Should I Buy This?

[Deadly Sushi]

Its a 1997 XLS with moon roof. She has 214K miles and the car is going for about $1800. It SEEMS to be in decent shape but I dont know if the timing belt has been changed. Is there any way to figure that out?

[bob2]

i paid 3000 for mine a year ago. it had a bad engine...

these cars are hard to find. if you want an avalon that car is decently priced...

just understand that an avalon is not a cheap car to own - they like a lot of work and money invested in them .)

[Deadly Sushi]

Thanks for the quick reply!
Why do you say they are expensive to own? Do they take premium fuel? Maybe I should get 2001 Grand Prix GT with 140K miles for $2000 instead???
And why in the hell is it taking these forum pages forever and a day to load?

[pmesfun]

No not at all, they are just a more luxurious V6 Camry, just as reliable. They take regular fuel.
The only necessary repair that has been done to my Avalon in 136k miles was an 02 sensor, other than that its just preventative maintenance that I like doing.

[WetOne]

^ +1 unbelievable cars for long run, albeit they have some quirks (suspension, difficult to change spark plugs, and valve cover gasket can leak over time, etc).

[CTB727]

If you're deciding between an Avalon and a Pontiac Grand Prix, take the Avalon. GM doesn't have the reliability of a Toyota, especially older models. These things will pretty much run forever as long as maintenance is done. Plus the interior quality and ride comfort is far better than a Pontiac.

[SyStEmOfEvIl]

For the timing belt, sometimes they will put a sticker under the hood somewhere if it has been changed. Smaller shops dont tend to do this.

[bob2]

your mileage may vary - lol

i want mine jusssst right. that has cost me a lot of money and work. some of it has been from buying bad parts and having to re-do things because of that. if you're not picky the avalon will probably chug along forever, as they all say. but if you are it's every bit of a luxury beast... add some high-performance parts and things like getting rid of a shimmy in the front end become nightmares.

when they're right i PERSONALLY do not think there is a car, at any price, that will ride and drive as well as an avalon. wolf in sheep's clothing, and all that .)

[robcam13]

timing belts are cheap. it wont destroy the engine if it breaks anyway. 1mz is a non interference engine. sounds like a good deal to me. these cars run forever. mine has 160k on it and i drove a 2600 mile trip.i wouldn't trust too many other cars to get me on a long trip.

[WetOne]

^ Good point. But when it does go with that many miles do a complete job to include water pump,tensioners, cam/crank seals,all belts etc. airfiltercabinman sells complete kits of OEM parts on ebay motors for great prices.