Bought on a whim as another BABE Rally candidate. If you haven't heard of it, the idea is to buy a car for $500 or under and drive from New York to New Orleans - Big Apple to Big Easy, hence BABE. It's basically an excuse to get in some fun mountain driving in between rounds of drinking in motel parking lots with like-minded cheapskate gearheads. I already have three other cars that qualify, but I've always wanted one of these.
Saw it on Craigslist at noon, it was in my garage by 7pm. Man, talk about an impulse buy. Mind you, I've wanted one for a while. This one isn't -exactly- what I wanted in an SW8...not a turbo or a diesel, not a manual transmission. On the other hand, it does only have 132,700 miles on it and apart from the suspension needing some serious attention and a slightly loud exhaust, it works flawlessly. The only damage is the left-front corner, from an incident which totaled a Corolla. This thing is a tank.
Oh, except last night, backing it into the garage, the gear selector cable snapped. I've started taking the console apart but have to dig out my Torx bits to finish the job. Is this something that happens frequently? How much am I going to have to replace?
The more worrisome issue is the suspension - it's SCARY. Turn left at speed, and the car wants to continue turning left. It almost feels like the right rear wheel wants to fold under the car, but it could be front-end related. Previous owner said the guy who had it before him did all his own work on the car and had refilled the struts (is that even do-able on these?)
The other issues I'm having are a temperature gauge that quit working yesterday, a stuck driver's door lock cylinder (still locks/unlocks from passenger door), and a right rear taillight that seems to work when it damn well feels like it; replacing the bulb didn't help - sometimes it's on and sometimes it's off.
What else should I look at in terms of maintenance?