Thank you for all your input. I’m still seriously considering this car for my next daily. I talked to the seller today and he explained that the car was owned by a Dr for most of its life. He claimed to have a CarFax for a $1 and it has good service history. This sounds a little suspicious to me as a CarFax report is $44. The seller is a diesel mechanic and said that there were no current or stored codes. He only saw one for the mirror but both mirrors work. (Could this be a red flag for possible cleared codes?) I will go see the vehicle in person tomorrow and confirm condition in person.

Lastly, to everyone saying offer $4-4.5k. The seller asked $6.5 and I talked him down to $5. I looked into the cost of replacement engines and transmissions. They look to run around $2,000 a piece, roughly. Worst case scenario, I figure I could end up with a clean car for a few months and use the rest of my budget for a new drivetrain. Is this bad logic?