How much is this car worth?

I want to buy a used car(either a 2002 Saab 9-5 Linear Sedan or a 2001 Volvo S80). My parents on the other hand are trying to get me to save my money and drive one of their older 2000 Lincoln Town Cars. I don't think the Town Car is a safe car because the fuel tank is located behind the rear axle. My mom wants me to save my money for a rainy day and not buy a car, and maybe(which seems unlikely at the time) my dad will buy me a cheaper car like a high milage 1999 Volvo S80 so I can save my money for a rainy day, or else I'll have to buy a car with my own money because I just don't feel safe any car that has a rear fuel tank(such as a Pinto, Mustang, Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, or Town Car).

I know my dad probably won't allow me to sell the 2000 Town Car in order to buy a 99 S80, but just on the off chance that he does allow it, what is this 2000 Town Car Executive worth? My dad says that it's worth at least $10,500, but I say it's worth less than $6700.

DON'T FORGET TO LOOK AT THE PICS AT THE BOTTOM.

I'll give a detailed description and point out the problems and I've included SEVERAL PICS to show you what kind of wear and tear and damage the car has. Don't Forget to look at problem NUMBER 16, since it's the most important problem.

Here's a list of the problems.

  1. The rear bumper is cracked.

  1. The left rear tail light is chipped.

  2. One of the side view mirrors is painted a different color than the rest of the car.

  1. The button to open the gas door doesn't work, so you have to open the trunk and pull a cord with a handle inside the trunk to open the gas door.

  2. The remote sensors on the car don't work so you CAN'T open or lock the doors, or open the trunk or the gas door remotely.

  1. The Power Mirrors Don't work, you have to physcially push the mirrors with your hands to adjust them.

  2. The door to the driver's left armrest is loose and even if you try to put it back in place, it just falls off every time you close the door(the big one not the armrest door).

  1. The Front Center Armrest(storage console) is unhinged on the right side and part of it is missing and broken.

  2. The rear left ashtray door is missing.

  1. The 12 volt input jack would normally be inbetween the 2 cupholders, but on this Town Car, it just dangles near the floor and it's impossible to try and put it back in its place(it just doesn't seem to fit).

  2. The front right floormat is missing.

  1. The car generally has excessive wear and tear for a car that's less than 4 years old.

  1. The driver's control console(windows, locks, mirrors) is not properly in place.

  1. You always get the "sevice engine soon" warning when you turn on the car.

  2. The Magazine Pouch that's located on the back of the front passenger seat has become unstappled and part of it is dangling on the ground(unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of this).

  1. The BIGGEST problem is that the transmission is messed up. The car will NOT shift past 2nd gear while in "OVERDRIVE"(overdrive is the normal driving setting). Each time you star the car, you have to push a button on the shifter to switch to "Overdrive Off". What "overdrive off" does is that it only gives you 3 forward gears instead of 4, and "overdrive off" also gives you more engine breaking. So I always drive in "overdrive off". If I ever forget to press the button to engage "overdrive off" after starting the car, then the car tops out with a BLAZING FAST top speed of about 35mph in 2nd gear and I can hear the RPMs going real high so then I have to press the button to engage "overdrive off and then I can shift into 3rd gear. I wonder if my dad gave me this car because it only has 3 forward gears and thus has a very low top speed compared to all other cars on the road. I never drive that fast anyway, and thus I've never even found out what the top speed of this car is in 3rd gear(since it basically doesn't have a 4th gear because it's broken).

BTW, don't forget to see the pics to see what I mean.

Here are the pics.

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Reply to
The Diesel
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They have tools that let you calculate the value of the car.

Before thinking that the car is not safe because of the gas tank, why not find if there are problems because of the placement of the gas tank. I think that you will find out that there are not more explosions and such in this car.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

when you are old enough to move out the house and have the money then you can buy what you want.. when living at home(you dont have any of your own money, dad and mom support you and you have to go by their wishes)... so drive what they want until you grow up and can make your own mistakes.. then you can buy a front gas tank car like a corvair... if you can find one...

Reply to
dbird

It sounds like a slider;

More like a $3500.00 trade in car, where you get $8000.00 on paper, and $3500.00 real money.

Drive it till the transmission croaks on the freeway, call daddy to spend $1800.00 to $2400.00 for a rebuild, and tell him: "You should have bought me the Saab and traded this slider!

Refinish King

Reply to
Refinish King

Hear! Hear!

I wouldn't give that kid ANY car.....

PC

Reply to
Proconsul

Reply to
Rob Guenther

Reply to
nospam.clare.nce

over 200000 in 4 years? The car is not worth spit.... hell its not worth the bullet to put it out of it's misery...

However good ole dad will think it's the best thing for you. Take the free car, let dad know everytime you have a problem with it, and drive it till it dies. Make sure you call mom or dad to come and get you when it fails.

Reply to
Panther

Don't worry about the location of the fuel tank. If there's an accident severe enough to rupture the tank you'll have far more important things to worry about than a fuel leak. You're far more likely to have a fire from fuel lines under the hood, or to get struck by lightning or run over by a semi truck. If you want safe, it's hard to beat an older Volvo, you can pick one up for a song and they're virtually indestructible.

