Piston Slap: Bennie Bucks on the Winter Beater?

TTAC Commentator 28-Cars-Later writes:

Sajeev,

I’ve got a small conundrum for Piston Slap. Winter is fast approaching and for those of us in the mid-Atlantic states this is a serious affair. My winter beater has been my trusty (but not rusty) ’98 Saturn SL/auto/164K, which in the spring started showing its age and developed transmission issues after seven years (and roughly 80K) of ownership. I’ve let her sit most of the summer save starting her up and driving her around the parking lot every 7-12 days but I’ve been trying to put off the inevitable investment of Bennie bucks. This evening I was offered an ’00 Subaru Outback/auto/186K to replace it for $2500 inc four new cheap tires and inspection.

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  • Daniel J Our CX-5 has hit its automatic brakes a few times at in very unnecessary situations. My 2018 doesn't have it, but it will shake and throw a warning if it thinks you should brake. Only once was it needed. The dozen or so times it has gone off I was already on the brakes or traffic was in a pattern that just fooled it.
  • Kosmo This would become interesting with a turbo and 6MT.
  • CanadaCraig 'Afraid' is the wrong word. The question should be, "Do you trust autonomous cars to get you from point A to point B and all points in between safely?" And my answer to that question is 'NO'.
  • Daniel J For us it's just woefully underpowered. Put the 2.5T in it then I might consider it.
  • Bd2 Such practices are deeply frowned upon by Kia and Hyundai dealerships where consumers sport increasing credit scores and household incomes to boot.