It's partly me too, I like egging him on, so I'll take some of the blame..
The luminas suck part. Sorry.
Printable View
It's partly me too, I like egging him on, so I'll take some of the blame..
The luminas suck part. Sorry.
I'll grant the fact that all cars break down at some point but I believe that you lessen the chance by proper maintenance. My mother drove a 1969 VW Beetle, and my father a 1971 Dodge B100 Tradesman Van with a slant 6-225 up until his death in 1978. My mother then purchased a 1978 Chevy Impala, then a 1980 Chevy Citation, then a 1982 Pontiac Phoenix, then a 1988 Chevy Celebrity, then a 1992 Saturn SL1, then her last car before her death was a 2001 Chevy Malibu. There were hardly ever any instances when her cars were broken down, granted early on she switched cars frequently then later on the there were more years between vehicles. I always thought the cars were pretty damn good, even for the 80's crap that was being produced. Some was good, some not. Do you beat the living daylights out of your cars, or take care of them? I dont know, all I know is that I feel if you take care of them then you lessen the chance of incident.
Sounds like your mother was a stout GM lover. I'll agree that proper maintenance does lessen the chance of a break down, but it can't be helped sometimes.Quote:
Originally Posted by NYChevoo
My father once had a 1994 Ford Ranger XLT. Extended cab, 5 speed manual, 4x4, 3.0L Vulcan V6. That truck had more problems than the Chevy Blazer he had before it. The truck was good for almost.... well... he started having problems with it right away.. He owned the truck from 1994 to 2009, when he FINALLY got fed up and traded it in on a 2006 Nissan Maxima (He initially wanted a Pontiac G6 but the finance company forced him into the Datsun). Before you say anything, he took religious care of that truck. And the 2 problems the truck had that I recall him bitching about the most were the brake lines (which had different size couplings on each end, making just finding a replacement a hassle) and when it shot a rod through the oil pan (which he spent 2 grand having the engine rebuilt).
Some cars just fall apart from the get go.
I had a 98 Explorer, it used to eat the front suspension bushing like a hog, and the tranny(manual 5speed, made by mazda) was total junk, also had a late 90's Concord(first generation) it used to eat the steering rod bushings every few months. Those were design flaws and are very hard to fix, in the case of the bushings, polyurethane would have solved the problem, unfortunately no one made it, so, had to go with the OEM...The tranny leaked and did not shift properly, a issue with the shifting forks being to thin and bending with use.
Based on mileage/maintenance cost, the worst cars i ever owned (top 5) in no order, 1997 hyundai accent (bought new), 2000 ford focus(bought new), 1998 Audi A4 (wife wanted it, bought used without much research long story, great car but $$), 2004 Audi A4 (bought new), and 2001 VW Jetta (bought used higher mileage).
"wouldnt have a problem with a honda, they never break down" -Aveorob
Doh! The car I spent the most money on for maintenance/repairs was probably my '89 Honda Accord 5-speed. Budgeted about $750 a year & had it for about 6 or 7 years. (And did most of my own work, so it would have been even higher if I had to pay labour.)
I have to say the worst car I ever owned was a Porsche 944. Constanly in the repair shop. I finally wised up and my next car was a 1972 Pontiac Grand Safari wagon I purchased locally from a family that had only 55000 miles on it. That was bought in 1984. Oh yeah, it was documented by the P.O. I saw the maintenance bills on the car. Loved that 455 V8!
I can top that, the 01 Ford Focus I bought new broke down half way caming back from Vegas and leaft us stranded in the midle of Death Valley, fuel pump went out(first but not last time), next brakes, ignition, and some other stuff, thanks to that car now my wife hates Fords and I won't be getting that Mustang anytime soon...:crybaby:
i had fuel pump issues in my focus as well,it only ran and primed if you didn't push in the clutch, which made it hard to start..
but i could get that started, its when you pushing in the clutch and it didn't do anything that it became a problem..
as well as the radio only coming on 3 out of 4 times you turned the car on.. the dealer "fixed" the fuel pump issue 5 times, i tried to turn it in for lemon law, but since it was written as "no start" and the "solution" was different every time, i didn't have a case.
It was still a better car than my hyundai though.
My Accent was more reliable than the Focus, never put a dime on it, went to Vegas on it many times, no issues. The Focus was a nicer car overall, better quality materials, better handling etc, too bad it was totally unreliable, wife is a paralegal and worked in a law firm, she was so pissed at Ford when they refused to honor the warranty she started a class action law suit, she drove them mad for 7 years! Than Ford settled it, wife got about 10k(because she was the class rep) everybody else got fricking coupons for free service on out of warranty cars(judge decision). Ford will fight u like a 'drunk irish man', they ended up with a 20million dollar bill on that case(mostly going to attorneys fees). So intead of fix my wifes car for $500, they chose to pay 20mill, yeah, they must have real 'Genious' running that company...and they should have put the Escort engine on it, I had 2 Escorts, they were super reliable...