Reply to
James Sweet

wow.

Reply to
Treebeard

Amazing.

This kid is whining about problems with a 4-year old LUXURY car - demonstrating how petty, ungrateful, and amazingly self-important he/she is. It is amazing how ungrateful some people are when someone else is footing the bills.

As a new driver in the '70's I was grateful to use my folks' left-over car. I demonstrated that by taking some of my meager high-school-job money and actually fixed the big problems with their car, rather than bitch to them and others about the state of the car they let me use. After all, they were paynig my room, board, and most other costs in my life.

To the kid: Accept the GIFT of using their car, and use some of your money to fix the things you don't like or don't work, and actually IMPROVE the situation for you and your parents.

I know mine is not a popular opinion in this self-important society, so flame on if you want - I can take it just like I can give it.

GMan

Reply to
GMan

"Treebeard" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

YES YOU MAY SAY WOW!!!!!! I have seen the pictures and it was really sad to see a 4 year old car like that. I myself drive a 1992 Volvo 940 SE with leather seats, etc and still after

12 years !!!!!!!!!! it looks almost like new. Perhaps European quality is much better, I don't know. (I live in the Netherlands). But a car like the Lincoln wouldn't pass the annual check overhere. It had to be repaired first. (for what costs ?????) For real safety reasons I would buy a S80, and it doesn't really matter what year built. Ofcourse I understand you parents concernes about saving money for a rainy day. I bought my car with 200,000 KM on the clock and only in the beginning I had some additional repairs concerning Lambda and minor engine difficulties (because the car was neglected by previous owners), but now 10,000 KM later it still drives great. High milage will not say it's a bad car, but you never know. Volvo engines are known as very good and reliable engines. Before buying, let the car be checked by an independent expert to get a good opinion. Good luck with your search.

regards Peter

Reply to
P.M.A. Melissen

A man after my own heart. When I read this original post I said to myself, this kid had nerve. My first car was a bicycle. I didn't have a car until I was a sophmore in college.

Ronald W. Reed, MBA

1990 745T 262,000 miles and still rolling, I plan to get at least 400K before trading up to a '95 945T.
Reply to
R51reed

Agreed.

If it's your first car, shut the hell up and be glad it's being given to you.

My first car was a '71 rusted out Cutlass Supreme - I paid $100 for it and it wasn't worth that much!

