problemcat13

Off topic, but recently my wife's friend visited for the week. She has a Ford Contour and I obviously have a Forester. I'm sure none of us are fans of domestic crap like the Contour; however, the difference in the current state of these two vehicles is unbelievable. And THEY HAVE THE EXACT SAME MILEAGE! 148k miles!

Granted, she doesn't take real good care of her car, while I'm working on mine the first time I hear an odd noise. But when I borrowed hers to go pick up a part (had my Foz on ramps waiting for a timing belt tensioner to come in), she had a laundry list of things to watch out for:

1. Don't lock the doors. Sometimes they don't unlock, and you can't manually unlock it, and will have to climb out the window. So never leave valuables in the car.

2. Only roll down the driver window. The passenger side will take 5 minutes to roll back up, the rear windows may or may not roll back up. (Compounded by #3 below):

3. The AC doesn't work.

4. When you turn to the right, the oil light will come on. You need to put 3-4 quarts in it now, I would appreciate that. [side note: she said the oil plug was leaking; I looked, the thing is leaking EVERYWHERE!]

5. The coolant low light will come on sometimes. This happened the last time the water pump went out, but she doesn't think the water pump is out because the car isn't overheating.

6. It often makes a 'grinding/binding' noise between 700-1700 RPMs. If you turn off the car while it's doing that, when you start it again you have to give it gas to keep it running [side note: after driving it, seems like either the water pump or power steering pump are binding and dragging the engine]

There are probably other things she mentioned; it was a 10 minute conversation and I can't remember it all I also noted the struts are completely shot.

In contrast, my Forester:

1. headgaskets were replaced at 135k

2. front CV boots had to be replaced

3. struts are weak and will be replaced soon

And what's crazy is that she drives her Contour like a grandma, and I drive my Forester like I stole it! Needless to say, she is wanting a Honda or Toyota for her next car (I keep mentioning Subarus, but she has no need for AWD).

Anyhow, just though I'd share my amazement. Exact same mileage, WORLDS apart!

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dirteemac

are they original?

sea-scooby

I know exactly what your talking about! A week after I bought my brand new 1998 Forester ($18,500), a co-worker bought a 1998 Dodge Neon ($16,000). 4 years later we both traded our cars in at nearly the same time. I got $13.5k for the Forester, which still ran and drove like new with 60k miles on it. The Neon only had 43k miles, but it was beat. A ton of stuff needed to be fix or had been fix, and she only got $6500 for it.

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pleiad7

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-Silke
04 FXT PP PSM ~ "Subed"
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bodegabandit

If you pay close attention to the shoulders on the highway it will begin to look like a ford used lot/graveyard. I know whats its like though I am a recovering exploder owner

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IBHWRD2

In defense of domestic cars...
Both of the models that have been talked about so far are near the bottom of the barrel of the vehicle line up for that company. My other cars have been both Ford and G.M. cars and I've had good luck (do have to admit that I'd never drive a Neon unless I had to...not a Dodge person).

RocketEyes

Those contours are crap. Most cars in that lineup all the way around regardless of manufacturer are crap.
Some of my friends though who have Hondas with really high mileage have some issues though like that (granted with the way they take care of them, it doesn't surprise me).

About the only other vehicles I know of that can take abuse and get high mileage without massive problems are trucks.

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Meg
2007 WRB XT Sport Auto

MudRunner

Example:

MY'95 Chevy Suburban K1500 -- 245,000 miles, towing trailer, runs like new.

MY'92 Chevy Silverado K1500 -- 198,000 miles, towed trailer (retired), runs like new.



5.7L V8 = bulletproof

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RocketEyes

My 91 Chevy s-10 with over 300,000... runs ok, brakes are crap, but my dad still drives it all the time. My dad's 98 Dodge Ram with 275,000 miles. Has been totaled by hitting deer TWICE, still runs fine, brakes are crap (can you tell my dad hates doing brakes?)..but otherwise is fine.

That Chevy Malibu I was driving was crap though.

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Meg
2007 WRB XT Sport Auto

satalac

is it bad that i still want an svt contour?

dirteemac

I drove a ford ranger for 10 years. It was very reliable and is probably still on the road today.

satalac

ford rangers and jeep cherokees with the inline 6s are damn near indestructible. granted, they aren't a nice ride, but they are pretty bullet-proof. we have a 96 ranger with the little 4-banger and it'll haul pretty much anything you throw at it (sees 1200lb payloads quite often). has 260,000 miles on it and still gets 25 mpg average.

problemcat13

OK, OK! I was specifically referring to the cheap, throw-away type cars produced by the big three (neons, cavaliers, contours), although even they will have a good one now and then.

And yes, DirteeMac, I am still on the original struts (soon to be replaced).

I mean, if you saw this car, you wouldn't even want it for free. It just makes me tired looking at it

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guzzla

Don't try to convince Aussie Holden Commodore owners with the 5.7 Gen3 V-8 of that. Talk about a load of grief those have caused - oil use and piston slap.

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RocketEyes

I have seen those cars and I agree. I have seen Cavaliers (or whatever the hell they're called now) with 60k that are that bad. My dad's shop is in the land o American car.

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Meg
2007 WRB XT Sport Auto