[Shotimes] Car Buying ?s - Long

[Ron Porter]

Boy, you dovetailed right into my stance the other day that well-maintained,
high-mileage cars can be a better deal for a daily driver than a low-mileage
car for more money.....

At any rate, you can be a "test case" for >200k mile V8s! Should be fine, as
long as maintenance was kept up.

How new is the tranny? In reality people sweat the cams, but once you spend
the $500-800 to get them welded, that's a done deal, and the next regular
maintenance item will be torque converters and trannies.

I feel that it can go another $100K, but there will be some $$$ spent on
maintenance during that time.

FWI, one of the reasons that, after 15 years of having SHOs as daily
drivers, I moved on as my work "commute" involves either going to the
airport, or driving some distance to a job site. If I had a <10 mile
commute, an old used car would work fine. I wanted reliability (and all
weather ability...hence the AWD). Doing a 90-mile round-trip to the airport
with a failing SHO alternator was not my idea of a "comfortable commute"!

Ron Porter

-----Original Message-----
From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net]
On Behalf Of Scot Hewitt
Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 10:55 PM
To: shotimes@autox.team.net; v8sho@v8sho.com
Subject: [Shotimes] Car Buying ?s - Long

Here's my scenario, I am currently selling my daily driver 94 Sable w/ 3.8L,
107k, reliable car, functional A/C, good motor & tranny, and no rust.  Good
car, served use well for 6 years, but I think it is time to upgrade.  I
bought an Expedition a couple of years ago for my use, but my wife
confiscated it immediately...  If I was a real man, I would put her back in
the kitchen and take the truck, but I guess I'm just a sucker. :)

One option that I have been kicking around is a Gen III SHO for my daily
driver.  I can go two directions, high mileage w/ welded cams, or a lower
mileage SHO - but the cams generally have not been welded.  The one I've
been looking at is approx. $3k, but it has 170k.  Welded cams, new tranny,
functional A/C, and all of the typical maintenance items have been kept up.
Enthusiast owners, but maintenance history only goes back to 100k.  The
lower mileage SHO's I've seen (98 @ 80k, 99 @ 65k) have actually been in
worse condition, the interior's worn, door dings, A/C marginal, tranny due,
etc.  Basically treated like a regular SLO.  Cost for the lower mileage
typically doubles to $6k.

So I ask you, would a well maintained 170k SHO last for another 100k?  Would
the motor last another 100k?  Or should I look at something more reliable?
I do my own maintenance, so little things won't bug me too bad.  But I do
rely on my daily driver to get me to the airport for work once a month or
so.

I want a Gen III SHO, but it seems they may have left the realm of
"reliable".

I'm looking for opinions, so don't hold back!

Thanks,
Scot H
95 Red MTX - 72k
98 EB Expy
94 Sable SLO 




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