Thanks.

The car was price very well - $12k for a 2003 with 75k miles, well below blue book value. He claims no accidents and clear title. This also made me wary.

Bottom line, I get the sense that he is not being totally upfront, then walk away. I am sure there will be better cars out there.

 

Well I autox and tracked a 04 S2000. Bought with 59k, sold with 113k. It drove like new. Oil samples always came back great.

If you're concerned, get a leak/compression check and oil sample run. The problem with really fast track guys is cyl 4 can start to loose compression.

Autox is the least of your concerns. It's 50 seconds of half throttle, half breaking followed by some idling.

 

I guess instead of crying about how hard autoxing a car can or cannot be, I'll just acknowledge one thing.. If you want a car with a roll bar, buy it. If you don't, you should familiarize yourself with the amount of work required to put one in.. It's not likely you'll want it after that.

 

Two more things caused by hard braking with R tires, if done a lot. I had both. Many others did too. Both may be difficult to see.
1. front lower control arm front bushing split or separated from arm. I think I have a picture somewhere. Symptom on the car - will not hold one alignment adjustment - caster I think.
2. Front suspension upper mounting bracket broken from body. Broken spot welds and or fatigue crack spreading across inner fender/body. Undercoating can conceal it when just starting. Fender liner also partly prevents getting a good look at welds and may completely conceal fatigue cracks in inner fender/body panel. Aside from visual, symptoms may include popping sounds from front suspension, steering input becoming less precise, then eventually the car steering itself when steering wheel not moved.

Also, the original AP1 clutch disk material overheated and slipped easily. Mine lasted only 40K - just worn out disk, not broken, but with lots of AX.

My rear axles didn't fail until after I had quit regular AXing. But I suspect AX shortened life. One failed completely at inner joint. SPun freely. In hindsight, both made warning noises, it was hard to tell where the noise came from.

Front swaybar likely not original. Some early attempts at heavy sway bars were not the best. Only thing available originally was custom fabricated, which is what I have. Check the end links, mounting brackets, threaded hardware, and whether there are any clearance problems to shocks or tires at full turn-in. If the end links are rod ends, just get new high quality rod ends and hardware to be sure.

edit: checked notes, corrected misstatement.

 

bushing damage

select original for largest size.

 

I think autocrossing may put some added wear on the suspension components, and perhaps engine to *at least* some degree, depending on how often the car is autocrossed, even though it is generally in very short bursts unlike tracking. Definitely have a buyer's inspection performed on the car including a compression test as someone mentioned above, and make sure the clutch still has lots of life left. Pretty much what others have said above seems spot on.

Is this car being advertised as an autocross prepped car, or did the owner simply say he's autocrossed the car a handful of times. Then again, with a set of extreme performance tires, the car is basically good to autocross right out of the box.

I'd make sure the owner kept up with maintenance on the car, a list of records would be ideal, but more importantly it should show by the overall condition of the car, including especially mechanical condition.

Changing the oil on a regular basis becomes all the more important as the car is revved up more on a regular basis. Diff fluid and transmission fluid should be changed at slightly lower intervals as well depending on how much autocrossing the car sees, and most importantly the oil level should never get too high or too low (yes it is very possible to overfill the engine oil, I did it before on my first car years ago and had to get one or two quarts pumped out).

I'm still probably leaving out quite a bit, but as long as the car is thoroughly checked out and doesn't have any mechanical or cosmetic/body/frame damage, I don't see what's to stop you from buying a car that has been autocrossed before. More importantly, is the car in good shape mechanically and otherwise, and has it been well taken care of and maintained?Does it have aftermarket modifications, and if so are they ones that you like/might get yourself. Are the modifications themselves in good shape, or in need of replacing in the near future..? I could probably go on and on sorry. Best of luck. and be patient. My advice: If you are unsure of the car pass, and wait until you find something that catches your eye, and then pay to have that one inspected before finalizing purchase.