When Do You Fish or Cut Bait?

My 03 Golf has served me well. But I have a new job and due to living in a different City, returning on weekends to see my kids, mom and having a commute, in May alone I put 7100 kms (4300 miles) on the car.

Issues:

- Rust (all over - especially hood, drivers door and hatch)

- AC failed and it's killing me in humid Southern Ontario - Repair estimate is over $1000 including tax (Compressor failed). I'm going deaf from driving the 401 with the windows open!

- Needs Exhaust 

- Needs Tires.

The car is probably worth $1000 and needs $2000-$2500 of work. I have been looking at options and $5K probably lands me a decent Honda, Toyota or other with a manual, that have EPA ratings about 5 mpg better mileage than the Golf (2.0L Golfs are really geared for City driving) . I have been tracking my fuel use since May 1 and I am averaging 29.6 MPG (US).  Which is actually better than the EPA rating of 29.

I have been struggling with a decision here. I don't have the ability to buy new (separation - resultant cash flow issues) and I realize that buying used could just get me into someone else's problems. I have owned the car 6 years and it's still relatively low mileage (220k kms - about 132k miles). I know it well and it has served me well, but I keep thinking that it's time to cut bait.

How do you decide?

You need a good tool and you own a crappy tool. Go get a good tool. 

BOOM!

A hobby car is one that you work on and drive occasionally. Driving 4,300 miles in a month, you need an appliance car. Mixing the two will give you ulcers.

I've been seeing seemingly nice 2nd gen Honda Fit Sports with manual transmissions in the $5k range. That's a car you could put 100k miles on and enjoy it.

In reply to NGTD :

My rule is to cut my losses when yearly repairs of a daily driver exceed 150% of the value of the vehicle.

You need an appliance.

Time to cut bait.  It might be worth something at a BHPH lot.  Trade it in and get something cheap and unbroken.

Cut bait.  I couldn't put good money into something with as much rust as you're describing, and the lack of functional a/c would be the nail in the coffin, especially with the mileage you're accumulating.

Cut it loose.

It's unanimous up to now...

Bye bye, VW.

Dump and run.

The answer is rust free southern miata. 

I would cobble the exhaust back together, find a deal on tires, and drive the VW until it either dies or you (really, really) can't stand it anymore. In the meantime start saving for something you really want.

I commuted similar distances in Southern Ontario for over 20  years. I always drove junk,  never had air, and it never bothered me. It only gets that hot  a few times a year and you get used to it.

I thought this discussion sounded familiar.

NGTD said:

Suprf1y said:

NGTD said:

Suprf1y said:

What's the reason for wanting  better fuel economy?

Not dumping cash into the tail pipe. I can't afford a house closer to work location due to proximity to Toronto.

I moved for the same reason and played the game for over 20 years. I always found that it was more economical to drive something like what you already have vs a car that's actually worth something.

I was thinking that you are probably right. I’ve owned the Golf for 5 years and only paid $2K for it. It only has 208K kms on it. Other than some surface rust that I need to clean up, it has no major issues. 

Driving the wheels off the Golf maybe the better option and save the cash for a fun car. Or a 2-wheeler!!

Yes, it is but last weeks 30+ degree temperatures had me on the edge. I was hoping that the AC just ran low on coolant. The news that it needs a compressor has me rethinking stuff. In North Bay, I could handle the heat and had a much shorter drive. The previous thread was more about fuel economy, rather than the amount of repairs that it needed.

Thanks everyone for the comments. More to think about. 

Used Corolla or Civic with working A/C.  Maybe not beige, and done.

Just looked on autotrader, you can get an 08 or 09 Prius for about 5k with less than 200k KM.  Cut your gas bill by at least 1/3 about $250/month.

Yea I 2nd the Prius.  Or other hybrid/EV solution, Volt or Bolt maybe.  I'm not sure what extra mileage costs are on a new EV lease, but I'd at least look at that too.  If your state has good incentives and your electric rates are low, it might add up good.  4300/30 = 140 gallons a month, which is $500 bucks in my area.

8valve said:

Yea I 2nd the Prius.  Or other hybrid/EV solution, Volt or Bolt maybe.  I'm not sure what extra mileage costs are on a new EV lease, but I'd at least look at that too.  If your state has good incentives and your electric rates are low, it might add up good.  4300/30 = 140 gallons a month, which is $500 bucks in my area.

Ontario has the highest electricity rates in North America. I have been looking at Hybrids. Their resale costs are sky high up here.

I dunno, Rock Auto has compressor component kits (compressor, expansion valve, receiver/drier) for $305 or less (depending on which compressor yours has).  R134 is about $15/can, you'll need about 2, some PAG oil in the right viscosity is about $15, and an O-ring kit is a few dollars more.  For well under $400, i'd think you could fix the A/C yourself (with a buddy who has gauges and a vacuum pump).  Add in $200 for crummy/used tires (better yet....used wheels with good tires off FB marketplace!) and a few hundred for cobbled exhaust, and you could probably squeeze another year or two out of the old girl.  Hard to find any car payments for ~$900/yr, in my opinion.  Its resale value isn't much now, but you could probably get your money back that you spend fixing it, while driving a basically free car until you sell it. 

If you upgrade come winter you'll be wishing you had it as a beater. Something to consider.

NGTD said:

8valve said:

Yea I 2nd the Prius.  Or other hybrid/EV solution, Volt or Bolt maybe.  I'm not sure what extra mileage costs are on a new EV lease, but I'd at least look at that too.  If your state has good incentives and your electric rates are low, it might add up good.  4300/30 = 140 gallons a month, which is $500 bucks in my area.

Ontario has the highest electricity rates in North America. I have been looking at Hybrids. Their resale costs are sky high up here.

I hated the Liberals as much as anybody but even I know that's not actually true. There are plenty of places in the US that have more expensive electricity.

Well after looking around for a while, I decided to keep fishing.

New tires purchased and just in time, as I had corded the RF. Nice thing is that I went back to the stock size and have picked up about 3 MPG.

Took the car into a VW specialist here locally - he has diagnosed that the AC clutch is faulty, so the repair will be about 1/2 the original estimate, so it's going in for repair on July 31.

dculberson said:

I've been seeing seemingly nice 2nd gen Honda Fit Sports with manual transmissions in the $5k range. That's a car you could put 100k miles on and enjoy it.

I know a guy who works 4 day weeks and has almost pathological cabin fever.  He does random road trips just to avoid being at home.  He bought a used Fit with about 150,000 miles on it a few years ago.  It now has about 480,000 miles on it and it has needed almost nothing except a clutch and other consumables.

NGTD said:

Took the car into a VW specialist here locally

One of the benefits of VW ownership. Though I've lived in a number of places there's always been a local VW expert since I started driving them in the early 80's and they've always been very fair and reasonable.

Thought this thread was about fishing tips.

Suprf1y said:

NGTD said:

Took the car into a VW specialist here locally

One of the benefits of VW ownership. Though I've lived in a number of places there's always been a local VW expert since I started driving them in the early 80's and they've always been very fair and reasonable.

Yeah I pulled into the place and the guy was outside starting his car to get ready to leave. He came up to me and asked what was up, I told him that I thought I had a borked AC Compressor. He told me to pop the hood start the car and press the AC button. I did so and within 15 s, he told me that everything was working normally except the AC Compressor clutch, that he had one in stock, but unfortunately he was going on holidays next week and the soonest he could look at it was July 31. Cost - $0 and the repair estimate was under $500, when I was quoted $1000 elsewhere. I should have went there sooner!