Your opinions please...

Yeah, that will save alot of gas!

fannie, you didn't mention if your looking for new or used?

 

Personally would suggest FORD Edge , but since he's stuck with the gm, I don't know what I'd suggest.

 

How about one of these??? This is kind of an old add but it's a thought, maybe a Cutlass Cierra version? One with a 4-banger as long as it's not the Quad-4...

http://www.stationwagonforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11020

 

I'm with Mark, get plenty of good mileage with those Cutlass Cierra Wagons.

 

I love the a-body wagons. I've had 3, 2 of which I still have. I've always had a Chevy or Pontiac with 2.8 or 3.1 V6 engine. I would get 30 mpg highway with the 3.1, 28 with the 2.8. The 3.1 is a better match for the car. All the 3.1s I've heard of are pretty much bulletproof. The Olds and Buicks got a different style V6 and I've heard of some issues with intake gaskets, also the early electronically controlled 4T60E transaxles they started using in 92 or so had issues with the valve body. The vacuum controlled 440T4 they used before that was tough as nails. A 1990 Chevy or Pontiac V6 with OD was probably the best combination. The earlier 2.5 Tech 4 Iron Duke was a good engine, the only issue was a leaky valve cover gasket which is an easy fix. Later they started using the 2.2 (same as the Cavalier) and I've been told that highway mileage suffers because it's just too small of an engine for that size car. I can believe it.

The only thing is it's getting hard to find good ones that are rust free. The spot that really likes to rust out on these cars is where the rear trailing arms attach to the floorpan and side rails. When that goes, it's junkyard time, unless you're good with welding and fabricating.

 

I had the 2.2 liter in a 1995 Century Special. EPA figures were 25 city 32 highway new. I got exactly that from 224K to about 268K when the TCC solenoid jammed. Had to unplug it and highway mileage dropped to upper 20s and city mileage came down to 20-22ish. Then again it was a sedan and typically carried me, a cooler of Dr Peppers, and some courier packages. Very light duty and I didn't drive it too hard or too soft. I have driven other A-bodies as well. Owned several with the 2.5 Iron Duke and they were pigs but did OK for mileage. Love that sound and feel. I also had a Celebrity sedan with the 2.8L V6 and a Century sedan with the 3300 engine. I have my grandmother's '95 Ciera with the 3100 waiting for me in Jersey. So really the only A-bodies I haven't driven are the 3800 or the diesel.

If I could build the perfect A-body wagon, it would be a '93 Century, giving me an airbag, ABS, and the 3300 Buick V6 engine, with overdrive automatic, 3rd row seat, no woodgrain, in silver, gray, dark blue, or black with either gray or blue interior. I'd be ecstatic with that combo.

 

I've rented both Pontiac Vibes and Chevy HHRs, and I think they are good, practical, small cars. Neither are hot rods, but are comfortable for their size and get decent mileage.

My only complaints I can think of -- the Vibe was a little skittish on highways with grooved pavement, like they sometimes do with pavement to route water away. For the HHR, the visibility out could have been better. The roof pillars are thick and I often had to lean forward in my seat at stoplights, in order to see the overhead lights.

Also, I remember the HHR has a hard plastic rear cargo area, and so a rubber cargo tray or thick carpeted mat would be a must. My luggage kept sliding around in back every time I turned a corner.

As others have mentioned, GM A-Body wagons (Century, Ciera) are nice cars. It is getting harder to find nice examples of them.

 

Great discussions guys...thanks so much...we're still looking.

 

I like the concept of the HHR and all I've heard are good things (mostly from a GM site, go figure). Same can be said for the Vibe too. I've driven a Holden Cruze (for a review) with the 1.4 turbo and six speed manual and it is a great combination. I can only imagine how well it would go in the Sonic (Nee: Barina in Oz). I averaged over the week 7.5l/100kms (31.3 USMPG) and achieved high mileage of 4.9l/100kms (48USMPG)! Pretty impressive I thought.

