Had that discussion with a local shop on Monday. My 2003 Saturn ION (and its Polymer Panels) looks great @ 191K... Its been reliable since new for 21 years. However, I've known the Frame was basically trash... since I changed its Fuel Filter 4 years ago (165K miles) and saw it was no longer attached to the frame (and most metal I touched fell off/crumbled like Sandstone)... Or when over the last few years when getting repairs or Tire Rotations and I'd be told of trouble finding good anchor points OR that they had trouble/concerns getting it on a lift... Yet, didn't realize it was "that bad" until I took it in for a Starter Problem (still works, has some corrosion on contacts, just intermittent "catching"/pausing, will start, just no longer 1 and done, some "thought" is required... and an ABS Light/bad Rear Wheel ABS sensor... ) Basically, to "fix" those issues and get new tires (for Winter)... It just isn't worth it anymore considering all the damage they saw. Oddly enough the same Shop that "complained" last year about putting my car on the lift for its annual tire rotation... Didn't say anything about it this year maybe a month before I had "The Talk" with this shop... It's nice to have a shop willing to be "Honest" with me. Course, looking back on it, its possible some of the shops thought I "knew" it had problems and didn't push it very hard. I "told" this shop it was basically a rust bucket... But it was good they went the "extra mile" to diagnose what I wanted and still willing to be honest about the "big picture". Thankful I had a replacement vehicle already, just figured it would have made 200K and/or Summer 2025 (I really should have had this looked at, before renewing the registration for another year...)
Did my neighbor’s garage kept eat off the underside 2014 BMW 750li Xdrive’s front lower forward control arms in my driveway. He told me he wanted to keep the car “as long as possible.” That translates to as long as I’m willing to keep turning wrenches and learn on it for cheap. It only has a little more than 95,000mi. I wish he’d get a cheap but reliable car as a main commuter and keep this for Sunday dinners only lol. I told him that… I think about that air suspension, the plastic cooling bits that goto the intercoolers and engine. Miraculously there are no leaks and the turbos still good. He won’t even let me do the fluids except the engine oil. The cooling, steering, driveline and ZF transmission are all original fluids still 😨
Oh yea we’ve been topping off the blue coolant every now and then. Pressure test was negative. We changed the cap last year or so. It’s all blending in lol
I think that's the point: you trade it in instead of fixing it at 60k. The dealer makes the repairs and then has a low mileage used car with a bunch of new parts for some sucker who will do the same thing when it needs expensive major repairs again. Plastic cooling systems are money makers for dealership service departments, those components are designed to fail once they get old no matter how well the car is maintained.
Had a 83 Buick regal turbo t-type. That thing was a money pit. I eventually sold it for a 1/10 of what to was put into it. Also had a 2003 marauder that came with the bad engine - failed at 95k. Replaced engine and less than 10k miles the engine went out - turned out that the engine poor design on cooling the heads. Anyways money pits are money pit - you have to know when to just throw in the towel.
Friend bought a 10 year old BMW x1 and had me do some work on it. It’s like I was patching up a sinking ship😂. “But it looks so nice”. I was like but the previous owner put a cobbled together exhaust on it, put lowering springs on it and never hooked the sway bar back up😂
It's getting harder to advise new production vehicles junk evs also..older vehicles rule way more affordable to repair and maintenance restore what u have u r better off
Most of the people won’t listen to your advice, they are in love with the car they have. Only when they have to choose between paying the price of a really stupid repair problem will they question their own judgment. But I’m the end you will get the blame because they don’t listen. I’m going to need to part with my truck eventually it’s 25 years old and has only 360000 miles sure I have spent plenty of money trying to stay ahead repairs but it’s broken down two or three times during this year and left me walking.
At least throw away cars were cheap 30 years ago. Now , you buy a $40,000 and up car, drive it for 5 years, and spend more money on it than it’s worth or junk it? People are stupid enough to buy them, manufacturers are smart enough to keep building them. 😖
