We all know automobiles have come a long way in the past 10-20 years. My first three cars (1995 model or older) were al GM products, and they were all hunks of @!#$. However, my 02 cav has 115k, is beat repeatedly, and has asked for next to nothing but routine maintenance for the duration of its life. Hell the battery and rear brakes are original. Even now, when I know I'm getting rid of it (to be replaced as DD with my 04 eco), I beat it harder, and it shows no signs of giving up. The engine bay is clean and free of leaks and makes no strange sounds. It literally runs like the day I got it.
After seeing that even GM can put out a product like this, wouldn't you expect most newer cars to go 100-150k with nothing but oil and brakes? It feels like most new cars will really outlast the owners...
Odd.. My 02 cav broke down all the time, and yeah I did keep up with the routine maintenance..
Quote:
Watching you parade around my bedroom in a thong was a little like watching sea lions mate.
Even though most people regard newer vehicles as little more than appliances... discarded rather than repaired.. (especially insurance companies some days...)
Compare any vehicle built in the last 10 years to one made 20 or 30 years ago... now, drivetrains will usually easily go 200,000 kms with basic maintenance without a major overhaul. My old POS cars would NEVER have done that...
quality has increased much (esp for GM) over the past 5-10 years, but dont expect any of the manufacturers to ever come out with a car that will run forever. planned maintenance will always be something you are going to have to deal with simply because the auto makers stand to make much much more off of that than they do on the car itself.
NO SIG FOR YOU!
my 91 grand am lasted forever. and i beat the living hell out of it.
i miss that car
they usually last longer when used harder than normal , with out excessively beating on it
super reliable to means replacing nothing , other than doing maintenance and replacing regular wear items
reliable , 1-2 minor things a year ie......... alt , cv shaft or boot , trans once in 100k for a auto , 1-2 clutches for manual(kinda falls under regular wear)
my first car was a 89 buick century with the 2.5l Iron Duke engine. That car was indestructible. Bought it off my cousin after then slaughtered a deer with it. Put a Front Bumper, Headlights, Fenders and Hood on it and it was good to go. Used to constantly Beat the car, whether it was running over things in the road instead of swerving (took on a tire from a semi laying in the middle of the interstate one night) or simply taking it out of town across the old railroad bridge and jumping it constantly (around 5 feet of air; bottoming out when landing, bouncing back up in the air and landing again). The only things I ever did to it was oil changes (roughly every 4-5k miles), straight piped the exhaust (it rusted off in front of the cat and was left in a ShopKo parking lot), and replaced the altenator (the bearings blew out on me, luckily i was pulling into the driveway). I sold it to my parents when I got my Cavalier. They still have it and have had to do nothing but oil changes to it. Its sitting at around 260k miles and still runs like new. The body has rusted to hell though. I doubt I'll ever own another car more reliable...
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Friday, December 14, 2007 1:17 PM
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My 90 apv lumina van. Was by far the most reliable vehicle I owned. I BEAT THE MOTHER @!#$ PISS out of it. I received it at 122,000 miles on it. I sold it at 196,000 miles. The only things changed was wires, plugs, oil, filters, and hoses. It was retired at like 250 or 260,000 miles. Motor died finally. Body was good, frame and metal rusted to hell.
Anything over 150,000 miles with out any major repairs defines reliable to me.
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BoltZ DesignZ wrote:my first car was a 89 buick century with the 2.5l Iron Duke engine. That car was indestructible. Bought it off my cousin after then slaughtered a deer with it. Put a Front Bumper, Headlights, Fenders and Hood on it and it was good to go. Used to constantly Beat the car, whether it was running over things in the road instead of swerving (took on a tire from a semi laying in the middle of the interstate one night) or simply taking it out of town across the old railroad bridge and jumping it constantly (around 5 feet of air; bottoming out when landing, bouncing back up in the air and landing again). The only things I ever did to it was oil changes (roughly every 4-5k miles), straight piped the exhaust (it rusted off in front of the cat and was left in a ShopKo parking lot), and replaced the altenator (the bearings blew out on me, luckily i was pulling into the driveway). I sold it to my parents when I got my Cavalier. They still have it and have had to do nothing but oil changes to it. Its sitting at around 260k miles and still runs like new. The body has rusted to hell though. I doubt I'll ever own another car more reliable...
Just F.Y.I. It's a little known fact that Olds Cutlass Cieras and Buick Century's are probably the most reliable and easiest cars to work on known to man. They are like Terminators...they never die. They are not pretty and a lot of trim peices and the interior fall apart. But the car its self will live forever. It's like my Suzuki Sidekick. They can be ugly as hell and held together by duct tape and wire hangers....but will out live cock roaches through nuclear war.
