Tips for a new owner

mcmanus · 07-16-2009, 07:05 PM

So I purchased a vehicle for my Fiancee, she automatically fell in love with a 03 Aerio SX Fastback AWD... it has 60,000kms has always been dealer maintained and drives nice...

I checked struts, brakes, and engine bay and everything looks clean. The A/C blows very strong and nice and cold.

Are there any tips or anything that a new owner should expect or look for?

I must say I'm very impressed with this vehicle so far...

samabhi111 · 07-19-2009, 07:54 PM

Yeah it is a nice model.

sblrog · 12-16-2009, 06:05 PM

Not sure if ur still following this post. I've been very happy w/ our 2002. But the paint of the plastic bumper covers, esp. the rear, is very poor. If you use a manual wand wash and blast the top of the rear bumper cover, paint chips will fly everywhere.

Also had some problems getting the spark plug boots off. Not sure if this is common. I totalled one b/c I was impatient, and it's an expensive part b/c the coil is built into it. If you ever do ur plugs, and the top (coil) comes off, take your time in getting the bottom (boot) off b/c they can still be put back together. I didn't realize this and started using a screw driver to take the boot off. You can still buy a boot separately, but they are very hard to come by.

sblrog · 12-16-2009, 07:56 PM

One more thing. If ur Aerio is a stick shift, the recommended change interval for the manual transmission fluid is 20,000 km in severe conditions (read: Edmonton). The standard interval is 50,000 km. The specified grade GL4 is VERY hard to get. The dealer was the only place I could find it, but only in 20L drums. However, you CAN get GL5/GL4 a bit more easily, which is what I went for.

mcmanus · 12-16-2009, 08:09 PM

20L drums??? haha that's crazy!! we have an auto AWD... with a good set of winter tires we haven't gotten that thing stuck anywhere... even after that good 20cm+ dump a few weeks ago

sblrog · 12-16-2009, 09:11 PM

What kind of tires? I have cheap Walmart winters. Good in snow, TERRIBLE on ice.

Did you check out that thread on auto transmission in (VERY) cold weather

mcmanus · 12-16-2009, 09:29 PM

It has my personal favorite.. the Michellin x-ices... will be replacing them with the X-Ice Xi2's probably next season...