I hate my wife's car ...

[Mad1]

I can't stand this friggin' car. Stop me if you've heard this before. :)

She bought a brand new 2003 Chevy Cavalier before we got married. Of course, the dealer rolled in what was left on her old car loan into the new loan ... so the debt/equity ratio is so far underwater it might as well have been in New Orleans. It's worth less than half what we still owe on it and she still has nearly 4 years to go on payments. (They also used a loan company that is one step away from Atilla the Hun and Guido.)

At just a little over 50,000 miles, the engine threw a rod through the engine wall and of course it was "out of warranty.' We then put a 'used' engine with 4,000 miles on it from a salvaged wreck less than two months ago for about three grand. (I took it to different dealer than where she bought it I was so pissed at them.)

My step-son took it Sunday (New Year's Day) to pick up his sister for us and he calls to say it won't start after he got to her apartment ... he says it appears to be fuel starvation. I believe him, since he's pretty handy with a wrench when it comes to cars, so we have it towed home. (Note to self ... full marks for including "towing" costs in your insurance coverage. It mades this "holiday" mishap so much easier on me and we've had it towed twice now.)

We figure it's a plugged fuel filter. Not a biggie, since it is only a $10 part. However, we had to drive about 75 miles to get this part and the tool we need.

The first store (Advance) has the wrench we need, but not the part. So we leave wrench and travel to Autozone ... where they have no filter either. We didn't even bother checking for the wrench. Off we go to O'Reillys ... where they have the part we need ... but not, you guessed it, the wrench we need. So it's back to the first store for the wrench.

It's now dark when we get home ... and it takes about 15 minutes to get the car up on the ramps, bleed the fuel line, disconnect the battery and swap out the part. Car fires up and runs again.

Towing ... $84 (fully reimbursed by insurance)
Parts ... $12 for fuel filter and wrench
Time & Labor ... 2 hours of travel, 15 minutes of work.
Frustration ... Beyond measure

So, moral of the story.
I'm never buying another Cheverolet for this family and I'm praying someone burns down the dealership that sold her this piece of junk just one day after their insurance coverage lapses.

Mad1
Jeremy

[CrazyCor15]

Our General Morons vehicles at work are the biggest pieces of crap.

[Leadfoot281]

I hear ya. My last girlfriend had a 95 Cavalier. She paid $3000 for it with 155k miles and a SALVAGE title! The repair work was so horrible I was just stunned. The left quarter panel was actually welded on top of the bent factory panel! She bought it from one of those "cars and credit" places. $60/week at 12% interest. In two years I replaced 2 CV joints, an intake manifold gasket, four tires, and then her.

My previous girlfriend also had a Cavalier (93?). I had been dating her for a year when the car, in her words, was "sounding funny". She hadn't opened the hood on it, or had an oil change in the two years she owned it. Guess what, NO OIL! Nothing! The dip stick was dry! There was maybe an ounce of "oil" in the car. I added 2 quarts of diesel to the crank case, ran it for a minute, drained it, changed the oil and filter, and the car ran for two more years.

These cars earned the nickname "Cadaver" for good reasons.

[merc6]

Yeah I remember when I put the 6 in the shop(for the 1st time..at least for this dealership in Arlington ;) ) I got a cavalier and almost rolled the bastage. It had a nice lil grunt but that didn't make up for the entire package. I am not a GM or VW person.

[Joe Walsh]

My, "please will someone buy this piece of crap" Chevy Blazer left me walkin' for the 4th time last Tuesday...
And it did it in grand style...at the county recycling facility/ramps with 25 other people waiting in line to dump their trash..:mad:
It turned out to be those FRIKKIN" side mount battery posts, one of which had a corroded/loose bolt. The bolt is the ever popular 8mm size...:(
If I ever meet the GM engineer who came up with the bright idea to mount the posts on the inaccessible side of the battery, I will punch him right in the mouth!:mad2:
I can't get anyone to buy this turd...been advertised for over a year. Anyone want to "get that great GM feeling" for only $4,500???
I learned my lesson...It is the one and only GM vehicle I WILL EVER BUY!!

[SergntMac]

Marauder.

Had so much fun with my first two, I bought a third.

Despite all the moaning we do here about fixing things, it's still has a better repair record than my last 6 vehicles. 1 Gran Marquis ('91), 3 Mountaineers ('97, '98 and '00), one Town Car ('94) and one Crown Vic ('92).

[Skiordie53]

I've had quite a few Gm vehicles with high miles and very little trouble.

1984 Pontiac Parisienne 360k Miles - We owned since new, had original engine, tranny and carb

1989 Pontiac Firebird Formula - 160k Miles - Sold

1993 Buick Roadmaster - 150k Miles - Sold

1999 Camaro SS Convertible - 82k Miles - totaled by idiot who ran red light

1999 Buick Regal LS - 82k - went back on lease


Those are just a few of the recent ones we've had, and The Marauder beign our first Ford product, I haven't been thrilled with the quality, dealers taken care of everything under warrenty but still dosen't mean trouble free.

[FordNut]

Marauder.

Had so much fun with my first two, I bought a third.

Despite all the moaning we do here about fixing things, it's still has a better repair record than my last 6 vehicles. 1 Gran Marquis ('91), 3 Mountaineers ('97, '98 and '00), one Town Car ('94) and one Crown Vic ('92).
ANOTHER one??? Tell us more.

[Bluerauder]

She bought a brand new 2003 Chevy Cavalier before we got married.
This falls under the category of "For Better or For Worse". :rofl:

[Marauder386]

ANOTHER one??? Tell us more.


Nuffin wrong with owning three ... of course the Mustang crowd thinks its stupid ( why do you own three of the same car ? ) in my club. But its okay for them to own two or three Mustangs... ROFL


:coolman:

[SergntMac]

ANOTHER one??? Tell us more.

