I've driven a Nissan Sentra for 4 years, saving my money the whole time, and it's time for something a little more fun (and newer, considering my poor Sentra has tallied an impressive number of miles; I almost hate to part with it, considering how dependable it's been).

The problem is that I can't afford two vehicles, so whatever I buy I'll have to drive to work. That means it needs to be dependable. I don't need to be sinking money into frequent repairs. I've been looking at Celicas, and they're pretty cool, but let's face it: you can't get a V6 in a Celica. The Eclipse GT fits my requirements as far as fun factor and style goes, but I'm a little concerned about it's dependability. Consumer reports gives the 2001 model year very good ratings for the engine and transmission, which is encouraging, but I've also gotten some horror stories from actual owners as well. I just thought I'd come to this forum and get the opinion of the people who own and work on them before deciding anything.

Keep in mind, that my automotive skills are restricted to doing things like changing fluids and spark plugs.

 

It all depends on if the car has been abused or not. Try and find one that was adult driven. If a kid had it, chances are it was abused alittle bit (or alot).

And when you do find one, take it to your mechanic. When I was about to buy my car, I had the dealership drop it off at my mechanics, and they found like 4 things that needed to be fixed, over $800 in repairs, and the dealer took care of it before he sold it to me.

 

Always good advice. Let's assume for a moment that I find just such an Eclipse that I reasonably expected to have been well cared for? How well does the vehicle age? My Nissan now has 145k miles on it and it's never seen a shop for a mechanical failure (knock on wood). Now I do consider myself to have had some good luck there, as most cars won't run that long (form 96k miles to 145k miles) without some kind of repair. Assuming the vehicle is in good shape and I do the standard preventative maintenance on it, am I still going to be able to depend on it to go on a long trip when it has 150k miles on it, or is it going to be falling to pieces on me by then?

 

It sounds like you're going to take care of it, so I would say that its not going to fall apart on you. If you baby it and treat it right, it will treat you right in return. Nissan's and Honda's are the cars that treated right, can get up to 250,000 miles, but they didn't get there getting the **** run out of them.

For some reason, Mitsubishi's get a beating by their owners. Maybe it's because they're quick, handle great, and fun to drive. But I'm sure if you find the right one, like 45,000miles, adult driven, original owner, and you do all scheduled maintenence and treat it real nice, you won't have too much to worry about.

 

It does seem to be a common thing. I think Eclipses are much like Camaros and Firebirds: there really isn't anything much inherently wrong with the design, but people drive them like maniacs all the time. What you say is true: there is something undeniably exhilirating about Eclipses that can't be quantified by 1/4 mile times and handling numbers. I've just been so spoiled by my never quit running Nissan to be a little cautious about my cars these days. On the other hand, I'm 24 and still single; perhaps I should just enjoy myself while I can.

I've test driven two Eclipses (one was a 2000 GS, the other an 03 GTS) both with about 80k miles, and both of them I think had been roughly handled, especially the 2000 model. When I lifted the hood on the 2000 model you could actually see the engine moving and shaking a bit when it was idling; unlike my old Sentra which you couldn't tell was running at all except that you could hear it. The 2003 was already displaying some minor electrical issues and I think there was a minor issue with the parking break. And the dealer wanted nearly $12k for it.

Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to afford one with 45k miles; my budget is restricted to $10k at the max, and that's really stretching it. If I were to get one, I'd probably favor an 01 or 02 GT. Gotta have the V6, ya know.

Thanks for all the help