I am so fucking pissed now: Car rant

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/07/2014 at 15:57 • Filed to: piece of shit car!

Why does every CPO car I buy give me problems? I picked up an '11 Malibu V6 w/ 36k miles on it back in January. Within the first five weeks, it broke down twice. Once for a bad throttle body, and again for a dead battery.

Today I took the family out for lunch and a Sunday drive. Its a beautiful 78° day out, just perfect weather. As we're cruising around, the car dings. I look down, and the temp gauge is PEGGED!

Fuck! I turn the heat on full blast. The temp gauge drops back to normal within a few seconds. I turn for home. As I'm driving, the gauge starts bouncing back and forth between normal, and halfway to pegged.

I'll take it back to the dealer tomorrow. Whatever is wrong, I don't trust this car anymore. It has to go. Figures, I just put new tires on it 1000 miles ago, but I don't care. I'm going back to daily driving old reliable. My '06 Sierra has never let me down.

DISCUSSION (34)

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 16:01

That really sucks, man.

"Ding" has the potential to be a very, very bad noise here.

PS9 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 16:03

36k miles is too short of a time to be eating a head gasket.

sellphones2493 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 16:07

Sounds like it was a lease return that was treated like a rental by the PO.

sellphones2493 > PS9
09/07/2014 at 16:08

My parents old GMC Envoy needed a new head gasket at 3,000 miles.

PS9 > sellphones2493
09/07/2014 at 16:09

I'd immediately trade any car that tried to pull some crap like that on me.

sellphones2493 > PS9
09/07/2014 at 16:11

My parents were too passive, I guess. I was too young to have an opinion on the situation (9 y/o).

If it means anything, they replaced the entire engine and the car was sold to Carmax with 246k.

shop-teacher > PS9
09/07/2014 at 16:14

Oh, its all the way up to 41k miles now!

Piece of junk.

jkm7680 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 16:15

Sounds like a bit of a lemon to be honest. Sorry to hear that you are having problems, Maybe try Carmax for the next one?

shop-teacher > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
09/07/2014 at 16:16

Indeed. Fortunately it's under warranty, but I'm not keeping it around to see what else it has in store for me.

shop-teacher > sellphones2493
09/07/2014 at 16:18

It was a lease return. Next time, I'm going new. For the foreseeable future, back to the truck I go.

shop-teacher > jkm7680
09/07/2014 at 16:21

Definitely smells like lemon to me. I'll go new for the next one. I ain't got no time for this jibba jabba!

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 16:22

Excellent decision.

jkm7680 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 16:25

Haha, Love the way you put that!

PS9 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 16:28

Damnit, Chevy. Stuff like this is what makes people say, 'screw this crap, I'm buying a camry now!'

shop-teacher > PS9
09/07/2014 at 16:34

Ha! I'm definitely not buying a Camry, but a lot of other people would!

shop-teacher > jkm7680
09/07/2014 at 16:38

Thanks! I'm trying to keep a sense of humor about it. I don't enjoy being angry, but damn was I angry driving home with my feet being roasted by the heater on full blast!

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 16:39

That sucks. Hopefully you can get a decent amount of money back out of it.

I've heard a lot of manufacturer's CPO inspection and certification processes are bullshit. The only ones I'm familiar with are Mercedes and Infiniti. Infiniti was pretty good but it was still entirely up to the numbers department, the technician couldn't deny the certification. But with Mercedes you basically have to make the car brand new, and the technician can deny the certification (oh man do the numbers guys hate it when I do that!). Even maintenance has to be caught up for the next 6 months, brakes and tires 50% or better. And you can get them with unlimited mileage warranties with up to another 3 years on top of any remaining original warranty. If I were going for a new[ish] car, it would be Mercedes CPO.