Oddly if you want to mention reliable and Cavalier in the same sentence without getting a snicker. It's my understanding that the 2200 pushrod and Ecotec are pretty die hard vehicles.
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Jookycola wrote:Oddly if you want to mention reliable and Cavalier in the same sentence without getting a snicker. It's my understanding that the 2200 pushrod and Ecotec are pretty die hard vehicles.
our family has had 3 cavs with the 2.2 that closed in on the 200k mile mark. so, yeah....they are pretty good little buggers. now my 2.4? no comment.
NO SIG FOR YOU!
thats easy... anything with the GM 2.8L and 3.1L/3100L 60 degree v6's
my 89 2.8 GT ran til 180,000 when i smashed it into a pole, the engine was then run in a circle track car for 2 seasons and won several races, and then finally died when they demoed it at the local county fair.
my 92 3.1 GT ran til 292,000 and the only reason it died is because it had a hella coolant leak that I never fixed and always just ran straight water in it. its fate was decided on a -10 degree morning in the debt of winter
my wife's 93 3.1 olds cutlass has 196,000 on it right now and it runs perfectly and has been a great car.
my 95 3100 grand prix has 185,000 on it right now and it too runs like a champ, usually gets 34mpg, doesnt use any oil and ive never had an issue with it before.
none of which ever needed anything major and have been awesome engines.
thats freaking reliable.
My Corsica would have lasted forever, and I'd still have it if I didn't wreck it
Insurance totaled it out... sad times. Motor had about 160k miles on it, original engine/trans.
reliable and cheap.... not fast
reliable and fast... not cheap
cheap and fast... not reliable
Jookycola wrote:BoltZ DesignZ wrote:my first car was a 89 buick century with the 2.5l Iron Duke engine. That car was indestructible. Bought it off my cousin after then slaughtered a deer with it. Put a Front Bumper, Headlights, Fenders and Hood on it and it was good to go. Used to constantly Beat the car, whether it was running over things in the road instead of swerving (took on a tire from a semi laying in the middle of the interstate one night) or simply taking it out of town across the old railroad bridge and jumping it constantly (around 5 feet of air; bottoming out when landing, bouncing back up in the air and landing again). The only things I ever did to it was oil changes (roughly every 4-5k miles), straight piped the exhaust (it rusted off in front of the cat and was left in a ShopKo parking lot), and replaced the altenator (the bearings blew out on me, luckily i was pulling into the driveway). I sold it to my parents when I got my Cavalier. They still have it and have had to do nothing but oil changes to it. Its sitting at around 260k miles and still runs like new. The body has rusted to hell though. I doubt I'll ever own another car more reliable...
Just F.Y.I. It's a little known fact that Olds Cutlass Cieras and Buick Century's are probably the most reliable and easiest cars to work on known to man. They are like Terminators...they never die. They are not pretty and a lot of trim peices and the interior fall apart. But the car its self will live forever. It's like my Suzuki Sidekick. They can be ugly as hell and held together by duct tape and wire hangers....but will out live cock roaches through nuclear war.
Oddly if you want to mention reliable and Cavalier in the same sentence without getting a snicker. It's my understanding that the 2200 pushrod and Ecotec are pretty die hard vehicles.
I had a 1991 Olds Cutlass Calais Sedan(N-BODY, like an older Grand Am) and it had the Iron Duke 2.5l 4 banger, this was my Winter car for a season. It had 230,000+ miles in it when I got it for FREE from my G/F's Father.
MY dad did a regular tune-up on it as it barely started when I got it.
Well after changing the oil/plugs/wires/thermostat housing and thermostat, WOW. What a GOOD CAR! It had bad rings because of the lack of routine maintenence before I had it, but after it running for a few minutes and warming up the engine it ran EXTREMELY WELL, Never missed a day of work from it. I had to travel 20+miles to work ONE WAY and it never failed me, actually rode pretty damn good on the eWay.
The car itself being from Michigan and being through 10 Michigan winters of road salt and not being cared for with HOLES from rust in the body, Man it sure wasn't a looker but it ran great. I sold it to a buddy of mine for $300 and he later sold it to a Co-Woker and they had it Impounded for no Registration or Insurance.
Well Long story short, my buddy got a call from the local PD and they said he had to come get his car or it will be taken to the salvage yard. Well he had to pay some small fines (person he sold it to never registered the car in their name)
On day about 2 years after I sold it to him, I saw it at the salvage yard, went over to it and saw the keys. My buddy said he let the car go because it would not run anymore. Well I turn the key and pumped the gas for about 15seconds and it started. I kinda miss that car.
