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NOTE that there is NO RESERVE on this auction. The final price will be the actual sales price!
This old Montero has served us (and the previous owners) well by hauling skiis, snowboards, surfboards, kayaks, camping gear and on and on - plus lots of people - to lakes, the beach and the mountains. We used it to tow a small sailboat, but now we've bought a boat that is too big for the Montero to tow, and thus we're selling the Montero.
Over the past couple of years, we've done lots of major services, and we have the records for all this work. At 118k miles we replaced the battery, and we just had the 120k mile service done this summer. We also had the brakes checked and the front rotors turned this summer. Earlier this summer a rock took out one of the cooling fans, so we replaced the cooling fan and some of the other cooling components, and we had the whole system flushed. The engine temperature is fine even on the hottest days with the A/C running on high.
This vehicle has one issue that you should be aware of: the CHECK ENGINE light is on due to a heater on ONE of the O2 sensors that is not working properly. (The code is P0135: O2 HEATER CIRCUIT BANK 1 SENSOR IS FAILING.) I had this checked about a year ago, and my mechanic told me to simply keep driving this car since this really didn't impair the function of the O2 sensor. I had this checked again last month, and the mechanic told me the same thing. (By the way, the last time I had this vehicle "smogged" - May 2007 - it passed with flying colors, and the gas mileage has been 18-21 mpg over the past 10 months, so the engine is clearly operating very well.) HOWEVER, eventually you will probably want to have this O2 sensor replaced, and usually you replace all 4 of these when you replace any one of the sensors. Mitsubishi wants hundreds of dollars for EACH sensor, but you can find aftermarket O2 sensors for about $50-$90 each. AutoPartsWarehouse.com has these for $51.34 (SNG part number SN4-123), $62.95 (Denso part number W0133-1615188), and $81.48/each (Walker Products part number 25024239), for example. If you're handy, you can probably replace this one sensor for less than $100. However, if you don't have basic mechanical skills, you should allow a couple of hundred dollars to fix this eventually, and probably $1,000 if you insist on having a Mitsubishi dealer do this work. However, if you're like us, you'll simply keep driving it as-is.
You should also know that this vehicle is scratched, scuffed, and dinged all over from years of actual use. There are no major dents, but lots of little glitches from kids, skiis, snowboards, kayaks, etc. being loaded / unloaded. Also, parking lot dings abound. It's far from perfect, but from about 20 feet away it doesn't look too bad. The leather upholstry is actually pretty good with no major tears or holes, but the carpeting has various stains here and there. (I suspect that most of the stains are from coffee spills and/or muddy boots over the years.)
The tires are pretty good (see the picture), but they'll probably have to be replaced in about 10-20,000 miles, in my estimation.
We have a clean CARFAX for the Montero that we ran about a year ago. You're welcome to run a current check; I've provided the VIN in this listing.
We have the original owners manuals, an original Mitsubishi Montero brochure for 1996, and I have the complete, 2-volume factory service manual - all of which are included in this auction. (The picture only shows volume I, but volume II is included.)
One of the best features is the 3rd-row seating. You can easily haul 6 adults (even 7 if they're not too big), AND we've been getting 18-21 miles per gallon. You can't beat it for hauling people to ski areas. I've taken the picture with one seat up and the other seat down.
For whatever it's worth, here are the Kelley Blue Book PRIVATE PARTY values for a 1996 Mitsubishi Montero LS 3.0 engine:
EXCELLENT: $4,475
GOOD: $4,404
FAIR: $3,455
The KBB.com description puts this vehicle better than FAIR, but maybe not quite up to GOOD; I've set the buy-it-now price right at the FAIR condition price of $3,455.
OPTIONS and FEATURES
driver and passenger side air bags
automatic transmission: 4-speed w/ automatic overdrive
selectable full-time or part-time 4WD w/ 2-speed transfer case (including locking center differential mode)
air conditioning (works well)
AM/FM/cassette radio w/ 6 speakers
10-disk CD changer (NOT currently working; was functional up to about 1 year ago)
power windows, power locks
4-wheel disk brakes
power sunroof (it's HUGE!)
cruise control
class IV trailer hitch (5,000 lb towing capacity) and 4-wire trailer connector
I think that I've included everything, but if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me: MartinJWallace@hotmail.com
On Sep-30-08 at 08:52:19 PDT, seller added the following information:
Several people have asked me about my exact location, so here are some clarifications:
I'm in Gardnerville, Nevada, which is about 1 hour south of Reno, Nevada.
Yes, I will be happy to deliver the car to the Reno airport if you'd like to fly in and drive it home. (Flights to Reno are generally inexpensive, by the way.) I would have to make arrangements to do this during an evening or on a weekend.
On Oct-07-08 at 17:41:07 PDT, seller added the following information:
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS ALSO FOR SALE LOCALLY; IF IT SELLS BEFORE THE END OF THIS AUCTION, I'LL HAVE TO CANCEL THIS LISTING. I'm not sure that this is easy to do during the last 24 hours of an auction.
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