An Appliance is as an Appliance Does

[Bubs360]

Well, I finally got my own car again. That Prelude, you see, had rust holes right through the rear subframe that the "autobody technician" previous owner covered with lots and lots of paint. Luckily for me, I had simply gotten sick of how the car ran and drove - and sold it. The people who bought the car from me a few weeks later notified me of the issue, but they have no hard feelings with me because I worked under the car and I had it inspected twice by professionals and nobody noticed, I honestly had no idea. Needless to say we will be going to the previous owner and having a few choice words...

Anyway, I sold that a month or two ago. Since then, I had been looking mainly for a Subaru. After several weeks and driving all over the place looking at them, I came to realize something. People don't just sell a Subaru that's in good condition, they're selling some nightmare they need to get rid of. Unable to find one in my price range, I found something I liked. Something I never thought I would own for a few reasons. For starters, it was once again front wheel drive. Second reason, it was American. Third, it was a little 1992 Saturn SL1 with only 112,000 miles.






Sure, it's an appliance. Rather uninspiring to look at. However, it's a five speed and surprisingly engaging to drive. Handles well, everything works. Hydraulic clutch is always a plus. Cruises down the highway but still enjoys being flicked around on back roads. Gets 30-35mpg to boot! The only issue was a hole in the muffler, but that was a great bargaining chip to talk the price down. I just replaced the muffler and pipe from the cat back today, in my driveway.


This was the cause of a rather mild sound increase.

[Spectre]

Note: Your body panels are dishwasher safe (supposedly).

[Cobol74]

Er how er ordinary - hey daily driver that will be OK. Get a better paid job and trade up soon tho'.

[Bubs360]

Eh, I already have an old VW Bus and a fire-spitting two stroke vintage streetbike so I could care less about owning car that blends in.

[Cobol74]

I suppose I meant get enough for a scooby - they are the biz.

[Bubs360]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

I suppose I meant get enough for a scooby - they are the biz.

Most definitely. I just can't afford one right now. My friend had one with 283,000 miles. It was a '98 L sedan, five speed. His first car. He thrashed the hell out of it. Straight over curbs, significant air time, no care or maintenance except an oil change I did for it, power slides, clutch kicks, handbrake turns every single drive, every day. It put up with that crap for a few months and finally one day, he thought he was a rally driver and ricocheted it off three trees doing 50mph. Thing still drove almost back to his house with two flat tires until the state police pulled him over.

He had it towed back to his house, and finally his parents told him to scrap it. It drove under it's own power onto the tow truck.

[Spectre]

You do need to replace the GM Saturn logos with Sega badges, though.

[devil500]

For some reason those Saturns looked out of place when they were made so well futuristic for some reason.

[Ilpav]

Well, at least it doesn't look like a '92. Thanks to its "futuristic" styling it looks like its from the late 90's. Some guy I know in school has a white '01 Kia Rio sedan and it looks like absolute trash from the mid-90's with yellow headlights and everything.

This '92 Saturn looks OK, at least.

Also, this thing will probably never break because Saturns were actually designed to be more reliable than its Chevy and Pontiac counterparts because it didn't share the same platform ("J") as the mind-numbingly horrible Chevy Cavalier and Pontiac Sunbird; it had its own "Z-platform" that only Saturns at that time had.

If I had an emergency and needed a some wheels for really cheap, I would definitely get one of these.

[public]

So, how many weeks are you going to keep this one?

Nah, it looks nice. No chance of rust to the panels is a nice thing, and since we never got Saturns it looks kind of fresh to my eyes, in a '90s smooth glasshouse kind of way.

The Impreza dude was a douche to his car, though.

Originally Posted by Ilpav

Also, this thing will probably never break because Saturns were actually designed to be more reliable than its Chevy and Pontiac counterparts because it didn't share the same platform ("J") as the mind-numbingly horrible Chevy Cavalier and Pontiac Sunbird; it had its own "Z-platform" that only Saturns at that time had.

Yeah, it doesn't have an Opel Ascona lurking somewhere under there.

