Hello All, I'm a longtime member (mostly lurker) that used to own a 2003 GLE. I sold the car about 3 years ago with 216k miles to get a bigger vehicle for the family. At the time I chose to keep my wife's Dodge Neon because I only had a 6mi round trip drive to work. Now I commute about 70mi a day and the Neon is just not cutting it anymore.

I've been searching for a car for awhile now and I keep coming back to the 5.5 Max; partly due to the fact that it meets a lot of my needs and I'm cheap so crappy resale is a plus.

Anyway, I came across a 2003 White GLE (tan interior) with lots of options (heated package, sunroof, Nav) and best of all only 51k original miles for $7000.

I looked at the car today and it was very nice overall. The only issues were a fairly worn driver seat and steering wheel (I'm kind of surprised by this considering the low miles), a few scuffs and scrapes, the beginning of the famous rear wheel well rust (I think it's early enough to salvage), and broken Nav buttons (dealer is having this fixed in the next couple days).

The body is in otherwise great shape, it's clean under the hood, the lower radiator support is not rusted out, the rest of the seats have barely been used, the headlights are not too hazed yet, and transmission shifts nice.

My main concerns are that while the miles are low, it's still a nearly 12yr old car. I have some concerns with the Nav and how long it will last since it's not really possible to replace it with anything aftermarket. I worry that it is an oil burner and not finding out until after I buy it.

I would obviously try to negotiate a lower price if I were to buy but what does everything think? Is it worth buying another Max or should I move onto something else?

Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

 

Don't buy it $7000 is too much the broken navi buttons would never be fixed ,sounds like something a shady sales peeps would say....plus there's no easy way to go aftermarket with the climate control buttons on the stock navi.

The miles are always suspect for being so low ,so unless an obese was the prev owner and that person was getting all their stuffing in and out maybe. You can get a G for 7k...imho

 

:facepalm
not for 7graaaand!! for that price it should be a leather SE with a 6speed manual and working nav. keep looking for the next one

 

Better options out there for $7,000.00

 

although not always 100% accurate, I'd run a carfax on it and confirm the mileage etc.. Or better yet, have the used car dealer run the carfax for you, right in front of you. The condition of the car doesn't seem to really match the mileage.

Condition and great maintenance records trumps mileage IMO. 7k is too much for this car, keep looking.

 

The dealer did provide an autocheck report and everything checks out on there. I know $7k is too much but not sure what a fair price would be. I would actually love a G but the ones I've seen for this price have three times the mileage. I appreciate the advice and will keep looking.

 

If you're really interested offer $3000 final offer all 20's i mean hundreds.lol and that's fair imho.

I'll rather take my chances on a fully loaded 07+ g with 150k mi for 7k than the max for real tho'

 

51k is really low, but i've seen vehicles with that kind of mileage in worse shape mechanically and cosmetically than mine with 235k.

Used cars are only as good as their previous owner. I paid 8k for mine in 2009. IMO if you can get it for 5 and accept that it might be an oil burner, or rather, will probably be an oil burner go for it.

Mine burned oil until 207k when the engine gave out. Sucks, but just add oil and it was fine. Changed to an 08 altima engine and zero oil consumption

Bar none, this has been the most reliable vehicle i've owned. The ONLY major job on it has been the engine.

 

Dodge Neon is an Awesome budget car...especially if you're piling up 70 mi/day! Too me I would think a Neon would be more economic and better on the wallet than a V6 powered sedan!

 

The Neon is pretty good on gas but I'd give up a few mpg to get the V6 power back. I average 30-32mpg with it. When I had my Max I got upper 20's in similar driving conditions.