Kevin's Watch

CovenantJr wrote:I've never had a reliable car, so I can't help there. Cameraman Jenn might be the one to speak to though, being an auto mechanic by trade.

Zounds! Good thought!

Savor Dam wrote:

Lord Foul wrote:Nissan is very reliable...and good service prices. Volkswagen too, if one is near your town.

Both are definitely available in your area, Kaydene. I know Red Bluff better (though I'm in the Seattle area now), but you're not far away and your community is a bit larger.

rdhopeca wrote:We owned two Saturns, bought them brand new. They began falling apart right at warranty time. We didn't buy any others after that.

What year, Rob? My recommendation was based on the experience of people who bought early Saturns, but maybe the quality slipped as time went by...

'01 and '04 I think. They're not bad, but they are not on the same level of a Honda or a Nissan by any stretch, and I wouldn't buy one used for sure.

My advice for buying a used car is: buy the make that has the dealer that is most convenient to you. Unless its a really crappy car, this is far more important that quibbling about which brand is microscopically more reliable by reputation. If you need dealer service, is it close by? do they have loaners or cheap rentals? do they do work like oil changes while you wait? etc.

Hey lorin -- my daughter Batsutousai has a LiveJournal account for her writing. I think she's gotten a lot of traffic for her site.

I have a blog but I haven't updated it in months. I would likely start a different one for whatever new venture I get into. Thanks for the link to the Life Coaches Blog -- I've only read a little bit of it so far. Will have to read further...

My wife and I swear by Hondas. She had one that was over 10 years old when we met, and we bought a '96 Accord used and it's still with us.

Turns out, my sister's husband's uncle (heh) owns a Nissan Sentra with under 100,000 miles on it and is willing to sell it to me for pretty cheap. I'm excited to check it out in the next couple of days. I'll let you know how it goes.

Sweet, check it out! But 100k miles...make sure nothing's wrong with it. Don't think it'll have a warranty now either.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I'm going back to University next year and would rather not take out a loan for a new car, so under 100k miles is decent enough. My sister's husband is pretty good with cars and he said he'd look at it and make sure nothing's wrong with it.

You should get 200k easily out of a sentra. Be sure to change the oil regularly and do not, I repeat do not, flush the transmission and change 100% of the fluid. You can have the fluid changed the old fashioned way if you like (I wouldn't) but I cannot stress enough how important it is to not do a full transmission flush unless it has been done at least every 50k miles- and nobody does that. I'm sure the brother in law will inspect the belts and hoses for you.

Yeah, I've heard before to not flush a transmission unless absolutely necessary or something. I'll remember. Thank you for the advice!

Yeah, my brother is planning on checking all the belts and jazz.