New car checkup points

[Darcy]

So, I just picked up a car off of a young lady who kept the car in fairly decent shape "That's what the boyfriend is for" (literal response after I asked her if it had regular maintenance).

It has the idling problem, which I think I have covered in the appropriate thread.

I am now wondering what the proper course of action is to getting a nice checkup on the car without breaking the bank.

I was figuring taking it into one of the Mazda dealerships in town (Calgary) and just having them do a thorough look at the engine and see if there's anything that should be looked at.

I'm not a real performance bugger by any means, just want a nice reliable economic nice-looking car Don't have a whole lot of money for upgrades or anything, just want it running in nice shape.

Anything else I should look at right away that a dealership won't do?

<small>[ November 09, 2003, 02:21 AM: Message edited by: Darcy ]</small>

[MX3-Freak]

Well, I don't know about around there, but here the dealers SUCK. I went in to get OEM replacment keys cut by key code (all I had was one copy the previous owner had given me and it wouldnt open the trunk). They gladly cut the key for me and charged me 17 dollars for a damn key. What was worse, IT WASN'T CUT TO SPEC , at a locksmith.

So my advice, skip the dealer BS and go to the most reliable mechanic in town. . . Just thought I would give my two cents. . . good luck with your mx

<small>[ November 16, 2003, 12:24 PM: Message edited by: MX3-Freak ]</small>

[cjthor]

Well I would go by the dealer...just to make sure there are no withstanding recalls needed on the car.

[mclaw-mclaren]

ya, go to the Northwest dealership on centre street. they are very good there, getting a swap done there now

[Darcy]

Thanks alot for the tip. Have a few other things that I want to get checked out, mainly the 750 --> 400 --> 750 --> 400 RPM thing, and the case of my disappearing antifreeze. (For some reason will only hold as much up til the bottom of the overflow tank)

Ok, I'm going to do it. I feel like a total car n00b.

What is a BPT or BP swap/mod? See tonnes of references, but I can't figure out what it stands for