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To answer Fannie's question;
I work at a shop,and did work at a GM stealership for a little while and this is what I observed about the Vibe's:
-Plastic on front door panels,including the armrests,and inside door handles, break after a while
- PCM's are known to fail on early models.The check engine comes on and the engine does a lot of funky things rendering the car undrivable.
-based on the Matrix,the Vibe shares the same TPMS or tire pressure monitoring system.
Vibe and Matrix TPMS are the worst user friendly system I ever seen.
Dealers charge .3 an hour extra to reset the system AFTER a tire rotation using the scanning tools used for diagnositics.
If the low tire light comes on--it does not tell you WHICH tire is low.
Resetting it does require usage of the mantioned scanner tool--again.
Many shops DO NOT do this and the positioning of the sensors get mixed up to the point the scanner reads LF is flat even though it is the R/R--just an example.
The sensors have a short life and even when the tires are OK,the technician still needs to go through the process of chasing down which one is dead.I had seen many Vibes have all 4 tires dismounted in order to locate the "serial number" on the sensor to match up the number the scanning tool is calling to replace.
A real PITA system for sure that cannot be disabled--it is integrated into the car's electronics..

-Side bolsters in front seats tend to wear out (mainly the drivers seat from getting in and out of the car) and expose the seat frame that digs into the occupants making driving uncomfortable.
-Failure to service the calipers on a regular basis will cause pads to get stuck in the saddles,wear pads unevenly,and warp rotors.
-Replacing bulbs are a pain
-Rear wiper arms and motors seize up from tons of exposure to road salt and brine.Seen this mainly on cars that are highway driven.

Other than that,overall the Vibe is a good car,reliable,and very few of my clients who own them had any major complaints or problems with them.
Hope this helps,Fannie.
Cheers.

 

i like the cruze better as a holden! supposedly we actually get the diesel this comming year too!
the sonic is only called that in america...and the barina in au its called the aveo everywhere else.

 

Well this picking up another car is really starting to snowball!

Started out looking for a winter banger to save a few bucks on the gas budget. Evolved into checking out a few newer cars at a couple of local dealers. This evening we went to check out another Vibe, ended up taking out a brand new Sonic! So now there's a brochure on the coffee table. When we where leaving the lot hubby was checking out a Caddy......dream on Honey!

Thanks Waygun, I was hoping for this kind of info. I know every car has it's issues but it's nice to know what some of those issues are going in.

So anybody got any thoughts on the Sonic?





I was just rereading some of the posts...thanks Ian we are thinking about it.

 

FWIW, the 2012 Consumer Reports Buying Guide is out and they list the best of the best and the worst of the worst, 2001-2010. They list the Vibe as one of the best of the best (less problems than most cars). Then they have a page listing all trouble spots and the Vibe looks excellent to me. I have always liked the vibe as a smaller, wagon, gas saving, type car.
I don't even know what a Sonic is or who makes it!?!?? If I knew I would research it.
OK, I found the Chevy Sonic. It's new so there isn't even a predictability rating yet. I will say that the small 2001-2010 Chevy cars did not do as well as many others such as the Focus, etc and were not in the the good column. Doesn't mean anything regarding the Sonic, though, since it is new. If you go back to looking at used cars, give me the model, engine and the year and I can give you all the problem spots and the rating of each. These recommendations or non recommendations come from thousands of owners that were questioned. Not a perfect test but it sure beats knowing nothing about a car and its performance history.

 

The Sonic replaces the Aveo in the Chevy lineup - available as a sedan or a 5-dr hatch. Lots of upgraded features over the outgoing Aveo. They will also have an even smaller car, the Spark coming out very soon. Looks a lot like the Sonic hatch, just a bit smaller.

 

I'll throw in my

My wife's friend has a '03 Toyota Corolla that I've done a little work on, and I like it.
Seems roomy, reliable, and there are tons of parts out there.