I might be buying a ford 1999 zx2 with 87,000 miles. Is this a reliable car? It has a new engine.
I might be buying a ford 1999 zx2 with 87,000 miles. Is this a reliable car? It has a new engine.
I'm buying it from a mechanic. The fact that it needed a new engine, is this a bad sign that possibly the car is one of the zx2's that have constant problems? I've done a lot of research. Some people complain about transmission problems etc, and others say they have never had any problems at all with their zx2. The new engine has 44,000 miles on it. The car has 87,000 miles on it. It is selling for $2800. What do you think? I'm also wondering about it's safety. There seem to be mixed reviews on that. Some people say it saved their lives, others say it doesn't take t-bone crashes well. It is for my 18 year old son.
Did the mechanic say what was wrong with the first engine? It's fairly unusual for them to last that short. Honestly, unless there was a defect in manufactureing the only way I'd see that happening if someone didn't take care of it at all.
My old Zx2 was one of the ones that had constant problems though the only one I knew of. so from my experience you got about a 1 in 13 chance of getting a one that is a pain. Granted what broke was never that major. 3 valve cover gaskets, coil pack, 3 water pumps, a radiator, brakes, sway bar bushings(twice), clutch assembly, parking brake cable and attachments(twice), timing belt. All that in 1.5 yrs/ 79,000 miles. In my opinion a pain in the arse, but everyone else I've known to have em loves em, and the person I sold mine to hasn't had a problem with it. They are easy to work on which is a good thing, pop the hood and see for yourself, every regular maintainence item seems to lay out right in front of you with room for access.
Only exception might be the fuel filter which is behind the engine and down abit near the firewall, shouldn't be hard to find just sometimes a pain to get off.
Another note...
Both the manual and the automatic take ATF +3 (Dexron 3 Mercon 3 ect...) If you take it to a quicklube shop they will try to put 80W-90 GL4 in the manual. God only knows why. So make sure if you take it somewhere where they top your fluids off, make sure they don't touch the tranny, or make sure they put the right thing in it.
As for the new engine... is it new new, is it rebuilt new, or is it just a junkyard engine shoved in the car?
I would decide based on that...
Also if you plan to put a after market stereo in you need a special dash insert, and they are a little more than usual installs. If you want one I have one left over... its a little torn up but should work (remnants of a buddy's stereo that was stolen from his car).