Purchasing a baja tomorrow! Maybe

[JustinFoster26]

Tomorrow I'm driving 2.5 hours to look at a 2004 baja turbo with automatic transmission. I've been talking to the guy all week and we have settled on $4800. He is the second owner and knew the previous owner. he has all maintenance records. We both live in the southeast so I was assuming so has the car. But i just found out it has spent most of its life up north. Now I'm nervous about rust and other issues. He has sent me multiple pictures and videos but no rust was visible. now that I've asked specifically about it he has told me there are 3 cosmetic rust areas but they have been evaluated. I guess ill see when i get there. But being from the south i have never purchased a northern vehicle. Now i have a feeling that it will be 5 hours of driving for nothing. I've already asked him to be as upfront with me as possible (i will be mad if he is wasting my time) the car has 155k on it. What do you think?

[JustinFoster26]

He says these are the only to places in question

[Guacamole]

Short notice and not much to go off, but from what you've provided that looks pretty typical for a 16-year old car north of the Mason-Dixon line to me- someone who is not a mechanic.
FWIW my 06 spent its entire life in upstate NY until 2014, muffler, midpipe, and exhaust hangers rusted out and fell off back in 2018. Other than some nasty surface rust most of the vehicle is still holding together here in salt-loving MD.

Here's some of the pics I've posted here of my own undercarriage at various points to compare.
viewtopic.php?p=20030#p20030
viewtopic.php?p=20046#p20046
viewtopic.php?p=20565#p20565
viewtopic.php?p=21224#p21224

[JustinFoster26]

Yeah sorry I know its last minute. I don't have a lot of first hand info yet. Just what he has told me. I was trying to see what info i could get from him before I drove to see it. Here are some more pictures. I know the typical things to look for but not necessarily baja specific. its a 2004 turbo auto transmission with 155k miles. Spent about 14 years in Massachusetts the rest in Georgia. Lot of maintenance records. Things like timing belt, plugs, emissions all that stuff.

[harleyjohn45]

Yeah sorry I know its last minute. I don't have a lot of first hand info yet. Just what he has told me. I was trying to see what info i could get from him before I drove to see it. Here are some more pictures. I know the typical things to look for but not necessarily baja specific. its a 2004 turbo auto transmission with 155k miles. Spent about 14 years in Massachusetts the rest in Georgia. Lot of maintenance records. Things like timing belt, plugs, emissions all that stuff.

I recently bought one that had been in Massachusetts for 2 years, and the rest in Texas. It had a good bit of rust, I took a Harbor Freight needle scaler. I removed most of the rust, then treated it with ospho, then painted it and then covered that with undercoat. A lot of the parts on a Baja were never painted, the painted surfaces held up well. Look carefully at the rear suspension, that was the worst on mine. a lot of the brackets were never painted, I cleaned and treated them and of course undercoated.
Good luck and the price is right.

[harleyjohn45]

Yeah sorry I know its last minute. I don't have a lot of first hand info yet. Just what he has told me. I was trying to see what info i could get from him before I drove to see it. Here are some more pictures. I know the typical things to look for but not necessarily baja specific. its a 2004 turbo auto transmission with 155k miles. Spent about 14 years in Massachusetts the rest in Georgia. Lot of maintenance records. Things like timing belt, plugs, emissions all that stuff.

I recently bought one that had been in Massachusetts for 2 years, and the rest in Texas. It had a good bit of rust, I took a Harbor Freight needle scaler. I removed most of the rust, then treated it with ospho, then painted it and then covered that with undercoat. A lot of the parts on a Baja were never painted, the painted surfaces held up well. Look carefully at the rear suspension, that was the worst on mine. a lot of the brackets were never painted, I cleaned and treated them and of course undercoated.
Good luck and the price is right.

One other thing, I'm only 5'10", but my knees are shot. This thing is like getting into a Corvette, I move the seat all the way back to get in and out. That becomes a pain.