Time to get a new car?

[jk70]

when do you finally give in...

Bought 2005 Subaru Outback 2.5XT in 2006..paid ~25k in cash
60,000 miles on it now
2008 repairs ~1,000
2009 repairs ~2,200
2011 potential repairs ~3,200

Am I allowed to now get rid of this car and buy a new (to me) car? When is the right time?

I usually drive until they die but this is driving me nuts

[The J]

How much of those expenditures are repairs and not maintenance (i.e., subtract out oil changes, tires, brakes, etc...)?

[8 Bit WWBG]

Only if you can find a gently used 4 year old Honda Civic in perfect condition with low mileage for under $4,000

[iono1]

Your car is worth $8-10,000+/- depending on some things like condition & options.
If you are sick of the car & can afford a new one, then go for it. If not, then it might be worth fixing.

My car 2 cars ago was one I kept 13 years and over 172,000 miles. Recently, I had a similar situation with the car I replaced it with. In 2008 I paid an acceptable $500 in repairs. Last year it shot up to $5,200. I knew I needed about $1,500 in AC repair, an oil leak that the dealer recommended not fixing but was driving people to ban me from their driveway on visits, and another possible $1,500 from a (cam adjuster) noise. Things like the Xenon headlights, brakes & battery were good bets to go in 2011. Since the car was 10 years old, had 113k miles and was worth $3-5k, I bailed. However, I had the cash for a new car liquid in the bank at a low (0.75%) interest rate since I wanted to be able to spend it on a moments notice & not tie it up.

If I had a 6 year old car with only 60,000 on the car, I'd be torn over replacing it. But if it looks like it's a lemon, make lemonade & it

[Gardening Grandma]

Bought 2005 Subaru Outback 2.5XT in 2006..paid ~25k in cash
60,000 miles on it now
2008 repairs ~1,000
2009 repairs ~2,200
2011 potential repairs ~3,200

Holy Cow! Are Subarus that unreliable?
I bought a 2000 Toyota RAV4 in 2003. It had 55K miles at the time and we paid $12K for it. I figure it's worth around $5K or so. It now has 140K miles and we've redone the brakes and replaced the tires (twice). We are mulling over replacing it in a year or two or three.

Normally I'd say 60K miles isn't that many, but I'd sure be unhappy paying that much in repairs when a vehicle has only 60K miles...

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Holy Cow! Are Subarus that unreliable?

This is also my initial reaction.

[phil5185]

Holy Cow! Are Subarus that unreliable?

That was my exact thought, I thought Subs were great. We just got back from Keystone, CO. One day in Dillon we remarked about them, at the Groc store there were 3 of them in our row alone. So the folks in the Snowy High Country sure like them.

What kind of things have been breaking? Related to a single event? (Eg, a radiator failure may lead to a fried head gasket, blown soft plugs, overheated automatic trans, etc - a long and interrelated chain of events)

[jk70]

How much of those expenditures are repairs and not maintenance

think about what your saying? if i subtracted oil changes and regular maintenance i would be subtracting ~150 per episode, maybe

the 3200 I quoted as potential repairs includes:

1) replacing clutch assembly $1950
2) new axyl $560
3) new brakes $900
4) and then a few minor things

the big cost in 2009 was when the turbo blew (leaned my lesson after that but also when my Honda mechanic who worked on the car b/c he was a genius told me never to buy a turbo car).

I have friends who have the similar car and love it so mine might be a lemon. I always had hondas until this...I guess it's back to hondas again. We do have a 1996 accord that, of course, is still strumming along. I am going to sell the subaru and wait for 6 months and decide if to buy something else (that will obviously be a HONDA!!!)

[The J]

The $900 for new brakes is maintenance, not repairs.

[jk70]

The J:

Maybe I ride hard but not when they were already replaced in late 2008

[The J]

Do you think that a different car will have magical brakes that don't need to be changed?

[jk70]

The J:

seriously, I fight hard NOT to buy cars..when do you throw in the towel...I have spent 6k on a Honda since 1996. I have spent close to the same for a 2005 subaru.

