Throw $ at paid off daily or cut bait and replace?

[BLAKE]

What would you do?

I have a paid off 03 G35 sedan that I love. 130k miles and its the best daily driver I've ever had. The driveline is solid and I've already fixed/upgraded the brakes and stereo, and put some 18" coupe wheels on it. Suspension is shot, needs tires and the clear coat is starting to go to shit.

So that's around $2k in mechanical stuff and who knows how much in paint or plastidip or whatever, lol.

Seems like the no-brainer is to keep the paid off car but I can't roll it around squeaking and oxidizing, and the thousands of dollars of fixin' would pay for many months of a newer and lower mileage something else.

So what to do?

[BradM]

Get a new car.

[BLAKE]

Get a new car.

Yeah? Why?

[BradM]

Yeah? Why?

Because, not turning into a problem.

[BMCSean]

New car, problems will probably just keep on coming.

[Geor!]

This is the same decision that I have been struggling with on my car for the past couple of years. Told myself at the end of last year that 2012 would be the last year I put money into it other than oil changes and tires. So I'm going to drive it until it stops, then probably leave it wherever it died and take a cab ride to a dealership.

[black2002ls]

Keep it. I have had this argument with myself over my truck. The no car payment thing keeps convincing me to make the repairs

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[BLAKE]

Hah, I think my problem is complicated by the fact that I love the damn car. If I replaced it, I'd probably have to go with another G, but the newer ones aren't as light and fun to drive as the original.

The list of RWD luxo-sport sedans is pretty short and all signs point to BMW. I don't want a German car that's too used and I damn sure don't want to pay for a new one.

[propellerhead]

This is a dilemma a 20-something would deal with.

I'm all about functionality. A paid off car trumps car payments. The 2k + optional paint job is far less than years of car payments and higher insurance costs.

[BradM]

You should get a Jeep!

[downshift_me]

I pondered jumping into a car payment over not wanting to deal with the 1k in parts plus labor for my fuel pump............for about 5 minutes. I do not miss having a car payment and as much as I like the VW's I like money in my bank account a lot more.

[grove rat]

what i would do:

replace tires
replace suspension with slightly used(cheap and if you still have stock it will be an upgrade lol)
plastidip it!

i will not be buying a new car until i can buy it all in cash monies.. try to stick me with some payment plan.. that's for suckas! got my daddy like that years ago on a cadillac..

[YALE]

Jody's unemployed. Get him to run a cost/benefit analysis.

[BLAKE]

This is a dilemma a 20-something would deal with.

I'm all about functionality. A paid off car trumps car payments. The 2k + optional paint job is far less than years of car payments and higher insurance costs.

That's true. Dollars to dollars, fixing is less invested. Thing is, there is a point of diminishing returns on resale. I could easily spend more than its worth and end up with a nice, pretty much worthless 200k mile car.

[MattB]

Sounds like you want a new shitmobile. Buy one, come back in a few years, bitch about it, profit?