I'm starting to hate my car now....

[MacTech]

Tonight, on a whim, I stopped off at the local Saturn dealer to see what the Ion looked like (Ion 2)

not a bad little car, it’s a tad more cramped inside than the Neon, and the steering wheel doesn’t adjust up as far as i’d like, the shifter is a little vague and rubbery and the clutch is a tad sensitive (I’m used to cable clutches, not hydraulic)

yes, i know it sounds like I hate the car, but I don’t, it’s not bad at all, the offset gauge cluster is a little wierd, but the important thing is that it seems to have decent performance for a 2.2L four, the fuel mileage should be acceptable as well

after the drive, the salesman and I worked the numbers, with 0% financing, and $0 down, and $1500 for my trade, it works out to $210/mo, admittedly it’s a 72 month loan, but it’s at 0%, so all I’m paying for is the car, and it’s an '07 with full factory warranty, 26 miles on it

looks like repairing the Neon just got harder to rationalize

yes getting back under payments suck, but repairing the Neon is less viable now, at least i’ll have a factory warranty, AND a car capable of going 200K+, the salesguy was telling me about one of his customers with a SW2 or something, an original model station wagon Saturn that he has 450K on, and it’s still going strong, he’s planning on keeping the car until it rolls 500K, he thinks Saturn might give him a free one if he can log a half million miles

dammit, things just keep getting more confusing…

[Santo_Rugger]

@MacTech

Not too long, Vermont heavilly salts their roads in the winter, and it snows a lot, my mechanic says he’s seen newer cars than mine with rusted through components, Vermont eats cars

New England in general is tough on cars, the whole Northeast part of the American continent is, i’m sure some Canadian Dopers can back me up here

hmm, come to think of it, maybe that’s why used cars are so common in Vermont, why finance a nice new car for 4-5 years when it’s going to rot out from under you before it’s paid off…

Then don’t blame Chrysler, silly!

I heard of this phenomenon not too long ago from a gal from Florida. She said it’s really hard to find a good used vehicle there, because they end up getting shipped up north.

[Hockey_Monkey]

@MacTech

Tonight, on a whim, I stopped off at the local Saturn dealer to see what the Ion looked like (Ion 2)

not a bad little car, it’s a tad more cramped inside than the Neon, and the steering wheel doesn’t adjust up as far as i’d like, the shifter is a little vague and rubbery and the clutch is a tad sensitive (I’m used to cable clutches, not hydraulic)

yes, i know it sounds like I hate the car, but I don’t, it’s not bad at all, the offset gauge cluster is a little wierd, but the important thing is that it seems to have decent performance for a 2.2L four, the fuel mileage should be acceptable as well

after the drive, the salesman and I worked the numbers, with 0% financing, and $0 down, and $1500 for my trade, it works out to $210/mo, admittedly it’s a 72 month loan, but it’s at 0%, so all I’m paying for is the car, and it’s an '07 with full factory warranty, 26 miles on it

looks like repairing the Neon just got harder to rationalize

yes getting back under payments suck, but repairing the Neon is less viable now, at least i’ll have a factory warranty, AND a car capable of going 200K+, the salesguy was telling me about one of his customers with a SW2 or something, an original model station wagon Saturn that he has 450K on, and it’s still going strong, he’s planning on keeping the car until it rolls 500K, he thinks Saturn might give him a free one if he can log a half million miles

dammit, things just keep getting more confusing…

Get the 0% for 72 while you can. It WILL NOT be around long. $1500 for your trade? Excellent! If you decide to get it, I hope you will be very happy with it for a very long time.

[MacTech]

@Pygmy Rugger

Then don’t blame Chrysler, silly!

I heard of this phenomenon not too long ago from a gal from Florida. She said it’s really hard to find a good used vehicle there, because they end up getting shipped up north.

I know, I should blame Physics/Chemistry instead, the oxidation reaction of steel/iron and water/sodium/chorine, in particular, but a few things really annoy me about this

1; the fact that my dealership is willing to lose a reliable customer over a simple repair
2; Chrysler not being willing to even work with me, i’m not expecting them to pay 100% after all, a little help would be appreciated, but no, they’re sticking to the hardline
3; my EX-mechanic not being willing to work with me, especially since the car was there for that EXACT PROBLEM a month ago, a subframe assembly does not rot out to the extent mine is in one month, especially during late summer when there is NO salt on the roads…
4; my EX-mechanic not even advising me that the subframe was going bad when they had the car up on the lift for it’s last tire rotation, when the subframe was clearly visible, as were the suspension components, they saw how bad the stuff was, they just didn’t tell me

so, I choose to vote with my wallet and will be taking my business elsewhere, end of story

depending on the second opinion from Village Motors, i may still have the work done, as no car payment is better than having a car payment, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted by the Ion deal, yes it’s 6 years, but no interest for those six years, and if Saturn’s reliability is anything like the grandiose claims i’ve been reading, the car may last me for 200K+