#advice

Elorac writes:

Sajeev,

Not sure if this is an appropriate Piston Slap question, but here goes. I’m the owner of a 2009 Infiniti G37S coupe, manual trans, approx 30,000 miles. I’m very happy with the car (aside from a touchy clutch that gets tiresome in slow traffic), but ever since I bought it I’ve felt that I won’t really have gotten my money’s worth until I do some real hooning. I recently received a track day package as a gift, consisting of five half-hour sessions, the first with some manner of instructor. I’ll be attending next week, with just about equal parts excitement and trepidation.

Having never done anything of the sort before, and with little experience with truly “enthusiastic” driving, I’d like to ask you (and the B&B) for any advice you might have, in all aspects of the experience but with a particular emphasis on potential damage to my car’s powertrain innards. As laughable as it may seem, given the context, I do actually care about the long term health of this car, and I’d like to avoid doing anything too grievous to it. A fool’s errand?

Louis writes:

Sajeev,

I recently got involved with helping a female friend who is going through a divorce get a car (in Phoenix, AZ), and it seemed to me that the basic economics of used cars have shifted (“Cash for Clunkers”?) Old used cars with high miles and no warranties appeared to be so expensive that a new car would yield a lower cost per mile driven (as well as a much lower level of risk for a single woman with no mechanical skills). I ended up lending her the money to buy a new 2010 Hyundai Elantra SE.

Still, I’m wondering if it is still possible to achieve a significantly lower cost per mile with a used car than you can get by buying a new one and driving it into the ground. Or, is there now a “poverty penalty”, where people without the cash or credit to buy a new car end up paying more per mile driven?

Hi Sajeev and Steve,

I think this question is right up Sajeev’s alley: my wife and I want to buy a new car (no more used-vehicle shenanigans for us). We like RWD cars; the bigger, the better. Panthers are a bit primitive (and extinct anyway), and the usual German suspects are much too expensive: we’d be happy to spend $30k, and could stretch to about $34k. We’d be much happier with our choices if this was 1969 instead of 2011.

Mark writes

Hi,

We will be buying a new car soon and that will leave us with an extra one. My experience selling a car myself makes me think we don’t really have the motivation to do it ourselves this time around.

The car is located in CT and is a White 2007 Hyundai Sonata SE with ~73k miles on it. The only option is the Sunroof. For whatever reason the side mirrors seem to attract having the outer housing broken, they sre still functional but the housing rattles.. I’ve replaced one, unpainted grey , and will be replacing the other shortly. There are no other issues with the car as I can tell. The emissions test is due next month, so I’ll have to have that done.

Any tips?

TTAC’s twitter friend, Ethan, writes:

Hi Sajeev,

You probably remember my original query but this indecision is compounded by my second problem: I love the aforementioned Volvo, but with 185K ticking past on the odometer, the steering rack and other things are letting go.

Ethan writes:

Steve and Sajeev,

I’m a young gentleman in college, and I currently own a 1995 Volvo 850 wagon, a 2005 Dodge Ram and a 2005 Cadillac SRX with the Northstar (I received a good deal.) I adore the Caddy, but I recently have been lucky enough to come across a bit of money. With that money I am looking to try to find a car to take the Caddy’s place as my daily driver when I’m home. I have my heart set on a new Maserati Quattroporte, now that it has had a true automatic for a few years. Even though the Maser has a extremely frustrating dashboard button layout, it is the best driving large sedan I have ever been graced with the opportunity to drive. But I have looked at the much uglier, faster, and more expensive Panamera too, and that’s where my dilemma begins… I want to know, should I buy one of these two cars, or is there a better option out there? By the way, I don’t want another SUV, and I’m 6’5” and over 300 lbs. so no smallish sedan will ever accommodate my body (I can’t drive the Aston Martin Rapide, sadly because the seat is too narrow, and my driving loafers tend to cover more than one pedal each.)

W.B. writes:

Sajeev,

My ’05 Ranger 4wd w/5spd manual (35K on the odometer) does something strange indeed when I get ready to drive after it’s been parked for several hours. With the parking brake off, I shift to first and lightly engage the clutch. The truck strains against some kind of resistance, as if there were something obstructing the tires or as if I were starting on an incline. Neither of these are ever the case. With a little more gas and a little more clutch engaged, the truck “breaks free” with a loud “clunk,” and then drives normally afterward.

Timothy writes:

I’m a recent convert from a jalopy-related website to TTAC, and couldn’t be happier. So my first time question for everyone…

I’ve got a 2001 Ford Focus ZX3, five speed with 2.0 DOHC engine. It’s got a little over 130k on it, I’ve owned it since new and paid it off many years ago. It’s starting to show it’s age (a rough idle we can’t seem to pin down, the rear bearings are making a lot of noise even though we just replaced them, and a lot of squeaks and rattles that annoy from time to time). I do love this car, and when I’m on the open highway or zipping around an on-ramp, I’m reminded why I love it. My wife also loves it, and it’s been a part of my life for ten years. Yes, I’m a sentimental fool.

Ronald writes:

Hi Sajeev,

Just about 2 years ago, the steering rack failed on my 1996 Lexus SC400 at 132,000 miles. Reconditioned rack #1 went bad in 3 weeks, and replaced with another. Reconditioned rack #2 also failed in about 2 months, and was replaced with a brand new rack.

