I have a chance to buy a 2002 RL from my brother's neighbor. I know one of the power windows is broken and it hasn't been driven for 6 months. Battery is possibly dead. Can anyone give me an estimate on the cost to have this sort of thing fixed? Also would love to hear thoughts/comments on what people think about this model.

 

1st thing is to make sure you are not paying to much for the car
Also you need to make sure the timmimg belt and water pump have been done.

Battery is about 60-70 bucks

And a window regulator installed about 200-300.

 

If you are not afraid of tacking the window regulator job by yourself, it's really not all that hard. Normally what happens with those is the wire gets cut somehow and it winds around the motor over and over, therefore burning it up. Or at least that is what happened with mine. You take the door panel off (should be 3 screws) and pop it up and out. Then take off the plastic moisture barrier. Then you should see what it is you have to take out. It's in a triangle shape, it mounts to the window, the door, and the door again. You may want to lower the window down a little bit so you can get at the bolts on the window. I recommend doing it yourself rather than a mechanic or dealer, because $300 seems like way too much for that job.

Other things to check are for check engine/maintenance required lights. As STGTLS said, the timing belt and water pump are a big question too. They should be done every 90-95k miles. But, other than that, these cars have a great reputation for being reliable and lasting forever!