Bye Bye Altima

[55Test]

Just this past Friday while I was away at work, my dad had my 93 Altima out to pick up someone he knew, and to make a long story short, he pulled out in front of a Honda, who was travelling too fast BTW, and, well you can guess what happened. I've only just gone over today to see the car. The airbag went off, the left front fender and wheel are ruined and the engine got pushed up against the righthand side of the engine bay. I haven't got a chance to look under the car, but I'd say the suspension is bent up pretty bad. The car is toast. I only planned on driving it til the end of March anyway, but it sucks that my dad just had to take my car out that day instead of taking his own car. So much for doing that UOA now, right? I'd kinda half planned on doing one once I reached 5000 miles just to see how the engine was doing, I was expecting to get some pretty bad wear numbers back actually since I've been running it with a leaking intake manifold gasket. I might do one anyway, just to see how GC held up in that engine. Right now I've got a line on a 1990 Olds Cutlass Ciera SL for something around $400. It had 274000 kms on it. It has the 3.3 under the hood and the 4 speed with torque converter lockup transmission. It seems to run alright, I started it up and I didn't hear any engine noises or anything else. It has AC (doesn't work) cruise, power seats, power windows, FE3 suspension, Reese trailer hitch, and a neat car computer. It's got some interesting features like coolant temperature in Farenheit, alternator voltage output, engine RPM, current fuel economy, distance to empty, etc.. I just might go back and buy it when I get paid tomorrow or Thursday. You guys think $400 for this car is fair? Anyone have any experience with the GM 3.3 engine? A neighbour of mine had an almost identical car with the same transmission, and he told me he had no trouble passing people, spinning the tires on dry pavement, doing 100+ mph and so on. I don't plan on doing that kind of stuff too often, but it's nice to know the 3.3 has enough power to get out of it's own way, so to speak.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

If that $400 gets you transportation for a few months it is money well spent.

 

[JHZR2]

Ive seen a number of those cars last a VERY long time. $400 is minimal for transportation. Sure, it may be $400 more than you would have spent if you went right from the altima to the next car, but thats life, I guess.

Since your father was the cause / driver, will he be making up for any of the damages? Also, since he was in front, and it seems that the honda was going too fast, thi stells me that he is going to be at fault for some relatively high amount as well. That should be considered as well. Your cost of car replacement should be gained from one of those two people, and the value of the altima should be gotten from the two insurance companies, or at least an amount equal to the other driver's liability in the accident.

JMH

 

[The_Jeff]

That ciera sounds nice! I had one with the 3.3 and 3 speed for 4 years/52k miles: plenty of torque and few to no problems. The only thing is with the trailer hitch it probably saw some harder life towing. I'd get it but try to talk the guy down to $250-- the cars have what some consider a grandpa-esque blandness that can keep buyers away and make sellers desperate.

 

[kevm14]

A project partner while I was at school had just that car, FE3 package and full gauges, minus the trip computer. I think it had like 206k (miles) on it and I remember beating on it. Ran great. And the 3.3 is a nice one. Also, with FE3, the car was a pretty competant handler. I'd go for it, but maybe change the transmission fluid and filter. And you might want to clean out the throttle body and IAC. My friend's car idled funny.