2008 Suzuki Firenza. 62,000 miles and very much "rental car spec". Starts and runs but apparently has a bad head gasket. Dealership quoted the owner $1800 to fix it so he decided to buy a new car instead. So for the princely sum of $150 it can be mine.
I'm thinking it'll be a project without much downside and should give the teenager a decent ride.
You had to ask? Should already have that head gasket replaced.
Do it but remember that this Suzuki is a rebadged Daewoo from an Era where GM had some ownership in both Suzuki cars and Daewoo.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daewoo_Lacetti
Expect surprisingly poor mpg. Not what you would expect from something this size but hampered by an inefficient engine.
EPA rated at 19/22/28 in something the size of a Corolla.
Aluminum head? I would be concerned if it had overheated that it might have warped the head. Not the end of the world to replace though.
I’d throw it on CL for $400
I would fix it. Do the timing belt and any other front end stuff and I bet you can get $2,500 for that.
Yup. I have no need for it, but I'd buy it.
Scrap value has to be more than that!
I had one of those as a rental once. It was actively unpleasant to drive, and the trunk lid had so much flex that I was sure it was going to fold itself into some abstract origami shape every time I closed it. I mean, it's hard to go wrong for $150, but you'd have to pay me more than that to drive one ever again.
How hard is it to get parts for? My mother had a Daewoo and getting parts was an ordeal every time.
I paid $150 for a 2005 Hyundai Accent with a broken timing belt. I wasn't looking for a car at the time but a clubmate of mine works at a Hyundai dealership and the owner had declined to pay for the repair. I dropped an engine, clutch and timing belt in it and #1 daughter drove it for 4 trouble free years. For $150 you can't go wrong.
Good luck finding a new head if warped. Be sure to flatedge it. Look up the plate glass and sandpaper trick if warped, for 150, you can't go wrong. Some copper gasket spray will fill small voids if blowby eroded head or block, and is good insurance.
Around here someone will pick it up from my driveway an hour outside town and hand me 200 all day long, so I would buy it in a heartbeat, as its basically free at that point. (If you similarly devalue your time like me, when cars are involved)
In reply to Wally : I already looked at Amazon and the complete head gasket kit plus timing belt kit costs a whopping $115.
i'll probably take the head in for checking at the machine shop and spend another $100 making sure it's good to go.
For 150, I think you can go wrong.
How much time are you going to invest in the repair? When you get it all apart and discover the head is bad, how much money is it going to take for a replacement head? When you have it fixed, you have a car that's worth 800? Doesn't seem worth it to me.
As far as keeping it for the teenager...
After collaborating with General Motors to jointly purchase bankrupt Japanese automaker Daewoo Motors, Suzuki rebranded the Daewoo Lacetti as the Suzuki Forenza for the 2004 model year. Soon after the deal, however, Suzuki executives expressed disappointment in the quality of Daewoo cars — and the Forenza in particular. In an IIHS crash test, the Forenza received the lowest possible rating for its side impact crash safety, citing a high likelihood of pelvic fracture to the driver and brain injury to the passenger in the event of a broadside collision. The Forenza was discontinued after the 2008 model year.
Wasn't that car used in TopGear as one of their "Reasonably Priced Cars" ?? I believe it was badged as a Chevy over in Ol 'Blighty...
Whenever I do a HG on a aluminum head car, I have the head checked and if necessary, decked, by a machine shop. The job is bad enough that I don't want to do it twice.
Hopefully the teenager will be assisting with the repair efforts, if not they can get a job and pay you an hourly rate to do it.
Which actual motor is in these things anyway? It doesn't look to be the J20 that was used in the SX4. Some flavor of the Ecotec? Wikipedia's article goes back to an engine from the 80's and I really hope that's wrong.
For a moment I was hopeful that this thing used the Daewoo XK inline six but that's not the case. Really weird time frame, when GM had hands in all these different brands.
Is it wrong that the first thing I thought of upon reading head gasket was, "I wonder what you could swap onto it?"
In reply to Appleseed :
We think alike.
150$ leaves a lot for challenge budget. Convert to rwd with a v8 and live on as challenge infamy.
IMO try throwing a new head gasket in it, see if that fixes it, if not part/ scrap it. If it does flip it. At $150 you aren't going to come out behind unless you don't have the time to mess with it.
Seems like a weekend getting the head gasket changed and the job sorted, and then a few evenings detailing, should turn a $150 car and ~$150 in gaskets into at least $1000 if not $1500. Not a bad deal at all. Car seems completely devoid of any reasons to keep it around so a fix & flip gets my seal of approval.
It's a 2.0L engine developed by Opel in the 70's, and apparently blown head gaskets are not out of the ordinary. I would replace it, see how it runs then make the decision to keep or flip.
I don't think you can go wrong at $150.
Sounds to me like someone is going to have a <$400 all-in beater that they can not give a crap about
Find out what fits in the engine bay after you buy it.
If it's nothing fun you can double the price by scrapping it whole.
If it's something fun you can have a nice winter beater to hoon in.
I think that vintage had the same motor ss the 4-cylinder Isuzu Amigo from @1999. Those are pretty available.
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