By "domestic", I mean US-designed as the place of assembly doesn't matter anymore.
The car is 2003 Saturn Ion 2 sedan with 135000 miles for my kid.
We are working to bring the car up to speed (so to say).
So far my experience was with Fiat, Yugo, Datsun, Renault, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, and Toyota. Generally these various cars were easy to work on and one doesn't need to read manuals to do the maintenance on those.
1. Unfamiliar design of the tire lugnut wrench that also serves as crank for the jack. Heavy, clunky and non-ergonomic design. Tire change is a major effort with those tools. It took me forever just to raise just one corner. Fortunately, my son suggested using a drill to drive the jack and that worked indeed. I used electric impact drill and that enabled us to check/flush the brakes and rotate tires. It took us whole lot longer than me alone doing it myself on one of my previous cars.
2. The drain plugs for engine and tranny are not in the places I expect. Hard to find. Same with tranny dipstick and oil filter. Still looking for ways to drain coolant.
3. I have no idea how to replace the burn out bulbs in front. Major frame pieces are behind the headlamps. I think headlamps have to be removed.
4. The alternator/belt replacement will be a major work requiring removing air filter box. There is hardly any access there to to relieve belt tensioner. This is 4-cylinder for crying out load. There are tons of empty space in the engine bay on the driver's side due to battery in the trunk (I like that). They should have put airbox there, duh.
5. Various plastic pieces in the engine bay and outside are distorted/waved or crumbling from heat. Granted, the car is from sunny Florida (yay, no rust), but still surprised.
6. The weird coil design with individual coils fused in one block. If one coil fails, the whole module has to be replaced.
I'm sure there will be some more surprises later.
I didn't drive it much yet to get driving impressions, but doesn't seem to be nimble like similar cars in the class.
The car is 2003 Saturn Ion 2 sedan with 135000 miles for my kid.
We are working to bring the car up to speed (so to say).
So far my experience was with Fiat, Yugo, Datsun, Renault, Nissan, Mazda, Subaru, and Toyota. Generally these various cars were easy to work on and one doesn't need to read manuals to do the maintenance on those.
1. Unfamiliar design of the tire lugnut wrench that also serves as crank for the jack. Heavy, clunky and non-ergonomic design. Tire change is a major effort with those tools. It took me forever just to raise just one corner. Fortunately, my son suggested using a drill to drive the jack and that worked indeed. I used electric impact drill and that enabled us to check/flush the brakes and rotate tires. It took us whole lot longer than me alone doing it myself on one of my previous cars.
2. The drain plugs for engine and tranny are not in the places I expect. Hard to find. Same with tranny dipstick and oil filter. Still looking for ways to drain coolant.
3. I have no idea how to replace the burn out bulbs in front. Major frame pieces are behind the headlamps. I think headlamps have to be removed.
4. The alternator/belt replacement will be a major work requiring removing air filter box. There is hardly any access there to to relieve belt tensioner. This is 4-cylinder for crying out load. There are tons of empty space in the engine bay on the driver's side due to battery in the trunk (I like that). They should have put airbox there, duh.
5. Various plastic pieces in the engine bay and outside are distorted/waved or crumbling from heat. Granted, the car is from sunny Florida (yay, no rust), but still surprised.
6. The weird coil design with individual coils fused in one block. If one coil fails, the whole module has to be replaced.
I'm sure there will be some more surprises later.
I didn't drive it much yet to get driving impressions, but doesn't seem to be nimble like similar cars in the class.
