That is one UGLY car.
Posted on 11/26/2008 7:02:07 AM PST by yankeedame
That is one UGLY car.
You had a isolated problem.
3800, in my opinion, is one of the best engines ever built.
I have owned the top two on this list:
A ‘74 Vega. The GT model with the 2-bbl carb, not the plebian base model. The aluminum block smoked like an an oil fire...which it was. Both rear quarterpanels rusted away and it bled exhaust inboard. Somehow it aways passed emissions and aside from $80 of exhaust work and a quart of oil every couple of days, I never put a dollar into it.
The other was an ‘82 Citation. Nothing said “Detroit” like this ride. Ugly from the A pillar back. Mine had the “Iron Duke” 151 motor. Lots of aftermarket goodies for that motor and as reliable as sunrise. The only investment I ever put into that car was a new set of brake pads. It finally met its end at the hands of a lady who couldn’t get her Suburban whoaed up at a red light.
HEAR! HEAR!
hahaha nice!
I actually like the looks of the new Malibu; it somewhat resembles the Acura (TL?).
My weapon of choice is my ‘97 Z28...I’ve hit the 130s in it...she actually shakes slightly at 95, starts calming down at 100, and is frighteningly smooth from 110 on...I love it!
I had a Mazda that didn’t even have a thermostat and we drove from Sarasota Florida to North Georgia without it. We just had to run the heat on high the whole way, but we weren’t walking.
I haven’t been able to abuse other cars like I did that poor Mazda.
My experiences with GM vehicles:
‘68 Olds Vista Cruiser - parents’ car; actually pretty solid but it was a late 60’s American car and pretty well used up by the time Dad sold it.
‘78 Buick Estate Wagon - also my parents’ car. I took my driver test in it. Also reasonably solid, but typical ‘70s American ugly complete with fake wood paneling on the side.
‘81 Buick Electra - one of the aforementioned GM diesels. ‘Nuff said.
‘80 Oldsmobile Cutlass - the first GM product in the family with my name on the title. Suffered numerous electrical faults, mostly due to the engine computer. Had a V8 engine, but still couldn’t get out of its own way, and even for as big as it was it had less rear legroom than the ‘81 Honda it replaced. The check engine light came on any time I got it over 60mph.
‘89 Chevrolet Caprice - good car. My folks kept it for fifteen years and almost a quarter-million miles on the original engine (though it was on its second rear axle by then).
‘85 Chevrolet Sprint - okay, techincally it’s a Suzuki; this was my last GM vehicle. I went through TWO engines in the 40,000 or so miles I put on it (both spun the #3 rod bearing).
‘96 Cadillac DeVille Concours - Mom and Dad’s last GM vehicle. Comfy, powerful, quiet, expensive any time something broke. Finally done in by an accident a couple months ago.
My current car, btw, is a ‘91 Mazda Miata with 235K on the clock. Besides being a lot of fun to drive, it’s easily the most dependable car I’ve owned.
after the experience of driving a ‘77 Ford Granada for a little while, I don’t think that I would be complaining about any GM car, ever! The tranny blew at 26K miles, and the Operation board game had more reliable wiring.
Say what you will about the Chevette, I still see quite a few of them out there running, 25 yrs. later.
Ah, yes.
The 1st Chevy of the '80's - The Chevy Citaaaation.
Introduced in the Spring of 1979. I used to refer to it as The First Recall of the '80's.
I’ll call major BS on the Saturn part.
My 12 yr old Satty with 135,000 miles looks like new and runs great. The panels don’t discolor or crack.
My older brother would (quite vocally) insist that the Pontiac Fiero make the top ten list.
He had nothing but problems with his.
My sister had one of those old Vegas. She carried several quarts of oil in the trunk as insurance, and it rusted everywhere but the luggage rack. Still, it started every single day and ran from the day she bought it until the day she traded it in - for an AMC Hornet :-).
“””I had a Mazda that didn’t even have a thermostat..... just had to run the heat on high the whole way””””
Uhmmm. NO thermostat would make the engine run cooler.
It’s long overdue for General Motors to reorganize under bankruptcy protection laws. General Motors should spin off each of its divisions. Some will go belly up. Others will go South where they will not be burdened by the UAW siphoning off something to the tune of $2.5 billion a month to pay workers not to work among other things.
“If I’m not mistaken, Ford uses Mazda engines.”
Depends on the engine. The four-cylinder Duratec is identical to the Mazda MZR; Ford designs and builds everything from six cylinders on up.
I had a vega too. I still remember my last drive.
Having just graduated school I bought a new recliner. The recliner was in back and the steam billowed as the engine overheated (AGAIN). The steam subsided I kept going. You could hear the knocking a mile away as I pulled in the driveway. It was never to start again.
The Toyota dealer hauled it away after I bought my new Celica the next weekend.
The primary benefits from buying GM are linked to lifetime maintenance costs. GM has a very reasonable parts pricing schedule as opposed to the rice burners and German rigs. The replacement parts, and thus the insurance costs are lower and over the lifetime of the car or truck which BTW has as good as the Japs, the costs are substantially lower.
The jap cars have throwaway engines. A stinkin fuel pump or tail light costs a fortune! Plus they ride like a rock.
You buy whatever you like. I would not even consider anything else and I have owned them all.
Are you sure? I don’t think so. The thermostat runs to keep the engine from overheating, so running the heat brings the air away from the engine and under the hood.
According to freeengineinfo.com, Thermostat replacement is generally done if a car is overheating. The other possibility is that the car is no longer heating up correctly due to the thermostat sticking.
Meaning if the thermostat isn’t working (or isn’t there) the engine will overheat, not run cooler.
Yep, I bought an Aztek. 2001 AWD and after 120,000 miles (a couple hundred of which spent hauling hanggliders up Colorado mountains) getting 19 MPG city and 24-25 MPG highway I finally had to trade it in. I really miss it. I didn’t have any mechanical problems at all. Drove great, Only time I got stuck was on a beach in a sand dune. It had an interior like a Grand Prix on Steroids. GM has nothing to compare anymore.
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