What would you do with this? (MK2 Jetta)

This car belongs to my sister, and she wants to keep using it as a 400 mile per week commuter car and drive it all over the state, including camping places that are an hour from paved roads, etc. Most of the maintenance will be done by other people, it is too frustrating for me to work on and I usually don't have time. She knows how to check oil and add some if necessary, or how to call someone if something goes wrong, but thats about it.

It is a 1992 Jetta, it was purchased about 4 years ago with under 100k miles, it is in mostly decent shape (lots of door dings, but no major damage). After she bought it it was determined that the head was completely shot (it would blow a huge smoke screen when cold, and use 1+ quarts of oil per tank of fuel). Since then, it has has a suspension rebuild, clutch, cv joints, new shifter linkage, rebuilt head, newer transmission with ~60k miles, tires, and a few other things done to it. The odometer failed a while ago but it probably has ~160k miles on it now. It still sometimes clatters loudly for 20 seconds or so when you start it when its cold, but stopped burning much oil after the rebuilt head was installed. A couple months ago I was driving it and sitting at a stoplight, and as best I can tell the head gasket failed and blew the blue coolant temp sensor and all the coolant out, so now it has low compression and wont start.

She says selling it is not an option, and it has to be registrable in California (so it either has to look stock or have a complete swap from a newer car).

She also just bought a kinda rusty 87 Golf Syncro with an AAZ in it, which runs and drives ok, but has some very creative wiring by the previous owner so it sometimes wont start and drains the battery if it sits longer than overnight, a leaking heater core, the rear brakes dont do much, and plenty of other work needed.

What would people here suggest doing?

Change your phone number.

Crash both cars into each other then set them on fire then bury them in the desert.

Is her ability to choose cars any relation to how she chooses her dates?

If selling is not an option, then tell her fixing it is also not an option. The car isn't worth fixing. Tell her that and then wash your hands of the whole mess.

Neither of those cars sound like they are worth fixing even if you do all your own work. If you have to pay someone to do work like it sounds like she is ...

Likely a better example is available for less than getting on road worthy.

Buy a decent one and keep that as a parts car?

Lol well the problem is either me or our parents have to deal with it (help either fix or retrieve the cars when they break, and let her borrow a car to get to work) when things go wrong. The Jetta wasn't too bad for most of the time she had it (other than the previous owner being nice enough to warm it up before we looked at it so it didn't smoke), but other people suggested the golf being a good idea, it is in pretty bad shape for having cost over $5k though.

How much money does she have available to deal with the situation?

People who can't work on vehicles shouldn't buy vehicles that need work. 160k miles isn't bad at all for a '92, so I understand the appeal in keeping it on the road. Still, the most I'd do is part and scrap the Golf to raise cash for a used engine for the Jetta.

If I were forced to keep it, I'd swap in a motor and trans from a later car. I think the 2.0 swaps in.

personally, I'd have her sell it rather than being faced with bailing her out of her poor automotive decisions. Girls are lucky like that...

syncro golf you say???

sell them both to a vw nut and tell her to buy a mk6?? sounds to me like she's either going to need another mechanic or another car.

Yes, the golf is a syncro. I know a couple of people (the ones who went with her to look at the golf) who will work on them for her, but they have other things to do too. Idk exactly how much money she has to spend on car stuff right now, a few thousand probably. A used longblock for the jetta could be acquired for like $250 from the junkyard here, or a complete ABA with wiring for ~$650 plus a new gastank and downpipe.
A non broken MK2 jetta would probably cost like $2500 to buy in this area, the golf is kinda hard to value, the only other one I saw for sale was $6k with no engine and no title, but the seller sounds like an idiot and it has been for sale a long time.

Sell them both and get her to buy a 90's era Japanese car (ie, Corolla/Prism, Camry, Sentra, etc.) They are a lot more forgiving with lack of maintenance, durable, and pretty plentiful for the most part. Sounds like she just needs a reliable appliance.

Sounds like she likes interesting cars and enjoys having them.

Which in turn sounds like a situation where if that actually means anything to her, she needs to develop either the ability and willingness to start doing her own work, or be willing to pay pros to keep them on the road.

sethmeister4 wrote: Sell them both and get her to buy a 90's era Japanese car (ie, Corolla/Prism, Camry, Sentra, etc.) They are a lot more forgiving with lack of maintenance, durable, and pretty plentiful for the most part. Sounds like she just needs a reliable appliance.

Yep, this time, the answer is Corolla

A syncro Golf is a very rare beast here, none were officially imported to the US. That said, why the heck did she buy it if it's such a basket case?

I agree with the others. Sell both, get a lower mileage Japanese car.

She doesn't have the money to pay a shop to fix them, either I have to do it (which is sometimes ok, but not always) or pay someone else to do it when they have time. The people who looked at the syncro golf for her were the guy who has the green lifted golf that gets posted a lot, and a guy who has $50k into a syncro and tdi conversion mk2 golf project, so of course they would say buy it lol, the actual amount of time fixing everything will take is another story though.

Let me get this straight- someone with no mechanical inclination and the desire to drive 400 miles per week and regularly camp an hour from paved roads keeps buying VW products????

Sell all and buy an Impreza wagon.

Lol there is actually a dead legacy sitting in the driveway, fixing that to use instead is an option, it probably needs an engine too though, and for sure needs tire, tie rods, oxygen sensor, brakes and a few other things. But yes, that is correct, she wants to rely 100% on mk2 vws for 400 miles per week of commuting, camping and other trips, etc.

Sell them. The diesel syncro golf should be worth some serious coin.

you could always convince her of the "while your in there..." approach, pull it all out, do it once, do it right if it needs it, then spend the rest of your days doing easy maintanence on a car that will last along time when taken care of. much cooler than a camry, sounds like she has good taste in cars. . . embrace that, don't kill it with a subaru wagon

so were the golf syncros the same as the quantum syncro, as in, audi drivetrain? or were they thier own beast like the vanagon syncro?

Lol fixing everything would be nice, but those cars are so hard to work on, and especially in the case of the gas one, nearly impossible to get running right. "While you're in there" on the golf would end up with it a bare shell welding in patch panels and repainting, etc too haha. The golf syncro is like a regular golf, except it has an extra part on the transmission to drive a driveshaft to the rear, the center tunnel is taller (same as one from a corrado), and the rear suspension and floor are different (semi trailing arms like the QSW, different than a 4000). The rear diff is special, I dont know how similar it is to the vanagon one though.

Sell. Everything.

Seriously, I'd put the Syncro on eBay and let crazies around the world think they can do something with it. Be that enabler!

If you are okay with doing an engine swap, the Jetta may have potential. But that's a project that will take time. She'd probably be smart to go find something useful in the meantime.

It sounds like money is tight. I'd off both of them and find a really nice Metro or Festiva or other similar small car that isn't quite so needing in help.

pres589 wrote: Crash both cars into each other then set them on fire then bury them in the desert.

My dad has done something similar to this before.

Had a car with 350k miles after 3 years and his friend burned it "for him" after the warranty expired.

Part them out. You could sell them for $500, but you can make more money parting them out.

i was hoping rallycross was a possibility