Let's say I can get 10k for this subaru. I can throw that into some high yielding reits and buy a honda accord for ~12k in 6 months...

Believe me, I do NOT want to buy another car.

[The J]

Do what you've gotta do. Your other honda won't be reflective of your repair costs on a new one. There are major changes in technology and the costs related thereto, since 1996.

[Deleted]

How often do people normally replace their brakes?

[whoisjohngalt]

Sometimes you just have to cut your losses. My first car was Honda Accord that had an impeccable reputation, but cost me thousands in 1.5 yr that I owned it and I finally gave up after transmission went out.

Between me and my family we owned 6 or 7 subarus. All but one were great. My brand new 2008 Outback was crap and I just traded in for a 2011 Outback. I wasn't going to spend the next 10 yrs in repair shops.

Lena

[phil5185]

How often do people normally replace their brakes?

There is quite a range - we have a Dodge truck with 90k miles - the rear shoes are original and have about 50% left. And the front pads have been replaced twice, I think the original pads went only about 35,000.
We have a Toyota minivan with 94,000, all 4 brakes are original - but the front pads are down to about 20% or 30%, almost time.

[illinicheme]

Jan 31, 2011 20:17:33 GMT -5 @gin1984 said:

How often do people normally replace their brakes?

It depends very much on driving style. I have a 2004 Mazda 3 with ~89k miles. I've replaced the brake pads once. I have not needed to turn the rotors. But I drive with a style that does not rely on constant, heavy braking. I use engine-braking when it makes sense (driving down winding mountain roads) and otherwise just try to pay attention to the traffic flow so that I can coast to slow rather than braking whenever possible.

[schildi]

I sold my previous truck at 95K miles (8 years old) with the original brakes all around, and there was still 30-40% left. My current truck has 55K miles on it (5 years old), all brake pads are original. I bet I can go to well over 100K miles on that one, seeing that they look barely worn now. I avoid using the brakes as much as I can.

[phil5185]

1) replacing clutch assembly $1950
2) new axyl $560
3) new brakes $900
4) and then a few minor things
the big cost in 2009 was when the turbo blew

patstab makes a good point - I had a 48 Ford in high school, I blew a clutch, tore out the transmission twice (cost me $7 for a replacement at the junk yard), and broke a rear axle - and rear tires lasted only about 15,000 miles.
Changed my ways a bit after that - haven't had any of those problems for about 50 yrs.
But $900 for brakes? It will cost about $340 (both axles) to have the rotors turned and a set of ceramic pads put on our Toyota.

[jk70]

it's my wife's car ;D so I can't say that I need to change my driving habits.

I should go to a few more places which i will but when we bot this in 2006, 7 months later we had serious problems...it's been nothing but trouble ever since; I should say costly trouble.

right now we've just moved into the honda as she's old reliable but she is getting old (14 now)...hopefully, I can just sell the Subaru and I'm in no hurry to buy another one so i'll throw the $$$ into the market

[TD2K]

How often do people normally replace their brakes?




I have a Subaru WRX, manual. The front brakes were done likely about 80k. The rear brakes are getting close to needing to be done and I have about 120k on the car now.

I had the timing belt done at 105k miles, recommended interval and other than that, I've not had any problems with it. I had another Legacy (1996) and other than a head gasket which was a known problem with these, it was also reliable.

Are these prices from a dealer? $1900 for a clutch sounds high to me.

www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=54376

[TD2K]

I found my mechanic through Click and Clack's site (don't know if you've listened to them on NPR) and have been very happy with them. I would suggest taking a look there and talking to some Sabaru owners you see on the street and ask them where they get their servicing done.

I wouldn't take my Sube to the local dealer here if they paid me.

[Deleted]

Jan 31, 2011 17:19:22 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

Holy Cow! Are Subarus that unreliable?

I looked up the 2005 Subaru Outback turbo on consumer reports and it was not good. Without the turbo it was a little better and after 2005 the non turbo outback's got a lot better.