[Bubs360]

Epic license plate is epic.

[Dsemaj]

Damn, you're going through cars! Hopefully this one lasts at least a couple of weeks

Love the story of that Impreza, though!

[Cobol74]

Hampshire - I claim copyright infringement. ...

(Southampton is in the original Hampshire btw).

[MP4/14]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

Hampshire - I claim copyright infringement. ...

(Southampton is in the original Hampshire btw).

Who cares

What we should care about is the big EPL clubs stealing the saints good players when they eventually arrive from the never never.

[Cobol74]

Have you been to St Marys - its very nice. The place could do with a Russian Oligark (Sp?) though.

[Bubs360]

Originally Posted by Dsemaj

Damn, you're going through cars! Hopefully this one lasts at least a couple of weeks

Love the story of that Impreza, though!

Yeah, that story of my friend's Impreza is priceless.

Yeah, the Hyundai wound up having lifter trouble. The guy apparently poured a ton of "Valve Doctor" stuff into the engine just before we test drove it to make sure it stayed quiet until I got it home. When the lifters did get noisy, I notified my shop teacher and my father, and they both said the same thing. "Hyundai cars always make ticking noises. Don't worry about it!" Reassured by someone with years of mechanical experience, I kept driving it. A month later, it blew up. No surprise there! Just goes to show you can't take advice from others.

The Prelude was purchased from a really "honest" old man who seemed to be legit. My father mentioned that I got burned on my last purchase, and that I was using all my hard-earned money to buy that car. The guy swore that he and his brother did the bodywork. The car passed inspection and, up on the lift in my class, seemed solid. I wound up driving the car for a few weeks and a bunch of new problems popped up. Frozen brake caliper, lousy heat, an engine bay so cluttered that you can hardly get at anything. I decided to sell the car because I grew to learn that it's POS. I sold it to a teenage kid, whom I let know about every problem I knew about the car. He and his family still liked it, and I got most of my money back out of the sale.

They called me a few weeks later to inform me that the old man I purchased it from wrapped the rusted out rear subframe in saran wrap and covered it with a bunch of paint and undercoating. No hard feelings toward me because they know I honestly had no idea. We're waiting to contact the old man once he gets back from Florida, we need to have a few choice words with him.

The kid wound up getting his money back out of it, a guy bought it to make it into a race car. Hopefully it's 24 Hours of LeMons.

[jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Bubs360

"Hyundai cars always make ticking noises. Don't worry about it!"

So do old fashioned time bombs.

Originally Posted by Bubs360

an engine bay so cluttered that you can hardly get at anything.

I remember when Honda was obsessed with vacuum lines to control emission parts; it is terrifying to look at for the first time. Hell, every time.

[Bubs360]

Originally Posted by jayhawk

So do old fashioned time bombs.



I remember when Honda was obsessed with vacuum lines to control emission parts; it is terrifying to look at for the first time. Hell, every time.

Yeah, that's what I said too. But what do I know? I'm only a student mechanic!

Yes, that Honda was vacuum lines, vacuum lines, vacuum lines. It made even the most simple engine related job a nightmare.

It doesn't look as bad in this photo, but the horror.

The horror...

[Bubs360]

Double post, sorry.

Just some updates. Car gets great gas mileage, anywhere between 30mpg if it's loaded with friends on back roads, up to forty by myself around town and on the highway. Brand new exhaust pipe and muffler from the cat-back. Changed the engine coolant temp sensor in my driveway yesterday, new plugs and wires this morning. Other than that, eventually I'll throw some better tires on it and change the valve cover gasket.

For being an American car, surprisingly I am very happy that I bought it. Everything is so easy to access and work on. It has a timing chain so I should never have to worry about it. The water pump's run on the serpentine belt and three 10mm bolts hold it. So, that can be changed and you don't even have to worry about lining up any timing marks and replacing the horrid timing belt. The engine bay is uncluttered and everything's relatively easy to access.

[public]

Do I spy a very vintage radio in the dash?