A Typical Family Warns An Unsuspecting Public About The Products And Experiences That Make Life A Little Slice Of Hell

Here's an excerpt from the new blog called Summary Judgments:

Auto Review: 2001 Chevrolet Venture Minivan

Here’s a (probably incomplete) list of everything that’s gone wrong with Vannie since the summer of ’04.

1. Gas gauge inoperable. Estimate to repair - $700. This still isn’t fixed, so we reset the on-board computer thingy to keep track of gas consumption, sometimes with disastrous results – sorry Kelly!
2. Gas tank dicked up, as in, we couldn’t put any gas in the tank. Gas is sorta critical for an internal combustion engine. Repaired to the tune of $600. This problem occurred within two weeks of purchase but was not covered by our “bumper-to-bumper” warranty. I guess the gas tank is somehow outside of the range encompassed by the front and back bumpers. Who knew?
3. Viewing screen for entertainment system breaks. Children inconsolable. Parents gleeful. Seriously, that thing was more trouble than it was worth. We had to create all kinds of weird rules like, “No movies on a trip less than 45 minutes long.”
4. Head gasket replaced. I’m not going to pretend I know what a head gasket is or what it does, but I do know it is critical and costs $1,200 to fix. This was the repair that caused our mechanic to regretfully admit he thought the ’01 Ventures were “lemons.” Excellent.
5. Heating and air conditioning system completely malfunctions. No heat, no air, no defrost, no blower. $600 to get the heat going (it was winter), air conditioning still inoperable (actually, worse than inoperable, it blows a gentle stream of heated air if the blower is on at all).
6. Car overheats and ceases to run. I can’t remember the reason why, but it cost $500 to get it going again. It took the mechanics a while to diagnose this problem, partially because when taking it out for a test drive, they ran out of gas (see #1, above).

Other than that, no complaints!

This is a new blog by Mike and Anne Quimby Mathias, who don't always agree with me but who have always spelled my name right.

Comments

[Anne Quimby Mathias]

Tom, I totally snagged that Canyonero picture from your blog.

"Too crazy for boy's town..."

That's our favorite Simpsons quote.

I guess we can agree after all!

-AQM

[Tom McMahon]

Anne, We once owned a 1985 Chevrolet Celebrity Station Wagon. Your post took me back to those days when we had our paychecks direct-deposited to Mr. Goodwrench!

[Howard]

This sounds like the list of things that went wrong with our '95 Ford Windstar. Except we went thru 3 head gaskets, but didn't have to pay for any of them. We have a '05 Venture now. Here's hoping they ironed out the bugs.