If I understand Canadian customs correctly, Mark_T has offended you and is now obligated to take you out to Timmy's and make reparations. Have him let you drive his car.
Like any 10+ year old used car, some are good, some are bad. If you are not familiar with them, hire a professional to do a pre-purchase inspection.
I generally buy them wrecked or highly depreciated at my own risk. I enjoy doing most of my own work, short of machine shop stuff. Competent shops that work on these cars charge a bit over $100/hour for labor and will not discount your parts. That makes a big difference in whether a problem is cheap or expensive to fix.
Very common problems:
-Missing/broken plastic panels on the undercarriage.
-Malfunctioning windows.
-Airbag system failure (most commonly seat belt wiring).
-Horn contact failure.
-Water pump failure.
-Coolant expansion tank (or cap) leak.
-Brake wear.
-Uneven tire wear.
-Worn suspension parts - rear trailing arms especially.
-Broken parts in the top mechanism - gears, cables, and linkage.
-Blocked drains. Leads to: Wet padding under carpet, failed immobilizer box, corrosion inside brake booster, and more.
-S models commonly have a problem with
2nd gear pop-out
-Spark plug tubes leak. (1997-2002)
-Alternator bearings/idler pulleys seize.
-The Air Oil Separators fail internally and dump oil directly into the intake.
Those are just some of the most common, easy to fix things that I have found on my cars. There's plenty more scary stuff that is less common:
-Failed hydraulic lifters.
-Bad chain tensioners.
-Sheared crankshaft.
-Oil pump failures.
-VarioCam actuator failure.
-Connecting rod bolt failure.
-Rear main seal failure.
Most of these can lead to a repair cost of thousands of dollars (or Very Many thousands of Canadian dollars).
My advice: Buy one that looks pretty and drive it hard. Consider your money gone. For me, it somehow worked out better than my investment in the Oil and Gas industry.
