can still get 40 mpg for $250

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: Cutehumor
getting a running car under $500 does take some skill. A quick check using autotrader in my area, $1500 advertised minimum for a Saturn SL. I unloaded my 92 mits mirage last year for $400. It was a salvage title from ten years prior, but it ran good.


You are right. Dealers around here want 3000-3500 for an SL or SL1 with 100-120,000 on them.But the 750-1200 dollar ones can be had somewhat easily by either finding them on Craigs list or in the tradin post. The cheaper ones seem to be sold by those in their late teens and who often seem desperate for money for college, a trip, etc. They will say that it uses a lot of oil, "doesn't run right", etc.

 

[jamesn]

a friend of mine is looking at a 100+ mile daily commute starting this fall. he was going to go and buy a 2004-2005 corolla and pretty much kill it in a few years. 10 grand down the toilet. i am slowly getting him talked into a fleet of 3 saturns. just put an engine in the one thats in the best shape and keep the others for backup/parts cars. his wife wants to argue the logic of owning that many cars when you can have just one newish car. she does not habla depreciation.

 

[eljefino]

I would rather someone know their saturn burnt oil.

This thing was running on about 1.5 qts out of 4.

However, the oil change sticker just expired. Assuming she never ever checked the oil, consumption is 1 qt in ~1500 miles, good for a saturn.

Just hit the junkyard and got two newish tires for $20. Mounted them up myself, tonight. I need one more, and will try other yards when I get to drive by them.

Now that it reaches operating temperature, it's already running quite a bit better. Need to blow some carbon out, for sure. May do a water drip.

 

[GMFan]

Saturn guy here. My brother had a 1995 5spd Saturn SL2 with 180,000 miles on it. It stopped passing inspection so we decided to have some fun with it before it was donated/junked. It burned 1qt of oil/300 miles. Got so bad he dumped in a quart every fillup of gas without looking at the dipstick.

I can't describe to you the things we did to that car in words (i'll try) but it was amazing we didn't get arrested while doing it. For a month or so it spent it's final stage of life doing clutch dumps (on the orig clutch), redlining on ice, hitting shopping carts, driving offroad, and a battering ram.

Saturn S-series are tanks if you can deal with the crudeness of their interior, exterior and comfort. Perfect beaters to drive it like you stole it....at 40mpg.

For the record, my saturn burns no oil.

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: GMFan
Saturn guy here. My brother had a 1995 5spd Saturn SL2 with 180,000 miles on it. It stopped passing inspection so we decided to have some fun with it before it was donated/junked. It burned 1qt of oil/300 miles. Got so bad he dumped in a quart every fillup of gas without looking at the dipstick.

I can't describe to you the things we did to that car in words (i'll try) but it was amazing we didn't get arrested while doing it. For a month or so it spent it's final stage of life doing clutch dumps (on the orig clutch), redlining on ice, hitting shopping carts, driving offroad, and a battering ram.

Saturn S-series are tanks if you can deal with the crudeness of their interior, exterior and comfort. Perfect beaters to drive it like you stole it....at 40mpg.

For the record, my saturn burns no oil.


I am glad I have no smog testing in my area of the sate. I did the exact same torture tests when I was graduating high school. I had a 1984 Renault Alliance. A French/American piece of [censored]. Well the clutch was going and it would have been like 1500 bucks to replace it, so I decided to have a little fun. me and my friends, armed with dead blow hammers, screw drivers, axes, etc. ripped that car to absolute shreds over the period of a few hours. Then we wanted to see how much damage various large caliber rifles would do to the car. Man that was fun!