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/showcase/showimage.php?i=701&c=3&userid=392

Not much to say right now, it's a pure bone stock '03 300B, 71K miles. Fairly clean, but a few "issues" I can easily address. A small burn hole in the passenger seat let's me buy fresh seat tops for my Kenny Brown car (map pockets are still available) for 240. each, and I can use the hand me downs on #3. First owner must have been a heavyweight, as well as an OTR driver.

I just went to look, Honest! But the deal just kept getting better, and better. Started out 20,995. but traded in my '91 GM with 89K miles for 2800 bucks. Dealer paid all taxes and fees, I dropped 17,500 on the desk and drove home. I was kind of surprised myself, but it's done now, and I like the car very much. It's going to be my daily driver, so, I'm off to find a winter wheel/tire combo today.

Project "Bone Stock" is underway, and I don't have any Marauder withdrawl over the winter.

[merc6]

Not far from neon owners having one neon garged and drive another ;) All the Gm's my family got to include 2 cadi's didn't give me a warm fuzzy. catera threw pistons. bonnaville kep braking doown at random. cts feels darn near like my 6 but with more options. The whole time I drove the cts I kept saying "both my FoMoCo products drive beter than this".

[metroplex]

At just a little over 50,000 miles, the engine threw a rod through the engine wall and of course it was "out of warranty.' We then put a 'used' engine with 4,000 miles on it from a salvaged wreck less than two months ago for about three grand. (I took it to different dealer than where she bought it I was so pissed at them.)


I'm not sure which is more ridiculous:
The engine block being so thin and weak that a rod could eject from 130 hp of pure monster fury?

Or the rod being so weak that it snaps from what 130 hp of pure monster fury?

Geez.

[67435animal]

Our General Morons vehicles at work are the biggest pieces of crap.

I would never buy a Cavalier either, but my GM Chevy has been great so far (Corvette).

Now if you want to talk crap, let's discuss "Rice".

[the_pack_rat]

GM 4cyl stuff was never anything to write home about. If ya really want something w/a 4cyl ... your best to stick with something Japaneese.

When I still lived up in NJ ... me & the wife took a trek out to Harry's U-Pull it in Hazelton PA.

http://www.wegotused.com/

The Cavaliers and all it's other equally disposable Pontiac - Buick & Olds like-bodied counterparts, seemed liked they were lined up by the HUNDREDS. 75% of these cars were NOT there because of collision damage either.

There was also a rather larger assortment of the 4cyl Celeberties and it's like-bodied GM counterparts as well ... again most did NOT have collision damage.

They could have fenced off the sections with these clunkers & opened another entirely new buisness just with these alone.

Apparently things are no different there these days. They must be so over-stocked with them ... they have resorted to GIVING them away :


http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=83 46&d=1136491098


:P

At the time ... there were hardly any 79-85 Toronados, and not as many 78-88 RWD Cutlai there as I thought there would be ... which was what I was maninly looking for.

As they often say ... more car is often a better car - or ya' get what ya' pay for etc etc ...

Cept' maybe in the case of (GM anyway) the diesels & 4.1 L Cadillacs of that era :rolleyes: - lol.

[jimlam56]

I gave my oldest son my 94 2.3l Ranger a few years back.
It now has over 200k on the original engine, with no oil consumption and no smoke...

[rookie1]

sorry your cadavalier is a piece of crap. This is not the case with all of them however, and certainly not the case with all GM vehicles. I'm not trying to add to your pain here.
My brother has a 1999 Cadavalier with 236,000 relatively trouble free miles on it and still drives it everyday. A couple of starters and a new alternator during the 2nd 100k and that's about it.
I sold an Impala SS with 144k absolutely trouble free miles to buy the Marauder.
B4 the SS I had a Bonneville that needed a starter @ 100k and was running great when I gave it to my other brother with 155k on it.
My wife's Grand Am had 87k trouble free miles on it b4 she totaled it and she's currently driving an 01 Aurora with about 85k on it that drives like it's still brand new, the only $$ I've had to put in the olds was wheel bearings @ around 70k.
The Marauder is our first Ford product (not counting a 00' Taurus that I hated so much I bought myself out the lease on it)and has been relatively trouble free so far at 45k.

[Mad1]

I don't want to slop my experiences over on all Cavaliers, but this has been a ugly mess.

The latest issue, when it refused to start, turned into a $664 repair bill to put a new fuel pump in it. While I can't say this is unusual, I didn't expect such substantial repair costs on a "new" vehicle, where we were the first owner and have met all the required maintenance needs from the start. We're talking over $4,000 in the last year, while it was still under 60,000 miles on the odometer.

Her cavalier is the same vintage as my Marauder and we haven't had anything close to this level of trouble out of the MM. The operating costs for her car, compared to mine, should be substantially lower ... ie, marauder 's gas, insurance, tires are all much higher in cost than similar consumables and coverage for the cavalier. However, once we factor in all the repair work ... it's not even close.

We'd be foolish to think the trend isn't going to continue that way too, especially since the marauder has a 7-year warranty on it.

Jeremy
Mad1

[merc6]

Our General Morons vehicles at work are the biggest pieces of crap. Forgot to reply to this...yep our impalas barely run. the silverado we have is always deadlined for tranny, electrical grimilns, or the starvation when turning left or right at speeds above 19 mph! The older GM cars were built run but the new ones are like honda. They sell only cause of their past history of good reliability IMHO.

[Silver_04]

Our General Morons vehicles at work are the biggest pieces of crap.

I cleared my personal fleet of Fords, Marauder included, for the same reason. To each his own eh?