The Sixth Planet

Here it is, the unveiling of my latest acquisition!!! 1998 Saturn SC2 with 92K miles on it. I think more pictures, when the sun is out, are in order. I had been looking around for something for close to a month, and dealing with a lot of flakes. Something small, with an automatic transmission for those freeway jams, not too many miles, and able to pass emissions test. Sunroof or soft top would be a nice plus. I had Neons, Cavaliers, Escorts, Subarus, Hondas, Toyotas, and many others on my list. I only actually managed to look at four of my picks. The first was a very nice Mazda MX-3, not too many miles, decent condition, nicely optioned, good running, but no sunroof. A bit of research later revealed lackluster mileage numbers.



I also looked at a Prelude. Getting up on the miles, around 146K if I remember right, many new parts, sunroof... but a real bucket!!! It didn't even have a glove compartment where it should have been!!! Pass. I looked at a really nice Paseo a bit ago, nice everything, sunroof (pop up only) but with a rather shakey engine at idle, and more miles than I would have liked, around 167K. One that I'd had on my watch list was a Saturn SC2 with that funky little suicide 3rd door for the back seat. It looked real nice, and was only at 101K miles. No sunroof, and a bit far away. One other I never got a chance to see was a nice sounding Escort ZX-2 with many options and a sunroof. I think it was at 117K miles, but those flakes wouldn't make with a phone number or address very readily. E-mailed back and forth several times, this was actually before I had to go to court in San Pedro, and it was down in that area. They mailed me again before last weekend saying they'd be around if I wanted to take a look, and I was thinking I could swing by on the way to my parents house on Saturday. I called the phone number they'd finally made with (still no address) and never heard back.



Finally happened on the ad for this cream puff. I think it came with almost every option available for this model, with the exception of ABS brakes. It has a few bumps and scrapes, consistent with a 10 year old car, but the majority of the wear is to front leather seats, which are rather cracked, and the driver's door panel. Also, the back three windows are tinted, and the side ones are nice looking, but the back one is bubbled, and looks like you're driving underwater through the rear view mirror. Runs nice, though. It was at a dealer, and they reluctantly knocked $100 off, but it's still near the most expensive car I've ever bought, second only to my Camaro. Also, this is my first car I've ever purchased from a dealership.



Mileage is what this is about, though, and so far, I'm impressed!!! It will take more time to see where it really lands, but so far, I took the tank from the very bottom to full with 10.35 gallons. So far, I've driven it over 250 miles, and the gauge still shows a bit over half a tank!!! I'm thinking the last half must go faster than the first (picturing a funnel shaped gas tank), otherwise I might be getting around 50 miles to a gallon!!! Not that I'd complain, but that seems... VERY unlikely.