Looked at a 2016 Fiesta ST with 28k miles. Only apparent mods were a Boomba BOV adapter (or BOV - haven’t been able to remove the wheel to check yet) and Boomba sound symposer delete. Also had some Cobb stickers but had no accessport and no other apparent Cobb mods (such as intake, exhaust etc.) so I believe it was unmarried and returned to the stock tune. It was traded in on a Dodge Journey when the owner got married. I believe I’m the 2nd owner. The dealer has a 7 day 200 mile return policy and 3 month 3000 mile warranty. The car seems to have been well taken care of and is in good shape cosmetically - doesn’t seem to have been in any accidents. No weird panel gaps or mismatches.
Test drive went great, made an offer for $14200 and they the dealer took it, ended up right around $15k out the door. I pick it up 2 days later, cleaned it up and washed it, and went for a drive. Within 40 miles the shifter was almost completely gone. Managed to get home, towed it back to the dealer and they said they’d look at it. A week and a half later (today) I pick it up. They put in a whole new shifter assembly (so they say - I’m trying to get the paperwork from the salesman) and a new shifter cable and indeed it now shifts great. The cable had popped off while I drove it, leaving me with only 3rd and 5th.
Anyway, it was ready today. I went to drive it home, got 5 miles, and a check engine light illuminated. I turned right around and brought it back. The service manager says they only had 1 technician today so they’ll check the codes tomorrow (I know that’s bull but I wasn’t going to argue since at this point they did probably several hundred bucks worth of work for free).
If this check engine light turns out to just be an unplugged sensor, an evap valve, or something like that, should I keep it? Or would the broken shifter cable and CEL make you just tell them to return it? Under what sort of CEL issues would you 100% definitely return it? I really do like the car, but it has literally been in the shop for all but 1 day in the span of about 2 weeks.
Once I get it back (again) I’m going to have a local mechanic I personally know inspect the thing up on a lift. I know cars well enough to do small fixes and most maintenance and mods myself, but I don’t want to replace an engine or transmission in this thing.
TLDR: just got car, shifter cable problem and then CEL - would you just tell them to return the car?
UPDATE: CEL was a completely burned catalytic converter. It's going back. I always thought it smelled like it was running a bit rich but this confirmed my suspicions. If it burned a cat in under 30k miles it was probably tuned like complete dogass and that motor has probably taken a severe beating. I was on the fence but I am now 100% giving this hunk back. I learned a lot about car buying through this experience though. I'll never buy a modded car from a dealer - they have no idea what has been modded and they just rush cars through their "300 point" inspection in 45 minutes. If I look at Fiestas again I'm buying completely stock ONLY. I think I'm just gonna buy a cheap NB Miata and keep my Lincoln for now. Thanks for the replies.
Test drive went great, made an offer for $14200 and they the dealer took it, ended up right around $15k out the door. I pick it up 2 days later, cleaned it up and washed it, and went for a drive. Within 40 miles the shifter was almost completely gone. Managed to get home, towed it back to the dealer and they said they’d look at it. A week and a half later (today) I pick it up. They put in a whole new shifter assembly (so they say - I’m trying to get the paperwork from the salesman) and a new shifter cable and indeed it now shifts great. The cable had popped off while I drove it, leaving me with only 3rd and 5th.
Anyway, it was ready today. I went to drive it home, got 5 miles, and a check engine light illuminated. I turned right around and brought it back. The service manager says they only had 1 technician today so they’ll check the codes tomorrow (I know that’s bull but I wasn’t going to argue since at this point they did probably several hundred bucks worth of work for free).
If this check engine light turns out to just be an unplugged sensor, an evap valve, or something like that, should I keep it? Or would the broken shifter cable and CEL make you just tell them to return it? Under what sort of CEL issues would you 100% definitely return it? I really do like the car, but it has literally been in the shop for all but 1 day in the span of about 2 weeks.
Once I get it back (again) I’m going to have a local mechanic I personally know inspect the thing up on a lift. I know cars well enough to do small fixes and most maintenance and mods myself, but I don’t want to replace an engine or transmission in this thing.
TLDR: just got car, shifter cable problem and then CEL - would you just tell them to return the car?
UPDATE: CEL was a completely burned catalytic converter. It's going back. I always thought it smelled like it was running a bit rich but this confirmed my suspicions. If it burned a cat in under 30k miles it was probably tuned like complete dogass and that motor has probably taken a severe beating. I was on the fence but I am now 100% giving this hunk back. I learned a lot about car buying through this experience though. I'll never buy a modded car from a dealer - they have no idea what has been modded and they just rush cars through their "300 point" inspection in 45 minutes. If I look at Fiestas again I'm buying completely stock ONLY. I think I'm just gonna buy a cheap NB Miata and keep my Lincoln for now. Thanks for the replies.
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