I am looking to buy a white used SSEI for 5,000 and wanted to know how ya'lls cars are holding up. It has about 150,000 miles on it and that is whats making me worried about it. Can anyone help I want to know the up and down of them.

i love my 96 ssei. main thing i would worry about with that many miles is the tranny. for about $2000 more you should be able to find one with about 100k on it. i paid $7800 for mine with 83k on it. dont know if that is within your budget though.

Theres stories of SSEi'* running 250,000 miles on the original engine and tranny and still pulling strong. It just depends what kind of shape the car was kept in. If all the fluids were changed etc.

Drive it around a bit and make sure it seems to be shifting ok. Listen for any clunking or any growling noises when turning, which would indicate a bad wheel bearing. Pull the transmission dipstick and make sure it looks red, and not too dark. Take off the oil filler cap and check for a thick layer of slime inside.

Dark smelly transmission fluid means there is tranny trouble. Slime inside the engine means either they never change the oil, or water is getting in there. If you see either of these problems, stay away from it.

But if it passes those tests, I say go for it. 5k is reasonable. Mileage does not always mean that much if a car is well cared for. Oh check the tires too. Good tires for these cars are about $140 each. Good luck and let us know what happens.

This sounds like a pretty good deal, but you can always try to get a better one.
Maybe the seller will negotiate...

I bought my '96 SSEi nine months ago. It had 117000 miles and brand new Goodyear tires.
After checking out the car and deciding that I wanted it, here is how I got a great deal:

I had $5000 CASH (and a .38 *&W Airweight) in my jacket pocket. I pulled it out (the cash), stuck the stack of $100'* in the face of the salesman, and told him that if they could make $5K the DRIVEOUT price, including all fees, tax, etc., then I would give him the money. His eyes got big, he turned around and RAN to the office, and came back in less then one minute saying HELL YES!
Money talks!
Good luck.

I got mine for 4k. It had a bad crank sensor.

Is it at a dealer or a private seller....if its private, see if the car is really clean, thats always a good indication it was taken care of. When i sold my 97 GP the guy saw how clean it was, including under the hood and was sold on it pretty quick.

Check the supercharger for rattling at idle.

I went with my dad and drove it a few times and it road and drove great. The interior is almost perfect and i can get it for 4,700 cash tomorrow, so I am. I will give him half and then go to the mechincan and he will tell me to keep it or give it back. I think it is a good deal cause it is in great shape the only thing it need is the front spoiler and the red corner of the door on the front driver and the white light cover for the rear driver.

Money talks...
I got my durmax for thousands less because I had my bank slip there.. wrote a big check... all worked out... but it was mostly a banks $$$ oh well its mostly payed off, couldnt brib me enough to do the lease...