My $50 dollar Planetary Adventure

mr2peak wrote: In reply to procker: There's a mk1 MR2 painted like that floating around Cali, belongs to a custom painter. Same with the Golf?

That Golf came from factory like that.

No joke.

Google "Harlequin Golf."

Once again, you're my hero. Driving a Saturn until stuff falls off of it. If mine was a wagon, I would literally keep it going forever.

forgot to mention. A long time ago, i borrowed my buddies 2003 Dodge Ram to do some towing and he took my saturn. He had just bought it and kept telling me to take it easy, be careful, dont wreck it. nom-nom-nom

I get a call the next day. "Kevin, i crashed your saturn"

He took an off ramp too quick and spun it. Front bumper tapped the guard rail as did the rear. The frt bumper fell off.
Being the good friend he is, he re attached all the broken bits, offered to pay for any thing else. I laughed and said: "its a saturn" He did a nice job fixing it up cause besides scratches on the front and rear bumpers and some cracked inner wheel liners you cannot tell a thing happened...basically.

It just keeps going.

On an only slightly related note, I was in the junkyard on Tuesday and every other car in the GM section was a Saturn. Amazing. I've never seen so many Saturns. They all seemed to have between 150 and 200k miles, and amazingly, all the bodies were rust free!

Should be easy to score used parts.

Saturns will run forever if you remember to keep oil in them. As these cars age they tend to burn oil. A true Saturn owner can easily be spotted at the gas station with the hood open adding oil to their car. I think it is a requirement for all Saturn owners to carry an extra quart in their trunk.

Quasimo1 wrote: Saturns will run forever if you remember to keep oil in them. As these cars age they tend to burn oil. A true Saturn owner can easily be spotted at the gas station with the hood open adding oil to their car. I think it is a requirement for all Saturn owners to carry an extra quart in their trunk.

Haha. I buy a 6-quart case at Costco every oil change. The spare two bottles that don't go in stay in the trunk for re-fills.

Figured i would update this a bit.

My dad now DDs the car.

Just turned 251,000 miles. Burns a teaspoon of oil between changes. Runs great and just keeps going.

Just keep adding gas and changing the oil. Nothing more.

Dad loves it

Saturn has 271,5xx miles on her.

We have put over 60,000 mile on it since i took it in. Still runs, drives and starts every morning.

These cars are just too much. I honestly cant believe its still holding its own as a DD.

Love it

and yet these orphans continue to get cheaper.

the last one I bought at auction was a '99 SL-2. Power everything, spoiler, wheels, leather, 97.000 miles. Radiator was cracked, and the front rotors were done. I was the high bidder at $650.

porksboy wrote: What is the yellow thing hanging from the left of the rear bumper? Is that a rubber duckie? WTF?

It's JDM tyte yo. She should also have one of those yellow/green arrowed "DANGER ROOKIE DRIVER" symbols as well. Or not.

It didn't need any work, but your $50 Saturn trumps my $800 Celica. Nice score.

[edit] Dammit. Zombie thread sucker, again.

I was just looking at Saturns on Craigslist the other day. The mileage on them is getting higher in general, but they are still a great deal. I sometimes miss my little '95 SC1 until I remember how it folded like a Styrofoam cup when I was T-boned by an Elantra. Great cars...just don't hit anything.

nebbermind

Quick update...

291,xxx miles.

Water pump bit it this past week so i replaced that and kept trucking. $50 and its back on the road. Other then that it finally tore its original (best i can tell) upper trans mount which let the engine flop around anytime any input was given to the gas pedal. That was a 15 minute, 35$ fix.

Other then that i just keep adding fuel and doing oil changes.

I love this car. I really really do

They are awesome "cheap" cars. Some days I regret selling mine.

I feel like a Saturn may be a bucketlist car at some point in my life.

I recently got me a cheap Focus to bomb around in and since it is a base model, I think it would be like a Saturn. Now I just need to get me a sub-$1k Saturn to drive around in...but probably not while I still have the Focus.

You couldn't afford the $10 Home Depot air dam?

Twin_Cam wrote:

Quasimo1 wrote: Saturns will run forever if you remember to keep oil in them. As these cars age they tend to burn oil. A true Saturn owner can easily be spotted at the gas station with the hood open adding oil to their car. I think it is a requirement for all Saturn owners to carry an extra quart in their trunk.

Haha. I buy a 6-quart case at Costco every oil change. The spare two bottles that don't go in stay in the trunk for re-fills.

Even the late ecotec powered cars ate a little bit of oil. Granted, mine had to be checked via dip stick and then with a hex socket. Stupid GM engineer's and their "lubed for life" mumbojumbo. I went by what Eaton said to do with the s/c and ignored GM.

Figured i would chime in again with another update...ill fil in more later on.

It just turned 307,000 miles driving to school today.

Its only now starting to use some oil which is ok by me.

I bought two new tires for it and it rides great again (bought two a few months back)

Issues? Exhaust rattles a bit and the fuel door hinge is half rusted off now.

Guess what? Still is my DD and still gets over 30 MPG every tank without trying.

Ahhh =)

Man, I wish I was able to buy the SL1 I looked at when the transaxle in the neon needed replaced. I would probably still be driving it.

Update time!

Just turned 315,000 miles.

Still daily driven. Parked outside. Starts every morning and gets me to work no problems.

Earlier in this thread i mentioned it spinning out and hitting a guard rail and it appears that it mighta have tweaked the right side a bit. Tracks straight, alignment has been spot on but the passenger front door is off. The gap is huge and its a bit tough to open. Cant get it back into adjustment.

C'est la vie!

Its getting tired though. Everything forward of the firewall is old and tired. Its loose and sloppy and you can tell its aged a lot since i bought it. There is a new clunk out back. Cant tell if its the muffler that clanks a bit on hard hard bumps or if the sway bar links are seized solid again. Clutch is getting tired too. Also, at parking lot speeds and maneuvers it makes some weird clunks up front but its nothing i am too worried about. Ill look it over next oil change. Fun fact: Best i can tell it has original OEM struts and springs...

Besides oil changes and tanking it up i have done nothing to it. Its needed nothing. That being said, the brakes are starting to pulsate a bit and ill have to address that.

Every weekend I wash it and spiff it up a bit and despite it being old and used it still makes me smile and i still have fun with the Saturn.

Huh?

Edit: dammit, just realized this is another revived thread...

Travis_K wrote:

porksboy wrote: What is the yellow thing hanging from the left of the rear bumper? Is that a rubber duckie? WTF?

Supposedly is it JDM yo to hang toy animals from the tow hooks on your car. Other than that I have no idea.

Nice! I sold mine awhile back to a coworker. She intended to only drive it a year as a back up/ second car and then sell it. Still has it and doesn't want to sell, in fact she was gearing up to have some maintenance done so she can start driving it more often. I miss that thing sometimes.

325,xxx miles.

Looking to get a new car, as this one is on its way out. Clutch is old, front end still makes odd noises and sometimes surprises me with new ones.

Its just a tired car.

Its been a great car but its time for it to go. Ill set it or trade it in.

Or if someone want to do some radical cool thing with it on here ,ill entertain that too

It's awesome that you kept this going, and kept updating the thread as well.

Seven years? I can keep a car for seven months!