OLDS CUTLASS CALAIS = RELIABLE
Well here on my scene my wife had a 95 civic ex had it 9 yrs no problems did the usual upkeep and wear out parts and sold it with 101,000.I myself still own my 87 mazda pu cabplus with 187,000 only issue's were the clutch (wear) had trans rebuilt (bearings) and have done all the work on it for upkeep and wear out stuff.I bought the trk new btw.And now the cav it was my sis's bought in 90 which I bought from her in 98 the car has had most the wear out stuff done still orig eng,trans and I continue to upgrade or restore it to this day and it has 205,000.I like my gm alot.
my first two cavies, a 95 2.2 and a 96 2.2 lasted to the 230,000mile mark. sadly i sold the 95 to a buddy and he somehow blew up the motor, and the 96 was tataled when a drunk driver rear ended me.but the drunk driver's insurance also got me my down payment for my 2003 cavie. it has 105,000k on it and only had to replace alternator and fuel pump. about 1,000 miles ago. cavaliers have been damn good to me.
Silly ricer, useless wings are for penguins.
My 99 sunfire has been good to me, ive only had it 4months but it runs damn good. I've had my fair share of problems, wheels bearings, replacement front struts and maintenance like spark plugs and serp belts. It was previously owned by a lady and i dont think she had really maintained it very well also i think all 4 tires where different types but owell. it is in good condition and has been a great run around, only problem i have now is i seemed to have used half a tank of gas in two days.. and i havent driven very far at all. So i need to look into this but other wise i would say it has been very reliable and ive enjoyed driving it. It even managed to drive up to a ski resort and back without breaking a thing (touch wood) haha
(99 - Sunfire - Red - 2200)(95 - Cavalier z24 - Purple - 2.3 quad four)
(tabs) no more wrote: planned maintenance will always be something you are going to have to deal with simply because the auto makers stand to make much much more off of that than they do on the car itself.
your joking right? if not thats th dumbest @!#$ I've heard in a while.
Routine maintenance is not setup to strictly make money... its set up becasue if you don't do your cars not gonna last, its what you need to do to keep your car reliable and avoide part failures. The Auto don't make a single cent off maintenance.... I work for VW as a Tech... if someone comes in wanting the 40K maintance done (thats the big maintenance, the full "tune up" and whatnot) The Customer pays for the maintance and that money gets spread out all over the place in the dealership by VW doesn't get anything from it. In the case of the Pheatons, the cars were up over 100K in some cases so VW made the maintances warranty on them... which means VW pays us so the customer doesn't have to.
I have to leave in 5 minuets so I'll just leave it at that.
reliable
adjective
1. worthy of reliance or trust; "a reliable source of information"; "a dependable worker" [ant: undependable]
2. worthy of being depended on; "a dependable worker"; "an honest working stiff"; "a reliable sourcSFLe of information"; "he was true to his word"; "I would be true for there are those who trust me" [syn: dependable]
3. conforming to fact and therefore worthy of belief; "an authentic account by an eyewitness"; "reliable information" [syn: authentic]
hmm...
I had (still have) a '98 Saturn SC1. with the 1.9 SOHC
I hit 4 things in 4 weeks,
1. a deer, (minor dent in hood) Plastics Panels FTW!!
2. a goose, (lost mirror, but nothing that a few screws couldn't fix, lol... you can't see them)
3. person in parking lot backed into me. She had a newer civic, and her back end was done. bumper cracked and fell off, etc.) I had a scratch in the paint... again... Plastics Panels FTW!
4. some kids decided to throw a cinderblock on the road, and i couldn't stop in time... that mangled my rad.. and the coolant leak started.
I kept driving it after that. I drove about 20 000 km while filling up the water occasionally, sometimes running it right dry because i had no water near me. I had no money to get it fixed....
I can't remember how many times i had to pull over on the side of the road, carefully try to open the coolant hole without burning my fingers, and adding some more water, because it was boiling inside of there.
Then one day after about 20k kms, i did the same thing, and sure enough, there's oil floating in my coolant tank... hmmm. that can't be good....
oh well... add more water, i guess... i drove about 5000 km after that when my insurance ran out, and i didn't need the car anymore, because i got married and moved....
Now it's been sitting for 3 months, but I fire it up once every two or three weeks, and it still runs no problem....
If that isn't reliable, then i guess i don't know what reliable is.... Oh, did I forget to mention it has 350 000 km on it? with the original manual tranny? It didn't use any oil untill the overheating started
I plan on fixing it up again when i have some more money... .i.e... when it gets warmer out....
Any ideas on what could be wrong with it? sorry about the thread jack....
I'm guessing i need a new rad (obviously) and maybe a head gasket? Would that cause the oil in the coolant? Sorry, i'm a robotic engineering student, not a mechanic...
