New USED Car Question
 

Hey friends!

So i recently bought a 2002 Chevy Cavalier, with 175,000, for $800. I got a new battery, coolant fan and tires! I haven’t had any problems. I want to drive home for a visit, about 600 miles. Do you guys have any advice on what i should do before taking this trip, or if i should even take this car at all?

You would probably be better off posting this in an auto repair site. I'm assuming you had a mechanic work on it to replace the fan. If so, hopefully he checked things like oil level, trans fluid, brake fluid, etc. I also assume you had a state inspection done on the car? If you are driving it around, and it seems fine - brakes are working ok, no rattles in the front end, not pulling to one side, no weird noises, not overheating, etc, you should be fine. 175,000 is a lot of miles, but there are many cars driving around with more than that.

Did you also get the coolant replaced? Does it also have AC that works? How soon do you plan to take the trip? Is there any chance of snow either along the way or at home? I would plan to drive the car as a commuter car (less than 20 miles to work) before taking a trip that long. For your next car, try for one 2010 or newer with less than 100K. The cars that I've driven over the 200K mark have all been Hondas.

We've taken our cars into our mechanic and asked for a 'trip check'. A car problem can occur anywhere at anytime. Just make sure if the trip is in an area where there may be pockets of places where you may not have cell phone reception, easy exits, etc. Prepare to stay for a while if you need to wait for help.

I probably wouldn't take it, I think Cavaliers are pieces of junk. But if you don't mind the possibiltiy of getting stuck somewhere, go ahead. I would just not do that without having driven it at home for much longer to see if any problems come up. But sure, have a mechanic check it out. Even AAA isn't going to do you that much good, although better than nothing if you do break down within 200 miles of home (that is the premium acct, though, towing distance).