It did have a 4-barrel carb, tho. :)

~~~ The biggest obstacle on the path to success is the stupidity of others.

"I'd bang her, for sure, but she's no Geddy." - Mike Smith, AMR

My eBay Stuff:

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Reply to
John in NH

Amen! YOU nailed it!.....:)

PC

| > I know my dad probably won't allow me to sell the 2000 Town Car in | > order to buy a 99 S80, but just on the off chance that he does allow | > it, what is this 2000 Town Car Executive worth? | > My dad says that it's worth at least $10,500, but I say it's worth | > less than $6700. | >

| > DON'T FORGET TO LOOK AT THE PICS AT THE BOTTOM. | >

| > I'll give a detailed description and point out the problems and I've | > included SEVERAL PICS to show you what kind of wear and tear and | > damage the car has. | > Don't Forget to look at problem NUMBER 16, since it's the most | > important problem. | >

| >

| >

| > Here's a list of the problems. | >

| >

| > 1. The rear bumper is cracked. | >

| > 2. The left rear tail light is chipped. | >

| > 3. One of the side view mirrors is painted a different color than the | > rest of the car. | >

| > 4. The button to open the gas door doesn't work, so you have to open | > the trunk and pull a cord with a handle inside the trunk to open the | > gas door. | >

| > 5. The remote sensors on the car don't work so you CAN'T open or lock | > the doors, or open the trunk or the gas door remotely. | >

| > 6. The Power Mirrors Don't work, you have to physcially push the | > mirrors with your hands to adjust them. | >

| > 7. The door to the driver's left armrest is loose and even if you try | > to put it back in place, it just falls off every time you close the | > door(the big one not the armrest door). | >

| > 8. The Front Center Armrest(storage console) is unhinged on the right | > side and part of it is missing and broken. | >

| > 9. The rear left ashtray door is missing. | >

| > 10. The 12 volt input jack would normally be inbetween the 2 | > cupholders, but on this Town Car, it just dangles near the floor and | > it's impossible to try and put it back in its place(it just doesn't | > seem to fit). | >

| > 11. The front right floormat is missing. | >

| > 12. The car generally has excessive wear and tear for a car that's | > less than 4 years old. | >

| > 13. The driver's control console(windows, locks, mirrors) is not | > properly in place. | >

| > 14. You always get the "sevice engine soon" warning when you turn on | > the car. | >

| > 15. The Magazine Pouch that's located on the back of the front | > passenger seat has become unstappled and part of it is dangling on the | > ground(unfortunately I forgot to take a pic of this). | >

| >

| > 16. The BIGGEST problem is that the transmission is messed up. | > The car will NOT shift past 2nd gear while in "OVERDRIVE"(overdrive is | > the normal driving setting). | > Each time you star the car, you have to push a button on the shifter | > to switch to "Overdrive Off". | > What "overdrive off" does is that it only gives you 3 forward gears | > instead of 4, and "overdrive off" also gives you more engine breaking. | > So I always drive in "overdrive off". | > If I ever forget to press the button to engage "overdrive off" after | > starting the car, then the car tops out with a BLAZING FAST top speed | > of about 35mph in 2nd gear and I can hear the RPMs going real high so | > then I have to press the button to engage "overdrive off and then I | > can shift into 3rd gear. | > I wonder if my dad gave me this car because it only has 3 forward | > gears and thus has a very low top speed compared to all other cars on | > the road. | > I never drive that fast anyway, and thus I've never even found out | > what the top speed of this car is in 3rd gear(since it basically | > doesn't have a 4th gear because it's broken). | >

| > BTW, don't forget to see the pics to see what I mean. | >

| > Here are the pics. | >

| >

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Reply to
Proconsul

I guess you really weren't paying attention to my post. I would drive the UGLIEST most beat up unreliable car in the world if it was a very safe car and had a strong boron steel safety/roll cage, great crash test results, tons of airbags, great injury rates, very low death rates, etc over the best looking most reliable sportiest, biggest babe magnet of a car if that car was not a very safe car. As horrible as the Town Car looks, that's NOT my main problem with it, my problems with it are the fact that it has a rear fuel tank(behind the rear axle), the fact that it doesn't have 5 star NHTSA front or side crash test results, the fact that it is untested in the IIHS front offset or the European NCAP Front Offset crash test. The fact that I suspect that the roof on the Town Car is basically made of foil and probably doesn't have any structrual integrity since it probably doesn't have what in effect would be considered a roll cage the way Volvos do(I saw them do a rollover crash test on the Volvo XC90 on the Discovery Science Channel and the same test with a Ford F-150 and the performance of the Volvo was INCREDIBLY IMPRESSIVE and the F-150s performance was very sad). I would for example not have so many problems with driving a Volvo S80 in the same condition that the Town Car is in. I'm not looking for what you think I'm looking for in a car. My list of important features about a car are these in order of importance.

  1. SAFETY
  2. Reliability
  3. Fuel Economy
  4. Cost of Spare Parts/Labor

"GMan" wrote in message news:...

Reply to
The Diesel

Try the bus for short trips and scheduled airlines for long ones. They meet all your criteria.

Howard

Reply to
Howard Nelson

LOL...... Don't feel too bad, my first was a '74 MustangII, probably

50%+ of the body was bondo, and the starter worked intermittently, so I had to pushstart it(a four-speed) quite a bit. Pretty embarassing, but my quads got huge.
Reply to
mw156

"The Diesel" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

You have a very long list of "features" you want, but it seems you're overlooking the big picture. Obviously you want to get from point A to point B in one piece, there's a lot more to the equation than the length of the list of safety features. Most important is the driver, if you're a skilled and attentive driver it'll go a *long* way towards the goal. Next the way the car handles can do a lot to help you get out of trouble. Unfortunatly there's a lot of not so good drivers out there so sometimes an accident can't be avoided but there's plenty of good safe cars out there. Plenty of cars have lots of safety features and even did well on crash tests but still perform rather poorly in the real world. The fuel tank behind the axel isn't a problem, my brother was driving a '79 Volvo with a rear fuel tank, no airbags, just a good solid design by a '97 Honda that was going roughly 40 mph. The Honda crumpled up past the front wheels and dumped fluids all over the road, driver sustained minor injuries. The Volvo drove home with a slightly buckled rear end, fuel tank was undisturbed. That's my only firsthand experience but there's plenty of other examples out there, I've seen lots of 240's that have been hit hard in the rear and have yet to see one where the fuel tank ruptured. Engineers think of this sort of thing so they protect the tank between the heavy steel frame rails below the crumple zone. In the end, my two cents are if you want a very safe car, look into a Volvo 240 or 740 series, they're tanks and they won't let you down. If you want something a little more sleek and sporty but still quite safe consider a Saab 900 or 9000 series. Always wear your seatbelt and don't put all your faith into airbags. In some cases they can save you, in others they can kill or seriously injure you. I personally prefer to not have an airbag, a well designed car with properly used seatbelts is safe and I don't have to worry about an explosive charged bag breaking my nose if I bump a pillar in a parking lot or have an electrical malfunction, both with plenty of documented incidents.

Reply to
James Sweet

The most important safety feature in ANY car is the nut holding the steering wheel. With anything resembling due care and attention a Linc Town Car is a pretty safe vehicle. And among it's faults, a rear mounted fuel tank ranks WAYYYY down the list.

Drive the Linc carefully - spend a bit of time and money to remedy the most serious deficiencies, and prove to your folks you can be trusted with something better.

Either that or oil up the chain on the old Huffy or Sekine and keep on pedalling.

Reply to
nospam.clare.nce

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