Do you want something similar looking to the Colt? Or with similar features?
No its not the looks. It was a very pleasant, comforting,comfortable, visually perfect interior. Good cargo space. Great to drive-its hard to describe because I’ve never had such an experience with a car. I felt like I was driving the perfect car. The suspension seemed unusual but it just felt right not too hard not too soft. Plenty of power. Handled perfectly. I’m not talking about the standard colt or even the GL. This was GT.
These cars were the perfect alternative to honda civic HB’s.Cost was much less for used. But had a different personality. But it was like this car had it all. Except it wouldve been wise to buy a 91 when the reliability got straitened out. I only think they made this GT HB for 89 and 90 though. I dont really care about bells and whistles. Also these cars werent expensive and got great mpg’s. This car was way better than the standard colts. I cant really compare colts to civics because the test drive years and quality of test drive was too far apart. Not sure but I think these cars had more cargo space than the civics. This was not the standard colt. This was some kind of bolt of lightening out of somewhere. IMO. For the price of a used civic you could get a newer colt. Significantly newer so it was kind of a no brainer. And if you wanted you could dealer service it and that was less costly than honda dealer service probably significantly less. So it was a no brainer so to speak.
So its like now what?
Also the mechanic I had at the time was doing the maintance on my 89 colt and the cost was unbelievably low and his work was perfect. But he specialized in foreign cars. He replace all my belts including the timing belt and it was amazingly inexpensive for that.
I think my next car is going to be an escort.
could a reputable mechanic misdiagnose an oil leak? My car is still leaking. It seems as bad as it was before. If I were a mechanic I wouldnt take a chance on something that cost about 400.???
Its been about a week since the repair. At first I thought it just might be left over oil from the old leak but now its ben a week an still leaking.
Ive been reading your posts and I see that this is a really good group. Are any of you within reach of Pottstown Pa.?
I just took another look under the car mayby its not as bad as before. Its really not that bad. Been a few days parked as usual. I guess about 3 inch diameter spot and some 1 inch spots nearby. Mayby its only a 2 inch.
I might be over reacting.
colt…
Why are you doing so many posts…Why not consolidate them all into 1 post???
It would be a lot easier to read.
No. theres two 3 inch spots right next to each other drvers side center not far back and then towards the passenger side a little; 3 or 4- 1 inch spots not far back.
My mechanic diagnosed this as intake. Thers prob other things leaking. My last mechanic mentioned the oil pan and trans were leaking and he mightve mentioned something else. I dont remember everything he said. he was reluctant to do anything about this leaking-said if he did anything it might still leak. Its prob the other stuff leaking. My new mechanic prob rightfully went after the thing that could destroy my engine; to give him benifit of dought.
Ive been slow to use the edit. Sorry.
I didn’t read through everyone’s comments, but I think what I would do is drive the car as is as long as it will pass inspection and doesn’t need any expensive repairs while saving for something in better condition. You said you didn’t think it had any resale value so drive it to it quits then call a junk yard. At today’s scrap metal prices it’s probably worth $200-$300. sold as scrap.
Sounds good thanks. Actually I’d rather have a car thats not worth much. Less worry for me. I like that story of that guy who bought that dodge spirit for a 100 bucks.
I could buy a lot of cars for a hundred bucks.
My daily driver is an '88 Ford Escort I bought in '93 with 146K miles for $500. When I bought it in needed 2 tires and a good cleaning, but it cleaned up good. Now 18 years later I’m still driving it and it currently has 518+K miles on it and is getting in pretty rough shape, but gets 40+ MPG. It sounds like I have an advantage over you though, I do my own repairs and usually when I replace a part I replace it with a lifetime warranty part so next time it doesn’t cost me anything to make the repair except my time. Now on average I probably spend less than $250 a year on repairs and maintenance yet keep it safe and road worthy. I plan to drive it until either it quits or until a major repair such as engine or transmission wears out. I also have other cars that I can fall back on until I can get it fixed if something tears up.
I see your advantage. But Ive found some very good mechanics that for some reason dont charge a lot of money.And theres always the highschools? I havent tried that.
40+; must be a manual. No rust issues on an 88?
I had a tempo I liked. Supossedly it had a new trans but I didnt manage that well and stupidly sold it. It was a 91; I think. Somebody got a good deal from me on that. i shouldve kept that one I think.
40+? How are you getting that?
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Honda civics… Arent they interference meaning your sunk if that belt goes not to mention cost of ownership seems high i.e. cost of time belt replacement high which includes water pump! Which leaves either escort wagon or vw hatchbacks…Are the VW hatchbacks economical and noniterference? I mean tha I could get used for 2 or 3k?
There seems to be plenty of VW hatchbacks for cheap used?
Im just curiuos at this point. Not ready yet to buy of course. There seems to be controversy about the VW’s. ? Has that controversy been settled?
My '88 Escort is a 4 speed manual transmission and has got over 40 MPG in most mixed city/highway driving situations since I’ve owned it. It doesn’t have any rust issues except a small area on the hatchback, but it has always been in an area where there wasn’t salt on the roads 4 months out of the year. It was bought new and stayed in the Charlotte, NC area until last year when I moved to western KY.
I’m not very familiar with Honda’s, but I think many of their engines are interference engines. I can tell you all Escort engines with the exception of some of the early '80’s models 1.6L are non interference, but you still have a timing belt that needs changing. The change interval on my '88 is 60K miles, but I usually let it go to 100K since it’s a non interference engine and there will be no damage if it breaks. The change interval on the newer Escort engine is 100K miles. If you have the tools to do the job you could probably do the timing belt on an Escort with the help of a Haynes/Chilton’s manual. An Escort can usually be picked up pretty cheap too. I bought an '02 Escort SE for my son to drive about 4 years ago with about 80K miles on it for $2000 (private sale). It now has about 120K miles and I think all I’ve done to it since I bought it was put a IACV, new brakes, ball joints, tie rod ends, replace a frayed transmission shift cable, and do the water pump/timing belt change. So everything that’s been done to it were things to be expected from a car with this mileage with the exception of the shift cable and maybe the IACV.
I also don’t know much about VW’s, but I’ve heard several people recommend against the purchase of used VW’s. I did have a lady friend a few years ago that had one of the new VW Bugs she bought used and I do know she had several problems with it and ended up trading it off shortly after getting it.
Thanks Fordman. I have to say though the escort seems at this time the way to go-again with the water pump!? Is the escort part Honda? When it was past time to get my timing belt changed on my 89 Dodge colt my very well known and highly respected mechanic did all my belts plus the timing belt for about 125 bucks- no mention of a water pump.
The only prob with me buying an escort is theres no hatchbacks and very few wagons but I may have to live with that. Or get a ford focus. But in my price comfort it that would be an early focus and may be troublesome. Seems its gotten really tough for used cars. Mayby thats why Im on here.
Actuall I dont know why Im on here. But it sure is fun.
Honda Civics have timing belts and interference engines up to about 2005. Somewhere around '05 they switched to a timing chain. I have an '03 Honda Civic with a manual trans. Totally awesome bulletproof car. Yes I put a new timing belt in it but that was expected maintenance. Otherwise no problems with the car purchased new in '03 and now has 115K miles on it. Plan to keep it forever!