Here's the situation: I just took my car in to the shop. Needs a new radiator, around $600, which actually isn't too bad. But the car's ten years old and probably won't last much longer. Here's all the vital information for your consideration:
1997 Saturn SL-1, manual
128,000 miles
Good mileage (between 32-37 mpg)
CD player has an attitude
Repairs completed in the past year:
New water pump/gasket
New ignition coil/switch
Replaced front brake pads and rotors
New windshield
Other routine stuff (including new tires)
Total amount spent (other than normal maintenance) in the past year (not counting the radiator) = $2225.88
Other factors:
We just bought a Toyota Matrix, which we love. It's eventually going to be my car, but Cindy's driving it right now. The next car will be hers, but we can't decide what to get. We want to test-drive a Honda Fit for Cindy, but they don't stay on the lot long enough for you to even look at one. (They don't call it the Fit for nothing. We've had a fit trying to find one.) But we may have to made a decision sooner than we thought.
So whaddya say? Fix the Saturn or sell it?
4 comments:
Sell. With every car you reach that point where you could buy new for what you spend on the upkeep for the old. Unfortunately, you don't ever realize this until you've paid to transplant most of your old car's organs. Besides, who needs a CD player with an attitude?
Did you ever get Bullet in the Matrix?
Since I've come back from WFC, we've taken Bullet around town in the Saturn, but obviously that won't continue much longer.
(I'm leaning toward the "sell" option also. We shall see...)
Order a Fit- I did, took two months to get it- but it is great.
Loads of room- am now up to 38 MPG
great handling. Your Matrix is great also. I debated Matrix or Fit. Fit finally arrived and I am glad I waited. I would have been happy with the Matrix, but Fit will give better MPG and I can park it ANYwhere.
Thanks, Wulybugr. Did you get a chance to test-drive one? I know many people are buying them without a test-drive, relying on Honda's reliability, which is excellent.
We're going to the Honda dealership later this week to test-drive a Civic. Cindy thinks it should be large enough for her. Plus we've got the Matrix if we need to load stuff.
Thanks to you and John for your input!
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