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I don't get the hate for the Saturn. We had one for 4½ years, the same one as this one (2002 SL1) with almost the same miles at the time and we just about NEVER had to work on anything. You just drove it, and aside from changing the oil and such you just drove it, which is how a car should be for the most part. Besides that, this thing was babied and maintained (not fixed, maintained) regularly at a shop that is close-by and I've expressed the intention (so long as I stick to it, that's on me) to return to that very same shop since they know the car and have them keep on as they were. I see no problem there.
I like that they don't rust, at least not outwardly.
I like that they don't rust, at least not outwardly.
I'm getting a bit off-topic, but my fondness for them is that I always read good things about them in terms of their reliability but unlike a Toyota or Honda they don't cost so much owing to that reputation. That is why I grabbed that Corolla last year, you hardly EVER find them priced within reason it seems and so I jumped on it. This Saturn which I just grabbed for $1600, it being a 2002 in mint shape and only 113,000 miles, if that had been a Corolla or Civic it easily would've cost $3500. The Saturn, in my experience, may not be quite as reliable as a Corolla or Civic, but it seems to come a lot closer than something like a Ford Focus, Dodge Neon or Chevrolet Cavalier (now the Cobalt).
It's a lot like the Geo Prizm of years ago, which is really a Toyota Corolla, many times you can get much or all of that reliability for less since the Toyota name is not present. It saddens me that their venture isn't going on any longer. Quality shouldn't be so freaking expensive, I can get "bling" and "flash" being something you have to pay extra for, or how something is newer will need FEWER repairs sure, but you shouldn't have to either sell your soul to your car spending every single nickel you have on the payments or the upkeep/repairs or all of your time fixing a bunch of things just to not be on the side of the road.
I don't get the hate for the Saturn. We had one for 4½ years, the same one as this one (2002 SL1) with almost the same miles at the time and we just about NEVER had to work on anything. You just drove it, and aside from changing the oil and such you just drove it, which is how a car should be for the most part. Besides that, this thing was babied and maintained (not fixed, maintained) regularly at a shop that is close-by and I've expressed the intention (so long as I stick to it, that's on me) to return to that very same shop since they know the car and have them keep on as they were. I see no problem there.
The Corolla, well that's not hard to figure out, it's a Corolla. Heck someone parked next to me yesterday driving a 1994.
The Sable--all I've had to do so far is the oil change, and the radiator flush is coming to also fix the temperature thing. It's a "spare piece" anyway at this point. The idea is to not fail to do the basics (oil change, radiator flush etc) but to also not go overboard with other things that may not be necessary, focus instead on maintaining the other two.
I said "no" to the others.
I see no problem here. Not everyone can get a 2013 Camry for $15,000 or whatever else that has less than 80k miles on it, or whatever the standard is supposed to be. What are people who aren't doctors and lawyers supposed to do, embrace spending every single minute of their free time up to their elbows under the hood all of the time? I can understand newer cars having more features and being nicer looking, and even breaking down LESS, sure, but really should a person have to spend $15,000 just to have something that doesn't leave them on the side of the road or take up every second of their free time? Do I work simply to keep a car alive at the exclusion of being able to spend my money on MYSELF once in awhile? No, no, no.
That Saturn 5 years ago, we paid $2300 for it and hardly ever had to fix anything on it for a good 4½ years. If that was "luck," it shouldn't be, that should be NORMAL. This one, as it's the same one with the same miles at the time of purchase, it hopefully will do likewise so long as I keep on taking it to that same guy and having him look everything over as he has been doing all along. The Corolla, keep on as I have been besides fixing the "lock down" issue. The Sable--either have it on hand as a backup and just fire it up once a week or sell it and pocket the money and save for something else besides the choices I posted about here (or save it for when the other 2 need something, you'll be able to just do it right away). That is where I was confused--do I keep the Sable as a spare or do I sell it and save the money for a truck/minivan? (And don't make it a junky one, but again that shouldn't mean spending $15,000 on a 2013, come on now.)
Since you don't seem to understand basic mechanics I'll help you out.
Anything that is mechanical and has moving parts will wear out in time. Bearings, seals, rings, bushings, belts, etc.. ALL wear. Eventually they wear out. The higher the mileage, the more wear in the engine. Sure, proper maintenance will reduce the wear (not prevent it) but wear still occurs.
When you buy a higher mileage vehicle the chances of something failing are much higher. That means maintenance is much more important AS IS knowing how (or constantly paying someone) to monitor and address problems quickly as they arise.
For someone who can perform their own maintenance and repairs a higher mileage vehicle can be cheaper to own because there is no labor cost involved. For someone who cannot do this maintenance it can become costly very quickly.
You have to use some level of common sense when buying anything mechanical. It IS going to wear out eventually and it IS going to fail. It's all a matter of time.
As vehicles begin to come with more and more gadgets on them they cost more. This also means the chances of 1 of 1,000 different components failing at any given time is higher than the chance of 1 in 100 components failing. So if you want something older with more mileage, the wise decision is to find the most basic model you can that has less parts to fail.
For someone who cannot fix their own vehicles it is more economical in the big picture to spend a little more on something that has a much higher likelihood of lasting longer without repair than spending very little on something likely to need a lot more maintenance.
It is easy to find a car similar to those you have purchased with less than 100k miles for $10k or less that will last for years with very minimal maintenance and repairs required. You have spent over half that amount in all of the cars you have listed (total) and all of them still have to have some type of work done to them (according to you). Having one reliable vehicle is much cheaper (repairs, insurance, fuel, etc..) than having 3-4 that need work.
