Car woes

[gategrrl]

Things that need repairing on my 2001 Honda Civic:

Transmission/cat converter (this model year has a particular design problem with it; dealership is charging me "only" 25% of the retail price)
Cracked Exhaust Manifold (ALSO a design flaw with this and other sister model years)
Engine Mount--front one is broken. Yay.
Front Struts leaking.
Front suspension "rubber" bushing is broken on both sides.
Broken stabilizer links, also in the front.

Total quoted? Not including the Transmission, $2,944.00

What am I going to pay in the meantime for a minor tune-up, and the transmission? $1200 plus or minus. Can't wait to hear the final total on THAT.  I won't be getting MY car back until perhaps Thursday, and in the meantime I'm driving a loaner car from the dealership. I am so farked.

Thank you, Honda, for producing a car that was wonderful--up until NOW.  It has only 87,000 miles on it. And all this crap is happening?

Comments

[betacandy.livejournal.com]

Gyah! That just blows. Have you asked people you trust for a recommended mechanic (I'm assuming the car isn't under warranty)? Sometimes a good mechanic can do the work much cheaper, and it'll be just as good quality. Some of them know how to go to a junkyard and get a part from a newish car that got totaled for next to nothing and pass on the savings to you, for example.

...of course, that was in TN, where people did not always charge the absolute maximum they conceivably could, just because they could. But it might be worth looking into.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I suppose I could, but they have the car for the transmission and the tune-up. I don't know any good local mechanics (that I trust, anyway) and the prices always seem to come up about the same as the dealership.

At least with the dealership, they DID replace (for free) the driver seat belt when I complained that it wasn't working...and I just found out that the seat belt had been recalled a few years ago. There are a few other things that I'm going to ask about, re recalls. There were 21 with this model! Most of them had to do with outside directional lighting, it seems, but *still*!

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh, and it's no longer warranty, I think, but I'm going to check. Some systems stay under warranty, or recall, and others don't.

I think my next car may be a Toyota.

[khek.livejournal.com]

Uh-oh...have you read anywhere that 2002 Honda Civics have similar problems..?

Good luck getting things done. Maybe it will cost less than quoted? If you were in Vermont, I could tell you a good mechanic, but... (You'll notice that I didn't say MA, where I live. I bring my car to my parent's mechanic, 130 miles away because I trust him.)

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Not exactly, but you might want to look up recalls for your model.

[jennywren102.livejournal.com]

Erm... We have a 1997 Saturn Wagon with nearly 200,000 miles on her and she still runs like a charm. But of course, that was way back when Saturn was staill "A Different Kind Of Company, A Different Kind Of Car." Not so sure I'd trust them nowadays. I'm just sayin'.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

That I should have bought American? We had a Ford Escort wagon that was a decent car up until I rear-ended a huge truck with a trailer-tow sticking a mile-long out behind it (I didn't see the tow knob).

I would have bought a Toyota-I've owned one before-but it still stands that even after taking this car model into account, the Japanese cars still have had a better record overall (with me) over American built cars. Besides, Saturn, which I was inclined toward, didn't have a car in the size range I wanted that had nearly as good marks. I think when I bought this car, the reports on the bad transmission and manifold design hadn't come out yet.

Buy American?

[jennywren102.livejournal.com]

Heck, no! I'm not advocating that anyone buy American just for the sake of patriotism. Generally speaking, foreign cars are a better value overall anyway.

I'm just sayin' that back when having a Saturn actually meant something we got a very good car. My Mother bought the same car for the next model year and loves it. But a sister and SIL both got lemons when they bought Saturns several years after ours, which would have been about when you bought your Honda.

GM let the company go into the tank because they didn't think it was profitable enough. That's greed for ya. But now that they're restructuring, Saturn made it's own move to find a buyer which would restore the brand to its original quality. There's hope for Saturn yet!

And if we need a new car before they can put together a quality vehicle, I'll lean strongly toward a Subaru Outback/Forester.