Fix or buy new car

[jpeter1093]

I "think" this is a no brainer; but it's my wife's car that she's very attached to. So, I told her I'd run it by the folks here.

2005 Mini Cooper S, 126,000, 50 of which are on a second (rebuilt) engine. Body sound. Took it in for brake work and inspection. In order to pass inspection, it would need about $2000 worth of work (new brake lines, rotors, etc). The mechanic said it's close to needing tie rod ends, struts and other suspension work (another $2000) but that I could put that off, for now. He also mentioned it's very rusty underneath.

So, $4000 on a car that would still be over 14 years old when the work was complete or use that $4000 as a down payment on a new ride?

Thanks!

 

[Walt34]

Time to go new-car shopping.

 

[Big_Hitter]

Time to go new-car shopping.

yep

 

[Red Badger]

Brake lines? Tie rod ends? Suspension parts? Rust? Engine already replaced? At 120K+ miles?

Ditch that clunker. Those are not routine wear parts at that age/mileage. They were for a '68 Oldsmobile. But a car produced this century? Nope.

 

[Souschef]

Time to go new-car shopping.

+100
DW had a 1998 Caddy that she loved, but it was moving way up the bathtub curve. The last straw was a blown head gasket.
She is now the proud owner of a 2017 Mazda with adaptable cruise control, and a Bose speaker system she can pair with her smartphone or her tablet.
Yes, it does not ride like a Caddy, but for the short trips we take, who cares?

 

[capjak]

New Car or at a minimum a gently used one.

 

[pb4uski]

Give that mini-cooper a dose of the swaps.

P.S. You had me at 126,000 miles.

 

[Scrapr]

Sell Mortimer

 

[Bamaman]

You need to find another mechanic, as he's completely dishonest.
You can go to RockAuto.com and order new brake pads, rotors and hardware for $150--all 4 wheels.
A set of struts are only $110 for both.

Nothing worse than a mechanic shop that strikes fear in the hearts of customers. If the engine has been replaced, you should have many, many more miles left in the body. Go find another mechanic.

Note: Another source of ridiculous profits is the CVT belts on older Mini's. Dealers charge $5000 to fix them. Independents charge $3.5K. The parts are only $500, and the fix is documented on YouTube.com. Fortunes have been made ripping off customers on this job.

 

[PatrickA5]

Yep time for a new car. I just took my son's 11 year old Infiniti in for an oil change and came back with $7K of problems found. The car is worth $8K. It could probably go another year or two before it fell apart, but I'm selling it to Car Max and getting something newer. Not worth my time or hassle dealing with it.

 

[FreeBear]

I "think" this is a no brainer; but it's my wife's car that she's very attached to. So, I told her I'd run it by the folks here.

2005 Mini Cooper S, 126,000, 50 of which are on a second (rebuilt) engine. Body sound. Took it in for brake work and inspection. In order to pass inspection, it would need about $2000 worth of work (new brake lines, rotors, etc). The mechanic said it's close to needing tie rod ends, struts and other suspension work (another $2000) but that I could put that off, for now. He also mentioned it's very rusty underneath.

So, $4000 on a car that would still be over 14 years old when the work was complete or use that $4000 as a down payment on a new ride?

Thanks!

So you only got 76K out of the original engine? Not a good sign if you are already at 50K on the rebuild.



If you want to keep the car, I'd get a second opinion. I sure wouldn't spend $4K on a 14 yo car, maybe not even $2K in one chunk, unless I was crazy in love with it.

 

[Aerides]

You had me voting "new car" with the first $2k. As attached as she may be to it now, she'll soon change her mind if you accidentally pull up at the dealer and she sees the new models.

 

[aja8888]

Time for a second opinion. Like others have said, estimates look a bit padded. I'm surprised the stainless steel brake lines are rusting so soon. Those should last for decades. BTW, if one line had a rusted-through hole in it, no matter how small, you would have no brakes, period.

in any event, if the iron worm is having it's way with your Mini's (BMW) undersides, this all may be an exercise in futility.

 

[davebarnes]

Not time to go shopping.
Time to lease a new car.

 

[Jerry1]

I’m done driving cars into the ground, so my vote is to get a new car. If I were to keep the car, I’d definitely get a second opinion. The prices seem very high, but my main concern is the rust. If it is really rusty, you’re just putting good money after bad. If it’s not rusty and you find a good mechanic, you can keep a car running forever. Why anyone would want to is beyond me, but it can be done.

Don’t forget the let DW know that you can buy a new Mini Cooper. She might fall in love with a new one just as she did with the old one.

 

[winger]

I keep cars for a long time. A car I bought in 1977, was my main car till I sold it in 1991. Just traded in a truck I bought new in 2006, 13 years and 229,000 hard miles.