Disclaimer: I'm not a salesman and could care less if you go buy a Mercedes, I'm only offering up this information for the sake of comparison. I think diversity in car culture is a good thing. It wasn't my goal to sound as advertise-y as this probably came across.

davedave1111 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 16:43

Let me get this straight. You've bought the car, but you're having buyer's remorse because it's not up to scratch. It's under warranty, and you can induce engine failure at will by turning off the heat and driving round the block for a while. Do I need to join the dots for you?

shop-teacher > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
09/07/2014 at 16:51

Good to know. I agree, diversity is a good thing in car culture. I can't afford a certified Merc, and they really aren't my personal taste anyways. Its nice to hear that your certification program is so rigerous. I was under no delusions that GM's program was (because it just isn't), I just wanted the year of warranty.

I've had good luck with new vehicles, and I've had pretty good luck with old cars and beaters, but I've rolled snake eyes on both of the CPO cars I've purchased. Granted, that's not a statistically valid sample size, but it's enough for me to say, "Fuck it, I'm out!"

shop-teacher > davedave1111
09/07/2014 at 16:54

I'm picking up what you're putting down! :D

sellphones2493 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 17:13

Lease returns can be interesting. Some of them are treated like people are going to own them forever, and other's treat them like a rental.

When at Carmax, I had a customer come in to look at a 2009 Audi A6 3.0 w/ 29K. I didn't look at it before they came in, thinking that it should be fine, as it was an Audi with only 29K.

On the test drive:
- Rearview Mirror fell off
- Cupholder broke when the customer put in a bottled water
- Alignment was absolutely awful
- Tires didn't match (this was a Quattro)
- Check engine light on
- There were footprints on the ceiling

Granted, a lot of this was on Carmax - it should have been inspected better. However, this lease return was worse than most Aveo's that have done 60K in a rental fleet.

mazda616 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 17:22

We had a 2006 Malibu that was terrible. Constant problems. Awful to drive too. I thought the newer ones were better but they've still got their issues. That sucks.

shop-teacher > mazda616
09/07/2014 at 18:07

I probably should've gotten a 4-cylinder model. Those seem to be pretty rock solid, but also rock slow.

shop-teacher > sellphones2493
09/07/2014 at 18:09

Wow! I certainly wouldn't have bought it if there were footprints on the ceiling!

mazda616 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 18:49

My friend has a '12 LTZ with the V6 and 65k and hasn't had any noticeable issues. But I have heard something about that motor developing sludge. The 4-cylinder models had the Ecotec, and that's a great (if somewhat puny) motor. My wife's '06 Malibu had the 3500 and it would haul pretty decently for what it was. Too bad that on the way to gaining speed, it would just about fall apart.

Sdwalt1 > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 22:48

Sorry to hear that, once they go bad and you can't trust them, they have to go.

///DARKSTAR > sellphones2493
09/07/2014 at 22:48

delete this please

shop-teacher > Sdwalt1
09/07/2014 at 22:51

Yep, that's a lesson I've learned the hard way in the past.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 23:18

This is part of the reason why my parents REALLY don't like buying used. Even though they bought the Safari used, but it had a full service history and was owned by old people.

It's funny because my mom's Vue has the exact same engine that just rolled over 70k miles without issue.

Though it does always feel like the engine is letting off a lot of heat when it's in the garage. We don't know if it's running hot or not because it doesn't have a temp gauge.

shop-teacher > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
09/07/2014 at 23:34

Does the electric fan on the Vue stay on for quite a while after you shut it off? The Malibu's does.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 23:36

Depends on the temperature outside. It's never stayed on for more than 5 minutes after it was shut off though.

shop-teacher > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
09/07/2014 at 23:41

That's about what I've been seeing. I've never had a vehicle that's done that. Its always bugged me.

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > shop-teacher
09/07/2014 at 23:44

My dad's done some research into it and apparently that 3.6 just runs hot for some reason. We haven't ever had any overheating issues though.

shop-teacher > Logansteno: Bought a VW?
09/07/2014 at 23:54

I did not know that. Thanks for the info!