Yes I have. And normally, either the visual appearance or sound of the
engine running gives a lot of clues. And the test drive confirms it.
The over priced, but decent looking Aero that I was looking at is high
mileage. But it is also one owner from new, and from 1993->2004 has been
serviced and maintained by the same Saab dealership. It had a clutch and
new gearbox in 1994 (which is two high mileage expenses out of the way).
With every service stamp in place, and looking average to good for the
mileage inside. I'd we willing to spend a lot more attention looking at
it.

Yes, I know about hydaulic going or sticking. They are just normal
maintenance/acceptable expense. Smoky turbos, you check them out at the
test drive. High mileage doesn't necessarily mean a shagged blower. I
keep getting told that "your looking at a big bill arround 100,000 miles
with a turbo". The C900 had 118k miles on the T3 when I bought it. The
GT4 had 136k on it's original CT26. Both are still blowing strong,
especially the CT26 in the Celica which I drove to work in today. The
big difference from a lot of cars is, I got loads of documentation with
both these cars with stamps and reciepts showing that they had been well
maintained from new, until within a year of me buying them, and taking
over. And although not stamped, I've marked in the book when I changed
things and what I changed.

I would expect almost (note almost) any car with a 1 owner, and full
Saab dealership support reciepted and stamped to have had it's expensive
oil changed at the correct time too. I've done it on a car that cost
£90, and on a car that cost £1700, so why wouldn't someone who has owned
it since it cost upwards of £25k, especially when they paid a dealer to
do it.

Nope, I'm convincing myself that a particular model and marque of car is
brilliant. I'm the most skeptical person you can meet when it comes to
individual vehicles. In the past I've isulted lots of people when it
comes to fiding faults on the "pride and joy" that they are selling. It
is always worth money off. Especially if you are prepared to walk.

Cheers. That I didn't know, about the jacking.
The reason I specified the 2.3 over the 2.0 as my preference is for
simple DIY mechanic things like oil filter location.

Oh I plan to. I always plan to keep a car for long periods, but I get
bored. I could spend £600 for a low mileage later engine (an extreme fix
to an oil leak/usage problem I know, but you never know until you start
investigating) and a couple of hundred to get it fitted. Instead, I
fancy a change. Some people lose thousands on changing a new car every 3
to 5 years. I prefer that I can spend what I like on the car after I've
bought it, and if/when I lose after selling, it is in the hundreds
rather than in the thousands.

I plan to keep looking, but a good place to start is always useful.
Whether it is the best or the worst car you drive, at least you hav an
idea, from others opinions, before you get there. ;0

Hence the price ?

I gather if the auto box goes you might as well scrap the car from the
financial perspective. Incidentally, just reading the owner's manual - on
manuals the TCS works on the throttle and brakes. On autos it works on the
throttle only.

Graham

That actually does look nice.
Mileage reasonable.
Did fancy a darker colur or black hide, but you can't have everything at
that price.

Silver will do, my C900 was Silver.

Oh god, it's right on the edge of what I could scrape togther
immediatley, probably over actually.

Didn't expect a half decent car to turnup on the spot, right now.
Damn.

She will kill me if I buy it without making sure at least someone is
interested in my GT4.