Any Idea What Might Have Caused This?

[FastWoman]

Thanks, Captain!  (Don't feel bad.  That's why I asked the question! )

 

Regarding my Saturn...  No, the interior looks great, almost like the day I bought it, even with the car living all of its life in the driveway out in the sun.  Really.  There's only one break in the plastic panels -- a clip on a dash part that I accidentally broke off when removing the instrument cluster cover.  You can't see it, though.  I have one tiny rattle somewhere.  Upholstery has no rips or tears and is not faded.  The carpet has a wear spot under the pedals and is somewhat dirty.  The car is the picture of reliability, and it drives great -- and intuitively.  It's starting to use a bit of oil, but it's not bad.  I think the lifters probably need cleaning out, because I can hear the valve train clatter just a bit on startup.  There's one loud "gronk" somewhere in the front suspension when I back up with the wheel turned, but all the suspension parts are original to the car.  One little plastic gear rotted in my odometer, so I have no idea how far my car has rolled down the road.  And then there's a tiny design flaw whereby the ABS wiring brackets on the wheel assemblies are attached by rivets that reliably and semi-regularly rust and breaks off.  Otherwise, no complaints!  I love my little Saturn.

 

Your assessment of the C4 Corvette is similar to my assessment of the C3.  I understood there were a lot of handling improvements with the C4, but maybe they weren't that significant.  I had already known about the squeak and rattle issue, due to the way the car is framed (essentially a big convertible).  I do question how well a car can handle with a big chunk of iron under the hood.  In all fairness, I did have the same concern (big, heavy motor) loooooong ago about the 280Z.  I was driving an RX-7 at the time.  But the 280's motor was love at first sight.  I can't explain it.  I did feel I gave up a little bit on handling, but it was so much better a car than the Mazda.  And then decades later I had the same quality concerns about the Miata and have been pleasantly surprised.  So I've learned to examine each car on its individual merits.

[John Coffey]

The 1990's were the Jurgen Shrempp years for Mercedes.  He almost destroyed the company with the W140, the horrid ML350, and the Chrysler merger.  As part of his reign he dictated the Mercedes vehicles will be 100% recyclable despite the misgivings of the engineering staff.  The W140 chassis was the first with the biodegradable wiring and you can buy any of those S class cars for less the $5k including the 6L V12 version.

 

Shrempp was listed as one of the 15 worst CEOs of all time by the WSJ.

 

BTW...  I owned a C4 Corvette.  Avoid it unless you are planning on racing or autocorssing the car.  They are a great bang for the buck for that purpose, but a C5 is light years better as a street car.

[Captain Obvious]

Thanks, Captain!  (Don't feel bad.  That's why I asked the question! )

 

Just remember that I'm no automotive expert. I'm just a guy with an opinion, and we all have one of those. 

 

And funny what John said about the C5 being light years ahead of the C4 as a street car... I was going to say the same thing about the C4 when compared to the C3!

 

280ZX

300ZX (Z31 or Z32)

Mercedes

Porsche

Corvette C4

Del Sol

Fiero

 

What else...?

 

[John Coffey]

C3s are getting expensive - even the last 1970s ones.  C4s are still the cheapest Corvette you can buy right now.

[Reptoid Overlords]

I have been keeping a space open for the possibly of finding a decent condition MK 1 or even MK 2 Supra.

The Toyota JZ engines are built well and put out a pretty good amount of power. It might be another wild goose chase scenario. The things were thrashed pretty hard just like the Z's typically were.

I have the rust spots in the lower part of the windshield area in my '80 ZX. A temporary solution was to caulk it to prevent water intrusion, but it needs to be replaced.

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