nice price or no dice – GTSteeringWheels.net

Nice Price Or No DiceIs this used car a good deal? You decide!

The seller of today’s Nice Price or No Dice Lexus would prefer to keep the car, but life’s realities have flipped that notion on its ear. Could this remarkably low mileage IS300’s price also have you flipping out?

Finding a seven-passenger vehicle with a V8 engine isn’t all that hard these days. The problem is, almost all of those are of the tall, tippy SUV variety. Those are usually a pain to park and you can almost never get that center section of the roof washed in the driveway since the thing is just too dang tall.

If you want a V8 engine and a more compact station wagon body style, your options are going to be far more limited. In the case of yesterday’s 1998 Volvo V90, that limitation was overcome by the seller actually playing matchmaker to the car and a GM Vortec V8. One could easily believe the seller’s assertion that the result was “amusing.”

What was apparently less amusing was the Volvo’s $13,900 asking price. That seemed to reflect a good bit of the expense the seller incurred in doing the V8 conversion, but as we all know, that’s not how any of this works. While the Volvo was applauded in concept, its price tag couldn’t raise so much as a sympathy clap and it fell in a smothering 92 percent No Dice loss.

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As we move on from yesterday’s Volvo, there remains that lingering sense that a small wagon is the most sensible sort of car imaginable. Of course, not everyone needs three rows of seats. And surely there are ways to make a wagon a performance machine other than with the addition of a huge, thirsty V8 engine. If you feel that cloying sense that there must be a car out there that doesn’t sacrifice performance for wagon utility and style, then let me introduce you to this 2004 Lexus IS300 SportCross.

Um yes, SportCross. OK, I agree it’s kind of a dumb name, and it doesn’t make any sense either in the Lexus lexicon or as a descriptor of the car. Still, that’s what they gave us to work with.

Lexus introduced the IS300 in the U.S. market all the way back in 1999. The wagon body style, with its steeply angled rear hatch and doubled cargo capacity (21 cubic feet versus the sedan’s meager 10) arrived a year later. For reasons known only to the bean counters at Lexus, the SportCross would come in automatic transmission form only. Cue sad trombone.

It’s unlikely that the auto-only option was the reason for the SportCross’s woeful sales but, whatever the case, Lexus managed to move a mere 3,000 over the course of the 2002 through 2005 model years. The body style was abandoned completely with the IS300’s redesign the following year.

That’s all preamble to get you set up for this 2004 Lexus IS300 SportCross having that goofy name and sporting the factory five-speed automatic behind its 2JZ-GE six-cylinder engine. Those are minor issues anyway, when you consider that the car has only 74,000 miles on it and that the 2JZ as installed in this model pumps a healthy 217 horsepower and 218 lb-ft of torque through that automatic.

There’s lots more to like here too. The bodywork, in Black Onyx, looks to be in excellent shape. The headlamp covers show no evidence of yellowing, and the smoked taillamp covers appear to be equally unweathered. The car has been denuded of its badges save for the capital L in the grille, and it rides on black-painted aftermarket alloys.

Stepping inside, we find even more black. The cabin is brightened by some brushed metal and chrome trim but is otherwise a goth tween’s dream. Dark as it all may be, everything looks to be in serviceable shape here. And why wouldn’t it? After all, it’s a Lexus and it’s only done 74k.

The ad notes newish tires and a timing belt job at 22k which, well… WTF? Regardless, at least that’s not something to keep you up at night. Also noted are the replacement of a bad passenger door-lock actuator and a freshening of the fluids, which make this Lexus ready to rock and/or roll.

The seller asks $9,800 for the car and prefaces the ad by averring that the sale is forced by a change in a work situation. As might be expected, the seller is not interested in meeting any low-ballers, so put your penny jar back up on the shelf.

However, to help someone with real cash we have to decide if that $9,800 asking is a sweet spot for this appreciably sweet IS300. What do you think, does this SportCross come across as worth that much? Or, for that much asking, would you let the seller keep it?

You decide!

Los Angeles, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at rob@jalopnik.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.

Nice Price Or Crack PipeIs this used car a good deal? You decide!

