$3500 engine in '95 SW2, worth it?

Is it worth dropping in a new engine, or simply letting the repair shop
make it disappear? It only has 78k miles, so the body and interior are
quite intact.

Is this a car that you really have some personal attachment to? If not,
consider what you are sinking that money into. Check out your SW's value on
www.kbb.com and see what its worth. If you invest in this engine, the value
of the car remains the same in retail value, unfortunately dont expect a
return on your investment, that is, unless this is a car that you will keep
for many years, enought to see that return in your investment by driving it.

IMHO, if you love your SW as much as I loved my '94 SL2, and want to keep
your baby, for another 5-10 yrs, then its a good personal investment. I was
considering a crate engine just before she got totalled. Just dont expect to
sell it down the road to make a return on your expenses. (Unless you mod it
out like crazy and sell it on the street)

So the balls back in your court, ask yourself: "$3500 engine in'95 SW2,
worth it?"

marx404

Get a real car. Try a toyota or nissan. Saturn is garbage. I know 1st
hand, I own one. GM Sucks, now matter how low they price their cars.

You don't see Toyota offereing all these "dangle a carrot" deals. Because
they know they build good vehicles.


"marx404" > wrote in message
...
> Is this a car that you really have some personal attachment to? If not,
> consider what you are sinking that money into. Check out your SW's value
> on
> www.kbb.com and see what its worth. If you invest in this engine, the
> value
> of the car remains the same in retail value, unfortunately dont expect a
> return on your investment, that is, unless this is a car that you will
> keep
> for many years, enought to see that return in your investment by driving
> it.
>
> IMHO, if you love your SW as much as I loved my '94 SL2, and want to keep
> your baby, for another 5-10 yrs, then its a good personal investment. I
> was
> considering a crate engine just before she got totalled. Just dont expect
> to
> sell it down the road to make a return on your expenses. (Unless you mod
> it
> out like crazy and sell it on the street)
>
> So the balls back in your court, ask yourself: "$3500 engine in'95 SW2,
> worth it?"
>
> marx404
>
>

In article >, the
troll says...
> Get a real car. Try a toyota or nissan.

Yup your credibility has went out the window right there...

> > http://groups.msn.com/ToyotaOwnersUn...n/shoebox.msnw
> > http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...ta_engine.html
> > http://www.consumeraffairs.com/autom...ra_engine.html
> > http://suvs.autoblog.com/entry/1234000530039835
> > http://www.thesqueakywheel.com/compl...plaint4710.cfm
> > http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=150&did=566
> > http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2...erLemonAi.html

Dont even get me started on Nissans sh**.

Got a Toyota, had a Saturn and it's not that simple. Saturn started out
chasing the Civic market, and I think the original S models were on to
something. Spaceframe, polymer panels, torquey 4-bangers, and customer
service that was just unheard of back in the early 90's. It was a product
that should have grown like the Civic and Corolla, not stayed stagnate, and
then with the old 1-2 punch, dropped for a multi-platform answer with the
ION/COBALT (that's the GM mentality I don't like).

When I was shopping for my Toyota in 2004 I got an '05 because it was
supposed to have the better tranny (that didn't have probs with overdrive
when towing) - oh btw, this is a pickup. Also, earlier models had brake
probs.

Don't get me started on Nissan (Datsun) - the model I was looking at had
crazy build quality (one good, two bad, three good, etc) which made you
think of Detroit in the mid 70's.

When the Toyota is paid for I should be starting my mid-life crisis and will
definitely check out the SKY. I have finally warmed up to Honda's S2000,
but I'd like to have another Saturn. We'll see what out's there and how
they stack up.

I'm not brand loyal (unless you're talking about something important like
Guinness).

