Looking for advice on 2003 LC

[echoack]

I'm a new member. I've browsed in the past but just signed up as I'm planning to buy a '03-05 LC in the near future. You have a great forum here.

I found a 2003 within a couple hours drive from me with 115k miles priced at $19,900. The exterior photos look good with no signs of damage or rust and the interior looks quite clean. Also, the timing belt service was done at 96k miles and the carfax service records look good up to a point. I've attached a few pictures of the undercarriage. I'm not experienced with LCs and what is an acceptable amount of rust. It looks fairly clean for the age to my untrained eye. What do you think?

Thanks!
echoack

 

[Sandroad]

My guess is you'd be looking at a new muffler and once you take something apart in the exhaust, it may lead to a new cat-back system. Use that to negotiate on price? The parking brake is also likely not functional with that much rust. It seems like some of the photos show some paint or undercoating or something sprayed on the rust? However, all in all, the rust on the frame I can see is not a deal-breaker. The deal-breaker would be whether there's rust on the body. Spend a lot of time with a flashlight and really look things over good on the rocker panels, wheel wells, under the rear bumper, tailgate, etc. Lower the spare to look for rust on the body in the rear. Body rust is very hard to fix/stop/treat.

 

[RND1]

There's been lots of threads recently on rust - do a search. Northern guys will tell you that's nothing. Southern guys will tell you to RUN! I'm with the "That's nothing" crowd.

 

[joseywales]

I'm in the "that's pretty rusty for $20,000 camp". But, if you live in the "rust belt", bringing a rust free Calif truck there really doesn't seem worthwhile as it will look like that in a couple of years anyhow.

 

[Schwein]

try after one year it'll look like that haha!

 

[echoack]

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate it. I'll do some searches to dig up other threads too. Will be sure to check the low spots (rocker panels, under spare, etc) carefully.