Ok heres the situation. I found a 2000 Civic Si (blue) for sale not too terribly far away. It has 113,000 miles and is totally stock except for some Tein Lowering springs. The only flaw is it has a crack in the rear bumper (idc about that). The engine and tranny is original and neither have had any problems or major repairs since the guy has had it.
Here's where i need some advice.

He was asking 7200 for it. I called to set up a test drive and he says somebody else offered 7200 and has already gone to the bank to get the money. This is a nice looking civic so i asked him if he would be willing to sell me it instead for 7500. I could afford this but due to my situation it would be a lot of "Mickey Mousing" and I'm scared about dropping 7500 bucks. Do i go in for the kill and just cough up the 7500? Or do i just let this one pass and pray to God there's another Blue Si that is pure and stock somewhere in Minnesota that is about to come out for sale???

 

How financially stable are you? thats what really matters. If you can afford it and not have to worry about your finances for the next few months than i say go for it.

 

Just my opinion and im sure alot of people will disagree but why pay 7500 for a si when u can pay less than $3k for a EX and then spend the rest on an engine swap and other goodies. The fact that this is a 'real' si is good for bragging rights but i dont think id want to spend the difference for just that.

 

I have a 2003 Ranger right now and i can get 7500 for it pretty easily i would think. I am using $2000 of money i have in the bank and then getting a $6000 loan. The problem comes in here. I can't sell my truck for another 8 weeks or so due to personal family issues. But i will eventually sell the truck and have plenty to pay off the $6000 loan. I am planning on leaving $1000 in the bank for emergencies. I am just concerned that something bad is going to happen between buying the Si and selling my truck. I have a job at least til the end of the year. I can make the loan payments for the time being.

(oh and I'm not getting an Ex and swapping the engine, doesn't really appeal to the re-sale market.)

 

a 00si is an em1, which 90% of them are either riced out, totalled, or stolen. so if its legit, i would get it lol.

 

It doesnt matter if you can get the money easily or not its why would you waste money you dont have to spend

 

Dude thats a bit high, i would have gave him $5,000 in cash in hand.

Another thing you should not do is fall in love with something you are about to buy, because once the owner see's you want it that much, it will be harder to talk him down in price, but here you are giving him more.

For $7 you can so much more then a stock civic Si
Ex with a H22
Ex with a b18b R
Ex with a b16a turbo
Ex with a V6
ect..

Dont be so fast to throw your money away.

 

I had him talked down to around 6500 but then he claims another person was ready to buy it for 7200 (asking price). The biggest problem is i am in love with the 99/00 Si. Especially the blue ones. The fact that this one has 113000 miles and is stock only makes me want it more. Not to mention we don't find many of these for sale up here in Minnesota. I'm afraid if i don't get this one now, I'm not going to find another one for a long time that hasn't been "riced out" or has the original components still.

ps: i am definitely NOT interested in getting an Ex and swapping the engine or buying one with a swapped engine. If i pass on this and get an Ex its just going to stay stock until i find another blue Si so i can sell the Ex fast. No point in pouring money in an Ex when i could use the money for an Si...

 

You have to remember that this is a 10 year old car, is it really worth $7k? IMHO no, I understand its a "niche" car same as 240sx, DSM, ect. I have passed on many stock DSM's because they think they are worth $5k+ for a 10-20 year old car. They are not old enough to be (in my eyes anyway) a "collectable" item. Same goes for all the C3 and C4 corvettes that people think should go for $10-20k....... Get real, its a throw away Corvette.

/rant

Sorry I got a bit off topic.

 

No offense, but what's so special about the EM1? Aside from the visual differences (a front lip and a grille), it's essentially the same as an EJ8. The performance difference isn't much of a reason to be paying over double the cost; the B16a2 makes 1ft*lb of torque more than the D16y8 in the EJ8. Just get a '99/'00 EX and have it painted EPB, problem solved and it won't affect resale value much if at all. People re-paint cars all the time for a variety of reasons, quite often just because the old paint has seen better days.

Personally, I wouldn't pay nearly that much for an Em1 for any reason. The blue-book at around half what the guy's asking, and it wasn't exactly a limited-production car so it has no reason to be worth more than what NADA/KBB says it is.