I apologize in advance for the length of this.
Basically my mom has a 2001 Santa Fe 2.4L FWD, and this thing has been nothing but problems within the first year of leasing it. Some of you have seen me driving it from time to time. The paint is fading, the engine has been having chronic problems with a squeaking belt (it's been taken in at least 5x to fix the sqeaking). The car has sputtered for well over a year now when it sits at stop lights, but only does that when its at running temp. The cat has been replaced maybe a little over a year ago. My mom's taken the car to the stealership at least 10x for the sputtering. They are now telling her that her cats are backed up and that is causing the sputter. How does a cat go bad within a year and then they won't even warranty it because she has to many miles on it already. My mom drives a lot, to and from work, and she takes it up north. She doesn't wanna pay another 2k or something that they are asking to do a new exhaust. So basically I am asking what to do about this. Should we take this to corp of the dealership, because they can't fix the problem. Should I just take it to a mom and pop shop to get the belt fixed and the exhaust fixed. I just really don't know what to do.
And some of you are probably asking why my mom didn't just ditch the thing after the lease was up. Good question, I have no idea. Her excuse was she just didn't want another car payment... But now it's almost like she has a 1000 every two month bill to keep this thing running. The car also burns oil I think, because sometimes you can smell it. Any advice would help me. Thanks.