"K2NNJ" > wrote in message
...
> Get a real car. Try a toyota or nissan. Saturn is garbage. I know 1st
> hand, I own one. GM Sucks, now matter how low they price their cars.
>
> You don't see Toyota offereing all these "dangle a carrot" deals. Because
> they know they build good vehicles.
>
>
> "marx404" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Is this a car that you really have some personal attachment to? If not,
>> consider what you are sinking that money into. Check out your SW's value
>> on
>> www.kbb.com and see what its worth. If you invest in this engine, the
>> value
>> of the car remains the same in retail value, unfortunately dont expect a
>> return on your investment, that is, unless this is a car that you will
>> keep
>> for many years, enought to see that return in your investment by driving
>> it.
>>
>> IMHO, if you love your SW as much as I loved my '94 SL2, and want to keep
>> your baby, for another 5-10 yrs, then its a good personal investment. I
>> was
>> considering a crate engine just before she got totalled. Just dont expect
>> to
>> sell it down the road to make a return on your expenses. (Unless you mod
>> it
>> out like crazy and sell it on the street)
>>
>> So the balls back in your court, ask yourself: "$3500 engine in'95 SW2,
>> worth it?"
>>
>> marx404
>>
>>
>
>

In my case it is pure economics. I can effectively buy back my own car
for $3500 in repairs, or plunk down $whatever for a Toyota. That new
little blob that Toyota is planning on introducing this spring would
sure be a nice city car, which is all I need. I have not ruled out
buying some old wreck. Repairing my own car has some marginal value
compared to replacing it, because I would know that it was never
flooded or totalled or smoked in. My mechanic has warned me tha the new
engine will be the same GM design.

Total cost of ownership. $whatever gets me a car that lasts for however
many years. Dollars per year. I am quite objective about this.

Please understand that I am trying to avoid trolling or feeding the
trolls, even though I have to admit that I am quite annoyed by this
situation. There are others who must have faced the same dilemma.

If you dont want to do it, I will do it. Where is the car located? I would
buy it if you dont want it. I am in Ohio.

elephant, nope you aint trolling, I been in the same situation with our '93
SL1. When our tranny needed replacement at 150K miles, my wife decided to
replace it rather than spend on a new car why? because this is a car she
wants to "run into the ground" and that she absolutely loves. If this is
your case, why not?

Another resolve would be to look in the paper for a $4-5K car and see what
you find, not every used car is a POS, although it may be tough to find one
as nice as yours. If the interior is mint on your SW I would replace the
engine if youre keeping the car.

As far as the upcoming Toyota Yaris, I thought you bought a Saturn for
safety? Think about it, I walked out of a totalled '94 SL2, think youll do
that in Toyotas equivalent to a Yugo? Youre better off keeping the SW2 and
far safer IMHO.

marx404

In article .com>,
says...
> In my case it is pure economics. I can effectively buy back my own car
> for $3500 in repairs, or plunk down $whatever for a Toyota. That new
> little blob that Toyota is planning on introducing this spring would
> sure be a nice city car, which is all I need. I have not ruled out
> buying some old wreck. Repairing my own car has some marginal value
> compared to replacing it, because I would know that it was never
> flooded or totalled or smoked in. My mechanic has warned me tha the new
> engine will be the same GM design.
>
> Total cost of ownership. $whatever gets me a car that lasts for however
> many years. Dollars per year. I am quite objective about this.
>
> Please understand that I am trying to avoid trolling or feeding the
> trolls, even though I have to admit that I am quite annoyed by this
> situation. There are others who must have faced the same dilemma.

$3500 seems pretty steep to me. I've passed over brand new 3800 crate
motors on ebay for 400-500 and kicked myself for it. To bad you cant fit
an Ecotec to it. Its hard to find decent station wagons anymore and the
s-series made for the best little wagon around. However I think you can
find one just like it, late 90's or better, at an auction for less than
what it would take to repair yours. (I'm talking 1000-2500 bucks) The
Twincams are decent little engines, what happened to yours? And please,
just say no to "little blobs".

>From what I understand, it is a typical Twincam -- oil burning since
50k miles, and it ran down below the dipstick a couple times. Timing
chain (touted as a reliability feature, remember?) skipped a tooth. Car
now fails compression test.

Ah, decisions, decisions. I am not delighted with the idea of buying a
used car, as I am just not a good enough mechanic to judge if the car
has been flood damaged, totalled, etc.