$300 Car

[Reddish Neck 10+ year member]

So I have a chance to buy a 1997 Saturn Sl2 for $300. The only issue is the guy claims it needs a new clutch because it drives but the ****** makes a clicking noise. If it isnt the clutch it would be the ****** and that runs at about $300 for a used one. My car right now is a 2002 Ford Focus ZTW with 250,000 miles and I want a car that I can put money into and tune up. Btw the Saturn 112,000 miles, but do you think this car is worth it or should I stick with the ford focus. The ford focus is warn but still runs strong and burns no oil whatsoever.

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[IonRL205 10+ year member]

You're trying to tune up a $300 saturn? I would just DD the saturn, not tune it up. Get something that's actually worth modding. What all are you trying to do, like performance, looks...etc?

Wouldn't mod the focus either.

 

[LazyRider 10+ year member]

Not a fan of Saturns

 

[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

those saturn clutches are a PITA //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Id get the Saturn. I had a Saturn SL2 I drove into the ground. It was my first car. I bought it for $900 in mint condition with 97K on it. It died at 217K after I did no maintenance on it. I was 16 and didnt care. I drove it for 30K with a bad head gasket, no reverse, and a few other quirks and it still lasted until 217K. Got $500 from a junk yard for it so not bad.

 

[Reddish Neck 10+ year member]

Well it sold before I could even visit the seller and see it. But the mods I wanted to do is install a new head unit, wire up and amp and subs, and some performance stuff. I wouldnt mind subs in the car I have now but it has so many miles on it and I dont know how much longer it will last so I dont see it worth wiring the car and then removing everything when it finally goes.

 

[plugitin 5,000+ posts]

its worth more than 300 in scrap foo

 

[IonRL205 10+ year member]

Sound wise it doesn't really matter what you get, but performance wise I wouldn't look into getting a saturn.

 

[Dirtrider4eva 10+ year member]

Dont try to make a slow car fast, make a fast car faster.

save for a car you can drop 10gs pn and then really have fun. Buddy drove a 230k civic for 3 years, saved and bouggt a subby sti

Just my opinion, I own a 2000 celica, itll never be fast, but ill drive it to the ground and save while I can for a nicer car

 

[Reddish Neck 10+ year member]

True saturns arent performers but the car was $300 and a somewhat cheap fix, I might just wire up the focus for the hell of it.

 

[Trancer 10+ year member]

If you polish a turd, its still a turd.

Meaning: Its probably a good thing it sold before you could buy it if you were wanting to add performance parts to it. Also, adding performance parts to a car that has drivetrain parts that are already breaking down, is just not smart. My little cousin keeps doing this stuff. He goes out and buys cars for cheap that has a crap ton of miles on it, because its cool and he can add stuff. The cars constantly break down, arent reliable, cant hold a job because he is always missing work or late because of his POS car, wrecks them and goes through the same process. If he would have just saved his money up instead of modding, he could have a reliable vehicle.

 

[dubeeyu 10+ year member]

The clicking may be a bad CV axle I think. Does it get louder the faster you go? I would keep the focus and save towards a different car.

 

[dumple 5,000+ posts]

my Saturn's cooler

 

[skylineTT 10+ year member]

agreed with everybody above.. if youre looking into picking up a 300 dollar car (a saturn at that) to make fast, you most likely dont have the financial backing that it would take to make it fast. you would need about 6-9 grand to make the car "fast" and you could easily find a car for 10k that would wax dat azz.

I'm all for adding audio to any car though, it can always be taken out and installed in a different car and cheap cars are generally very easy to wire up and rip apart. maybe you can rebuild the top end of the focus motor and tighten the suspension back up, with the money and add audio to it. It would last a very long time and you could enjoy the audio. If not that, just keep daily driving the focus and add audio to it anyway as you save up for a new car.

 

[Reddish Neck 10+ year member]

I agree ^, it looks like I'm saving up for something worth fixing.

*By fixing I mean customizing.