2006 Imola Red Vert auto $18,599.00 72k

[oldzilla]

http://www.carmax.com/enus/view-car/...results%20page

[yura]

The car is 6MT.

[ELCID86]

Very nice. Added to the registry.
VIN: WBABW53466PJ97661

[Dearg-due]

Went and gave this one a look and a test drive.

Paint color and vibrancy was good, but a fair number of scratches and chips, some touched up, some not. Lots of rock chips on the very front of the hood, by the grille and lights, small, like less than the size of a BB, but a bunch, maybe 15-20.

A little minor curb rash on the wheels. Newish run flat tires.

Interior was generally clean, leather was pretty good, outer bolsters on both front seats showed light/moderate wear, CF trim on front doors was pretty bad, shift knob was really thrashed.

All the electronics (that I tested) work, top ran fine. Test drive (my first!) was fun, clutch engaged high, no hiccups shifting, steering was crisp, loved the sound of the engine.

A year-and-a-half ago, I think this would have been a killer car, but here's what I think happened (via CarFax):

Owners 1 & 2: 6 years, 41.5k miles
Owner 3: 1.5 years, 30k miles.

I asked and CarMax has no maintenance records for the car. Maintenance records are limited on the CarFax and only for the 1st owner.

Somewhat disappointing for a 230 mile round trip from Laguna Beach to Oxnard, topped off when (in what I can only describe as a fit of pique and jealousy) my current car (Dearg Due, a temperamental tornado red '03 VW GLI) decided to develop starting problems (and throwing codes) IMMEDIATELY after I drove past her while test driving the Imola Red 'vert.

Sigh ...

[fredo]

For that price, I would expect a car in mint condition. At least you have a comparison reference for your next test drive. GL !

[Dearg-due]

For that price, I would expect a car in mint condition.

Yeah, I kept trying to explain that to the really nice saleswoman. She just kept saying "but it's an 8-year-old-car, what do you expect???", while I bit my tongue.

She was really cute, and really nice, I kinda felt bad, but, I was never going to buy the car, no matter how clean, since it was a convertible and I'm sent on either a coupe or sedan. But this was a car that looked like it spent the last year-and-a-half aging in dog years. There was a '06 vert (6mt, but black sapphire) that came on the O.C. market at dealer a couple of weeks past that was listed for 20,995 (37k miles) and sold within a week, 10 days max. With no pictures ever posted, anywhere. It may not have gotten 100% of what they were asking, but I'll bet a nut they got close to it. *That* one was worth the premium. This one ... was just the shortest distance to a reasonably clean 6mt that I could find since I wanted to get out and actually start looking at cars to give me some knowledge of baselines ...

At least you have a comparison reference for your next test drive.

Exactly.

Which will be ... this, tomorrow:

http://tinyurl.com/ljkcfab

I won't be buying it either, since it's another 'vert (AND an auto), but at least it will give me another research point. It looks pretty clean though, so I'm excited for that. I'll post some notes afterwards.

GL!

Thanks!

[3ZHPGUY]

Went and gave this one a look and a test drive.

Thanks for sharing

When I saw this post the other day, I did a quick check on Edmund's to see what my wife's 2006 Vert was worth. Her's with everything possible except the ZHP performance package and 10K less miles and selecting dealer perfect condition, Maxed out at 16,105. Changing hat out to include 18 inch wheels (the only ZHP sig option) and it only bumps the price $412.00.

I was hoping her car might be worth 18K but, knew it was to good to be true.

[Dearg-due]

Not that anyone is probably looking at this car, but it's the same one as is in this Autotrader listing:

6mt 2006cic

Well, for a higher price and without the extended warranty ...

LOL, Carmax ...

[johnrando]

Nothing wrong with an auto vert.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

[Dearg-due]

Nothing wrong with an auto vert.

True.

But this one's a poor 6mt that spent the last 30k chasing a gravel truck, from what I saw ...