Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Our new old car.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Our new old car.

    Nothing like not planning on buying a car on short notice. Our old Subie with 141,000 was running fine but as my wife started her weekly trip to PA from NJ, she had just got a few miles from home when she heard a ticking noise. When she described it to me it sounded like a pebble in the tire. She called me several times on her trip to say it was getting worse. I had no clue what it could be. Once she got to our house in PA she took it to a local shop about two miles from home. They told her to take straight home and not drive it! Yesterday was off looking at cars with absolutely no idea on what we wanted or wanted to spend...just that we better come home at the end of the day with a car! We knew a wagon of some sort was a must. We ended up with this 04 Isuzu Ascender, rebadge Trail Blazer, 4.2 I6, 7 passenger. It has 96,000 miles and runs real well. No regrets. $7500, saw a lot of junk for not too much less.

    The noise in the Subie is a blown ring gear. We've just pumped so much money into the car in the last year, that was the last straw.



    Last edited by Huskinhano; February 3, 2013, 10:43 AM.
    Tom
    Overdrive is overrated



  • #2
    nice choice..
    run from the sube run!

    am I reading 4.2L inline six? did not know that about the isuzu.
    Previously boxer3main
    the death rate and fairy tales cannot kill the nature left behind.

    Comment


    • #3
      Boxer, same 4.2 I6 that is in the Chevy Trailblazer.

      Good buy. My in-laws have one of those (Chevy version) and it runs like a top with like 200k on it.
      That which you manifest is before you.

      Comment


      • #4
        My friend had an Envoy like that,does it have load leveling suspension? Hes had problems with his, it seems common for them,the rear doors get rusty too so make sure they stay clean (road salt). Gauges went wacky on his too. But its got a lot of miles and runs well.

        Comment


        • #5
          I'm not sure I understand the thinking behind the purchase of the new car. Was it because the old one needed an axle? If the Mitsu was running fine, it wasn't going to cost $7500 to fix it. Doesn't add up, financially, to me.

          If the wife was just ready for a new car, I totally understand.
          BS'er formally known as Rebeldryver

          Resident Instigator

          sigpic

          Comment


          • #6
            Not sure if it has the load leveling suspension. I do know after doing a little on line search I have the 3.73 gears, good to tow 5800 pounds. Brian, that's good to know. So far I'm very happy with it. Just a few used car things to fix. That I6 runs real nice!
            Tom
            Overdrive is overrated


            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Scott Liggett View Post
              I'm not sure I understand the thinking behind the purchase of the new car. Was it because the old one needed an axle? If the Mitsu was running fine, it wasn't going to cost $7500 to fix it. Doesn't add up, financially, to me.

              If the wife was just ready for a new car, I totally understand.
              With the Subaru, it's become unreliable over the last year or so. We've had a few big expenses with it. The repair before the last repair was going to be it but we fixed it again, which was the transaxle. This time it's not drivable at all, the ring gear took a dump. Don't ask me how teeth can come off a ring gear with an underpowered engine hooked to an automatic trans. Anyway it left us stranded and down one car and we need two cars running most of the time. It was really bad timing this time.

              Anyway, at some point we were going to need some sort of a truck out in the sticks with true 4 wheel drive. Not that I really wanted to spend the money and I have to agree with you fixing the Subie would have been cheaper even with rening a car for a while but we both have had it with that one. I have another dead Subie in the driveway, a '99 Forester that my wife got from her brother. She likes that one much better and over all has been a much more reliable car. It just needs a new cam belt idler pulley. I'm going to fix that one up, put a new cam belt and water pump and have a back up car. For my old Subie... I'm not in any great rush to fix it. I think once the warm weather comes, I don't want it darkening my garage, I'll get a used transaxle and install it and sell it, not going to get too much for scrap value.

              We were both on the same page and ready for something else, this was a good excuse to do so and GM builds a nice SUV.
              Last edited by Huskinhano; February 5, 2013, 01:57 PM.
              Tom
              Overdrive is overrated


              Comment


              • #8
                I can relate.....it really gets old putting good money after bad into a vehicle that is becoming less and less reliable over time. I have done it twice now. Once with my Suburban that I installed a new engine in and the transmission proptly too a dump. A new trans for that truck was 3K and it booked at 3K. I traded it in for my Ram that I drove for 12 years, after 11 years it started to nickle and dime me and once I rebuilt the top end of the engine the trans went to shit in it, another 3.5K purchase..no thank you. Its A/C was AFU, the radio worked when it wanted to, it was eating wheel bearings at an alarming rate and the axel seals were shot..... Thats when i traded it for the Mustang. It jsut got to be too much
                If you can leave two black stripes from the exit of one corner to the braking zone of the next, you have enough horsepower. - Mark Donohue

                Comment


                • #9
                  Wife has an 03 Trailblazer with around 78K on it
                  Only problems on it were water pump, and now an alternator.
                  I farmed out the water pump. A real pain to R&R.
                  Thing loves brakes too.
                  Gas mileage sucks at around 15.
                  If you eliminate the resonator from the exhaust (at the rear) you'll pick up a few ponies with no real noise increase. They tend to plug up after a while.

                  Overall we'd buy another though if they were still made.
                  sigpicJohn Castelli
                  www.gonecruisincarclub.com

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X