Every time I got the car back, the steering feel was horrible even though they claimed they did an alignment (which they ended up doing every time I returned with the car). The last straw came when I was driving up a freeway entry ramp that had the pavement scraped in vertical lines, and the steering felt like a snake undulating left and right. Pissed, I finally took it to a Lexus shop where they performed an alignment and the car seemed to handle better. While satisfactory, it still was not the same as before the rack went bad. However, 2 weeks later the steering wheel was cocked to the left and the car was out of alignment. It went in yet again for an alignment at an independent shop and everything seemed fine – it was done better than by Lexus. Now two weeks after the latest alignment the steering wheel is cocked to the right and I’m beginning to feel the snake undulations again. What is throwing the car out of alignment? I live in Tampa, and the roads where I travel are in good condition, no potholes, I’m not running into curbs, and my wife doesn’t drive the car.

Ryan writes (again):

Ryan from Chicago again. My fiancé is currently driving a 2006 Civic Sedan that she loves. It was bought by her parents in cash 5 years ago. It has 55K hard miles on it. As a car that gets driven around the city a lot, it is starting to show some wear and tear, but obviously has a lot of life left.

Her father is someone who lies to replace cars every 3-5 years, so in his mind the Civic is due for an upgrade. I don’t see the need for the change, but this will be like a free new car for a wedding present.

Now the question: Is there a better car out there for my fiancé than a new Civic. Here is what she loves about the car; it is small, it has 4 doors, it has cloth seats, it has a small steering wheel. That’s it. Knowing her father, he will only buy new and the budget is between $15K and $22.5K

With the wedding a few months away, any and all input is much appreciated.

Ryan writes:

Sajeev and Steve,

I’ve got a 2006 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that I’ve had since new as my only car. It was my first new car and I got it right out of college. It is configured exactly as I planned and I still love it today just as much as when I bought it, and best of all, it’s paid off. I live in Denver and take the Jeep up on mountain trails and explore the Utah desert from time to time. Still, with 80,000 miles on the clock, the 4×4 is aging a bit. My plan is to retire the Jeep from its daily burdens and add a more sensible daily driver.

James writes:

My wife and I are considering replacing one of our cars. I drive a 2007 Honda Fit Sport (125k miles) and she drives a 2002 Subaru Forester (135k). We both have long commutes and I drive 30k per year and she drives over 20k per year.

Her Subaru is well cared for but aging. While is overall has been a pretty good vehicle, we’ve had to make the following, fairly typical, repairs over the last few months:

• New ball joint

• New CV joint.

• Timing Belt/Water pump/Thermostat/Camshaft and crankshaft seals.

• New tires/battery

Recently the CEL has come and gone, reporting that the catalytic converter is not operating optimally. This has been replaced once already in 2007. Thankfully, we’ve had no transmission or head gasket issues thus far with her Subaru.

Raghav writes:

While searching Internet I saw your replies on Toyota Corolla. I too have few problems with Toyota Corolla 2007 model purchased in India, it has 37,000 Km on the odometer. The vehicle is serviced regularly every 10,000 km. The problems are:

1. Engine growling noise steadily increases with the RPM beyond 3,000 and this happens on all gears. What could be the reason?

2. One of the rear shock absorber was leaking and the dealer replaced just the faulty one (under warranty, car had done 27,000 km) and after that I feel the ride quality is poor. Do you think changing only one shock can cause this?

I have taken it to the dealer but their response is vague like (a) sound insulation from engine area must have become weak (b) change tires because side walls have a crack.

TTAC’s resident gasket engineer, gimmeamanual, shares some thoughts on a previous Piston Slap. For starters, let’s go back to the original problem. In his own words:

In the last post, the OP says that they have tracked the leak to the interface between the block and the oil pan. He also mentions a “spacer” as well as RTV. The Duratec 3.0L (D30) engine variants have used two different gasket designs for the oil pan, but I can’t remember which for which years; one design uses metal-backed gasket referred to as an “edge-bonded” gasket (no groove on either the pan or girdle), and one design uses a “press-in-place” design (groove in the oil pan).

Fidgeting between multiple designs for something as “not customer facing” as an oil pan gasket isn’t a very smart move. Then again, perhaps one design is more cost effective, and not likely to draw attention to itself until well past the warranty period? Think about that, next time we talk Corporate beancounting. But wait, there’s more:

The D30 is a split-block design where the oil pan is attached to the girdle, which is in turn attached to the block; the oil pan also bolts into the bottom of the front cover. The block-girdle interface is indeed sealed with RTV, but the girdle-pan interface is sealed with a gasket. Sounds like the metal spacer he is referring to is the metal backbone of the edge-bonded design, but hard to tell without pictures. For the RTV, it’s unclear where this RTV is, but there is RTV at the block/girdle/pan-front cover interface at what is called a T-joint, so named because the vertical “seam” of the front cover-girdle/pan runs into the horizontal “seam” of the pan-girdle-front cover.

Clear as mud? Here’s the punchline:

Ed writes:

Sajeev and Steve – I have 3 kids ages 8, 5 and 2 and have two cars – a 2009 RAV4 4WD 4cyl with 20k on it as the daily driver and a 1995 525 as the fun-to-drive car (well, more fun than the RAV4, at least) which is just about to turn 200k and I just sense that something very expensive is about to happen so I want to trade up and get something used, but recent, in the $15k – $20k range.

What do you recommend in a sedan that is a good drive, is reasonably economical and won’t cost a fortune to maintain? The catch is that it needs to hold 3 kids in the back!