Both engines in the Focus, the 2.0L Zetec, AND the 2.0L CVH were available in the Escort of the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by AveoSS
I had earlyer models, my sis and dad also had Escorts, they were great. I'm not sure what engine I had, I think it was a 1.8 but it did not have the Zetec badge on it like my sis ZX2. Matter of fact the engine never gave us trouble, the other acessories did, fuel pump, ignition, brakes, alternator...
My family's had some experience with the older Escorts as well. My sister once had a 1987 Mercury Lynx (Ford Escort sister car. Sam basic car) and she loved that. It was a 5 speed manual with no power steering and she had to take her driving test in that. My mother later on had a 1994 Ford Escort station wagon with the 1.9L CVH. Now my mother had problems with that car. Mainly the transmission. She had the automatic and in the winter once spilled coffee on the gear shifter. Well, the coffee froze and immobilized the car, so she had to use the roadside assistance to get it home on a flatbed. She got pissed and called up Ford complaining (after about the third time this happened. Coffee shouldn't be able to immobilize a car). Ya know what Ford said? "Don't drink coffee in the car". What the hell kind of design is that when coffee can stop a car dead in it's tracks?Quote:
Originally Posted by AveoSS
Eventually (early-mid 1999) my brother and his wife borrowed the car and totaled it. My mom bought the Monte Carlo that I now have as a replacement and has never had a problem with anything other than this bowtie's alternator (which likes to go every 30,000 miles and is a bitch to get to). My mom said she lost count how often she spilled things on the Chevy's shifter and it never froze up like that.
I drove a 2000 Chevy Blazer, and it didn't give me any issues until 100,000 miles. GM thought it was funny to put dissolvable gaskets in the engine, a $1000 later, and it still runs at 120,000 miles. Heck, the rear brake pads lasted 100,000 before they were metal-to-metal. The Aveo's engine will last a good 200,000 miles before it needs a rebuild. I took a look at my 2010's engine, thinking it was a cheap piece of junk, but I was surprised. This thing is solid and I know that it'll be reliable if I keep it serviced.
I definitely feel I'm going to hit 200K! As a matter of fact I'm looking forward to it!Quote:
Originally Posted by Aveeo
UPDATE: Ok all so this is where I stand with the Jetta. I deciced that I wanted to order mine. I went with white, got the VW ground effects kit which is very subtle and went with the 18" VW Motorsport rims. Gave the dealership the $1000.00 deposit, signed some paperwork and my order was placed. Hopefully in 8 weeks it will be here. Bare in mind I still went with the Jetta S with the 2.Slow motor and the 5 spd but I felt that a little spiffing up from the factory was in order.
there will be just as aftermarket for the 2.slow as every other vw soon enough..
just stop at apr on your way home..
Congrats on the VW buy! I would have got the same thing, its gona look awesome, ur going to love that car! How much OTD with the extras? I'll probably get a Spark next year because of its MPG, If, GM sells it for a decent price...
All this talk about VW's is making me miss my Jetta. :(
Please post pics when u get it.
I ended up at $19200 with the additions. I've had some VW's along the way in my life but they've been the original Beetles and some early Rabbits. For me coming back to VW's 20 plus years later to find that milestones have been made is very exciting! I will definitely post some pics and as I have stated before I still have no plans to let go of my Aveo. Its been nothing but good to me!Quote:
Originally Posted by AveoSS
I plan to explore some upgrades in the future. When I was in my teens we used to have a place nearby in Tallman,NY called Rapid Parts. As the times changed they still dealt with older VW's but moved more into the newer VW's in the late 80's and early 90's dealing with parts suppliers such as Neuspeed. They're still in operation today in the same location and I most definitely plan on becoming a customer once again!Quote:
Originally Posted by petrified.rabbit
I used to order from rapid parts back in the day..
Speaking of parts. I am the new owner of a 04 Aveo HB . I live in Tulsa Ok and I need rear brake drums,hubs and bearings bad.Do not have the cash to get new. So I have been looking for used parts and can not find them in Ok.Can anyone out there help a new owner out?
Found it!!!! Looks great Chevoo, and if I commented in here somewhere else saying soething then I apologize, the vicodin, ms contin, percocet, and various muscle relaxers make me forget things. :)