... hilarity ensued.
First off, the pictures don’t do it justice. This car had the SHIT beaten out of it by hail. Poor thing. I can’t believe the windows are intact. The windshield isn’t. It has a few cracks. In Colorado, everyone ignores this. I’ve never known anyone to ever get a ticket for it. I have a hook up, though, so I’ll probably get it replaced on the cheap. The mirrors... holy shit. They definitely broke during the hail, but their replacement is the material they use on toy cars. It’s like having blurry funhouse mirrors. They are useless. But I think I can fix it, and use it as a bargaining chip along with the windshield.
The interior is in great shape. In the picture in the earlier post, they looked really dirty. They actually aren’t. It was just some dust. The black fabric Hyundai uses just shows the dirt more. It seriously is the opposite of the exterior. It’s a Chameleon XLE!
The guy goes to start it and CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK. Ok, fine. A bad battery isn’t a deal breaker. The first thing he says when he goes to get the jump box is that they will replace the battery for free. They hook it up and it fired right up. They pull it out and I hop in and away I go by myself.
First thing I notice is the clutch feels perfect. The engage point is right where it should be, though it is a tad light. That’s how I remember the new one I drove a few years ago. It’s got plenty of pep and it sounds great. The car tracks straight, and even in a panic stop the car doesn’t pull in any direction. I’m absolutely surprised. I expected some issues since it was so cheap, but this thing runs like someone babied it. Even better, turns out it DOES have A/C and it works great.
Halfway through the test drive, I started to have some... issues. As in, the countdown has started. No big deal, pulled into a gas station, take care of it. Maybe some of you are seeing where this is going. I come back out, get into the car, and CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK. Dammit. Totally my fault. Oh, and it almost started, too! It might have if I hadn’t left the A/C on.
I’ve picked the most deserted gas station in Denver. There’s one other car and he doesn’t have cables. So, I wait a bit. I go inside and see they have some cheap cables for sale, and I know it’ll be easier to get someone to help if I actually have the cables, so I bought them. I needed a new set to replace the old set from my partner’s car anyway, no big deal.
Some dude in a Subaru Impreza pulls up and was nice enough to help. We get it all hooked up and after letting it sit for about 10 minutes it starts. I think there was a reason those cables were so cheap. Either that or the battery really does need to go.
The rest of the test drive was uneventful. Mechanically, it’s pretty well sorted. Other than the glass, mirrors, and battery, the only other issue is the TPMS lights are on. The standard exclamation mark in a cauldron and also a plain “TPMS” light. I think there’s a bad sensor in one of the tires.
I like this little thing. I think once the battery is replaced it’ll be a good little beater. Holy balls it looks like hell though. Once the CU gets my gap payment (which should be sometime this week) I can then talk to them about arranging the extremely short term loan. Hopefully it’ll still be there, and I think it might given how sad it looks.