Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

I have a 1992 Saturn SL1 with 129,000 miles on it. It's running beautifully. I bought it secondhand in 1997. A couple years later I had a few expensive repairs, but since then it's doing okay. G had a 1996 SW2 Saturn wagon. He bought it brand new, no problems. He totalled it back in ~2002, and went out and bought another SW1, this time a 1999. It's been fine so far other than the usual brakes and muffler issues older cars tend to get. The older model Saturns are much better than the newer ones. My 1992 is much better made than the 1999 is.

My 1992 gets about 29 to 32 MPG highway and about 25 city. And the 1999 gets about 32 to 35 highway and 25 to 30 city. Even the older Saturns get pretty decent MPG.
The trick to keeping it running well for so long is to make sure the oil and filters are changed every 3000 miles or every three months. I can tell by my gas milage when I need an oil change.

Getting parts for it is a pain. After-market parts do not fit Saturns, you have to go with Saturn made parts which tend to be a bit more expensive. Thus why they wanted to total my car for a crunched fender. No internal damage, all cosmetic, and they wanted to total the car. (it's a 1992, its only worth about $1200. th repairs cost about $1400. They fixed it for me anyway, next time it doesn't get fixed.)

We wouldn't recommend the newer Saturns, they are poorly made like any GM vehicle. But the older ones were well made.
When we need new vehicles again, I'm planning to get a Toyota hybrid (but not a Prius) and G is looking at the Subaru Outback Wagons.

I second the "ask about maintenance" bit, but Saturns in general are fairly reliable from what I hear.
Given that one sacrificed itself to save my husband's life once (he was middle car in a three car pileup - the car was totaled but he walked away without an injury), and was Extremely Reliable for him beforehand, I have a soft spot for Saturns.

Try to get a copy of the CarFax for the car, you'll be able to tell if certain fishy things are going on (such as odometer rollbacks, or previous use as a taxi, or previous registration in New Orleans during Katrina, etc.). I had a hard time getting my old Aspen to pass MD inspection; see if you can make an offer contigent on that. At the very least, have a friend (Bill if we're in town) or a trusted mechanic look it over thoroughly.

BACK issues of Consumer Reports (from several years ago) should have information going back that far. But if you have very little money for car repair, you don't just need a reliable car -- you need a SUPER-reliable car. Which means that you need a Toyota or a Honda. Year after year, they top the reliability ratings.

I've got a '97 Saturn SL2 and it's still running strong. I had a year of semi-expensive repairs back about 4 years ago, but nothing other than general maintenance since then. It's more rattly than it used to be, but I've been putting off getting a new car for 2 years now since I can't justify getting rid of a perfectly good one.

As several others mentioned, it depends on how well maintained it is and such. In reality, this is going to be true of just about any brand of auto.

Some autos prove to be durable and lasting when their maintenance schedules are followed (example: some Hondas are very durable if you follow all scheduled maintenance. Skip changing the timing belt when specified? Chance multi-thousand dollar repair bill. Hint it's what's called an interference engine..) That's why being able to see the old maintenance records is so useful.

Another example (from personal experience) Chrysler bought their 3.0 V-6 from Mitsubishi for many years. It's a decent engine, as long as 1. You use a good synthetic blend (or better) oil in it and change it every 3k miles, 2. any coolant leaks were promptly fixed, and 3. it was never allowed to overheat more than a time or two. Why? The engine tended to dry out the valve seals & freeze plug seals when overheated. End result is an engine burning lots of oil that also will likely one day pump all it's oil out on the road while at speed.

Someone mentioned a figure of $800/year as an estimate for maintenance costs for most any auto and that's not a bad number to plan for. Consider: if you drive 12k miles/year, then figure on 4 oil changes/year, front brakes every 2 to 3 years, coolant with hoses ~every 4 years, External belts & (some cars) timing belt every 4 to 5 years, tires every 4 to 5 years, etc. Oil changes are averaging $20 to $30 now, front brakes averaging $200 to $300... It adds up quick.

One approach that an engineer I know took is that he never spends more than $300 buying an old car. He drives it, usually through 2 or 3 oil changes, then when it dies, he donates it to something like the Kidney Foundation and buys another one. Last I heard, he was averaging a car every 6 to 12 months... It always seemed as a lot of bother to me...

Janice (Hmmm, I'm really need to see if I can reclaim some of that brain space all cluttered with car stuff....)