My rule- Time to get another car when the same problem needs fixed a second time. With some cars, that has happened in just a few years.

 

[Sunset]

^^^^ My DW's car is 21 yrs old.

We have 103K on it. I just use it for local drives like grocery shopping, etc.

 

[capjak]

If you get a newer car it will have more safety features on it. Check the on line government crash testing results and get one that is 5-star safe.

If it saves your life one time it has paid to get a newer safe car. Remember there are a lot of distracted drivers out there, safety should at or near the top of the list.

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

I call BS on the estimate, although you are in NY, and I know how quickly cars tend to rust away in the Empire State. That being said, unless you can fix things like brakes and rotors yourself, it's probably time to start looking at a new car.

 

[Winemaker]

You need to find another mechanic, as he's completely dishonest.
You can go to RockAuto.com and order new brake pads, rotors and hardware for $150--all 4 wheels.
A set of struts are only $110 for both.

Nothing worse than a mechanic shop that strikes fear in the hearts of customers. If the engine has been replaced, you should have many, many more miles left in the body. Go find another mechanic.

Note: Another source of ridiculous profits is the CVT belts on older Mini's. Dealers charge $5000 to fix them. Independents charge $3.5K. The parts are only $500, and the fix is documented on YouTube.com. Fortunes have been made ripping off customers on this job.

+1

 

[Andre1969]

A friend of mine recently went through this with a 2006 Xterra. It had about 190,000 miles on it, and was getting expensive towards the end. The kicker was when it got to the point the transmission was starting to go out, and it needed a lot of exhaust/emissions work. Unfortunately, the days of the $650 3-speed automatic tranny and the "universal" K-mart catalytic converter are over with. He was looking at an estimate of $7-8000! Although admittedly, this was from the dealer.

I told him that he could shop around and go to an independent shop and get it a lot cheaper, but then he's still going to have a 13 year old, 190K mile vehicle that could still lose its engine, have electronic issues, a/c issues, rust issues underneath, etc. While sheetmetal doesn't rust and cars don't leak like they did back in the day, I've had several mechanics tell me that some things, like suspension components, brake parts, etc, just aren't as rugged as they were back in the day. I know plastic intake manifolds...a part that once upon a time was made out of iron, and rarely gave any trouble, sends many cars to the grave these days.


Now, to its credit, I don't think that Xterra ever ran up enough repair bills in every single year to out pace what a year's worth of its monthly payments had been. So, by that metric, I guess it was doing okay. But, there still comes a point that you just need to let go, because it's just not worth fixing.


My friend ended up with a 2017 Nissan Murano. He bought an extended warranty for it that also covers most, if not all, maintenance. I used to think those extended warranties were a ripoff, but with the way repair prices can be these days, I'm not so sure anymore.

 

[mountainsoft]

2005 Mini Cooper S, 126,000, 50 of which are on a second (rebuilt) engine. Body sound. Took it in for brake work and inspection. In order to pass inspection, it would need about $2000 worth of work (new brake lines, rotors, etc). The mechanic said it's close to needing tie rod ends, struts and other suspension work (another $2000) but that I could put that off, for now. He also mentioned it's very rusty underneath.

So, $4000 on a car that would still be over 14 years old when the work was complete or use that $4000 as a down payment on a new ride?

I'm surprised you got less than 126,000 miles out of that engine. I've got 218,000 on my 2000 Jetta and still going strong. Unless the engine was abused all I can think is it wasn't maintained properly (run out of oil or coolant, or maybe a broken timing belt?).

I'm usually in favor of repairing over replacing. You know the car, you know what has been done, you know what needs to be done. $2000 in repairs is still a lot cheaper than buying a new car. However, it really sounds like this car has been neglected. Anything can be fixed, but once the body starts to rust it's probably time to look for a new car.

Those repair costs seem really high to me, but then I always do my own car work. That $4000 repair cost would buy a decent used car. Time to say goodbye to old rusty and find another car.

 

[brett]

I would trade out that clunker just as fast as possible.

OTOH...we just made a decision to spend $1200. on our 2006 Accord. 120K miles and is in like new condition. Besides, it is only on the road 8-10 months@ 8K miles per year.

 

[Sunset]

....
So, $4000 on a car that would still be over 14 years old when the work was complete or use that $4000 as a down payment on a new ride?

Actually it would be $4000 + (whatever the mini sells for) as a down payment on a new ride

Frankly, from the sounds of it, you either got a lemon car or abused it, or the mini coopers are just cute disposable cars that should not be owned for long.

 

[cj1717]

Ditch it. Your car was on my short list (until I researched owner reported reliability). Bought a Miata 7 years ago. Still haven't had my first repair ( maintenance only)