Well now I can finally cut to the chase since I have had the car in my possession now for two days and the title, insurance, everything like that is worked out. I'd have loved to have given all the details last week when I created this thread but I didn't want to jinx myself having not went and gotten it yet!
Anyways, I am new to the forum here and around the beginning of April I began the search for a newer car. I've never bought a brand new car and thought initially that was the route to go. I absolutely loved how the Caliber SRT-4's looked and was impressed with their performance specs. so I began looking into those. I was surprised that so many 2008 leftovers were still sitting in showrooms around my area so pursued that route, having hit up two dealerships and talked to one on the phone. The second dealership I went to was absolutely ignorant, disrespectful, and rude. It seemed like they were pressuring me big time into buying one of these CSRT-4's (They were making out like $417 a month payment was a steal, I knew otherwise, especially for a 08 model!) Anyways, that made me start thinking about looking more at a used car than a brand new one. Unfortunately, temptation floated my way again when the dealership I spoke to on the phone negotiated with me to have the CSRT-4 at their lot for $20k out the door including taxes and all that. Very tempting and I came | | that close to driving out there (about three hour drive) but my Dad helped talk me out of it.
Enter his advice here. He told me that I oughtta look into these PT Cruisers, that some came turboed and he knew they made five speeds, which was the combo I wanted hands down. Along with that, he told me that these have more storage room and they are four doors as well. I was deterred by the ide at first, but the more and more I looked the cooler and cooler they looked to me!
The next couple of weeks went by where I researched tirelessly, figuring out typical prices and mileage as to what I could expect to find used car wise. While doing this research I stumbled upon this forum and posed the question about me wanting to find a black GT with a 5 speed. Many members here said good luck finding one, so my hopes were somewhat dashed. It didnt help matters either that my uncle (who owns a used car dealership up in NW Pennsylvania) was assisting me in finding a car and told me I better start looking at 5 speed plain Jane Calibers, Neons, etc. if I want to find a 5 speed with lower miles. This was Thursday, April 23 mind you. As I sat down at my computer that night to begin lookign at these other options, I figured why not look for a PT GT one last time before I cast it out of my possibilities. Needless to say, luck was on my side as I somehow, still have no idea how, came across motortrend.com, which I had no idea that they had Used Car sale ads on there. To my surprise, I found this ad within five minutes of logging onto the site:
2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser Base Wagon for Sale in Buffalo, New York Auto Classifieds - Motor Trend Magazine
Price is not listed, but it was $9495.
I couldn't believe my eyes! I was telling myself all this time that I'd be happy finding one with under 60k on the clock, let alone rouhly only 16l!!!!!! Through all of my research the last few weeks I had yet to see one with that low of miles and in that price range. I found ones on autotrader with 80k and the asking price was $11k! I called my Uncle back right away and told him I found the exact one I've been looking for (especially since the color was black!)
He called me back the next day and told me he was picking it up on Sunday, April 25! So, to make a long story shorter, I went up this past Saturday, May 2, and picked it up. Talk about a dream becoming reality!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so stoked to be a part of this community now and especially being fortunate enough to find this car! Here are a few pics. for starters, I'll get more once this stupid rain stops!
Everything is near immaculate on it and I do plan on bringing it to Carlisle this summer just for the heck of it. Thus far, I've ordered the Mopar Performance BOV Modification, Xenon Headlight & Foglight Bulbs, Stage 1 PCM, Mopar Stage 1 Badge, and am working on getting a a-pillar pod with the SRT-4 Boost and A/F gauges. Please post up your comments, I'd be happy to hear from you. More pics to come!