I looked at a 4Runner that was a sweet killer deal not long after the Mississippi floods. It was at a local Toyota dealer & it looked great. I was worried when I was told it was bought at an out of state auction & had zero history on its former life. Flood car was a real fear of mine. I looked over that car good & I saw no evidence. Then I sat inside & I put my hand up under the dash I fished around. When I pulled my hand out it had dry mud on it!! :eek6: Someone had done an amazing job of cleaning that car out, but the evidence was there. It was a narrow escape.
Crazy story! That's a good reason not to touch a car with no history available. It's a big reason I didn't get the M3 I was looking at. If the dealers get the maintenance history with the car they just chunk it due to privacy concerns. About the only thing you have now is carfax and if it was dealer services than that stuff usually shows up. Sounds like you were lucky to find that mud!
Let's put it this way. Daisy's Clubman accident didn't show on Carfax. And that was a fair $ amount. I think that it's good to know where the car has probably lived and that's about it.
Didn't get to see the car today. The salesman was supposed to call me in the morning and meet me at one of the Cincinnati airports while I was doing a couple of flights. It was his day off, but he was supposed to arrange it with someone else. Oh well, not sure when I will have time to take a 4 hour round trip to go see it.
I run mine all year long... In summer, spring, and fall, the top almost never goes up. I close it in the winter when it's actively snowing or raining, but if it's clear I've been known to run with the top down/windows up/seat heaters on full (get the Cold Weather package - you'll be glad you did).
That said... I love the hard tops too. Definitely lots less squeakage from all over the damn car when the roof's actually, you know, ATTACHED. But hey... top-down mode forgives a multitude of sins...
I'm another one that really loves a sunny crisp day to take the top down. If it's sunny I'll take the top down to around 30 degrees. Seat warmers do make the difference and I have some nice driving gloves and matching scarf to keep me warm.
I won't do highway speeds though when it's that cold, just putzing around town.
