Need Advice on whether to trade my Z28 for a TA?

[LeeS97Z28]

Hi Guys!

I have a 1997 Z28 red in color with 83,000 miles. I found a 1997 TA with 40, 239 miles from a dealer in my area.

Dealer said TA was traded in for a brand New BMW. The dealer said if I wanted to talk to the original owner that would not be a problem.

I uploaded a picture of the TA! I also put a picture of my car up also! Both cars are Automatics. Dealer is asking $10,500.00.

What do ya think! I owe $4300.00 dollars on my car. I have $1,100.00 to put down if I trade.

I am open to your opinions and thoughts!

Thanks Lee!

[JeffM]

personally, from having both an auto, and now a m6, if you'e going to go through the hassle of trading, and starting new car payments, at least change the tranny and search for an m6. You;ll be very happy.

[BadWS6]

If it was a WS6 I would say go for it but for a regular T/A i dont know but you would still be trading up


As Ken says

"A Firebird is a Camaro with the Pontiac upgrade"

[tclelland]

The kbb on this TA is $9200.00 as "private party" value. This is what you would pay if it wasn't at a dealer; or as I like to think.....what its worth when you drive it off the lot.
You will most likely have a hard time selling your Camaro this time of year. BTW the Camaro pic looks awsome. My $.02, I would keep the Camaro, use the down payment money to pay down the current loan and look for a 98+ LS1 M6 WS6 TA next year. You still have the Camaro to drive and enjoy.
And who knows, maybe you will have enough money saved up to buy the TA and keep the Camaro. Automatics are good for the 1320

[casey02ws6]

It doesn't seem to be enough of an upgrade for the trouble. Unless you have to have a Trans Am. They are even the same color! I would wait until you can afford an LS1 - I have owned both the LT1 and LS1 - it is worth trying to upgrade. Besides your car looks great!

[Joe 1320]

Let me rephrase what you are doing and you might reconsider.

You are trading your 97 for another 97 with 40K less miles, adding over a grand as a down payment and continue to pay on a loan. In my humble opinion, this is not a wise move. If you were trading to a signifiacntly newer vehicle, that is a different story. If you really want the T/A, sell yours and pay off the note. Now re-negotiate and get into the car with a lower payment. You will never come out ahead trading when you still owe on the car. Besides, all you are doing is trading body panels and a taking off a few miles. If yours had 135K miles and the T/A had 20K miles, that is an entirely different scenerio. 80K miles on yours is nothing. Many people I know have 150K and over and they still run strong.

[DJ Taso]

personally, from having both an auto, and now a m6, if you'e going to go through the hassle of trading, and starting new car payments, at least change the tranny and search for an m6. You;ll be very happy.

Couldn't agree more. M6 or nothing.

[Joe 1320]

I do have to add another .02 to this thread. I don't understand for the life of me, why people are so against automatics. I've had more stick cars as well as automatics and both have their merits. Automatics are THE ticket for drag racing, more forgiving to the rest of the driveline and sure do make life more convenient. Sticks are good for gas mileage and give you something to play around with while driving. Considering that I own both, that I like sticks and automatics, I'll take the auto any day of the week unless I was going on a long distance freeway trip and that would be for gas mileage purposes. Any other time, a stick shift is a royal PITA... especially in heavy rush hour traffic. The only merit of a stick shift car that I like is not having a load against the brakes at a stop. With automatics, that little groan and shudder as you gently release the brakes due to the load against them does get annoying.

[raroZ28]

I hate automatics myself... I like the control I have with a stick. Go with the M6 if you're going to trade, I would consider that an upgrade. When I look into buying an F-body, there are three requirements... It has to have t tops, it has to be white or black, and it has to have a 6 speed.

Manuals are only a PITA when you have no e-brake

[Mirroredshades]

Pass on the car. You can get those around here for $8000 easy. Plus, like Joe said, you are increasing your payment for 20k miles. Not worth it IMO.

I have to disagree with you Joe on your manual comment though. If you are going to build or drive a serious corning machine, you need to have control of the gears. No matter how perfect an automatic might be, it can't judge the proper entry and exit rpms for a curve. At best you lose time. At worst it could choose the wrong gear and cause a spin.