looking to sell my gt, need advice on how to price it

[pleiadesfella]

hey all,

I swear there was a "what is my car worth" thread somewhere, but couldn't find it. moderators feel free to move the thread to a different category if I'm in the wrong place.

tl;dr: I want to sell my automatic 2007 gt in relatively poor condition with fading paint, peeling clearcoat, underbody rust and bad rust on rear arches but the engine was rebuilt in 2019 with forged pistons and new internals - only ~15k kilometers on rebuild. how do I price the damn thing?

so I'm looking to sell my 2007 5eat gt limited as I will be moving (or vacationing far away) from this hellhole soon, and I won't be in the position to hold onto both cars. the problem is, I have no clue on how to price it because its backstory and current condition are a little... odd.

this was my first ever car, and I bought it for 4000 canadian dollars back in early 2019. as you could probably tell from the price, it already wasn't in stellar condition when I first bought it but it was in better shape than it is today. the thing is, this being my first car and me being a clueless idiot back then, I didn't know how temperamental these engines were and ended up spinning good old rod bearing #3 while trying to double the freeway limit after finally getting my summer tires on (told ya I was a clueless idiot back then ).

so after being unable to offload the car as a shell over the summer, I decided to get it rebuilt at a reputable subaru tuner in my region - that being symmetrical autoworks. I knew it would cost me, but at the time I had no other choice and needed to get back to having a car soon since winter was coming. after some back and forth, I ended up getting the engine rebuilt with 100mm wiseco forged pistons, oem sti forged rods, 2019+ sti nitride treated crankshaft and king race rod bearings. fyi I didn't end up paying extra for the wiseco pistons over oem pistons as they misquoted the price of the piston rings as the price of the pistons when I was first inquiring about build pricing. now this obviously means that the block was split into halves and rebored at a machine shop. heads were also machined at the same shop. they also installed a new vf40 (not the oem vf46) since the stock turbo had shaft play and probably had metal in it. parts that could be reused were reused (old intake manifold, intercooler, etc) and everything else was replaced with new original oem parts. this rebuild ended up costing me $8000 canadian (front brakes also had to be replaced since calipers were sticking due to the car sitting for so long). as much as I am grateful for symmetrical's work on the car, the engine has very audible piston slap on a cold start, and while it does quiet down after being properly warmed up and driven, it never really subsides. I thought I could deal with it, but at this point I do regret going with the rebore and forged pistons. however, this has caused 0 issues in the last 4 years and the car has always remained drivable and reliable. the car is still running the stock tune, and is completely stock with exception of the engine internals.

by late 2019, I had spent a grand total of $12k canadian on this car, most of it being the rebuild and brake repair costs. at this point I kind of resented the car and didn't have much money left over while paying off the repair debt, so I never bothered to get it undercoated. this caused the already existing rust to build up badly over the last 4 winters I've been through with it. don't get me wrong, the rust isn't bad enough to cause any structural issues with the car. since it keeps passing inspection, I assume there are no holes in the floor and rockers. however, there is a bad rust hole in the passenger side rear arch which my father closed up with jb weld since we needed a quick fix at the time. the rust on the driver side doors is also getting very bad on the bottoms of the doors. the underbody also doesn't look flattering - the control arms and sway bars have a nice coat of rust on them as well.

the paint is also bad. the whole front end of the car and a small front section of the roof have faded paint. the clearcoat is peeling badly on the rear bumper. I think the grille has been plastidipped black by the last owner and its been chipping away. I am also unsure if this is an accident car or not since the hood seems to be slightly misaligned. there are several scratches, dents and dings all over the car, with the most noticeable being some dents with scratches on the rear driver's side door and a brown stained dent on the right side of the rear bumper caused by hitting a dumpster.

I also think the transmission has been going bad for the last 2 years or so, as it shift shocks somewhat often and seems to slip at low rpms. I cannot get up to freeway speeds without full throttling and letting it drop gears to reach 4500 rpm. unsure if this is all a TCU problem (doubt it because I had it reset in 2020) or an actual mechanical problem with the transmission.

the mileage is ~227k kilometers. interior is in okay condition, just needs a good cleaning.

so, with all of these considered, how do I price the car? I don't want to give it away for cheap considering the engine build, but at the same time I fully understand that I can't get even close to what I spent back since the car is a rusty automatic. I've been thinking of starting it at $6000 canadian (so around $4500 usd) and maybe taking offers from there, but I'm really unsure.

