Hello Roger
Glad you wrote. It is wise to ask advice etc as you are doing. It gives you different perspectives and this is a tough issue.
Sounds like you have a good mechanic. . .. . .. . .. . ...
The quote is about what I come up with and that isn’t counting fluids and some other things. . ...so hang on to them. . .they are hard to come by.
Now I might suggest for the radiator. . .. . ...instead of going with the one from the dealer have your mechanic check out this site. I have attached two for your car. . ..he just has to do some measuring to get the correct one. . ...but they are cheaper.
To be honest Roger. . ...I could tell you as long as you do the normal maintenance the car should last forever. . ...but that would be false. It really depends on your driving and how you take care of it and the parts themselves.
I purchased a used car for my daughter. . ...checked it out. I even ran it over to a buddy that had a fancy machine and went all through it. The car looked great and only had about 78,000 miles on it. I bought it. . .. . .. . ..2000 miles later the head gasket blew. . .. . ...
We owned a 1997 Galant ES with a 2.4L. We drove it almost 190,000 miles and sold it (for a really cheap price) to our daughter/husband and they drove it and now it has about 250,000. The transmission sounds kind of bad but they just gave it to the youngest daughter/husband to drive.
Now I did do plenty of maintenance but what I call normal. Struts, AC system complete, timing belts etc.
I drive a 1995 Impala SS. . ...never have touched the engine. . .. . .. . ..completely replaced every single part on the suspension though. . .. . .. . .it has over 200,000 on it.
You could decide to keep it and something goes. You could buy the other car and it has a problem. You just never know.
There †have I rode the fence for ya. . .. . .. . .. . ...
The way I look at it, which everyone has their own way. . .. . ...when my maintenance costs start to be more than a monthly payment then it is time to go. . .. . .. . .
Now that doesn’t count like in your case. . .. . .$800.00. That is about 2 maybe 3 months of a car payment. So. . ..if the car lasted for 6 months until you have to do something else, to me. . .you are still in the green. Plus you know what your car has been through and has had done to it. . ..the other you don’t.
Me †in the current times I would fix my car and start making a car payment to myself. . ...say $450 a month. You said you would have to borrow. . .. . .. . .so to me it is the same thing. The only difference is you are putting money aside for when it does stop. In one year you will have $5400 dollars. You are almost at the $7000 you were going to borrow. In 4 more months you will have the cash to pay for the car. You know if you borrow it will cost you a lot more than the $7000 and, it will be over about 24 months or so? Here you have the cash in 16 months.
So my friend. . ..to me. . ...if it were me and I knew the condition of the vehicle (you can’t know the unknown, ie blown head gaskets etc) then I would fix the car and take care of it and make car payments to myself. Who knows, let’s say the car lasts 2 years. . ..you will have $10,800 in cash to put on an even nicer car plus trade or sell that one.
I can’t tell if it will last, nobody can. . .. . .. . ...but I hope the above helps.
I did attach some scheduled maintenance below that should be done to the car though.
Now at 60,000 miles you were to replace the timing belt, spark plugs, ignition cables/wires.
Every 15K the plugs are to be replaced.
Then I show again the timing belt at 100K needs replaced.
At 120K, you were to replace the timing belt, spark plugs, ignition cables/wires.
Well, I hope the above helps. . .. . .. . ..if you would like another moderators opinion, I will be glad to have one of our great folks give you their input. . .. . .
Would you like that? Just let me know.
Saturday, April 4th, 2009 AT 9:03 PM
