vonVeezelsnider

Here's some new ones: http://jalopnik.com/cars/spy-photos/2010-p...ight-281932.php

No Kidding... We were having tranny troubles and got rid of it in 1999, regretted it for the whole 6 years we had our first two Ventures. It was a really sharp looking Jade Gray gas sipper, and would look sharp forever and ever because the body wouldn't rust- courtesy of GM's ingenuity to make the body panels out carbon fibre and composite materials (something they learned from Saturn). It looked just like this picture from CarDomain of someone else's ride:

No... US Gallons. I'm not yanking your chain. The vehicle was alot lighter because of the carbon fiber body panels and had a low drag co-efficient. It was also driven closer moderately conservatively. Also... On our Malibu Maxx 3.5L we just averaged 23.6 US MPG city, just shy of the EPA estimate. CR must drive the soul out of those cars because we've never even dipped below 21.9 City since we bought it.

I'm using the Oldsmobile Skin...

Not on your life. :AH-HA_wink:

True... our experience with the EPA Estimates has been mixed... the new stats for our 2006 Malibu Maxx was 20MPG City- We're averaging 24MPG City. The Cavalier was supposed to get 24 city, we're lucky if we get 22 or 21. The Ventures were supposed to get ~19MPG City, we're getting ~16MPG City. Our Trans Sport 3.8 was supposed to get 16 City... we got 26 City and 42 Highway.

That's a nice car... good thing they were nice enough to give you an intermediate... and good luck getting as much as you can in the settlement or whatever you can do to fix it!

I kind of thought brown had a mini-comeback with GM already in the early 2000s with Bronzemist... Saw alot of that colour for a while!

Imagine all the elderly 98 drivers getting into accidents because they took their eyes off the road to find a button .

101600 Miles or 1600 Miles??

Ditto.

Yeah... Make it 5.0L. I too really want to see NASCAR return to its roots.

Obviously Someone Listened to JD Power It's right up there with the "Cadillac of Minivans" Comment IMO

I'm with Fly... get that thing the hell out of there and parted out for some extra coin if you can. When granddad's Windstar was hit, the insurance company just told 'em that the Calgary PD would sell it at auction if they didn't want it to part it out. He didn't want to go though the trouble of having it parted out because he was in the lawsuit over the accident already and was certain he'd get money out of that. My suspicion is that the frame might be bent so maybe it is a better idea to walk away. My aunt's V70XC was in a serious accident that wrote it off, she had it fixed like Fly did his Aurora, but driving in it before and after, the thing was uneven, miscalibrated, and just not the same.

With an intake manifold gasket 37 times weaker .

He's 19, no kids. The LeSabre was his first car and a gift from his other grandfather (now deceased). He basically wants a sedan. Good news however, he said the cylinder problems were the mechanic's fault when he did the head gasket and since he loves the car so much, he's trying to get the mechanic to fix his mess for free... It might also not be too late to catch the coolant problem.

Dodge, I don't know if this helps you with your insurance mess, but here in Alberta there was a supreme court ruling a while back that said that even if your car had been written off, you can still have it back and sell it for parts (the insurance companies were keeping the cars unlawfully)... Check to see if Massachusetts has the same allowance, and if it does, you can get some extra money off of salvage companies. (The engine and what not are all probably still good.)

Has to be relatively cheap... around 11K CDN, no more. Fusion would be too pricey, but not a bad choice. Canada hasn't had Mercury since 2000. He hates Chrysler, and has been stand-offish about Ford. I told him the previous gen. Taurus would also be okay though. He liked the looks of the Sebring, but also heard about the 2.7L Oil Sludge problem through Wikipedia and got scared.

I was in Spokane a couple of years ago when some eco-nut firebombed the Hummers at the George Gee dealership in Liberty Lake... seriously. Making a statement can only go so far.

Sorry, I'm not up on my US Geography (I knew there was a Fairfax in VA)

Walkin' After Midnight, Patsy Cline

1997 Cavalier- Ramos Azripe, Mexico (Still Running) 2005 Venture- Doraville, GA (Running, but not for much longer.) 2006 Malibu Maxx- Fairfax, VA (Still Running)

It's a shame about your car... I know it served you well. You should recognize that it had a nice life, was well taken care of, and that it might be the end of the book, sometimes it's just meant to be. My grandfather's 1996 Windstar got written off in 2004 with about 180K Kms on it- he got lucky and got about 8000 for the van (with airbag recharges, the damage was 12000) 8000 was not nearly enough so they dipped into their retirement savings to buy a leaseback 2001 Caravan Sport. The crash was not his fault and the airbag deployment left him deaf in one ear and cracked his spine... so what did he do? He took the flaky woman who caused the accident by blowing a 4-way stop (flashing red lights) situation at 95KPH in the middle of Calgary... to court. Paid for the new van and his hearing aid and his physiotherapy on his back.

I'm not his only friend... The only other 'slightly' automotively inclined friend he has is my friend James, who, is a classic example of living with a 1980s opinion of GM... ( a little knowledge can be dangerous, remember that kids). Suffice to say, he's been listening a little to much to his rantings about how Toyota, Honda, and, gasp, Mitsubishi, are god's gift to the earth, and that him and I are both suckers for driving what we drive... I don't know how his 2-Car experience with Toyota can top my family's collective 45 years of almost exclusive GM customership. He doesn't know what he's talking about 'cause he's never owned a GM. It's really setting up to be a battle of the wills... turns out I may have an unexpected ally though. His grandfather drives the same car I'm trying to sell his grandson on. He's pressuring my friend to go for the Century as well. (God bless GM Loyal Old Codgers). It doesn't help that he hadn't been taking the car to the dealer to service but rather to some guy who barely speaks English and couldn't diagnose the coolant problem until the engine siezed. (It had been leaking for a while). He needs to give them a second chance... heck, myself and my immediate family have developed such a loyalty to this company over the last few decades because of all the GOOD cars we've had (in my sig), that the only way I'd go anywhere else is if I bought a new Lucerne that would explode when I first started it, magically voiding my warranty, Bob Lutz would also have to kidnap my cat and spit on my shoes. Even then I'd probably give them atleast some consideration.

That's what I heard... My aunt had a 1998 V70XC... It just fell apart on her- she now drives a Fusion SEL.