Hi,
In short, I'm with BIG GUY and was going to write the same, but he beat me to it.
Mate you have asked all the questions and got all the answers. IMHO you have done your research now make your decision based on that information. If you didn't want people's opinion then you shouldn't have asked. I know you're looking at an older car, but if theres one thing that I have ALWAYS put weight on when I buy cars is, its history, and you seem to have is its ENTIRE history in front of you. Let me explain a little history here:
~Brother in law's first car: $45000 lancer, straight out of the showroom with every conceivable mod and accessory. It was back in the workshop more than it was out. He sold it 2 years later for $23000 or something ridiculous like that, bad choice!
~Brother in laws car 2: AU Falcon from VIC. We drove there, inspected it, got its history, paid a deposit, drove there again next weekend picked it up. It had 70km on it, cost $13k and went like a dream for 5 long years, sold it for $8k.
~Current car: 08 STX Navara, 70km on it, cost $30k, hoping for many years of trouble free motoring, again, bought it sight unseen from Victoria, but full service history and owners history who had done everything at Nissan where his dad worked..servicing.. repairs.. accessories..
~My recent cars: Nissan patrol 02 3.0 with 180km on it, flew to sydney, paid over the net sight unseen from a holden Dealer, drove it home. It had a full history, went like a dream for 3 years, sold it for EXACTLY what we paid for it.
~My 3rd last car...Falcon AU SR wagon, bought for $7000 from a salesrep from TIPTOP who'd had it from new. It had 240km on it, heaps for a petrol engine, we put it on LPG, had it for 4 years, put another 50km on it, and sold it for $5000, and had spent NO money on it, again, heavily based on its verifiable "history"..
~My second last car: 03 Navara STR deisel ute, bought locally for $14k with....280km on it. Had service history, one owner, needed new tyres and a newclutch which we did and it went like a dream. Interiior was spotless, a few scraps and scratches on the outside from its previous life as a landscaper's truck towing 2T trailer all day, but went like a dream. towed our 2T ski boat up to the river with ease and did a few 4wd trips wonderfully. It was perfect until I drove it into a tree on a shooting trip (queens bday long weekend...yep 3 weeks ago) and....its dead...but thats another story but insurance paid us out to the negotiated value which we couldnt complain about in the end.
~Currently just got my 04 disco TD5 and LOVIN being back in one. I had a TDI years ago (bought and sold in 2 years, lost $10000 in resale...bad purchase from overpriced dealer) but we loved it and for many reasons we've gone back to a disco. Our new one is great, except trying to find bull bars and snorkels is like finding a pork chop in a synagogue! Fingers crossed it continues to be great... it was owned by a middle aged bean counter in perth from new, who sold it to upgrade to a brand new series 4 TDV6, and although its not in perfect nick, its exactly what we want. In SA theres one other MY03 "classic" for sale for DOUBLE the price at a local dealer who shall remain nameless... yep DOUBLE what we paid!!!! We're taking it from stock to: bigger tyres, lift kit, bull bar, XGT lights, CB, power chip, snorkel etc etc but it will still be the daily driver for the most part. All this will be done in the next 2 weeks ready for the Border Track, and we're excited. I just have to watch out for trees when I'm reversing!
In each one of these car purchases, we took a gamble, based on many factors, the major one of which was its history, both the history of its owners and its service history and in most cases, that gamble paid off.
My advice to you, is: take a risk..spend your $9000 and if all else fails, sell it, make a loss and welcome to reality.
Whatever you do, buy something, then stop looking at carsales or where-ever, dont doubt your decision. When you make your decision, I wish you all the best and I'm sure everyone on here will be keen to know what you did and how it went.
Enjoy!!!
PS: If your decision turns bad or good...post it here too and you never know someone else might be able to use that to help them make a good decision in the future.