You have a:
2000 Corolla - bogging down (likely either an injector or a MAF sensor)
2002 Saturn - (will likely need head gaskets at some point as others have pointed out was a common problem)
1995 Sable - Needs A/C repaired and a temperature sensor and has loose steering, rear windows don't work
You also mentioned getting the oil changed when you bought them all, plus radiator flushed, and other general maintenance that you had to do on 3 cars instead of 1. 3 times the maintenance, 3 times the expense, 3 times the cost.
OP please do yourself a favor and stop buying junk cars. Think of how many you've purchased to date and have had to get rid of due to reliability issues. By now you could have purchased a nicer used car for the same money or less and had a reliable vehicle that you don't have to swap out every year. If you can't comprehend the financial straits you continuously put yourself in with these terrible decisions I would hate to see your personal finances.
Make the wise choice and leave them alone. You are literally begging for trouble.
Actually that concept sounds good, but it does not work out that way. I can buy 15 beaters for the price of a new car. A beater will usually last 6 months to three or four years. Most last several years. Even if I drop the number of beaters to ten to allow some room for buying parts, ten cars averaging 3 years is 30 years. Is the new car going to last 30 years? Plus some of the beaters were $40,000 - 50,000 cars when new. So we get to drive better/nicer cars than buying a new one, and you get something different on a regular basis. For people who do not like change, that is hell, for people who crave constant change -it is nice.
You just have to be careful picking your beaters.
Having said that, we bought beaters for you kids. For us we bought new(er) cars (but them drove them to the grave). That is mostly because of the need to have a reasonably prestigious car for business reasons and the concerns with reliability. While it was very very rare for a beater to leave someone stranded, it was not rare for one to be down for a few days or even a couple of weeks. For kids, they can just make other arrangements, but for us it would be a problem. Fortunately we had so many kids driving at once, we always had another beater someone could borrow if their was down.
Actually that concept sounds good, but it does not work out that way. I can buy 15 beaters for the price of a new car. A beater will usually last 6 months to three or four years. Most last several years. {snip}
You just have to be careful picking your beaters.
Now THAT is a guy I can get behind. The only change besides picking better beaters (like the 1995 Sable vs that awful Altima) is that I need to be able to learn a FEW THINGS and keep my eye on things to where nothing catches me by surprise, because I like some WARNING before having to plunk down $500-700 on something, I have to have TIME to do that, which is why I appreciate that the Toyota bogging down is something that didn't "ambush" me and demand that I had to spend multiple hundreds of dollars THIS INSTANT or else, instead it's something that didn't ground the car immediately and is something you can work on when the chance allows vs RIGHT THIS FREAKING MINUTE. So I'm cool with learning a FEW THINGS such as questions to ask the mechanic during an oil change (should I replace the timing belt soon?) and a how to do simple repairs on occasion, both in the interest of cost minimization without having to become an expert and for taking steps to prevent catastrophe (like how last year I changed the timing belt in that Camry "just because").
I have no interest in having to choose from (a) go into debt to the tune of $10,000 (in my case that might as well be 100 billion dollars) or (b) spend 3/4ths of your free time reading Chilton Manuals and every single free moment you have lying on the ground underneath your car currently erected onto jack stands. I choose (c) something reasonable which I can afford without having to go back to night school or work 5 jobs at once AND which of course requires SOME tinkering etc but doesn't require you to be constantly dealing with something every other minute. Affordable (around $2500 or so) AND reasonably reliable, BOTH. $10,000 is entirely way way and I mean WAY WAY WAY too much money and I don't consider it to be that it's my responsbility to get that much or resign myself to the life of an unpaid grease monkey.
The route of that poster, that's the route I'm wanting to take, not having to go to school to be the Vice President in charge of NASA so I can spend 5 figures on a car or else spend every single minute I have with Chilton manuals in my face one minute and the car's undercarriage under my nose the very next, and so no days with my kids at the lake because daddy is fixing the car AGAIN. Who wants that life? Not me.
Keep the corrolla, liquidate the saturn and ford, and search for a japanese mini van with lower miles, 400000 is way to many, unless it has documented and detailed repair history, for parts like timing, ac, other major things.
Actually that concept sounds good, but it does not work out that way. I can buy 15 beaters for the price of a new car. A beater will usually last 6 months to three or four years. Most last several years. Even if I drop the number of beaters to ten to allow some room for buying parts, ten cars averaging 3 years is 30 years..
And that's 15 times the tax, 15 times the licensing and 15 times the insurance (especially on those that cost $40-50k new). Plus repairs and maintenance. It's not always cheaper to buy a lot of cheap beaters that could strand you at any moment. So for a lot of people, especially non DIY types, it's not cheaper at all to buy a string of beaters.
Even when buying used, I'm looking for a specific make model and trim level and will gladly pay a bit more for a well kept example so I don't have to deal with the repairs that plague used cars. I don't buy someone else's problems, I buy someone else's carefully maintained pride and joy.
You cannot judge the reliability on any car based on "we had one just like it that never broke down"
Same goes for diagnosing and repairing a car based on "this is the same problem we had on one of my cars, so it must be the same part thats bad".
Does not work that way.
You cannot judge the reliability on any car based on "we had one just like it that never broke down"
Same goes for diagnosing and repairing a car based on "this is the same problem we had on one of my cars, so it must be the same part thats bad".
Does not work that way.
I was thinking that when I read "You'll be replacing the head and head gasket real soon, typical Saturn issue".
It may be typical, but it is not guaranteed to fail.
Now if he had said Merkur cruise/hazard/turn signal stalk, I would've agreed. They ALL go bad eventually.
I was thinking that when I read "You'll be replacing the head and head gasket real soon, typical Saturn issue".
It may be typical, but it is not guaranteed to fail. Now if he had said Merkur cruise/hazard/turn signal stalk, I would've agreed. They ALL go bad eventually.
Don't speak ill of my old baby! Mine never went bad. OK to talk smack about the radiator expansion tank though!
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