I will try to get up to date pics of the car later, but for now I will post older pics of it and its flaws. it does look worse now than it did back then, but that's mostly due to the rear arch rust and door rust.

congrats if you read this all the way through  

 

Edited June 15, 2023 by pleiadesfella

[KZJonny]

I’m in Ontario, so the market it not the same, but we are rust belt as well… $$$ may vary out east.

My best guess would be that you’d make out with the most cash in hand parting it. The rebuilt engine should hold most of it’s value, especially if you can provide current compression figures. Full interior, turbo, etc…. All worth some cash.

It’s an automatic sedan…. Lowest on the desirable totem pole.

People around me are selling pre-facelift wagons that are cleaner for that price or less. (No built engine tho….)

Dunno mate, spend some time on kijijini auto and maybe autotrader to get comparables locally?

[pleiadesfella]

2 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

I’m in Ontario, so the market it not the same, but we are rust belt as well… $$$ may vary out east.

My best guess would be that you’d make out with the most cash in hand parting it. The rebuilt engine should hold most of it’s value, especially if you can provide current compression figures. Full interior, turbo, etc…. All worth some cash.

It’s an automatic sedan…. Lowest on the desirable totem pole.

People around me are selling pre-facelift wagons that are cleaner for that price or less. (No built engine tho….)

Dunno mate, spend some time on kijijini auto and maybe autotrader to get comparables locally?

trust me, I've been scouring canada wide kijiji ads for legacies for a while now. I think I know what you mean by the prefacelift wagon example, the silver 05 automatic wagon for $5500 in london right? honestly I wish I could buy that to swap my motor into that instead lol. I just haven't seen a single ad where the car is a poor condition automatic but the engine is a low mileage forged build, so I don't have much to work off of.

as much as parting out and junking the body is a good idea, I unfortunately don't have the means to do a proper partout since I live in an apartment with no garage and no tools . I wonder if I could ask symmetrical to part it out for me. hell, even if they just sell the engine for 3-4k and give that money to me, I would let them keep the rest of the car lol.

[KZJonny]

Eh.

Take a weeks vacation, find a clean’ish’ wagon body somewhere in Ontario or Quebec, throw a lowball offer and drive to me in Niagara.

We’ll pick up the wagon and swap that sweet built engine in overnight.

You buy the pizza and plenty of beer. Labour is on the house. Let me scavenge parts from the dead sedan.

[KZJonny]

Hell, there is blown engine OBXT in Kitchener for $2000 that is super clean on new tires. Next to no rust.

Better vehicle for your East Coast roads than a Legacy anyway!!

[pleiadesfella]

39 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

Eh.

Take a weeks vacation, find a clean’ish’ wagon body somewhere in Ontario or Quebec, throw a lowball offer and drive to me in Niagara.

We’ll pick up the wagon and swap that sweet built engine in overnight.

You buy the pizza and plenty of beer. Labour is on the house. Let me scavenge parts from the dead sedan.

that sounds like a great time and I really appreciate the offer, but I unfortunately can't afford to have a second vehicle. my plan is to either move out west (not much use for an obxt there ) or vacation out of the country for a year, and in both cases the second car is illogical to keep . I got a quote today from MVS canada to see how much it would cost to ship both cars by rail from moncton to vancouver, and it was 5 grand. I would much rather sell the auto and use that money to ship only my spec b out west, it just makes more sense to me. and if I can't find work and end up vacationing instead, I also don't want to pay $1100 to store it while I'm gone.

the question of "why don't you swap your built motor into your spec b?" might come up, and the truth is that was the whole plan when I first bought my spec b last year. however, the stock engine in the spec b is holding up really well and seems to be well maintained, and after driving it for a while I realized how much I loathed the piston slap in my forged engine and how long I would have to warm it up on cold mornings so it wouldn't sound like the engine was killing itself while driving.

I know slap is normal with forged pistons, and it might sound like I'm exaggerating with how bad it is, but it's REALLY loud on my car for some reason. much louder than most examples on youtube, and the slap doesn't fully subside even when warm (though it does quiet down by alot). I'd also have to swap some mods over from the spec b motor to my forged engine since the spec b is tuned. and if it does end up blowing, I'll replace it with an RA shortblock this time .

