good comments thanks. A few more reasons that I'm considering this is that:
- he did a full long block replacement of the engine a short time ago....it has lots of power, climbs hills, and essentially runs like new.
- the owner has basically kept everything in 100% working order. What he has not done, the dealer here did.
- my mechanic contact at the dealer who is familiar with the owner and the car basically told me it is super clean, not a thing that needs to be done to it right now.

All in all, I'm pretty confident, the condition is in the upper 5% of what you see out there on the market. Also, I'm usually ho-hum on the non-turbos, but this one really runs well and one way to look at it is one less thing to maintain. If I keep the car for the long haul, it can be my son's first car when he starts driving.

decisions, decisions....thanks for your comments. -harv