is a 420a a good daily driver?

just looking to get some info on a 420a car. im looking at buying a esi talon or GS eclipse for a daily so I can pull my gst off the road and start building my dream. I want to know how these things do for a daily driver, I want to keep driving a DSM and not buy some other shitty daily. I drive Cambridge-Toronto for work everyday. hows gas mileage reliability etc?

I think there was one kid who was doing this but I don't think we have seen them for a while.

I ignored this advice when it was given to me and regretted it afterwards so listen up what about a honda?

I don't really want a Honda lol anything worth me buying Honda wise in good shape is waaaay to expensive for a DD and a winter car. I can get my hands on a decent ESI for $2500 safetied/etested

I wouldn't be caught daily driving a Chrysler Sebring though.

1G ESi or DL are probably more reliable and still rocking N/T 4g63/4g37

I would go the Honda route.....but i am bias

Just had this conversation with Gui. Buy a cheap civic, drive it until it dies, replace and repeat.

It's kind of a no brainer.

I'd have the agree. I think I'm on DD Honda #7 now :-). Hard to beat when you look at trouble free cost/ km

Yep. Daily is a Honda/Acura. Dsm = toy.

End thread

I'll have a decent shape 98 Accord going on Kijiji in the next month or so.....just saying 😆

But if you really like driving a neon, go for it. You'll hate yourself when you wish you had the awd turbo lol

Whatever... get a truck or suv!

If your worried about gas millage,.Take public transit.

thanks for the advice guys and if I could take public transit from Cambridge to Toronto I would i'll see what I can find !

I felt the same as you, so I bought a corolla and then eventually regretted it and sold it for an accord. Love my accord! As Stephen says you can get an older one for the price you want to spend, and that gen will last forever.

At least go test one and then say no.

What are you guys paying for your Honda beaters?

My 2001 Accord that i drove for 1 year and Mr Gilbert is on his 2nd or 3rd.. $1000.

accord is 100 cheaper than my corolla was. I am less 1200 for full coverage on an 05 accord

Oh how much I paid, I wanted luxury so I went for the newer gen, it's chain instead of belt for timing. 2005 2.4 accord for 4800

With the gen that Stephen is talking about I found plenty for under 2k

Yep, I got a 98 civic HB with 440,000kms on it. The idea of a beater or DD is for it to be cheap and require NO money so you can pour it all into race car.
I'd take mr. Richardsons accord. $1,000 is max id spend on a beater.

I personally stay away from the K series engines. The B's D's and F are freaking bulletproof. Slow as crap but bulletproof.

I have heard the same but only issue I read about with the K was burning oil and stretching chain if the car is not kept topped up on oil or regularly changed.

2 of the reasons I stay away from K..😆

I am not a fan of the chain either but the interior and styling of the car was what won me over the F series

So avg $100 / month as a cheap beater.

$1200 car last 1 Year.
$4800 car lasts 5 Years.

Right now.. the 2008 300C owes me nothing. It is at 309,000KM and running strong. She needs a little love in the sway bar bushings ,a little roof rust and half broken drivers door handle (ext)

Most issues worked out under warranty.
Out of warranty work was Radiator $(700) and my Cat issue (fixed with 2$ O2 Gapper )
I have changed the brake pads once and plugs twice.
I still get 27-30 mpg if I keep it under 100
Regular Oil Changes. That's it.

Charles that some wicked mpg on that thing! It's a v6?
300C kept coming up when I was researching commuter cars because of how good the ride was and how comfortable it is.

i know the 3.5 is amazing for reliability and gas mileage. i had a Magnum awd for my last car and it did me well until i sold it with 350xxx Kms on it

I'll throw in another suggestion for a great beater, the Hyundai Accent. I'm currently on my second one. First I got for $1600 and drove for three winters, this one I got for a steal, $1250 with 100,000kms and a fresh timing belt, I've put 30,000kms on it so far and all its needed was a wiper motor and regular oil changes.

The cert and etested vehicles are out there for under $1500, just be diligent with checking Kijiji as they go fast when they come up.

My $1200 car has lasted me two years already with no signs of slowing down. 350,000km on the clock and still getting over 700km per tank. Costs me an extra $4/mo to have the Accord insured on top of my Talon. Only two repairs: blower motor resistor and a wheel bearing. Together they cost less than an oil change on the Talon.



300C has the 5.7L hemi.. I believe in 2008 they had the "cut half the cylinders" mode, but I'm not sure.

Jeremy how did you work out the 4$/month to have the accord on top of the talon? Do you switch back and forth between the two or are both of them always insured?

Ok I thought so and had heard of that feature.

Nope, that's with them both together. Remember that I have no spouse/dependents, so they're aware of the fact that I can only be driving a maximum of one of the cars anyway.

I will have to talk to Grant about that than. I am the only one on the policy but he is aware that I have the wife with me but she has her own car.

Serious question...who keeps it under 100 on the highway? Not even the semis do 100 or less so saying you get 27-30mpg keeping it under 100 is about as useful to most people as saying you get 1000mpg when you drive your car off a cliff...