Edited June 16, 2023 by pleiadesfella

[KZJonny]

For sure dude. Just throwing out the offer.

Have a riot out west. I spent most of 5 years out there treeplanting, bartending and snowboarding. That was a riot.

If my body could do it again, I’d be tempted. But, I also suspect it wouldn’t be same same as being in my 20’s and not really having a care in the world.

Should you decide to drive across rather than ship the car and fly (which I really recommend, if you haven’t done the cross-Canada trip before) know that you’ve got a pitstop garage and a place to crash a night in Southern Ontario.

[pleiadesfella]

21 minutes ago, KZJonny said:

For sure dude. Just throwing out the offer.

Have a riot out west. I spent most of 5 years out there treeplanting, bartending and snowboarding. That was a riot.

If my body could do it again, I’d be tempted. But, I also suspect it wouldn’t be same same as being in my 20’s and not really having a care in the world.

Should you decide to drive across rather than ship the car and fly (which I really recommend, if you haven’t done the cross-Canada trip before) know that you’ve got a pitstop garage and a place to crash a night in Southern Ontario.

I'm definitely looking to have a great time out west if I do end up getting a job there . I know for sure it's gonna be better than living in the middle of nowhere, new brunswick. and if I don't get a job now, I'll store the spec b and figure something out after my vacation.

me and my father were actually going to do a roadtrip with both the cars and a uhaul trailer if I did get a job in alberta, but at this rate bc is looking more likely and my dad's starting to doubt his ability to pull through due to his age. for now I'd just want to get there safe and sound and as quick as possible, but I would love to do a crosscountry roadtrip later.

once again, thanks for your generous offer and advice, glad to know there are still good people in this world  

[KZJonny]

Any time dude. I’m in St. Catharines, which is out of the way, but have all the tools and a place to work on a car. Spare room to crash…

Have a blast out West!

[m sprank]

Send me the car and $500 and I take your troubles away. 

[pleiadesfella]

5 hours ago, m sprank said:

Send me the car and $500 and I take your troubles away. 

if you mean fixing the rust and sending it back to me, sure!  

on a more serious note, I thought that I could probably make a combo deal with the car and the old enkei ts9s I took off my spec b and am also trying to sell. would $6500-7000 canadian ($5000-$5300 usd) be a fair deal for this car with its built motor and the sets of ts9s and stock wheels on good winter tires?

[m sprank]

Dont know Canadian market. In US car is worth $4-$4500USD if the buyer does not notice the transmission issues.  If they notice....  low ball offers of $2k or less.  I would not pay that much due to the rust, but someone else might. 

[pleiadesfella]

2 hours ago, m sprank said:

Dont know Canadian market. In US car is worth $4-$4500USD if the buyer does not notice the transmission issues.  If they notice....  low ball offers of $2k or less.  I would not pay that much due to the rust, but someone else might. 

yeah the transmission issues are the real kicker for me. wish they just weren't a thing at all and that I could sell the car at the price I want with a clean conscience, but I would fully disclose the issues to any potential buyers. the transmission has lasted 2 years longer than I expected it to, so it might not be a major issue at all but it sure is annoying when trying to get up to freeway speeds. I could never get a proper diagnosis either, every mechanic I've taken it to with complaints about slipping said it was fine somehow. drives me crazy because I know its very real.

I guess my intention would be to sell the car to someone who would be able to utilize the engine and any other parts off it to the fullest, or someone who just wants an okay beater to get around in. I'll list it at $6500 cad including the set of ts9s and see how it goes from there. worst case scenario, I'll have to figure something out with symmetrical and see if they can at least sell the engine for me since they have many strong connections with the local subaru community here.

Edited June 20, 2023 by pleiadesfella

[KZJonny]

If they would take the engine on consignment, you’d only need a socket set, screwdriver and some plastic panel tools to harvest all the rest of value. Cheap and easy work, and there is a market for decent interiors, etc…

Glws on the whole car tho!

[pleiadesfella]

got out today and took some better pics of the car in preparation for the sale listing. also got pics of the most major body flaws too. I'll post some of the pics here in case anyone is curious about the condition of the car.