A Genuine Conundrum...

"JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t" (jawzx2) 01/17/2016 at 21:08 • Filed to: None

2

3

So, one of my GF’s best friends, who does not live in our state has a 2001 HondaCivic. DX, automatic.

^—- black, Like This, but less shiny...

It has spent much of it’s life in Florida and is almost rust-free. It has been in a moderate front end accident and repaired, and it has had it’s transmission replaced with a rebuilt one about 50K miles ago. It has about 200K miles on it. The car currently needs rear brakes (Drums and full service about $300), and has two oil leaks, one at the valve cover, and another lower on the front of the the engine. It’s due for a timing belt anyway, so the garage she trusts that she took it to thinks they can fix the oil leaks and replace the timing belt at the same time for about $600. It also has an intermittent mystery noise in the front end that no one has been able to diagnose, including the garage. she has no shade-tree mechanic friends and is attempting to get help from us long-distance....

so, I have ridden in the car and looked at it in a driveway... it seems mostly solid. there are no glaring problems (I couldn’t get it to make the noise so we’re still nowhere on that...) It has had some suspension work after the accident repair so the shocks are OK (though not fresh) Radio is intermittent, a/c doesn’t work, but we ARE in New England here... and the power windows are dodgy. but it runs and drives “fine”.

She doesn’t need it to daily commute as she can walk or ride a bus to work, but she does tend to go on long drives to visit people and see things...

She has some money saved up and could buy a used car in the $8000-$10,000 range... (we can’t seem to convince her to buy a new car with payments, which, is maybe fine for her purposes....)

so here’s the question, in the form of a poll... becuase frankly, it’s a bit of a stumpper for me... if the cost to repair were lower I’d say “do it!” if it were higher I’d say “ditch the Civic” but it’s really right on the line as far as I can tell... If she decides to replace the Civic I’ll end up helping her pick out what to get, since I’m the only car person she knows...

“> !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ”>

If you have an option not shown here; that’s what the comments are for...

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 01/17/2016 at 21:44

2

Spending $900 on replacing the timing belt, getting oil leaks fixed AND getting new drum brakes is peanuts. Most other cars, especially those with rear disks, the same service would be more expensive.

Keep the car... keep driving it until it gets rusty or something major happens to it.

smobgirl > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 01/17/2016 at 21:58

1

I vote fix it. I've always regretted ditching mine (210k miles, needed a transmission and a water pump).

Frenchlicker > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 01/17/2016 at 22:34

0

I say do the band aid fixes and continue saving. That way there is really no losing.