My Saturn died, what now?

[Possessed Freak]

Well the great experiment of beater vs new has finally ended. I am now firmly believing that a beater is the way to go for me, and I have a hard cap of $2k that I am willing to spend on a reliable POS that gets decent (30+) gas mileage. I have been perusing craigslist for a replacement Saturn but it seems the market is tapped for those. So what else should I be looking at?

I need:
Something cheap to maintain.
Reliable.

Beyond that, I don't care if it has A/C, power windows, power locks, a back seat, whatever.

 

[CrackRabbit]

My suggestions in no particular order.
Anything Toyota with a 1.8 or 2.2 ltr engine.
Anything GM with a 3800 series engine.

 

[kornphlake]

saturns are about as cheap as you can get for a reliable beater, if you can't find one for $2k you're probably not going to find anything else for that price either. What's wrong with your car? $2000 buys a lot of junkyard parts.

 

[IGemini]

I like GM 3800 engines, they're reliable, but you won't get 30+ out of those.

It's gonna be really hard to find something in your area that won't have really high mileage (as in hitting or beyond 200K miles) or in need of replacement parts for only $2000. Honda or Toyota cars tend to be the most common but, like I said, they'll generally need some work first.

 

[Kaervak]

1) What happened with your current Saturn? Chances are it's repairable.
2) Just because someone is asking $2k for one, doesn't mean they'll get it.

 

[superccs]

Go korian. You can get a 2009 kiahynudai pos for $2000.

 

[ElFenix]

10 year old taurus. my 91 with the vulcan V6 (OHV rather than OHC) got 30 mpg on highway roadtrips at 80+.

 

[alkemyst]

We just sold off my wife's mint 2000 SL2 for $1500. I wanted $2300 once I saw them selling for 2x that at times in lesser shape from dealers.

My wife loved this car though. Sort of how we met. She bought it in 2001 flat out cash as her first car in the US (she came from Japan). She insisted we sell it to someone 'nice'. Personally, cash talks to me. Anyways, we dealt with a half dozen asshats that offered $1500-1800...my wife was adamant they would not get her car.

Finally a Mexican man called and didn't want to negotiate over the phone...he just asked if he could drive the car. He was nice to it and I let him take it on a test drive. He was in construction and had a HUGE work truck. Unfortunately he lost that job and was working 40 miles away for not so much money. His truck got 10mpg at best he said.

He offered a little less $1500 and apologized saying his brother owed him quite a bit of money and had been slow paying, but he can't afford gas and really needs a good cheap car. He said him and his brother were supposed to have dinner that night and he'd have enough money to come up with the $1500...my wife liked him so we agreed to make it $1500 even.

The next day he had called ahead and told me he was having a hard time tracking his brother down and that he never showed up for dinner. He asked if he couldn't find him could I at least give him until Monday. He was really upset.

He called a couple hours later and said he couldn't come up with it all, but he sold some things. He was speaking spanish and english at the same time so I was confused and he was confused with what I wanted to get. He was really stressed though.

I told him if he could come up, I'd see what he had. He agreed and asked me to please not be mad at him.

He came up with a stack of $1300 in $100's and then the rest of $1485 in mixed bills. They were all happy with the car. I detailed the hell out of it and filled it up with gas for them.

There are good deals if you search.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Snipped

In other words you got suckered by a guy with a sob story.

 

[alkemyst]

In other words you got suckered by a guy with a sob story.

yeah, and she is my wife; loser.

Seriously, I don't need $1500 that much. Thanks for trolling ATG!

They were pretty honest though, another guy that saw her car was there at the gas station next store and wanted to buy it if he couldn't. He was really stressed at that.

I am sure in your mind they set this whole thing up though.

lolz.

 

[HarryLui]

Junkyard engine install could be done for around $1200 or less.


What's wrong with your car?

 

[Possessed Freak]

Junkyard engine install could be done for around $1200 or less.


What's wrong with your car?

Something EGR related. I can disable the EGR and the car works fine (albeit with shit gas mileage). I have purchased 2 other EGR valves and that did not solve the problem. Plus the underside is basically unsafe. Each time I jack the car, the frame bends a bit... it is that rusted and that weak. So I can throw money at it and fix it, or I can say it served me well and move on to the next beater.

