Our cleaning lady recently loaned her new car to a friend, who near-totaled it. She can't afford the high deductable to repair the car (the loser friend isn't helping) and she is about to loose several of her jobs unless she has a car.

She has very little money (a budget of $1,000) so I volunteered to help her out.

Located a 180,000-mile '94 850 on craigslist in Joliet (south of Chicago) for $700. After work I'm going on a road trip to see the car.

From what I understand, it has some title issues (we'll somehow get through those) and a bypassed heater core (not a big deal).

My major concerns are engine and transmission. Everything else should be less than $500 in parts (I'm planning on getting the car in shape for her, so as long as she pays for the parts, I'll put them in).

Owner says engine and transmission are good.

I will be able to evaluate the engine myself.

But my 850 has a manual transmission and automatics are a real unknown for me (although I did rebuild my Austin America's automatic several decades ago and it went another 40,000 before dying).

What should I be looking-for in testing the automatic?