The 2005 Subaru Outback turbo had a full dark circle (worst mark) for:

Engine major
Transmission major
Drive system

[debtheaven]

Sometimes you just get a lemon. In the early 90s, my ex had just left me with three kids under six and I bought a used Fiat (I'm in Europe) with low mileage. Don't remember the details of cost, mileage, etc. That car was at the mechanic every month or two, literally. The mechanic and I used to joke about sharing the car, even though I was the only one paying for repairs (but he was a kind man who knew money was very tight and did his best.) There was ALWAYS something going VERY wrong with that car.

My dad ended up stepping in and telling me get rid of the car, he'd pay for another modest used car. I accepted his generous gift. I bought a Ford Focus and it ran reliably for YEARS. Financially speaking, that gift LITERALLY changed my life, because I no longer had to CONSTANTLY pay for expensive car repairs.

Several years later my then BF (now DH) asked me for permission to trade in my Ford so he could buy me my first new car. We were both in our 40s by then LOL.

Sometimes it's just better to cut your losses.

ETA: I thought Subarus were perfect too ... so does my DH who has been Jonesing for one for oh, only about 20 years LOL.

[stillontheroad]

Ugh. I wouldn't expect that kind of repair history on a Subaru; I always thought of them as being pretty reliable too.

I'm generally a "drive it until the ground" kind of person but I have to admit I'd be worried I had a lemon (or a dishonest mechanic) if I were in your shoes.

[Opti]

Feb 1, 2011 19:07:22 GMT -5 @pooks1976 said:

Jan 31, 2011 17:19:22 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

Holy Cow! Are Subarus that unreliable?

I looked up the 2005 Subaru Outback turbo on consumer reports and it was not good. Without the turbo it was a little better and after 2005 the non turbo outback's got a lot better.

The 2005 Subaru Outback turbo had a full dark circle (worst mark) for:

Engine major
Transmission major
Drive system

If this is true you may had the bad luck of getting a car from a bad year and possibly even a lemon from that year. I'd probably go read consumer reports and maybe even talk to local mechanics to decide whether its the
car and/or the driver's habits.

To make you feel better, here's some prices I heard from a mechanic who
works on some expensive cars. He once charged an owner $1700 just to replace the tail light of a BMW Z8. ( Under 400 made that model year? )
Porsche's needing $20K and above in repairs at 30,000 miles or less.
Yikes!
Aren't you glad its just an unhappy Subaru?

[TD2K]

Subaru's WRX and STis have been degraded by Consumer Reports. My WRX is a 2002 and it was rated better than average at that time. The 2011 buying guide has the WRX and STi as average (a year ago the WRX was worse than average I remember). The Imprezza, Outback and Forestor are all much better than average. The Legacy is better than average and the Tribeca is average.

[Opti]

My 2002 3 series had good ratings from Consumer Reports last I checked but I'm sure its been downgraded. Before I was laid off, I was setting aside about $300 a month for repairs/maintenance because for me I wasn't going to get a car as fun as mine for that kind of money. Things started to get pricey around year 6 or 7.

Would have worked too, if I had stayed employed or got another job quickly at the same or better pay. There are people who keep cars like Mercedes, Volvo, BMW for 200K miles or so but it does cost money. The mechanic I'm having do some work apparently does lots of work for J&J heirs and I think one of them primarily drives a '79 Mercedes if I remember correctly.

TD, I think in general the more fun the car the more issues and more it costs to keep happy. If I drove my car more like a luxury car instead of the sport car it is
my costs would be down too. What have your repair costs averaged in the last few years?

[debtheaven]

I think StillontheRoad raised a good point. Are you SURE that your mechanic is honest?

Mine was and I ended up selling that "lemon", but it's a question that is worth thinking about.

[Opti]

It also maybe worth getting different mechanics to fix different things. I've noticed each mechanic/shop has a different opinion on what's most critical for me to fix first.

I think many mechanics are honest but they may push certain repairs based on their own financial interest when your best financial interest and safety you might be able to wait longer on the repair than they suggest.