The Death of my Kia

catkiki

catkiki

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At least we think it is dead.

Wednesday, after work, I went out to my car as usual. Started the car and was talking to DH before I pulled out to go home. My car started making a funny noise and then died. I popped the hood and pulled out a mangled belt. One of the other belts is starting to shred. These are the belts that were replaced a couple of months ago.

Well, after waiting over an hour for the tow truck (and is was COLD!!!!!) I got it home. The next day, the mechanic friend that worked on it a couple of months ago took a look at it, and the news was not good. He thinks something broke in the engine and it would take more $$ to fix than the car is worth. One of our other mechanic friends is going to pull the spark plugs on Monday to see if that is the reason. If not, then for all purposes, the car is dead. We will have to junk it.

We really can't afford to get another car, but DH's Mom is going to lend us some money. We won't be able to get a new car like I want but maybe one that will get me to work and back. I really want a Nissan Versa but I need about $15,000 for that. Mom will probably lend us about $500 or so.

If I could get some vibes and prayers that we can find a nice, inexpensive, RELIABLE car, I would much appreciate it!
 
jtbo

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Hopefully you can find something nice :vibes:

I'm thinking about bit of gettting Geo Metro, it is called differently in here, but I have heard they are really cheap to run, but at the moment can't really afford even to keep a car, driving is pretty much out of the question at the moment, so might take quite bit of time to get such.
 
mrblanche

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JTbo said:
Hopefully you can find something nice

I'm thinking about bit of gettting Geo Metro, it is called differently in here, but I have heard they are really cheap to run, but at the moment can't really afford even to keep a car, driving is pretty much out of the question at the moment, so might take quite bit of time to get such.
Click to expand...
The Geo Metro in the U.S. was actually a Suzuki (I think the model is the "Cultis").  Three cylinders.  Not meant for US freeways!
 
 
jtbo

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mrblanche said:
The Geo Metro in the U.S. was actually a Suzuki (I think the model is the "Cultis").  Three cylinders.  Not meant for US freeways!
 
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Here it was called Suzuki Swift. Yeah, not too good for fast roads, but here we don't have fast roads, not much at least. Some are getting 70MPG with such though, with our gas prices it counts a lot, 1.6 - 1.7€/l.

Around 50Mph is most that I can drive around here, I think that you are driving 70-80 on freeways with low traffic?
 
calico2222

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Many 
coming your way for finding a good, reliable and CHEAP car!
 
mrblanche said:
The Geo Metro in the U.S. was actually a Suzuki (I think the model is the "Cultis").  Three cylinders.  Not meant for US freeways!
 
Click to expand...
Also not meant for areas with hills or mountains. One of my best friends got one years ago when they first came out and regretted it after the first week. It made it up the mountains (and we have a lot here) but just barely. He traded it in less than a year.
 
margecat

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I remember those! And I heard nothing but bad things about the Metro. I'm surprised they still manufacture them (?)

I'm also sending vibes for an afforable new car!  My Neon is 13 years old, so I know I'll be in the same boat soon, too...and so will DH, who's car is 12 years old!
calico2222 said:
Many 
coming your way for finding a good, reliable and CHEAP car!
 

Also not meant for areas with hills or mountains. One of my best friends got one years ago when they first came out and regretted it after the first week. It made it up the mountains (and we have a lot here) but just barely. He traded it in less than a year.
Click to expand...
 
angels mommy

angels mommy

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Said a prayer, & sending good vibes 
   that you will find a reliable car to last. "Good luck on your search." At least you have a mechanic friend that can check it out when you find one!  
 
capt_jordi

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MargeCat said:
I remember those! And I heard nothing but bad things about the Metro. I'm surprised they still manufacture them (?)

I'm also sending vibes for an afforable new car!  My Neon is 13 years old, so I know I'll be in the same boat soon, too...and so will DH, who's car is 12 years old!
Click to expand...
I think the big thing about them is the way the US is laid out vs European countries. They are good for big cities where you drive less than 10 miles a day in mostly stop and go style traffic. But most people in the US that live in those cities do not have cars and use public transport instead. And the ones that need cars average a much higher commute usually with lots of interstate speed driving or difficult terrain.

Do you know what happened to your kia? Gary has a 99 Kia Sephia with 270K on it. It was a repo when he bought it and it went from being daily driver to show car to race car. It has never had any major problems until it started sitting in the yard not getting driven.

I know with my car it randomly decided to jump time which resulted in having to pull the entire engine out due to it being a timing chain instead of belt. That was not fun. It wasnt a huge amount to fix it, I think our end cost was $800 but that was because we went ahead and changed a good amount of stuff since it was already out. But my dad also did all the work so that helped a lot! You may want to find out if your local high school or college has a mechanics program where they would let the students work on it and charge a heck of a lot less! May be an idea!

Best of luck searching for something reliable and in your price range!
 
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