Hi All,
I'll be looking at a 1996 200sx SE-R (5-speed) today. Is there anything in particular that I should be looking for? I've already read the earlier thread on rusting. Are there any other problem or potential problem areas? The car has ~117,000 miles. Is that too high to even consider buying the car? Thanks:D

I think that 117k isn't too much for mileage on one of these cars... The engines are made freaking bullet proof (well, for those of us that are still close to stock! :p )

If the price is right, and it runs fine; Go for it.

:D

It depends on how much they want for it
Look up the Kelly Blue Book (http://www.kbb.com) value.
I bought a 98 with 59k on it and the only problem i had was the ac was short some refridgerant and the dealer took care of it.
P.S. mine does have a little rust on the inside frame for the passenger door but thats all i've noticed.

i bought mine with 110,000 miles and is a good as new, it's now got a 120,000 and i'm getting ready to put cams in it. i was told they will run forever if you just take care of it....

just got mine last month $4200 91,000miles

The high miles on that car shouldn't be a problem...later down the road you can think about doing a sr20det swap. Bought my 96 about a month ago for $3700 with 66K, all stock never abused from a SE-R car nut(he owned 3(V-Spec, B14 Auto-X car and the one I own now) before he sold me one).

The only thing you have to look out for is the slow ass cam disease. If you drove in a stock sr20 powered car before you will notice the huge difference. Good luck!

the motor mounts are probably shot. you'll want to replace those.

speedo will freeze on cold mornings beat the dash and it will kick back up, hahaha yall know what im talkin bout ehh.........ehh??¿¿

Thanks for all of your input. I just looked at the car. The body is alright. It is rusting (bubbling) a little on the lower part of the passenger side door jamb. It has a really cheap paint job. Headlights and front bumper are loose. Has GC coil-overs. Motor sounds good (didn't get to test drive). It has headers and an HKS P-Flo type WAI. He's asking $4,300 o.b.o. Gotta check the Carfax......

Originally posted by 96se-rdriver
speedo will freeze on cold mornings beat the dash and it will kick back up, hahaha yall know what im talkin bout ehh.........ehh??¿¿

actually no, never had this problem. but.....:
i suffer from reverse pop-out,
a clonking start up,
and a noisy interior.

other then that, its not that bad.

I got the speedo problem

I got my 97 with 55K miles for 4500$ I'd keep looking if I were you sounds a bit off......

I thiiknk that the revers pop out and the occassional 5th gear pop out is due to a bent shift fork....caused by resting your arm on the stick while crusin. Not 100% sure but you might check it out