The interior is in excellent shape. The only negative I picked up on was that the headliner material covering the astroroof sliding panel is starting to detach. The asroroof seems to work very well. The windows also work very well and seem to move faster than many others I've seen. The door panels look very nice and the pulls are intact and tight. Upholstery looks nice all the way around and shows very little wear. Steering wheel is very nice as well, no rips or cracks that I saw. The car has a digital dash, twilight sentinel, and the UX1 radio with the graphic eqalizer and concert sound. Gauges seem to work well from what I saw (turbo light comes on
). The interior in this car overall is very nice.
The engine compartment needs a little more work than I was expecting. There is a good amount of surface rust. Some time spent with a wire brush and some cans of paint would most likely fix most of these issues though.
I completely forgot to look in the trunk, sorry about that one.
Checked out the window sticker, this car has a good number of options and sold for ~$19,000 new.
Took it for a quick spin around the block. Powermaster breaks are very strong and had no problem stopping the car or holding boost. I can't say how many pounds as the car is totally stock and has no mods (read: boost gauge). Front end is nice and tight (much better than others I have driven) and seems right in line. Body rolls and bounces a little more than it should as car could probably use shocks/springs. Car pulls pretty well from what I saw but we were in a residential area only and I didn't get a chance to really get on it. Not sure how it would behave on the highway. I did the the trans was a little soft, not sure if there is an issue developing there or if I was just expecting something faster and more aggressive (sorry for my inexperience here, I'm really not sure what a stock GN tranny should shift like). The sterring is fine but the pump is quite noisy and should probably be replaced. I thought the ride of the car was nice and it certainly was fun to drive.
Overall I thought the car was a good solid foundation to build a really nice street car. It appears to be almost completely stock to me with the normal exceptions. Still not quite sure why the owner is selling it when he just got it, but I guess everyone has their reasons and priorities. Once again though I need to stress that I am not an expert and my experience with TRs is limited to the 8 or so that I have looked at in my search for one and the knowledge I have gained from the internet and books. I have only driven 5 or 6 of these cars and none were pristine examples so my basis for comparison is somewhat limited. I am not trying to steer you one way or another just to let you know what I thought. I'd hate to think that my advice got you a car that turned out to not be what you wanted or kept you from buying the one that is right for you. Just take what I have said for what it is worth. Oh, and please excuse me for compensating for my inexperience with my verbosity.
-Jade
If there is anything else I can do to help let me know.
