A public service announcement to all of the used car lots selling sports and performance cars: if it doesn't have a clutch pedal, IT'S NOT A MANUAL TRANSMISSION!

similarly, if the previous owner added 1 feature from an upper trim level, you don't get to list it as that trim level. I ran into a dealership listing a Scion TC and a monogram series because it had the monogram leather shift knob but was missing every other feature that would make it a monogram.

Also, as a general piece of advice for those of you looking for an older sports car from a used dealership here are two good rules to follow:

  1. Don't fuck with a dealership if you wouldn't be able to call their corporate headquarters in some way. This will generally limit you to dealerships with a brand in their name, Carmax or a super used dealer like Texas Direct Auto.

  2. Don't ever, ever, EVER buy a car that has been to auction. While there are cars that go to auction that are perfectly fine, chances are fairly likely the car was at auction for a good reason.

bonus pro tip: Don't even let a used car dealership pull your credit. They will generally send if off to a bunch of lenders who will also then hard pull your credit. having 3-8 hard pulls in a day makes you look desperate and TANKS your credit score. I lost 60 points (albeit for only about 6 months) because of this recently. Gotta make it back to the high 700's again now.

/r/cars Thread