Fix up or sell?

[holler1]

jablackburn,
I've had experience with both kinds of cars. The 4 cyl Hondas, especially stick shift, are fun to drive (to a point), less boring than Toyota and even without a 100K warranty, you may be able to drive one for 100K or more without a repair other than brakes and fluids. In 2001, I bought my two daughters a 95 Civic and a 97 Civic. My older daughter traded in her 97 this year on a Fit- I think she had only a clutch job in 8 years-she drove it cross-country to Seattle in 2004. It was a stick and fun to drive- I would have bought back from her myself if I had a way to get it back East. The 95 was traded on a 2003 Corolla- it had nothing done to it in 6 years and it had 80K on when we got it! I love my V70, but realistically it can't even come close to the economy and reliability of a 5 year old Honda or small Toyota.

My advice- Get a reliable Honda and don't worry about getting to work for ten years. If you can afford it, keep the Volvo and drive it on weekends, fix it up yourself. If not, sell the Volvo, then after the Honda is paid off and still going strong, get another Volvo for weekends.

[FCPEURO]

Here is my 2 cents. It sounds like at the moment, the only real issue is the leaking RMS. You can driver on a leaking RMS for a long time as long as you keep the oil level up, trust me I know. I would keep driving the S70 until something else major goes that you just can't leave. At that point, buy a newer car.

In the mean time, Try to save up as much as you can towards a down payment on a new car. Oh, and don't buy a honda. You will be disappoint in it and will want to get back into a Volvo. Getting a honda would be going backwards.

[matthew1]

Another option: sell your Volvo and buy... a Volvo. Get a 2003ish V70/S60 -- you're past the ETM and awful transmission software issues. Cost: much less than $10k.

With fewer miles, less wear, and younger fluids, seals, gaskets, plastics and metals, you'll be far ahead of your 1998 car.

A V70 from that era would probably have been driven gently, given that enthusiasts had a vast array of more exciting cars to choose from. Unless you find a V70R.

You have "sunk cost" in all the time you've spent learning about the inline-5 engine and other components that would be common between a P2 car and your S70. Sunk cost is usually not a good reason to make a decision, but there it is FWIW.

I had a '88 Civic and a '97 Accord, and they were both mechanically perfect during my time owning them, except for a half shaft and thermostat on the Civic. But Hondas are appliances that get you from A to B, and that's it. Compared to my 850, they were soulless.

[jblackburn]

A newer Volvo is out of the question, I'm afraid. I don't like the newer body styles, and the electronics nightmares associated with ANYTHING on one of the newer ones scare me away from them.

Matt, I too owned an 88 Honda, mine an Accord. Amazingly fun actually, but it was a PIECE OF JUNK. Looked to be in good shape, but every single thing possible on it broke. Never left me stranded on the road though.

But besides a Saab, the best 2 cars my parents ever owned were Hondas, a 2003 Acura MDX they had for 5 years and never had a problem with, and the 2007 I'm driving now. Unlike most newer cars, I can look under the hood of this thing and identify actual parts. It's simple and looks like every other car in the parking lot, but has all the cool creature comforts and things that you actually NEED. I like that. Plus they have a good resale.

It's coming to a point in my life where I'm actually considering the future (no not kids! ) An appliance is kind of what I'll need soon, I can have time for a fun expensive car that will break down a lot later on in life. Maybe the Volvo will turn out to be a "family" car our Saab served as for 20 years, who knows!


BUT upon talking with my dad about the financial side of things, I'm thinking right now it makes better financial sense to keep the Volvo and fix what's wrong with it a little bit at a time for about the same as a car payment would be each month (instead of having one) and try to keep it going for another 2-3 years at which point I'd like to keep it as a 2nd car, or at least keep it until I save up enough to make a new car financially feasible without scrambling for money for everything else. When I get a higher-paying job or have a better idea once things have settled down a little bit more, that would be the time to buy a new or pre-owned car I really like once at a time where I'm not just jumping into a huge decision because I need a working car. Not having a car payment is nice, but the looming repair bills like this are hard to foot. I think I'm going to fix it next week and hope for the best, and then fix little things along the way by myself. If anything, I can sell it to my younger brother in a year or two

I'm sure the poking around and test-driving I'm going to do at the dealer tomorrow will have me wondering if I'm really making the right decision.

