I bought mine here in Houston for $11500 with 24K miles
Its in mint condition except for the ABS unit which haze that white crap that I guess you call oxidation. Everything works and the only problem was an exhaust leak, and I used the piston slap, characteristic of the LS1, to my advantage.

I complained that the motor knocked, etc and he said no to $11000, so I said no thanks and started to leave. As I was trying to leave he made said finally, ok...."$11500?"

So I drove it home that day.

BTW they were asking a little over $14500 or $14999

Just keep looking, it took me almost 3 months to find the right one. I found one in Miami with the same mileage but in black, but I wasnt sure how great the paint would look in person (black...) and its so far from Houston. I just happened to find this one.

Dont be afraid to select "Unlimited Distance" when searching AutoTrader.com....you find some great deals on the east coast.
and be sure to ask lots of questions about the car.

"Does it run good?"....see how they repond
"Will this car last me X years/miles?"
"Did a teenager own this car before?" they usually say i dont know, but ask anyways.

Get a carfax report, etc. DO YOUR HOMEWORK

Look for excessive dirt/rust/grime under the car

Listen to the car as it warms up, after that take it through the rpms first slooowwly, then give it a few blips and take it all the way to redline.

You want to make sure it runs good.

Also, look for anything that might indicate it was a teenager that drove it (chewing gum, sheets of acid, etc...j/k )

I always like to drive the snot out of anything I am seriously considering buying beforehand to see if anything happens, usually if you di this and there are no problems, the car is good.

If its an auto just use common sense and feel if its slipping in any gear and make sure reverse works.

and be sure to use your sense of smell the WHOLE time. Some things dont smell all the time, for unstance a malfunction steering pump might only smell when you are turning almost as far as it goes, but not when on the highway cruising.

Your sense of hearing, and sense of smell is your biggest friend when checking out a car.

Hope that helps, I gotta go but will post more if time.

BTW some of this stuff the dealers wont let you do it unless you are preapproved or buying with cash

 

118K on an LS1 already?!?!! damn people sure drive the hell out of their vehicles now. My daily driven 93' Z28 only has 105K sitten on the clock.

Just listen for any odd noises, drive it in every way, hard-soft-and just cruise. Go around turns slow and fast....see what it does. LT1/LS1 cars have been shown to take a lot og abuse ( with only minor fixes, instead of major ones ) so if this thing is running pretty decent and ur content with having to replace a couple things down the near to distant future. Then go for it man, nothing like an LS1


Cory

 

This is what I'd expect, you aren't going to be throwing rods or having really low compression unless the car was flat out abused. 100k is nothing, I ran heads/cam on my last car around 117k, ran plenty strong. 150-200k I'd plan on taking it easy, watching oil consumption, and planning on a rebuild sometime. You may consider changing the oil pump when/if you are ready to spend a little "comforting insurance" money on it.

Window motors, O2 sensors and things die every now and then. I would do a fluid swap if you buy it (oil, trans, rear end) and plugs, filters if you feel like it, cheap things that you can at least be sure are 'new' when you swap out. I like to look at the paint, I am picky about paint now.

 

Might have been the one I bought...that was back in January though. My car has 222K on it now and runs very smooth...I'm suspicious that someone may have alreaddy rebuilt the motor because it runs a lot better than lower (30-40K) milage LS1's I've driven even though I'm pretty sure no one has since it wasn't mentioned when I bought the car...would have been a great selling point. Gets about 24 MPG in the city and 30+ on the highway so the engine is getting what its suppose to in fuel economy. I'm going to run it at the track in a few weeks to see if its performing like it should, but it feels like it is....haven't lost to a Civic yet

But like they've said, most problems are non-motor. Stupid inconviences like radio lights, window motor, etc... Pretty sure my transmission might need a new clutch and a new 4th gear (only gear that wants to grind sometimes). The motor should perform great up to about 300K miles or so...

 

Thats way better than its supposed to 18-19/27 is the standard although Y2K was listed as 19/30 I believe.