THis is sort of a spin-off of the other thread, as nothing was really accomplished......
Anyway, this is more/less directed toward what you should look for as in records or doing an inspection.....
Im gonna start, and then people add as necessary.... BTW, this would be something that would be done IN ADDITION to a dealer inspecion.....
First, when I get into the car, take a big whiff of what it smells like.... You can usually tell if the cars been a smoker car by this, as you may not notice it any other time.... So get into the car and start looking around, pressing buttons and making sure all the features work, all little compartments open correctly and smoothly... Check the glovebox for the owners manuals and possibly the spare keys.... Make sure all the doors open and close from both inside and outside....
For exterior inspection, make sure its a bright day, or have a good source of light.... Take your finger and feel the paint.... It should all feel the same (assuming its clean).... Also, you should see some orange peel to some degree... If not, its possible it was repainted, which might mean there was an accident.... ANother way to tell this is (hard to explain, but Ill try) if you can see scratches but are painted over.... Sort of like little grooves in the paint... These can be very hard to see, and usually require to move around a lot to see them.... However, if it looks like a good quality paint job, its not always bad, because if you start getting chips, it might just chip off one layer to reveal the bottom layer....
Now, make sure the tires are all the same size (not necessarily brand), load rating (important) and they should have similar wear... I know there is a trick to tell how the tread is (besides the TWI)... I think its if you put a penny up to the tread with heads side, upside dow, if you can see the top of his head, you need new tires..... Also, make sure the sides arent cracked....
Open the engine compartment, and the engine should be semi clean, but it can be self obvious if it was detailed... Feel some of the hoses, they should be very soft, but not really soft.... Also, they may be brittle so be gentle at first so you dont crack one! Now start checking fluids.... Check the oil, and make sure its a good color and at a good level..... Now check teh tranny fluid.... Dont be so concerned about level (check that later after its warmed up), but look at the color and smell... Smell it, and if it smells like burning the tranny fluid hasnt been changed for a long while.... Open up the oil filler cap, and shine a flashlight down in there, and you should see some oil but mostly clean metal (ie no black stuff fused to it.) If you do, it might be that maintennace wasnt up to snuff.....
Now fire up the motor, and make sure there are no squeels or anything coming from the engine compartment... I wont go into a lot of details, as most people should know what to look for in a test drive (IE the tranny shifts smooth, gets up to temp timely, etc).....
Also, when you get back, before you shut off the engine, leave the engine in park and check the tranny fluid level..... Just pull it out (not pull, wipe, check again) and check the level.....
If Ive forgotten anything, please add!!
