Are all gen 3’s now “projects”?

I’ve been trying to find a decent gen 3 for the last few years but I’m slowly coming to the realisation that I might just have to give up. 

Prices are ridiculous and I refuse to spend £12-15k on a car which is likely to require welding in the next couple of years.

Being from Northern Ireland, choices are fairly limited but in the last couple of weeks I’ve been to see this 2016 SZ3 with 20k on it priced at £15k.







Yesterday I went to see this 2016 SZ4 with 35k on it for £13k. 

   

Seems it’s really difficult to find one that has been properly taken care of from new.

Is this just the standard now? 

Those do look pretty bad for the year and mileage and is probably caused by the local weather climate. Rainy, heavy winters, sea air etc won't be favourable to Jimnys or indeed most other cars. On a 2016 car thats had no treatment I would expect some surface corrosion on the bare metal components but nothing thats eaten into the metal. Perhaps you need to expand your search area to get away from an area that tends to have corroded cars.

Thanks for your reply and confirming I’m not going mad! 
I’m just so frustrated travelling miles to see cars described as “mint condition” that turn out to be rust buckets. 

Someone had also taken white paint to the easily visible parts of the underside of the one I viewed yesterday.



Could have been done for aesthetic purposes by the previous owner but it definitely raised my suspicions. 

As you are finding real clean and tidy late jimny require a big budget. It's just how the market has gone recently. That said if you can find the money a good jimny will hold that money for you.

They are about right for 10 year old cars that have been driven in the Winter.
I remember when I got my late 2000 in 2010 it looked like your second car underneath, and in the enthusiasm of new ownership I did a lot of cleaning up and dinitroling.  

I see that it's last MOT expired 6 months ago, so it may have finally expired. There were no rust advisories at all until 2023 though, so my efforts bought it 15 years.

Trouble is, I paid £1500 for it in 2010, which is about £2300 today (according to the Bank of England). No dfoubt with an MOT it would be worth more than £2300 now!

You need a JDM import (straight off the boat). They don't smother their roads with corrosive salt from October to March and their cars look factory fresh underneath. 

They need immediate rust proofing or they will dissolve by next year though.