Wth 130K miles I'm wondering how soon I'll need a new tranny or something else expensive. How long can I expect this car, engine, tranny, etc. to last?

Here'* what the seller said about the car:

2 owner clean, lien free, title. Car has factory remote start. Factory moon roof. Leather heated seats. Turbo works phenomenal. Tires have 95% tread. Can show reciepts. They were purchased 4,500 miles ago. Car runs great! This is a 4 cylinder with the turbo so it is great on gas. 130,000 highway miles and counting. I live in xxxx and have offices in yyyy and zzzz. My normal day consists of 100-250 miles. So mostly highway miles.

Any thoughts you have would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Steve

Any engine with a turbo is NOT great on gas.

I'm not too concerned about gas. I only put about 12k a year on a car, the car I have now (2007 impala with the 3.9) only gets 21 or so.

Normal maintenance comes with the deal if you want to drive a car, but I just don't want a money pit.

Yeah... that happens when you can't stay out of boost...


A brief skim on AutoTrader suggests it may be a decent deal. Not sure on long time reliability however, I haven't had my ear to the ground on them.

I have to disagree with you Mike, that ANYTHING with a turbo is bad on gas......

Previous car was a 2.2 non turbo....on the highway, 34-36 mpg....

Present vehicle has 1.4L turbo.....approx same weight vehicle....36-40 mpg on highway.......the turbo is mainly used for quick accel onto the highway and dead starts......if it didn't have the turbo, it would be a dog.....

I remember one time, I rented a Buick Riviera(last model).......approx 1200 mile trip.....topped off fuel before I left, and kept record of the fuel added, and when topped off at the end.....final mileage? 33mpg on a highway trio....3.8 SC'er........never thought I would get that, with that heavy a car.....at the time, the so called economical 4 cylinders were not getting much better mileage, even with lighter vehicles....

I remember working on the 3.8 turbos......now everyone abused those vehicles.......we had a police vehicle that came in for regular oil changes....one day it came in for a rattle, and I got to test drive it.....what a difference between a SC'er and a Turbo....that turbo would snap your head back.....anyone remember what the standard procedure was for doing an oil change on a 3.8 turbo?

I've rented a couple of these. While I tend to lean towards bigger cars with bigger engines, these are fun, quick, and well equipped. Granted, my rentals were sub 30,000 miles, but in my various driving in them I noticed that the driveline is very-well sorted out, as in no thumps or bumps etc. when you surprise it with inputs under both normal and fun driving. Reason I note all of this? It tells me that unless it was abused it'* probably got lots of life in it.

Looking the car up, it appears it has an Aisin AF40-6 transaxle. Most of the issues I can find online are for 2011 and earlier. Some of the common issues seem to be broken shift cable and a bunch seem to be flaring between gears. For this, I'd insist on a test-drive while the car is cooled off overnight and drive it 20-30 miles and see how it does.

The one you're looking at seems to be a highway car so it probably has a lot of life left in it. I know the ones I rented did NOT do the normal small-car thing where they are shifting all the time at highway speeds. They seemed to have enough engine, probably thanks to the turbo, to keep away from that.

My summary: Price-wise it looks like it'* not far off of market. If I were in that market I would probably talk the seller down $500.00 then buy a reputable vehicle warranty for it.

Look at the oil cooler and cam actuator seals,they like to leak. Also look at the throttle body where the charge air pipe goes on and see if oil is dripping down the trans. If so suspect broken piston ring land. Can check by pulling engine dipstick and check for -11 to -18 in.of water column at idle and WOT. If it goes above suspect piston or ring issue. Hi way miles don't hurt a vehicle like low mile grocery getter. Hope this helps.