Idk about buying a new car but id change your major! lol im in school for my masters in software engineering and i still say chem 1 + 2 were the most difficult undergraduate courses ive taken. id rather calculus (comp sci + math undergrad) over chem any day of the week but if you can handle it, go for it but just dont stop at a bachelors and if you are going to go in to a concentration, organic chem is probably the way to go.

honestly, i had a dodge stratus for the past four years and i drove it to and from north carolina all the time. it was a great car and as much as I love my jimmy, a blazer/jimmy would not be a vehicle I would rely on to start and drive every single day. Well my jimmy is an exception bc it has been babied its entire existence by an old lady and myself lol i wouldnt climb in to any old blazer and not be waiting for the fuel pump to **** out or something like that. as a college student, you wont have much money and with your major youll be busy. might wanna look into getting a car. just my two cents. good luck at school

 

Hold on, now. I wouldn't hesitate to drive my Blazer across country tomorrow. Why? Because I maintain it. Yeah, I've replaced the fuel pump. And it is a common failure point on these trucks. When was the last time the timing belt was replaced on that Stratus? Aren't they interference engines, as well? Pistons and valves colliding before 100K miles doesn't sound good to me. I can do a fuel pump in under an hour, how long does it take to take the front half of the engine off to do the belt? Might as well do the water pump while you're there, too. They tend to go out on Dodges, as well.

Now, I'm not picking on ya. Just trying to point out that any vehicle can have problems, any vehicle can be a lemon. If you are aware of the weak points in your vehicle (and they all have at least one), you can be proactive, and have a very reliable car.

 

Too each his own. A well maintained dodge stratus that never had any major component fail except for a battery for 250k miles with an original 2.7 motor aka sludge monster but I guess you are right lol. I love my jimmy and I wasnt insulting your blazer at all but I would take my stratus over my jimmy any day of the week as a college student who needs a DD. It doesnt have to be a stratus bc yea they are junk I just happened to baby mine and it treated me well. Buy a civic then or a yugo for all I care. If you wanna worry more about chemistry which is easily one of the hardest majors there is and less about diagnosing fuel and coolant leaks, rough starts, no starts, ****ty gas mileage, and everything else you have no time for, sell it.

 

One owned my blazer for a year and haven't done anything more than maintain it. It's a '93. My mom's '02 durango, in the same amount of time has had rear pinion seal replaced, new rotors, new calipers, a new radiator, new heater core, and a new fuel pump.

Now, what's that have to do with your situation? Haha, in one year I haven't spent any more than oil changes and a tune up on my vehicle. My 20 year old s series. Most reliable car I've owned.

 

For ultimate reliability, get rid of anything that has any electronics on it. Out of my three cars, the one that has been most reliable, and I've spent the least money on repairs, is my '73 chevelle. I can let it sit for a month, and a couple pumps of the gas, and she cranks right up. Cold weather starting is a breeze, all you have to do is have the choke adjusted properly. No scan tools, no sensors to go bad. Trouble shooting consists of making sure it has spark and fuel. Heck, I don't even have to disconnect the steering column to get to #3 sparkplug!

 

I don't have to disconnect the steering column to get to my #3 plug on my blazer. Why not go ultimate reliability and trouble shooting ease and get a riding mower. Those engines are simple and use little gas.

 

Ha ha! I like that. It would add a little time to my 34 mile commute to work, though, lol.

 

I could put the riding mower in neutral, carry a chain on me and chain myself to other people trucks! Gas saver.

 

Ultimately, it boils down to the car, you could buy 2 cars, same everything, drive them the same amount, do oil changes ect at the same time, and one will have something go wrong when the other is still going strong.

 

I did not have to do that to get to the #3 plug on the Jimmy.