New Car- no more Echo

[tmontague]

385,000km later I've finally decided to retire the '02 Echo. It was still running fine and other than oil consumption had no real issues. It was a pain in the ass to work on due to the rust build up but that was about it. The oil consumption was about 3-5 quarts every 8,000km. I got $200 cash for it when they towed it away. I took out the alternator and VVT-i solenoid (both less than 1 year old) and coil packs since they'll work in my Yaris if need be.

I just changed the oil filter every 8k km and stopped changing the oil since I was always topping it up. The main reason we ended up getting a new car was due to the fact that the a/c wasn't working, it didn't fit a stroller well (have a baby due in January) and it was very rusted.

The "new" car...

'05 Pontiac Vibe awd. Picked it up 30 mins north of Kitchener for $2300 as is but came with a recent e test but sold "as is". A/c blows cold and it has moderate rust under the car and little to none on the body.

The seller was great and had no issues with me scanning the ecu and putting it up on ramps to inspect. Rear differ had a leaking axle seal, timing chain tensioner was leaking, brakes needed to be done and drive belt was old.

It failed safety as expected so I fixed everything and it passed yesterday. In the end with licensing and taxes as well as parts the car cost about $3300.

It now has new control arms (old ones were fine but shop said bushing was cracked which was bs), ball joints, brakes (pads, shoes, rotors, drums), drive belt, tensioner o-ring, rear axle seal, rear end links, brake boots, all fluids/filters. The car is only about 1 foot longer than my Yaris but holds way more stuff. The awd version has 1-1 1/2" more suspension height than the standard Vibe so the clearance is great.

Lookin forward to driving it this winter, just bought some used Pirelli 15" winter tires for it. I'll post a separate thread regarding the failed safety and the isues I experienced since the laws changed June 1st of this year.