Oppo, why are people so dumb?

"mazda616" (mazda616)
10/14/2014 at 17:42 • Filed to: Feelin' so fly like a G6

My wife's best friend has $7,000.00 to get a newer vehicle. She currently drives a 1993 Toyota Corolla with rust, bad struts and no A/C. And her commute is 90 miles a day, so the poor Corolla doesn't have much life left. Anyway, out of all the possibilities, she has almost decided on this:

A G6? Really? And not only is it a G6. It's a G6 with a rebuilt title. I don't know anything about it other than that. But, come on. There's got to be something out there better than a product of GMs bankrupt years that has already been totaled before. And she won't listen to any reason, either. She says it looks cool and has heated seats so she's good with it.

Le sigh.

DISCUSSION (31)

Steve in Manhattan > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:45

She needs a Subaru.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:46

Some people have to make the mistake and then learn from it, rather than learning from other peoples mistakes through research. Like the guy I knew who bought an RX7 because it looked sporty as a daily driver. He didn't realise you had to be so careful with maintenance and blew it up. It got scrapped.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:46

Both my sisters complain about our Grand Prix and say they would rather a G6. I point out that the G6 has some notorious reliability issues, is smaller, and would have less features on it. They didnt care, the G6 looks better, in their minds.

thebigbossyboss > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
10/14/2014 at 17:47

THIS IS OPPO PRACTICALITY CAN SUCK IT

mazda616 > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell.
10/14/2014 at 17:48

What's funny is, my wife and I had an '06 Chevy Malibu. Basically the same car as the G6. Riding on that Epsilon platform. And we had nothing but problems the entire time. Not to mention the G6s multiple recalls since it was built. She is still unswayed. Whatever.

ReallyColorful > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:48

Very le sigh. I wouldn't trust a rebuilt title car with no history... When my cousin opens his trunk on his rebuilt Sentra his gas lid flaps open lol.

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:48

She should just get a new Corolla and be done with it. But there are a LOT of nice used cars at that price point. No need to even look at a G6.

mcseanerson > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:48

You could do worse than a G6. The salvage title was a bad move though.

JGrabowMSt > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:49

They're horrible cars, mostly plastic, and not even in the good way.

That said, if it's an auto, and it works, and it's been well kept, whatever makes her happy.

Remember, you can't make people buy a washing machine they aren't interested in.

treesmakewater > Steve in Manhattan
10/14/2014 at 17:50

alot of them came standard with heated seats also

Alex B > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:50

Those chrome rims, ew.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > thebigbossyboss
10/14/2014 at 17:53

Most true statement in years. That being said, most of us have standards of "just dumb". So, telling practicality to fuck off only applies so long as the whim is accepted as cool or at least "going to be interesting to watch".

Steve in Manhattan > treesmakewater
10/14/2014 at 17:53

I take it you live in the frozen North?

Pull the Car Talk trick - make her take it to a mechanic for an tires up inspection, and get a list of everything the car needs. She won't like it, especially if it needs a couple grand in repairs.

thebigbossyboss > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
10/14/2014 at 17:54

True true.

Doge_Supreme drives a BRZ > Steve in Manhattan
10/14/2014 at 17:56

Seriously for 7k you could get a pretty decent Subaru, I got a 03 legacy wagon for 3k with under 100k miles.

Doge_Supreme drives a BRZ > mcseanerson
10/14/2014 at 17:57

But you could also do so much better....

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:57

She'll either get lucky or learn the hard way. Some people are just really stubborn.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > thebigbossyboss
10/14/2014 at 17:57

Just as an example, anything that Coty is doing is almost by definition impractical and verges on dumb. Not everybody thinks its cool. However, this is Oppo, and he has one of the best shows in his timeslot, so to speak.As another, if Jarod Rose had carried through with fixing the Lincoln Capri, it would have been the most epic thing imaginable.

treesmakewater > Steve in Manhattan
10/14/2014 at 17:58

I think that was meant to be directed towards mazda 308

mcseanerson > Doge_Supreme drives a BRZ
10/14/2014 at 17:59

That's true of almost any non-jalops car purchase. My dad called me to tell me about his awesome new car and see how impressed I was. He bought a 350Z ....automatic. Even when they try they fail.

LappingLuke > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 17:59

My girlfriend's parents asked me what kind of car they should get my gf a few years ago (I guess she was 19 at the time or so which would've made me 20) and I gave them perfectly reasonable cars to look for and her mom said she was looking at an 01 (I think) Honda Accord at a used car dealership and they were asking $5k which was the upper limit. Cosmetically the car was plainly not worth 5k and had 140k miles on it. I told her better deals were everywhere but she didn't believe me and took it to have it inspected. She knows the guys that run this one shop and I know one or two guys from there too but I don't trust shops for the most part. Anyway she had them inspect it before she bought it and they told her it needed a new timing belt, water pump and main seals. I told her to run away for sure so naturally she bought it for $5k and put my gf on a payment plan to buy it back from her INCLUDING the exorbitant service cost. A year later the cat failed and cost another like 900. Insanity. People lose all semblance of reason when thinking about cars.

thebigbossyboss > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
10/14/2014 at 17:59

Oh definitely. Cletus's car is retardedly awesome. It gets about 8 mpg, dwarfs anything made this side of 1989, and is probably unsafe (airbags? LOL!) And yet...it's the most awesomest thing since sliced bread.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > thebigbossyboss
10/14/2014 at 18:02

Biturbo's Citroen is 50% rust by weight, and some contents may have settled during shipment. He's making it a rust, weld, and pieces of plate quilt. By any metric, this is a terrible idea.

*grabs popcorn*

uofime > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 18:03

find her a black 2 door civic with heated seats

Steve in Manhattan > treesmakewater
10/14/2014 at 18:06

Indeed it was ... and there are so many nice cars you can get for 5 grand, and she has 7!

davedave1111 > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 18:09

I can kind of understand that, if she's trading up from a 93 Corolla. She could get the Corolla fixed up well enough to run forever for less than $7k, but it's a very, very basic car. (I have something of a soft spot for them, assuming it's the same one we got here, because they're built like proper machinery, but they're incredibly boring and spartan.)

Sometimes you just have to say screw it and buy something a bit more fun, even if it's not the best choice on a practical basis. Presumably your wife's friend's idea of what's a fun car is a bit different from yours, but compared to a 93 Corolla the Pontiac is sharp-looking, great to drive, and luxurious. And almost every car ever built is less reliable than a sorted early nineties Corolla, so it's all relative.

If you want to offer alternatives, first you need to work out what it is that someone actually likes about a car.

Makoyouidiot > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 18:10

You could tell her, from a parts guy, that G6's are INCREDIBLY HARD to find parts for. Like, even common stuff has gone goofy since GM killed Pontiac. Which sucks because I actually like the GTP Coupe, it's good looking and had a manual option. Sigh.

Steve in Manhattan > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 18:15

And why isn't the answer here Miata?

treesmakewater > Steve in Manhattan
10/14/2014 at 18:19

sometimes people have to make mistakes on their own

Logansteno: Bought a VW? > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 19:05

I like the G6 too much to be turned off by the fact that it isn't that great of a car. But one with a rebuilt title? Hell no.

OPPOsaurus WRX > mazda616
10/14/2014 at 19:24

My mother in law said get a Honda Pilot. They come in nice colors. I'll go for the WRax. Funny thing is, I hate the black.