Faults:

First (two years ago) the transmission had problems and it cost me over $600.00. Now the car stalled 2 weeks ago, but started back up. Today, however, it started making a weird rubbing sound and smelled like burning rubber. Took it to friend mechanic and he said the compressor on the air conditioning was rubbing together, hence the smell, and that it should turn freely in his hand, but it was fused together. Two years ago I had him put freon in the car as the A/C did not work. The freon has run out again. He called the local Saturn dealership and the price for the part is $600 plus his labor. He can't buy the part anywhere else because it is not an after market product. But he said he could buy a re-manufactured part at Schrams for about $150 plus his $400 in labor. But no guarantee. I don't know what to do. Would the above cause my car to stall? Will this fix the problem? Should I spend approximately $600 on a repair job that is not guaranteed as opposed to a $1,000+ guaranteed repair. My car is sitting at his garage and I have to have a car to work. Help!

General Comments:

Should I get rid of this car?

Should I spend the $600 or $1,000?

What should I do?

Yeah, I'm a woman.

Faults:

Headlights flicker constantly since I bought the car. It's been in the shop (Saturn) three times and each time they say they have fixed the problem.

When headlights are on at night it will occasionally start smoking at my steering column and steering column gets very hot.

Car ran out of gas in two days time-frame. Thought I was just being silly and not watching the gas meter, but car will be out of gas at a quarter of a tank.

Car has a bad wheel bearing (or however it's spelled). Tire keeps getting warped and wears down really fast because of this.

I have had other various electrical problems, mostly all relating to the headlights.

I have a sunroof. The driver's side window has always rattled and you can feel air coming through it. I have taken it back to Saturn every time and they say it's just "normal" because I have a sunroof, though the sunroof is closed and the window is completely up.

The paint is seriously peeling off the exterior of my car. The paint job was horrible!

General Comments:

I would never buy a Saturn again. I have had problems with it since they day I bought it and while it was still under warranty. While it was under warranty I had to keep taking it back to Saturn to fix the headlights. Now that the warranty is up I STILL have problems with the headlights and smoking at the steering column.

I am happy with the interior of my car. I love my black leather heated seats, sun roof and wood grain paneling. The interior of the car is quite nice. I would love this interior in a different car because I really hate Saturn at this point.