Alec Issigonis’ original Mini was perhaps the most ingeniously packaged car the world has ever seen. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Cooper S is a good bit bigger than its iconic ancestor but comes with a fairly small price. Will that make it just as legendary?

One of the hallmarks of the pony car market is that these cars can be many things to many people. You can get your ‘Stang, ‘Challenger, or Camaro in either fire-breathing or chardonnay-sipping form, or almost any mix in between.

Yesterday’s 2011 Chevy Camaro RS was one of those in-betweeners, as it showed up with no more than a modest V6 under the hood, but also a six-speed stick, and some pretty stylish footwear. All that had a reasonable 139K on the clock and a $9,500 price tag on the docket. That seemed an inequitable situation for many of you, however, with both car and price, earning a 59% No Dice loss.

Next to Jaguar’s E-Type, the original Mini is perhaps the most iconic British car ever produced. When you see one, you know immediately what it is, and where it came from. Um, except, of course, for the license-built Innocenti Minis which looked the same, but were constructed in Italy.

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Not just iconic, the Mini was also… well, mini. The tiny size was made possible by several innovative design decisions, including having the engine sump be flatmates with the gearbox, and sliding the radiator over to the side like it was avoiding the paparazzi. Sharing its name with a popular new ‘60s women’s fashion trend helped make the Mini as much a fashion accessory as it was a practical mode of transportation.

The modern Mini is nowhere near as small as its ancestor, a reality demanded by our current safety standards, and the fact that nobody but me thinks 10-inch tires are a good idea anymore. That being said, the modern Mini, developed under BMW’s ownership of the brand, is still a damn small car, and it’s also still very much a fashion accessory.

This 2005 Mini Cooper S looks very fashionable, what with its extended body kit, arrest-me red paint, and carbon fiber bonnet. It appears to have the goods under that carbon fiber clamshell too, as the 1.6-litre supercharged four is claimed by the seller to have been rebuilt top to bottom just 3K ago. In fact, there’s a bunch of stuff on this car that has been recently added/replaced/or is just plain cool.

The seller says that the car has been a shop cat for a couple of years and was originally acquired as a clean title repo. Since then it’s seemingly received a lot of love and a bunch of parts off of other, less fortunate Minis.

Pluses here include the aforementioned refreshed mill. Along with that comes a new clutch, full exhaust including high-flow cat, and a 15% reduction pulley for the roots-style blower giving more power. Gearbox duties are handled by a six-speed stick and there are Wilwood brakes behind the Cooper alloys up front.

The bodywork has been resprayed in what looks to be its factory red, but the seller admits the paint job is more Maaco than magnifico and shows a few shots where places like door jams show evidence of lackadaisical prep. In fact, everything on the car looks a little beat up—check out that door handle. Still, it’s nothing that you’d necessarily be ashamed to bring home to mom.

The interior looks to be a happier place, and sports what the seller describes as a rare clamp-on gauge cluster around the tach. A billet shift knob and E-brake handle will burn the crap out of you on crazy-hot days, while the Cooper embroidered upholstery will keep you at least looking cool.

There’s a lot that has gone into this R53 and you can go down the full list in the ad. Despite all the fun and games, however, the car is still said to sport a clear title and a clean Carfax so it should be a straight shooter underneath.

The asking price for then Franken-Mini is $6,500 and while that gets you the car, the ad says there’s “no warranty” so you don’t get any guarantee that it won’t crap the sack the second you drive off in it.

That’s what life is, though, isn’t it—a bunch of chances? What we need to decide is whether anyone should take a chance on this Mini by paying that $6,500 asking. What do you think, does that seem like a deal to you? Or, is this Mini’s price tag just too maxi to take on?

You decide!

Tampa Bay, FL Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Donnie Paydre for the hookup!

Help me out with NPOND. Hit me up at rob@jalopnik.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle.

Tag: nice price or no dice

At $9,800, Is This Low-Mileage 2004 Lexus IS300 SportCross A Keeper?

At $6,500, Will This 2005 Mini Cooper S Prove To Have Oversized Appeal?