What should be a domestic beater car?

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: gregk24


My cousins had a Cavalier of this era, a 2004 if I remember correctly. It had lots of issues with under 150K miles, many sensors went bad, the A/C went out, transmission had to be replaced once, and the second was acting up, and ultimately the engine failed and they got a Corolla to replace it. Having said this, I have also heard of the Cavalier going to 200K plus on the original engine / transmission, but everything else seems to fall apart.


I owned a 1995 and a 2003 Cavalier, they were good A to B cars. Fairly comfortable, a good amount of room, enough power for everyday driving. Surprisingly, they had less issues than your Accords.

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream

They rattle, leak oil, and rust away prematurely: still its one of the best dam cars GM ever built. up to you...


My Corolla does all those besides the rusting.....What a POS! I could have bought a nice Ion Redline or Cobalt SS for the cash I laid down on a brand new Toyota Turd!

 

[nthach]

My vote would be a Focus, 1st gen Fusion, the older Taurii, Crown Vic/Grand Monkey or a Chevy Impala/Malibu. The Chevy twins should be OK f the lower intake manifold gaskets have been changed to the updated Fel-Pro/GM OEM ones and if the basics have been taken care of. The Taurus should be good as long as it's a Vulcan V6 with an intact AX4N tranny.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: javacontour
Originally Posted By: maverickfhs


Thanks, that's helpful link. Fortunately, 06 Civic has timing chain and not a belt!

Going to read the link.


I believe the same is true for the 2006 Focus. Around that time they got the Duratec 2.0L engine that uses a timing chain.

are these the ones with the "strange" one big box (change at 150k miles) air filter assembly?


Depends on if it's a PZEV model or not. If it's not a PZEV, it will just have a regular $12 paper element filter.

Focuses seem to be good beaters. And, if you shop around, you can get a 08 for $2K!

 

[Bluestream]

Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: Bluestream

They rattle, leak oil, and rust away prematurely: still its one of the best dam cars GM ever built. up to you...


My Corolla does all those besides the rusting.....What a POS! I could have bought a nice Ion Redline or Cobalt SS for the cash I laid down on a brand new Toyota Turd!

Sell It! and buy a Cavalier...

 

[Silverado12]

All Chevy Cavalier and Cobalt; Cruze after the first couple years of production (2013+ is a safe bet). Very dependable cars.

 

[sciphi]

Cobalt or older Focus pretty much nails it. Generally reliable powertrains with garbage interiors. They're not terribly nice places to be. Yet they just won't die.

If you want a higher-grade beater, an older new-style Focus or older previous-generation Cruze would work. Those are proving fairly unkillable also.

With all those, parts are pretty darned cheap. At least with the Cruze, a lot of OEM parts are still available at surprisingly reasonable prices. And the aftermarket has stepped up to fix things like the chronic water pump leaks.