Major vs Minor problems to look for before purchase?

[Phil D]

Ok, I have YET to get a VX-- but I'm CLOSE! The one I looked at today was a '00 Dragon Green one with 26K and change on it. The asking price was $17,990. I noticed a few things that I was concerned about, and I wanted to get some owners opinions:

-- I noticed that the windows went down great- but the drivers went up slow, then about 2/3rds of the way up, I heard a very soft "pop" and it went up fast after that. The passenger one went up a few inches and then dropped at an angle, and didn't seat properly when it was closed. Is this a big deal?

-- The VX does come out of 4 wheel, right? Cause this one didn't. I stopped, put it in neutral, and then put it in 4L, and it was fine. I stopped, put it in neutral, and put it in 4H, and it was fine. I stopped, put it in neutral, and couldn't get the transfer case shifter to seat ANYWHERE but 4L or 4H- and even after I backed it up (the dealer suggested THAT may work) it was STILL in 4wheel. Now, I have owned several 4x4's, and I have never found this problem. Is THIS a big deal?

-- It was pouring rain, and the mats were dry all the way up to under the dash, so at least that was a good thing, right?

-- The hood was not aligned, and the latch *sort of* worked, so I was thinking it was hit. The dealer said it got a clean carfax, but I was skeptical. The latch support was twisted- the top of it was alright, but the farther down you looked, you could see it twist. When you looked down that far, you could see that the radiator core was bowed IN- almost like it was hit with a high-speed basketball. The fan shroud was cracked as well.

OK, having re-read this rambling post, I guess my only questions are about the windows and the trasfer case.

Sorry for the length of this post, but I want to know what I'm getting before I spend the money, and you people are the ones to ask.

[TimG]

The window problem you describe is what many of us have experienced. Search for a window problem post to see how to avioid it or fix it.

The trasfercase only has 4H and 4L. When in 4H TOD (torque on demand) determines how much power to give to the front wheels. You can see how much is going to the front wheels using the display on the left hand side of the dash. The dealer should have known the answer to this question. I'd consider taking it somewhere else for service. :)

[Navigator]

The windows need silicone sprayed into the tracks about once every 3 months or so depending on how much you use them. Carfax can only report known accidents that were reported for insurance settlement. The VX could have very well been in an accident and the owner repaired it at his own expense or worked a deal with the other driver.

If the vehicle overall looks good, I'd use the flaws you found as reasons to get the asking price lowered. Test drive it to make sure the cooling system was not compromised. Also the airbags may have been replaced. let a mechanic you know and trust check it from bumper to bumper before you invest. 2 cents :D

[SPAZZ]

The vehicross only has "High" or "4Low", not 4high and 4low.

The window problem I believe has happened in one way or another on all Vehicrosses. I have had multiple repairs on the windows and seats, all warrantied. Isuzu didn't make the window tracks strong enough and they slip out, then the motors over heat due to friction, then your windows don't roll up or down.

[WyrreJ]

As has already been said, but in different words, carfax is only good for positives - i.e. if carfax shows a problem you can be pretty sure there is a problem. But a "clean" carfax report is useless and in no way means that the car is accident free.

Even problems that do get reported to the insurance companies may not show up. My wife drove her dodge neon across a bunch of those parking stops and ripped the undercarriage to pieces. (long, politically incorrect story)

Meanwhile State Farm did a piss-poor job of adjusting it and getting it fixed. Eventually it got to a driveable state but 18 months later the transmission just went to crap, you couldn't shift out of park at all.

She eventually sold it to a scrap yard as junk. 6 months later I did a carfax on the vin and it showed a clean record...

Funny story - she left it parked on the street for a couple of weeks with the busted transmission while she tried to figure out what to do with it. One day she woke up and it was gone. Turns out that the cops got a call that her car was idling unattended in the middle of the night and came and towed it away. Apparently a thief had noticed its long stay in the same parking place and thought he could steal it. You can just imagine his frustration after breaking in (a nice professional job too, only cracked the lock, it wasn't even visible) and then hotwiring the car only to try to shift into drive and not be able to move the lever! Now if only the police had called her, since she was just 50 yards away and two stories up instead of towing it, things would have been a lot simpler...

[Phil D]

Thanks for all the input. Obviously I have decided against the one I mentioned above. The search continues.

Anyone who hears of one at a dealership (so I can finance it) please let me know. I'm in the Philly area, but I'm willing to look elsewhere if I have to.