05-12-2018, 12:42 AM
ADent wrote:
Chrysler has done old, discontinued cars. How much does an Avenger or Dart run?
OK that is too far.
Maybe not. If you can pick up a decent Avenger or Dart at an ultra low price then you can afford to treat it like you would a Bic lighter: Use it until it stops working completely and then just throw it away.
I rented and very much liked the second-generation Dodge Neons and to a lesser extent the second-generation Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Cirrus (the Neon fits me fine but I can't sit up straight in a Cirrus/Stratus unless it has a power driver's seat that I can lower; If you're 5'11 or under you should be fine) and all those seem to hold up considerably better than the average Chrysler product with regular maintenance, the Cirrus/Stratus in particular.
ADent wrote:
So that leaves GM - how about an early Cruise or Buick Verano? Cobalt was the Cruise predecessor.
I have no experience of Cruise or Verano, but I did rent a Cobalt and absolutely hated it. Here's why:
(A rental company other than the one I normally use ran a special that was too good to pass up, so I had a Cobalt in between two Neons and thus was able to compare directly)
1. When I pressed the gas pedal on the Cobalt, it got louder but was not inclined to actually go much faster, resulting in me nearly getting my a$$ run over more than once when merging on to the freeway. Not so the Neons, which had reasonable power to spare at any normal, legal speed.
2. Poorly-implemented "Active Noise Suppression"- Basically, "white noise" is fed through the radio speakers to drown out the noise from the engine, which did work. However, ANS is only active while the engine is running. The Cobalt is one of those cars where everything but the engine (radio, power window switches, etc.) remains energized when the ignition switch is turned off until the door is opened. The irritating net effect of this was that the radio would suddenly get REALLY, REALLY LOUD every time you turned off the ignition switch without having first opened the door.
Between it's sheer gutlessness with regard to acceleration and the radio suddenly and unexpectedly blaring every time I turned off the ignition switch, I cussed that Cobalt more in the five days I had it than I've cussed all the $500-or-less automotive "glue factory rejects" I've owned combined. Do not subject yourself to the needless torture that is a Chevrolet Cobalt.