New guy! Need advice on what to do with a BA Astina

[Advv]

A few months ago I received a BA astina hardtop from my uncle (free). It's in good driving condition but the paint on the car has peeled off. A lot of the left side has peeled off. I was considering a respray for a while (my uncle would subsidise half) but people tell me the cost of a respray won't be worth it for the car. So now I'm in a dilemma with what to do. Do I sell it and buy another astina? (not sure how much it'd fetch because of the paint peeling) I like the look of the hatchback astina and would probably get one. Or should I just keep it and do a few simple mods? Or should I go for the respray?

Thanks for any advice!:D

[mussing]

How many kms on it? If it's your daily driver it's likely that you could get a respray for less than the cost of a BA Hatch but you never know, you could get lucky and find a cheapy. What's the condition of the rest of the car, especially the engine?

Oh and can you post some pics? Always helps.

[70NYD]

if its in good condition, and it was free, and ur uncle does not mind you selling it, then sell it for as much as you can and get what you prefer. u might want to do a cut and polish before you sell it so it looks better for those few weeks ;)
btw welcome to AGT and pics or ban :D

[chrisw]

frankly if its the long sedan model "ba hardtop" then keep it and make it sexy as hell if you have the cash :)

sad to say but rupes little subpicture makes me cream.

respray it in a 2-pac candy red, with some black 5 spokes, 15% tint, subtle exhaust and nice and squat suspension. hot little cruiser.

[Advv]

It has around 175kms I think. I wish I had the cash to mod it but I don't. I'm really leaning towards a BA hatchback and modding that slowly. I'll try to get pics tomorrow. I forgot to take them today. Btw, saw your project thread today 70NYD, it's pretty hectic. Your car is one of the reasons I want a BA hatchback now. :) A respray will set me back $2000 at the very least. I could probably sell the astina, and spend that $2000 on top of the sedan sale price and get a better astina hatchback. Also, I don't think the A/C works (as in there's no cold air coming out). I think my uncle said that but I don't use the A/C.

[project.r.racing]

the car was free, so spending $2000 on it, and selling it for $5000 is gonna net you $3000 est.

or do nothing to it. drive it, buy mods for it, sell it when you can afford a hatch. transfer all mods over.

[chrisw]

what proj-R is saying is true too, clean it right up and get some profit ontop. spend that cash your looking at using on a hatchback and keep the hardtop ;)

- same colour respray, saves spraying everywhere.
- tint
- clean it up nicely, everywhere
- make it running and reliable

ta-da nice little 4-5K car. or nice to keep ;) instead of getting another one

frankly its WAY overpriced, even for under 100 000km, but still, you could get 5K for a nicely done hardtop http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1998-Mazda-323-Astina-Blue-4sp-A-Hardtop_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ65Q3a1Q7c66Q3a 2Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a1Q7c293Q3a1Q7c294Q 3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem3a4bc9850 bQQitemZ250379601163QQptZAUQ5fCarsQQsalenotsupport ed

[chrisw]

added picture linking from the other thread looks so good http://www.mazdaclub.net/user/board_images/webbaord/46000/46442-436293.jpg

[Advv]

Thanks for the advice from everyone so far. Much appreciated!

Is it worth injecting that $2000 into the car if I'm going to resell it though? If I were to use it daily then I guess injecting that kind of cash would be fine. I thought maybe I'd be able to sell it in the condition it's in right now for maybe 3-4k. Then put whatever else in that I need for a hatchback.

[project.r.racing]

3-4K seems ok for the condition it is in.