24th Mar 2012, 14:13

I just said goodbye to my 2001 Saturn L300. I got it in May 2001 with 45 miles on it. It left with 190,091 miles on it. I suppose the car no longer knew whether it was coming or going :)

The only reason that I had to get rid of that car, was because a technician I went to in 2006 did serious damage to one of the wiring harnesses going to the PCM. The dealer that employed that technician is out of business now, so there is no reason to identify him.

I managed to squeeze another 120,000 miles out of that car since that wiring fiasco. The engine has had nothing but Mobil1 put in it, and when you open the oil filler cap, it still looks like a new engine inside.

I was also getting excellent gas mileage with that Saturn. Over the last 12,000 miles, I averaged 27.7 MPG in a mix of City/HWY driving. Not bad considering it was rated 20/26 when I bought it in 2001 (18/24 according to the 2008 MPG standards).

I just replaced that Saturn with a 2012 Honda Civic. I will be happy if the Civic is as good a car as the Saturn was. I will be even happier if that technician that messed up my Saturn never so much as looks at my Civic.