[SIN R G]

Originally Posted by fielderLS3

191K on a 2003? You must have a long commute.

Just curious, what kinds of things were going wrong with the Grand Am? I've got an Alero with 142K. Figure I could get a list of things I need to watch out for.

The wife and I both work at the same place and most of the time we can ride to work together. If we go to work and straight home we put on 78 miles a day. To see the grandkids that is another 100 mile round trip so it is easy to put on over 500 miles a week.

In the past year we had to have the air conditioning fixed, and also some box that is behind the ignition switch went out. I forget exactly, but that box was like 650 to fix. About 2 months ago the wife got stranded on a back road when the fuel pump went out, that was something like 650 to fix. With 191,000 miles it needed new shocks and struts, it was throwing a code which was for the catalytic converter and before winter we needed a new set of tires. This was going to be about 3000 in repairs which we figured would be over 10 months payments on a new car. And if anything else went wrong in those 10 months it would be more. We really did like the Grand Am, but after 9 years it was time to replace it. We have had the Cruze now for a week, and had to fill the tank for the first time last night. So far we got 33.5 mpg and as it breaks in it should get a little better. Getting the great mpg with the Cruze means I can put my foot in Camaro even a little more than I do now(sly evil grin).

So now I have a Cruze that is getting 33.5 mpg for a DD. I have a VW R32 that gets 26.5, is all wheel drive which is fantastic on our Wisconsin winter roads, and is pretty quick. I think the R32 would beat a V6 Camaro off the line and hold the lead for about half a ¼ mile, but the V6 Camaro would power past me at the end. And of course my 2SS Camaro which I drive when I want to have fun, look great and I don’t care what my mpg is because it is a total blast to drive. It don’t get any better than this.