High Km VE SS-V 6.0 Buying Advice needed thanks

[Dart77]

Hi VE experts -- VK (carby 6) owner here in Perth, interested in getting into a VE V8 wagon. Have been looking for a few months now and found one on Dumtree which I am quite interested in. Going up on Sunday to have a squizz. Earlier this year I posted questions about a Voodoo blue ex-Police wagon and I appreciate all the advice that many people gave. It really helped turn me off that one! This is such an extensive forum - it's a challenge trying to find answers which you know must be there in all those hundreds of thousands of posts! Even doing multiple searchs.

Anyway, this one is near identical - 2008 V8 Voodoo Blue wagon SS-V Auto. But even more km, this has 200k which is well above my 150,000 limit. However it does have a major thing going for it - it's a one owner car, always garaged. The guy bought it new in Perth and so knows it inside out with all servicing books and a regular mechanic who knows it as well. It has what I want: right colour, full service history, towbar, roof racks and seems immaculate inside and out. Has other things like OTR cold air intake, new injectors, Brembo upgrade (from the Redline) and better bigger rims with new Potenza rubber.

My question is, and my biggest worry is... the transmission. How good are they? I asked if it had been regularly serviced and he said it had only had one service in the car's life! Which seems weird for a guy who seems so devoted to it and had the engine regularly serviced and spent $$ on it in other areas. The thing with autos, especially modern, complicated autos behind powerful engines, is they need to be regularly serviced - fresh fluid and filter and whatever checks and adjustments needed. My VK has well over 300k and has towed car trailers more than once, but the original Trimatic has always been serviced and is going just like new still.

This guy seems very honest and upfront, hasn't done much towing, so I am not disputing anything he says. The car is priced at $20,000 which I think is a touch high for that km reading PLUS needing rego next month. (It's been on Gumtree and FB for over a year, he said he started at $28,000 and has been steadily coming down). However, what do other people think about that price for a well looked after one-owner Series 1 SS-V Versus Km's Versus transmission not being serviced? Kilometers is everything on these cars. Front end, diff, electrics etc. I am buying the life that's left in it. I'm sure it's been well looked after, but there's a few big BUTS there.

Thanks for any advice. Bear in mind that Perth prices will be notably higher than other states as there is just fewer of these desireable models around. So whatever price you reckon it's worth, I will add about 10% for being in WA.

I know this post is getting too long but P.S.: it has the dreaded chev bowtie thingies front and rear which I detest, normally that would turn me right off.

 

[vr304]

Personally I’d be happy enough to buy it as it is as you said it’s a 1 owner car that’s been regularly serviced and looked after as for the trans if your that concerned about it buy the car and give the trans a service straight away, they are known to be fairly reliable, I’m a manual owner so can’t comment from personal experience but it’s only got minor mods to the engine so it’s not pushing massive power thru it to put a lot of stress on it, there are ve‘s getting around with well over 300ks on them so I’d say your good

 

[hademall]

As above.
200,000 ks is average mileage for a fifteen year old car. The garaged, serviced, one owner thing is good.
Maybe get a Holden guy to check it over, might cost a couple hundred. Could be well spent one way or another.
If you like it, go for it. I’d offer him $18,000 cash. Worse case split the diff and call it 19k.

Regarding the asking price. I haven’t checked them out but I’m sure you have.
Good luck.

 

[vc commodore]

Without putting too much of a damper on it, the question here is, why has it been for sale for over 12 months? That does ring a few alarm bells to me.....

Something that is surposed to be as good as it'd being made out to be shouldn't be for sale for so long.....Go in with eyes wide open with this one

 

[J_D 2.0]

Without putting too much of a damper on it, the question here is, why has it been for sale for over 12 months? That does ring a few alarm bells to me.....

Something that is surposed to be as good as it'd being made out to be shouldn't be for sale for so long.....Go in with eyes wide open with this one

Good point. Assuming it’s all above board it does seem to be a decent car for the money but if other people have been passing it up at $20k, why?

If it’s been listed at say $25k until a week ago it might have just been getting passed over because the price hadn’t met the market yet but best to go over it with a fine tooth comb in any case.

 

[vc commodore]

Good point. Assuming it’s all above board it does seem to be a decent car for the money but if other people have been passing it up at $20k, why?

If it’s been listed at say $25k until a week ago it might have just been getting passed over because the price hadn’t met the market yet but best to go over it with a fine tooth comb in any case.

Makes you wonder whether it's a case of wanting a stupid price and not budging too much or is there something detracting from it with the asking price....

So yes, a fine tooth comb is warranted on this one

 

[J_D 2.0]

My question is, and my biggest worry is... the transmission. How good are they? I asked if it had been regularly serviced and he said it had only had one service in the car's life! Which seems weird for a guy who seems so devoted to it and had the engine regularly serviced and spent $$ on it in other areas. The thing with autos, especially modern, complicated autos behind powerful engines, is they need to be regularly serviced - fresh fluid and filter and whatever checks and adjustments needed

The 6L80E auto transmission put behind the V8’s is decently strong enough from what I’ve heard on here (mine is manual so can’t comment personally). They should have decent spare parts support too so a rebuild shouldn’t be that difficult if required down the track.

Modern auto transmissions don’t need any adjustments as it’s all taken care of by the computer and they mostly don’t use friction bands anymore, which is the main part that needed adjustment in older transmissions.

Realistically a 100,000km service interval is acceptable on a modern automatic transmission, although not desirable for the fastidious or on vehicles with high power output.

If you’re worried that much about the transmission then find out how much a rebuild is before you buy the car. At least that way you’re going in with eyes wide open on what it will cost you if the transmission does go pear shaped.

 

[figjam]

Without putting too much of a damper on it, the question here is, why has it been for sale for over 12 months? That does ring a few alarm bells to me.....

Commodores, and wagons are a shrinking market.
It's a V8 , it's not a SUV, and it doesn't have the techy connectivity and the nanny aids that trendies must have now to help them drive it.

Some people drink Australian fine wine, others are happy with cheap, imported cleanskins.

 

[hademall]

why has it been for sale for over 12 months?

Asking too much?

 

[the_boozer]

you want to pay $20k for a 15 year old car with 200k kms on it? Has our money lost that much value ? 15 years ago such a car was $5k with a roadworthy.