If a previous owner didn't care enough about the vehicle to maintain the timing belt, I wouldn't trust the reliability of any other major mechanical items. You almost never have a timing belt issue if you follow the recommended maintenance schedule. If you don't, you are taking a major risk of crapping out the entire engine.
FALSE. timing belts/chains crap out. my car was taken complete care of by my father who is a mechanic, and mine snapped. everything was fine on my car and still is. its got 300,000 on it and still going strong.
My dad bought a car off of my cousin which had a timing belt problem and it ended up being a steal (for 300 bucks). we replaced it, and everything else works fine.
The problem with the timing belt being messed up is that the valves could be bent because the pistons hit them when they were closed. if that isnt the case, the car could be fine. problem is, bout the only way to test this is by fixin the timing belt, which in most cars is no small task. also, on the car that we bought the timing belt snapped because of a bad tensioner pulley, so it snapped again when we didnt change it. so if anyone ever changes their timing belt, check the pulleys.