But I don't think I can bring myself to just give up on it. She's too pretty!

[matthew1]

Dude. That is a seriously good looking S70.

I'm not a big fan of borrowing money. A house? Ok. In most cases with a house, you borrow X dollars so you owe X dollars, but you can trade your house back for those X dollars and you're all even.

With a car it's a little more messy, because they only depreciate. So I'm wary of borrowing for cars, and if you are too we see eye-to-eye on that and I don't blame you a bit.

This economy thing is still a BIG unknown. I suggest being financially careful these days.

Don't even get me started on borrowing to afford things like vacations. That's total idiocy. But I digress.

[850 Turbo1]

I second what Matt said...SWEEET looking S70...Blue is looking really nice and glossy...You know , I would have recommended a NICE BMW 5 series or even a 3 series...the nice ones from 2003 and before...Atleast those are not Hondas ...those are SWEET rides...they say the handling is exceptional....


BUT you know what I think you've made the wise move...keep the S70..and drive it into the ground...That's my plan...hey we'll do it together...!!!

Best of luck buddy!!!

[Georgeandkira]

Hello, Try the chemical RMS sealer. Let your car drip the cheapest oil you can buy. As you said, fix as you go and bank as much as you can. Try more individual sellers over 'stealers'. The transmission isn't bad yet. It's a good thing the "Fun Factor" is zero for you at this time. Check out Trudelta[dot]com and Consumer Reports for real life repair and ownership data from website participants like us. I concur with avoiding a new Volvo at this time. Heavily weight a manual transmission. If you're on a tight budget (need dependability+lack funds), then do that for real. Kira

[boosted5cyl]

Nuts to borrowing IMO! But thats another discussion.....For the cost of the depreciation alone on a new (common, unremarkable) car you could do a lot of work on the T5 (not common and, at least to me, is remarkable) and have no payments!

I vote keep the T5, I think you'll regret selling her. Don't line the leech's (read banks) pockets unless you need to.

[polskamafia mjl]

I agree...a wounded s70 is no reason to suffer through owning a Honda. Save the money you would be spending on car payments and put it towards getting the RMS fixed. That or send it over to Lee and have him do it

[wheelsup]

If he planned on keeping the Honda for 10, 15 years though depreciation is not really a factor.

For me I refuse to drive a car that "looks bad". Also same goes for my wife. A few chips in the paint are one thing but no dents, no faded paint, etc. Just how I feel, I take pride in having a decent looking car, and keeping the interior fairly clean.

That being said an exterior/interior are two things that get very expensive to fix if they are not sound. You are starting with a sound car.

Go thru and make a list of everything that you can replace that will effect its reliability now that the car is basically at its midpoint in its life.

MAF
Fuel pump/relay
Alternator
Battery
Cam/crank sensors
ECT
T-stat
Radiator
O2 sensors
Power steering pump/rack
Ignition Coil
Distributor

That is what I can think of off the top of my head. The bolded ones will strand you the others are just life limited. Not sure what you've replaced yet. See what it all adds up to, to make your car almost as reliable as a new car.

Another option if you are concerned about mileage is buying a well kept for 850 or S70 with lower miles. A 97 850 w/ 112k on it in my area just sold for $3200. A car like that has 100k miles left on it, good bang for your buck. Since you already know Volvos they are going to be easier to keep up on vs. a completely new type of car. Although there are hundreds of Honda forums out there.

On borrowing money and counting on pay raises...I've driven my same car whether I was making $8.50/hr or $65/hr. 2 years ago I finally bought a house, then 6 months later promptly took a 40% pay cut, and didn't miss a beat. Had I gone out and bought another car and made payments we would've lost the house or the car. No car = no getting to work. My wife's sister had her car repo'd earlier this year when she took a large pay cut.

Keep in mind with a new car you have other costs that are higher such as insurance.