Thread: hunk of junk :: 2007 Pontiac Wave (Garage entry)

Bought it used from supposed good used dealer in Sept. 2011 with 59,000 Kms on it. I'm the second owner. Now it's Nov. 2012 and has 75,000 Kms on it and has a number of items wrong with it.

Extremely poor gas mileage in city- 12-13 ltrs per 100 Kms (about 330 city Kms to full tank - about $50). High driving gas millage is great, although, I never took he time to calculate it. i suspect that it could easily get over 500 Kms per tank.

Engine light used to periodically come on. Now it stays on. While driving on the the highway, if I hit a small bump (driving over an overpass), occasionally a high-pitch sound would start, but if wheels were perfectly straight, the sound would lessen or go away, but as soon as you slightly turn the wheel, the sound would come back. After a few Kms, the sound would stop.

Needs front driver side bushings.. Front tires went from very good tread to almost bald in a month.

Hole in the muffler and flex mesh on pipe is falling apart. (perhaps normal considering age and north-eastern driving conditions)

The car ran great for 1500 Kms, then at end of trip, the engine started sounding bad, running rough, then misfiring (no backfire sound, just less power and bogged down). the Service Engine light flashed after accelerating fast, but after I had parked it for 2 hours, stopped flashing.

GM dealer did computer diagnostic ($100), and consequently replaced the spark plugs AND plug wires. When I picked up the vehicle, the engine light was still on. Went back to dealer within a few minutes to show them. Next day, the GM dealer did another computer diagnostic and said, this time it's the throttle body. ($400 for the part and $200 for labour + tax) ugh.... I did not get that park fixed yet.

In the meantime. city gas millage is still very bad, and after accelerating up a steep hill, I lost most of the power. People were walking much faster that I could drive. Once on straightaway, still almost no power, and took a lot of time to build up to 28 Kmph. Parked the car for 3 hours, and now the power is back to normal. It's my understanding, this sudden power loss is a result of the bad throttle body, and also, my very poor gas mileage might be too.

No mods, other than sticker added