I'm doing the lower intake gasket on my '97 Lumina.
160k miles, and hasn't failed, but since they are known to fail, I'm not taking any chances since I decided to keep it a couple more years, and do the annual Florida trip again. That's about 3K miles total.. Rocker panels starting to rust through. Anyway, at the dealer to pick up some parts, I took a look at the Cruze. No drive, just showroom. I just told the story here of the airbag exploding on my kid's '95 Bonnevilles. So what's the first thing the salesman brags about the Cruze? IT HAS TEN AIRBAGS!!!I told him I don't want to hear about it. Then we get in the car and he brags about the key fob, where the key folds into the remote unit. Pretty small package. Can't say that impressed me much. So I'm at the wheel and he turns to ignition only and says press the button on the wheel. The display shows all four tires and their pressure. I told him I don't like that, just adds complexity, I can tell when I have a low tire by looking at my tires, or feeling it when I drive. He says, "Ah, old school guy, eh?" Anyway, we didn't get much farther. He mentioned GPS, On-Star, the sound system. Not interested. I did note to him that what he pointed out to be the radio/sound system looked like it was part of the dash and I wouldn't be able to replace it with an aftermarket. He said, "Why would you want to replace it? It does everything!" Showed me the engine and pointed out the hood insulation and what looked like a modernistically formed baffle down low. Said the car is as quiet as a Cadillac. I liked the under hood part. But I was thinking of the 10 airbags and all the gizmos that can go bad and cost me a lot of money. Maybe I'm wrong. But I'll probably buy a new car within a few years, maybe a Cruze, maybe an Elantra, maybe a Malibu. And I'm scared.
--Vic