The Driveway: COBbies talk cars

And the service came to...£1,100. That noise you can hear is my wallet screaming in agony.

Worth it, though. I fucking love this car.

Hoping to get my windows tinted soon.

Now I can dance and do ridiculous things in my car with impunity

Two things left to do:

1) Replace the rear badge, which is about 75% worn away.

2) Install an auxiliary port in the centre armrest, which I am assured is easy to do. CD wallets are so primitive. It's like walking around with an armful of floppy disks.

About that Tempo I mentioned: it's an automatic, so it's a three-speed. Still, it's a cheap-as-hell car, and I really only need something that can take me from A to B without much fuss. Granted, I could probably find a good Japanese deal on Craigslist, but the Tempo's right down the highway from me.

Throwing out a question for y'all: When I inevitably replace my '98 Avalon, I am looking to go with a compact or a subcompact. Which of the following if any, do you guys recommend: Subaru Impreza, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, or Mazda 3?

I do like the 3 a lot having ridden around in a friend's before, though I do want to look into other options since I have heard the 3 gets subpar fuel economy for its class.

Impreza only works if you wanna be a rally car driver.

Of the rest I'd go for the Honda Fit. Cute little thing

Definitely go for the Fit, it's got a metric buttload of space, it's fun to drive, and it still gets great mileage.

Or go for secret option 5, a VW Golf.

Cause they're great

What Midas wants to do:

• repair leak in transmission
• flush gunk out of transmission
• replace rusty gas cap
• brush out rusty gas tank
• give engine alleged first tune up ever
• "refurbish" engine
  • replace wires
  • replace caps

Price tag for all of this, plus oil change, plus diagnostic: $900

They also say I need my intake gasket replaced, which would be 500 on its own or add 300 to the above if they could do it all together due to combining labor charges.

I told them when to do the oil change and when I pick it up tomorrow, we'll discuss the rest. In order to make the decision, I'm going to discuss it here and with my father. I'd call Car Talk, but I don't have enough time.

The wires and caps (I assume they mean the sparkplug wires and caps) should be included in the tune-up, especially if it's allegedly the first tune up ever. And full tune-ups are expensive.

How do they know that the gas tank needs cleaning?

edited 21st May '14 3:29:22 PM by Madrugada

I think the inspection included with the oil change looks inside the fuel system.

Hmm, the paper just says "battery, air filter, fluid, belts, and hoses". Gas tank could be included with fluid or it could be part of the check engine diagnostic.

edited 21st May '14 3:36:54 PM by TParadox

Go to another place, do not pass go and get another opinion from some place locally owned that someone you know recommends. I just replaced the wires and spark plugs on my car for $45. Granted I bought the parts at Auto Zone and husband and self did the work in about a half hour.

If your gas tank is that rusty, it's not going to get better because it was flushed. That'll just buy you some time.

They want to flush the transmission and brush the tank.

The plan now is to retrieve it sometime early tomorrow (hopefully with my father as council/moral support, but since they open at 8, not 7 like we thought, maybe not), pay for the oil change and diagnostic, and then take it to a smaller garage and just tell them about the engine light.

edited 21st May '14 11:01:44 PM by TParadox

Well, I got the hard sell on the phone, but it was a breeze picking it up. I think I saw the manager today, and all he said about it was "looks like they found a lot."

I love my car, I really do, but I wish little bits wouldn't keep failing. Right brake light failure, left brake light failure, washing fluid pump failure, now left dipped beam failure...

I'm glad that the onboard computer tells me all this, though; in my old car, I often wouldn't even notice something was wrong until it was pointed out to me, mechanical dunce that I am.

The Trans Am lives once again. Then it developed a bad misfire. One of the plug wires was loose on the coil pack. Only took me a month to figure that out. Runs rough, but they always run rough. Still, nothing like seeing 10psi on the boost gauge and your body firmly planted to the seat-back to bring a smile on your face....

edited 25th Jul '14 6:31:56 PM by pvtnum11

Would like some advice, if anyone would care to give it...

I'd like to get a bit more power from my engine and increase acceleration, but I know literally nothing about how to go about doing these things, and I really don't want to screw my car up through doing something stupid. Some cursory Googling has suggested engine remapping - might this be a good idea?

How much of a budget do you got?

<shrug>

Waiting on a quote right now. I don't know how much this kind of thing costs.

Budget is fairly limited, though. I'm a bit broke right now.

Right, what do you drive exactly? I'm sure we can think of something.

2004 Saab 9-3 1.8t (petrol).

Ok, so from what I understand, the 1.8t, the 2.0t and the 2.0T all have the same engine, just mapped differently in the ECU, right?

Oh dear, I have a habit of killing this thread dead, don't I.

Well, I'm seeing a nice man week after next to boost my 150 BHP to 200+.

Ok, my Civic's tires are the next best thing to bald, and I can't really put off buying new ones much longer without serious issues.

I've been considering getting a set of low rolling resistance tires, since I do a lot of driving and every extra MPG or so can help if the price difference from regular tires isn't that great, but I don't have a clue of where to start on LRRTs.

Any suggestions on either tires to look out for (whether good or bad), or somewhere to get educated enough that I don't buy a set of figurative white elephants?

Tuefel and I just picked up a 2004 Mazda 3.