That being said, I would agree with the overall sentiment above and that is, find a good, cheap, reliable beater and drive it into the ground. As expected, Civics, Accords, Corollas, and Camrys are excellent choices most of the time.

Grant insures me as well. I have 4 cars with him and he does not offer that. I'm the only driver in my household. Very few insurance companies do. It used to be termed an "umbrella car" policy. Jeremy who is your insurance provider?

Thanks Mike, curious about this too.

Same. I hate paying for 2 vehicles when I can only crash one at a time.

We (2drivers) had both Talons insured as daily year rounds, And the Envoy insured as just recreational for camping and working. It was peanuts on top of the Talons. But now Sandra bought a 2005 Escape for 1000 bucks.. and told the insurance that the Talons are the recreational vehickes. I have yet to see howthis pans out.

I'm not Jeremy (thank goodness for that ) but I am in a similar situation in that I had my Talon insured and it cost me about $100 extra per year, if even that much, to add my Laser (which is my DD) to the policy. I am the only person on the policy.

I do have comprehensive but do NOT have collision on either vehicle.

I'm with 'The Personal'.

I have a broker but I believe they have me with Unica.



Very few people are.

Oddly I'm in the opposite boat: I have collision on both but no comprehensive.

I should probably add collision, at least to the Laser since I drive it so much and finding an equally mint replacement would cost significantly more than I paid for it...

My situation is a bit different. I usually only buy a beater for 1 season then sell it for way more then i bought it ( other then Mr Gilberts of course)
Did you buy your 300c new?

Or you can do like I did, 2g Summer Cruiser (not out for 5 years), 1g daily (not driven until now...3 years) and a Corolla standby that ended up being used for 4 years straight until it died last week.

oh I miss trade ins

My 2008 300C new sticker price was $41,000. I bought it at 1 year old with 24,000KM on odometer (from dealer). Paid $24,000. It is the most I have ever paid for a car.

I needed near 100% reliability and I liked the idea of full warranty. + 340HP/390TQ w/ 27mpg rating was appealing. It was supposed to be fully loaded but I bought car sight unseen and it was missing NAV and adaptive Cruise.

Yes. The 300C is the 5.7 w/ MDS (Multi-Displacement System) Shutting off 4 cylinders on highway. I used to do Ottawa to Iroquois Falls on 7/8ths of a tank (700KM) if I didn't lay into the gas pedal)

I also agree that I almost never have it under 100. But for shits and giggles, I did a 30 min drive doing 80. I got 32mpg. Not bad for a big heavy car. My actual MPG is about 22-23 doing 120+.

Warranty work covered a new transmission and speed sensor issue.

Because I drive North (cochrane, ont) every couple months to see my daughter (or bring her back to ottawa), I need a car that is comfy and reliable and feel like a tank for safety. I still don't know what to get as my next beater. I may get another 300C.

It's too bad the US came and scooped up all our cheap cars. I used to be able to find 2008 C's for 6K. Cheapest one now is above 11K.

This was what I was aiming for:

http://s428.photobucket.com/user/adriangarcia06/media/8003645026_da46e3686e_b.jpg.html

Just never did it due to life priorities. And now.. the talon.

P.S. Oh yeah, if you do go this route, you will need a MOOG front end. Dodge/Chrysler parts are crap for front end.

P.S.2: If you want to spend an extra 2500. Get a Sidewinder Cam, Predator Tune and lifters / spring from a 6.1. You will make 440WHP and 500TQ. (More than the SRT8 and STILL retain MDS which 6.1 doesn't have)

I was just busting your balls on the <100 thing (as I'm sure you know) but I'm (actually) impressed with how good the mileage is. Would have expected a fair bit less to be honest.

Of course! This is on summers.

Winters.. different story. about 19-21 @ 120+ and 24-27 < 100
I knew that when I had a Talon as DD (before 300).. I was happy with 24MPG.

Current gas prices worry me. They are starting to climb to summer prices again, yet oil barrels are 1/3 the price of last year. WTF? What happens when oil barrels go back up. Will they jack the price again?

Of course they will...that's how it always go. Unfortunately we're stuck with it, or so it would seem.

My DD '92 Laser RS Turbo FWD 5-Speed gets 26-28 MPG highway (low-mid 20's with city mixed in) and that's doing 120-140 (higher speed limits in Michigan) on average, so close to 4k RPM in 5th gear. I can only imagine how much better mileage I'd get if there was as 6th overdrive gear.

I used to use a 420a as my DD for quite a while. To be honest, it's a he'll of a lit more reliable then a 4g63 lol.
It was a solid engine and not too bad on fuel. 350mi/tank and that was hard driving. I haven't driven it in a couple years but it still starts and runs strong.

What's that car look like again?

I totally forgot it was 420a. Did you also pumped it with jet fuel ?

well I ended up buying a cavalier today for my daily/winter beater. 130xxx kms working air and 100% rust free. safety and etested for an amazing price of... $1500 ! depending on what I find is wrong with my eclipse tonight I may be pulling it off the road and throwing my money at it

Photos! Or it didn't happen.

i'll post pics when I pick it up tonight

Not a jbody!

yep its a j body lol

Probably the best decision you can make as a dsm owner

yes sir lol