Who drives a k-car?

toby dawg · Post by **toby dawg** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:26 pm

Im looking for a first car and i found this 1989 Aries.

http://saskatoon.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehic ... dZ37608292

Does anyone have a car like this? How is it?

I mainly need something reliable... Not too many kilometers on this one.

Does anyone know another model of car that i can get for under $900?

gamer2 · Post by **gamer2** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:32 pm

Its nice. It should be reliable.

samus · Post by **samus** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:38 pm

omg! we used to have a k car just like that one! it ran nice and lasted forever.

Post by **bicostp** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 9:43 pm

80s cars are awesome (you can actually work on them), and I'd trust an old Chrysler more than a new one. (Especially if it has the 225ci slant-6, I swear you can't kill those engines...) K-cars are hardy, efficient little things.

111k miles isn't bad for a car that old. Get new floor mats for it, use some carpet cleaner and Febreze, and do all the regular maintenance stuff once you get it. (Replace the serpentine belt, flush the coolant, change the oil and transmission fluid, new power steering fluid... You know, regular stuff. Also do a full wash and wax, sand away rust and cover with Rustoleum and Dupli-Color, and replace the wiper blades if necessary.)

When you get it, dump some Drygas in the tank to purge any moisture from the fuel system, and put some Restore in the oil to condition the cylinders and maintain compression. Just don't use fuel system cleaners! We had an old Mitsubishi pickup with about that many miles on it, and thought some fuel injector cleaner would help. WRONG. It killed the engine compression, even with Restore.

Just go see it in person. I don't trust those pictures because A. it's winter (snow covers rust really well) and B. the camera's date mark says 2006 (it could be set wrong but there's always the chance that they're old pictures and it's deteriorated since then.)

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:15 pm

bicostp wrote:80s cars are awesome (you can actually work on them), and I'd trust an old Chrysler more than a new one. (Especially if it has the 225ci slant-6, I swear you can't kill those engines...) K-cars are hardy, efficient little things.

111k miles isn't bad for a car that old. Get new floor mats for it, use some carpet cleaner and Febreze, and do all the regular maintenance stuff once you get it. (Replace the serpentine belt, flush the coolant, change the oil and transmission fluid, new power steering fluid... You know, regular stuff. Also do a full wash and wax, sand away rust and cover with Rustoleum and Dupli-Color, and replace the wiper blades if necessary.)

When you get it, dump some Drygas in the tank to purge any moisture from the fuel system, and put some Restore in the oil to condition the cylinders and maintain compression. Just don't use fuel system cleaners! We had an old Mitsubishi pickup with about that many miles on it, and thought some fuel injector cleaner would help. WRONG. It killed the engine compression, even with Restore.

Just go see it in person. I don't trust those pictures because A. it's winter (snow covers rust really well) and B. the camera's date mark says 2006 (it could be set wrong but there's always the chance that they're old pictures and it's deteriorated since then.)

yup. those things can run forever without any oil.

toby dawg · Post by **toby dawg** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:54 pm

Yeah i would strongly consider buying this car if its still available at the end of the month. I will probably go check it out. I read somewhere that the knocking is probably lifters and it should run like that for quite awhile with proper care. Thanks for the quick replys and bicostp for the info.

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:23 pm

problem with the K-car is that it has extremely thin (compared to other cars that is) metal. So rust is a huge problem as it will eat the cars body fast.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:24 am

Why do you want it? Just cause it lasts forever, or does it get good mileage, too? We had a 1987 Ford Escort that got 40+mpg highway and had 210,000+ miles, and the drivetrain was pretty much all stock and still going strong. Unfortunately, the rest of the car was kinda falling apart, the back seat had to be folded down to hold the driver's seat up, cheap parts were always needing replaced, probably half the stuff had been replaced by the time we got rid of it. You're completely screwed in an accident with a larger vehicle, I saw a video on Youtube of one getting hit by an F-150 in a crash test. Only good thing about it is that you'd have minimal pain, death would probably be more or less instant.

So what do you need in a car? Gas mileage, power, space, etc?

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:08 pm

I hoe you mean a collision with a larger vehicle than YOURS. That had me confused a little.

And remember, safety depends on model year just as much as model.
Compare:

2004 F-150

2003 F-150

The Laws of Momentum state that you'd be safer in a collision with a car of less momentum in a vehicle with more. Safety rating is especially important in new drivers. Go for a Corolla or Camry.

toby dawg · Post by **toby dawg** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:07 pm

@vskid: Well the attraction is that it is the car in the best shape ive found that falls into my price range. I know i will have to check it out first. I am not looking for performance but fuel economy. And this car is so uncool that its cool. Know what i mean?

Post by **Triton** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:20 pm

get a volvo

with a bit of looking you can find a late 80s or early 90s 240 or 740 in decent shape in your sub 900$ pricerange. they will run FOR EVER, their rediculously safe and average 24mpg usually mebe more

daguuy · Post by **daguuy** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:37 pm

The problem with cars like that that have all those new parts is that they're probably gone keep needing new parts. Other than that, it looks like a great car.

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:09 pm

daguuy wrote:The problem with cars like that that have all those new parts is that they're probably gone keep needing new parts. Other than that, it looks like a great car.

thats why there are junk yards. I pulled a alternator for my 99 Jeep out of a totaled 00' Jeep