My max has about 113k on it and I'm unhappy with the body and a few other things. I found this today and I'm considering a purchase but apparently someone else is interested and will be looking at it later this eveing...

http://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/de...8230/overview/

What do you guys think? Should I stick with what I have or go with the SE?

I have..
2002 GLE
113K

Could buy...
2002 SE
58k

 

I should note the reasons I'm considering the purchase...

- Lower mileage
- I'm worried about oil consumption (right now my Max burns little to no oil but I'm at 113k)
- Body of the new car is in really good shape and I want to paint my bumper and have some body work done
- My driver's seat doesn't work

While test driving the low mileage car I did hear a sound going in reverse that I don't hear in my Max. It almost sounded like a grinding noise but it was hard to tell. I went back into the shop while they had the car on a lift and control arms looked good, rotors/brakes looked fine, no play in the wheels.

EDIT: Another question I had was that this SE didn't have TCS. Is this common with SE models?

 

Nothing has TCS except GLEs.

 

Good to know, I figured it was a difference between models.

 

Lol I have TCS in my '03 SE
it was optional on all SE's except if you got the Titanium edition
the SE models can pretty much be spec'd out like a GLE

but that SE looks really nice

 

Externally, this "new" car looks good. According to Kelley's BB, the maximum you should pay for this car - and only if in excellent condition - is $5,800. However, the car you are looking at has a transmission problem. I am pretty certain that it will cost you at least $2.5K, and more likely about $4.5K, to have it fixed. Does this still look like a good deal?

P.S. Why did the previous owner sell it? Why - what do you you think?

 

highly doubt it has a tranny problem, something is loose somewhere

 

I appreciate the responses, but ultimately I passed. In the end it didn't make sense to me to buy the same car and most likely have to go through replacing all the same things I've already replaced on my current GLE. I'll probably have the bumper/fender re-done and ride it out until the bitter end.