car woks at the dealer and traded it in for a truck.
















Thanks

 

Here is more.

 

wow for that price whats wrong with it?? must be a 5 speed. trans was checked for some reason in the last service wonder what that was about,

 

He told me the trans check was for a clutch replacement.

 

be worth taken for a drive and lookin over. 3k for a good ride is hard to do.

 

Would wonder why the second owner did not drive it much and sold it only months later after purchasing it.

Regardless, for taht price range you won't find much better than that. Now whether or not that car is worth that price is up to you. In all honesty, I would save up another couple grand as the quality of car will be much better for only a couple thousand more. 175k is a lot of mileage for a car in general, let alone a sports car that may have been driven hard through its life, and buying from a dealer limits the information you can gather as to how it was driven and treated. Personally, I say save up a bit more and buy a newer (01-02) with less miles on it.

 

That is a nice car at a good price but I'd be afraid of those miles

 

Thank you all for your opinions. I am going to test drive the car today. Someone recommended that I check the car for this :

Run it through the gears and see how the car shifts. Especially with that 'transmission checked' tag toward the end of the carfax. Check around the trunk lip for rust around the welds on the inside of the rear quarters (water gathers there)

Check your weather seals
Check for slow/sluggish windows
Check for ill fitting door panels (sign of shoddy motor replacement/install)
Listen to the valve train, there will be some ticking (sounds like an industrial sewing machine) and that's normal.
Listen to the transmission as you shift, any whining? Listen to where it comes from too, toward the clutch or towards the rear diff?

I'll post back after I test drive. If I see anything out of the ordinary I will take a picture and post it.

 

I'm gonna say I'm impressed with how clean that interior is after all those miles, my door panels are no where near as nice as those are!

That thing appears to be well put together, check the t-tops to make sure they don't leak also, thats a common thing and if you don't buy it, tell me where this is, because I might just make the trip

 

why???

I'd defy you to find issues with my 95 with almost 200k miles on the body.

If he finds that the clutch has been replaced within the past 40k miles and the tranny is in good shape then he might be looking at $3k motor work in the next year or so

If he gets the car for the high price of $3k, tosses in brakes and tires then in a year or so he's have about $6500 into a car with a refreshed engine and what looks like good paint/body/interior

We could never recover the money we have in the 95 but there's no need. It's all rebuilt and repainted this year. But again, almost 200k miles on the body