I'm going to go look at an "excellent condition" 1990 Toronado Trofeo. It's at a husband & wife run dealership. I talked to the wife on the phone and she said they "know the car" - they used to own it a few years back. It's apparently in great condition inside and out, she claims there's no major scratches or dings on the exterior, and no rips in the seats or anything like that inside. It also has that computer display. The car has 136,167 miles on it.

They're asking $2,970 for the car. Kelley blue book and Edmunds seem to disagree on that price (Edmunds quotes it at $2100). I've never dealt with a dealer before, do they try to stick to that blue book price?

Realistically, how long can I expect this car to go before stuff starts breaking? It only has 2000 less miles than my '89 Delta, and bad things are starting to happen to my car.

Thanks,

Barry

Thought we had some Trofeo owners in here? Here are some pictures on Auto Trader. What do you think?

not a trofeo owner, but I am a fan! they're very sweet cars.

the blue book is kind of a guideline as to what similar cars are selling for in the area. if that car is in EXCEPTIONAL condition, it may be worth more than blue book.
offer them $2000, see what happens, you never know... if they don't accept then ask why is's priced so high. I bet you could get the price down if you make them aware of the fact that you've been doing some research.

I definately am a fan of those cars....all Toronados look pretty cool to me. The computer display is a cool feature too....but not too good if you want to get an aftermarket radio.

TOC Admin
Brando

Well I finally got down there to look at it. I like the car a lot. Very nice condition all around. I took it for a drive, alignment is good, it rides nice and handles well. The paint is good overall with only some light scratches and a ding (that I could see). The interior is comfortable, but a little tight. Exhaust note sounds cool. While I was driving it, the VIC kept flashing a warning because it couldn't detect what gear I had selected, although the trans worked fine. Hopefully just a loose wire somewhere? Other than that, the only other thing that bothered me was that while I was fishing around under the steering wheel looking for the hood release, the trim piece located above the driver's knees just below the steering wheel pulled off in my hands. It's just a big piece of vinyl covered foam, but it startled me. It slipped right back into place though. And unfortunately, the guy at the dealership told me straight out that I would be better off selling my Delta 88 Royale to a private party. Not cool. That's more b.s. that I have to deal with now.

I think I will. This place had some very nice cars, but it was in the middle of nowhere. It looks like they get very little business, so I'm thinking they'd be flexible with the price.



Agreed. I was playing around with the VIC and it's pretty amazing. It tells you pretty much anything you could want to know, right down to the last time the car's oil was changed. I'm not too big on fancy sound systems, so the fact that you can't really put a system in the car doesn't bother me. I'd probably just upgrade the speakers and call it a day.

the should negotiate but most of those little buy here pay here are way over priced and won't go down. My idiot friend went to one and bought a 1989 Ford T-bird from them it had 160k miles, the driver's door handle was broken, door panels were ripped up, and it ran kinda rough. They told him $3000 and as much as everyone told him not to he bought it anyway! There's even a place here called JD Byrider that'll charge $4000-5000 for ciera's w/ 140k and people buy them! That car sounds good though, the only thing that will go wrong will most likely be little stuff they have real good engines and tranny's.

I'm going tomorrow to buy it... hopefully. I think I'm going to bring cash. Who could say no to a reasonable cash offer?

Good luck with that, and I agree....who could pass up an offer in cash! 8)

TOC Admin
Brando

Well I am an idiot, the dealership is not open on Sundays. At least my dad got to see and drive the car before I bought it, and he gave it the thumbs up. So, yesterday I got the guy down to $2600 and I went home with the car. It is sooooo nice. I'll have pictures soon.

you better have pictures soon!!! I wanna see this car! Sounds like a winner!

Speaking of which, i just bought myself a 1991 Toronado, not a trofeo though. Needs work, but for $500 i couldn't pass

Congratulations! I hope you like yours as much as I like mine.

well toros are somewhat rare now...but I just saw one in my local paper for $4000 ('91) with 120K...yeah great deal there...wait.


The toros are always go for more than the other 88's/98's/cutlasses etc though. and the Vin C motors will easily go to 300,000 or more if taken care of.

congrats on the new olds purchase, I just got a 94 88 (102K) for 12 bills and everyday it seems like a better deal.