I went out to look at a Saturn that a guy was selling on craigslist, he didn't mention any problems... so he wasted 30 minutes of my time and 30 minutes of his time. It took him 4 times for the engine to not immediately stall and blue smoke was pouring out of the exhaust. Knowing that I probably had to rebuild the engine, this should have been a sub $1k car, he was asking $1,100. Screw that.

 

[exdeath]

92-96 Camry 2.2L. Bonus points if you can find a rare 5 speed manual.

Best beater out there.

 

[RU482]

I like GM 3800 engines, they're reliable, but you won't get 30+ out of those.

It's gonna be really hard to find something in your area that won't have really high mileage (as in hitting or beyond 200K miles) or in need of replacement parts for only $2000. Honda or Toyota cars tend to be the most common but, like I said, they'll generally need some work first.

In before the "my 94 LeSabre gets 35MPG on the highway all day"

ON a serious note, beaters are all about timing. Craigslist is beautiful in that sense. Some people will get a crazy low ball offer for a trade in when buying a new vehicle, so they'll say screw that turn around and try to sell it for 2X the lowball offer...which is still much less than market value.

 

[HarryLui]

Rust...

Yup, new car time.

 

[arrfep]

Something EGR related. I can disable the EGR and the car works fine (albeit with shit gas mileage). I have purchased 2 other EGR valves and that did not solve the problem. Plus the underside is basically unsafe. Each time I jack the car, the frame bends a bit... it is that rusted and that weak. So I can throw money at it and fix it, or I can say it served me well and move on to the next beater.

Been there. S-Series + rainy climate = frame apparently made of paper-mache. This past March my SW2 started pulling to the left severely upon braking. Look underneath and front subframe is completely rusted through. Sourced a new part from a local junkyard, and swapped it out myself.

Is it just your front subframe or the entire space frame that's f-ed up?

 

[Possessed Freak]

Is it just your front subframe or the entire space frame that's f-ed up?

Whole thing.

 

[desy]

Late model Escort

 

[Gand1]

Crap!!! I could have sold you my 2002 Volvo XC for $2000. 3 weeks earlier...argh!

 

[CraigRT]

Whole thing.

It is more than likely just the subframe. I have replaced rusty and damaged subframes on S-series. The rest of the spaceframe is usually fine, even in salty states.

 

[arrfep]

It is more than likely just the subframe. I have replaced rusty and damaged subframes on S-series. The rest of the spaceframe is usually fine, even in salty states.

Ya. And usually just the driver's side at that.

 

[BUTCH1]

Late model Escort

This, or an older Elantra or other Korean. The 3800 can get close to 30 on the highway, my GM 3.5 gets about 32-33 between 65-75mph. If your planning on doing your own maintenance a FWD 4 is usually easier to work on than a 6..

 

[exdeath]

If your planning on doing your own maintenance a FWD 4 is usually easier to work on than a 6..

6 is fine, just need to stock up on about a dozen 2" socket extensions for the rear plugs :biggrin:

 

[BUTCH1]

6 is fine, just need to stock up on about a dozen 2" socket extensions for the rear plugs :biggrin:

I'm dreading doing mine, 6yrs/70K it's about time too. At least my Haynes doesn't mention anything cruel and unusual about changing them. To change the serp belt requires removing the left motor mount, ouch..

 

[kornphlake]

If it's just the EGR you can block it off and leave the malfunctioning valve in place without much danger. Google "Saturn EGR block off" for suggestions on how to do this, you can buy a block off plate on ebay or make your own a few different ways. As long as you're not getting a SES light, blocking off the EGR shouldn't affect the gas mileage much, there's some concern that eliminating the EGR might cause exhaust temps to rise, but there are lots of stories about people who have blocked off the EGR and driven for hundreds of thousands of miles without problems.

If the frame is rusted through there's not much you can do long term, but blanking off the EGR may keep the car going a few more months so you can save a bit more money for a car that is less needy.