cant timeing belts be replaced? my friend replaced his in his honda for like 300$

Craigslist isn't a horrible option, I will agree there. Also, Saturn is a great choice. Saturn's safety saved my life last month when I totaled my car.



The belt can, yes. But his style engine (also the same with Subaru engines) when the belt breaks, it allows the piston to ram itself into the valves, which requires an engine rebuild.

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Don't be afraid to go to a dealer and ask if they can get a vehicle from another dealer.


Last Edit: Feb 9, 2011 5:57:11 GMT by Jim

@xuzi: Saturn is still a great car. I just haven't had great luck with them. Granted... the two I've owned had 140k and 114k miles, respectively, when the engines went so that could be the reason. It's more that I think it's time for a change than anything. I want to avoid private sellers, honestly, so Craigslist is out of the option. I know I can get deals on there, but one of the big benefits of going through a dealer and getting a tad bit more expensive than I really should is that I can build credit. I'm 21 with zero credit... not a good thing.

Also, I work for an auto supplier. We do trucks and military vehicles exclusively now, but used to do cars as well (the late 90's, early 00's Viper used axles, the front hood, and drivelines designed and made by us, for example). We used to test competitor's work (still do) and the mid-00's Mitsubishi axles failed our tests in half the time they should have. So yeah, staying away from them.

@loverboi: Like James said, my engine is fried. I was driving to work and my car started making odd noises. I thought it sounded like a cylinder was sticking and figured it would work itself out. A mile down the road, it sounded like something fell out of the car and hit the road below me. My timing belt snapped and what I heard was actually the cylinders ramming the walls of the engine. What I thought was something falling out of the car was likely a cylinder snapping in two. In short, the engine walls are irreversibly damaged, a cylinder (possibly multiple cylinders) is in at least two pieces, and any number of valves and other components are also dead. It's a $3500 repair job (it's a tad more expensive than it normally would be because no mechanic seems fond of replacing v6 engines).

@james:I know I can ask for dealers to get cars from elsewhere, but it does no good if the car still doesn't run right, you know? That's the problem I ran into with the Focuses I drove last week. They are great cars. I really do like them. Of the three I drove, though, only one was running the way a 25k mile car should and that was a bare minimum car (mind you, it had absolutely no features and cost the same as a fully loaded 2009 Focus SEL did)

Again, only some engines are like that. Interference engines are the problem ones, these are the ones that when the belt snaps, expensive repairs are needed.

And that's why it's important to follow what your user manual says. Timing belts should be replaced every 60K miles to ensure this doesn't happen.

Tell them outright, then, that what they have isn't what you're looking for, and see if it's possible to get some from another dealer. Or just suck it up and take a weekend to visit places a bit farther away

@james: Going long distances on weekends is an issue, dude. I have class on Saturday from 8-2 and we are in the middle of a move.

@xuzi: The 140k car was a bottom of the line car that burned oil and wasn't maintained. The car cost $1000 and lasted four years. Can you complain? The VUE had 110k and the timing belt snapped. I'm not good with cars and had no idea that could happen. Thus, it was not maintained like it should have been.

And where the hell did I say I thought private dealers were crap? I flat out said that I wanted to do it to build credit and it is easier to do through a dealer than a private seller. Seriously... how'd you get that out of what I said?

The engine in the SL1 wasn't great, which is what he had. The SOHC was an awful engine . I had the SL2 version, which is a bit more power and torque due to it being a DOHC. It was a better design and went way longer (easily hits 300K).

The timing belt snapping isn't a bad engine, belts simply aren't great. Timing chains are much better, but more expensive to engineer. Had it been replaced at 60K, and then replaced again when it hit 120K, there wouldn't have been any problem.

My car died at 172K, but you still could've pulled the engine and sold it. Still ran great, minus the head needing to be rebuilt (the valves leak oil into cylinder 1), and some EGR things... but nothing that affected gas mileage or power.


Excuses. Get better ones.

SOHC itself isn't a bad design... just that particular one was .

(Obviously not a wagon, don't care)

If you paid more than a pack of gum for that... eh.

Hard to find a pic because I didn't think it was worth spending time looking beyond Wikipedia.

And you shouldn't have posted that pic. It's even worse.

...I'm confused as to your question. Would I rather have a pretty car or one that doesn't run? I'll take the pretty car that runs...

110k. I didn't buy it. My other Saturn "shizbrix" as you so... poetically put it. My dad gave me his backup car, the VUE, which was the plan all along once I left for college. I put on 14k in three years, didn't know that the timing belt had to be changed, and it died. Like any car would if you didn't keep it up like you were supposed to. If you didn't know your car was burning oil (hell, a $180k Jaguar can burn oil) and tear up your engine, it doesn't mean the car was shit. Just means you were an idiot and didn't maintain it.

I absolutely hated the way my VUE looked. It was a great car, though, except that ticking time bomb that was the timing belt and the suspension (which, again, just needed to be fixed like any car would. Some broken drop links were causing it to squeak really bad). Ever since I got that car, a new VUE was my realistic dream car (the Audi R8 being the nonrealistic dream car. lol).

So no, I don't want a car only because it is "cool" or "pretty". I want a car that is comfortable, that is big enough for me (like I said... a LOT of cars are too small for my shoulders), and is something that I will still enjoy driving (and paying $200+ a month for) 3-5 years down the line. If I'm dropping money on ANYTHING, it's going to be the best I can get. Something as miniscule as socks or deorderant... I shop and research to find what is best. There is no such thing as an impulse buy because something is "pretty" or "cool" with me.

I do need to point out your hypocrisy here, though. Well... maybe not hypocrisy, but shortcomings. In the last year-year and a half, how many cars have you had? 3? 4 now? Honestly, purchasing more than 1 car in a year to be your main car (backups are fine, imo) tells me that a person doesn't give two shits about the car they are driving so long as it moves when they buy it. If you did care, you would have looked online a bit and saw things like this which gives the car a 36/100. Or that it has an SOHC engine which in this thread you were complaining about (I'm seeing conflicting reports of which model year the engine was introduced, so that may be incorrect)

So yes. Go and assume that all I care about is looks. Instead of looking at the hours and hours of time spent looking for the perfect car for ME over the last month. I've spent an hour or two a day over the last 4 weeks researching. I know what I can get, I'm looking for opinions on what cars are good because test driving each one is not realistic.

So just shut the fuck up, Xuzi. Damn.

+1

Congrats. You just proved his point.