since she is the one who "beats the hell out of it" buy her the parts & lock her in the garage with the beetle until it's done.
#1
The wife's New Beetle is a 2000 GLS with 2.0 and 5-speed, 91K miles now. She beats the hell out of it, and yet it hasn't quite been a typical new-millenium VW: the only (sic) repairs so far are a new starter (the old one came from the factory with a screaming banshee that stayed silent until after the warranty expired), new thermostat (piffle), and new A/C fan motor and dash switch (more expensive then it needed to be, stupid worthless USD!).It currently needs new tires ($600 for decent all-seasons) and will soon need a timing belt ($600 with tensioner and water pump @ local non-dealer shop). And now, the ABS took a dump. Both the dealer and the shop diagnosed the ABS light it as the hydraulic unit (integrated pump+controller - you know, the German-engineered Bosch ones on most VWs and some Audis from 1996-2001 that fail all the time but VAG won't recall). $800 to replace that POS (@ local shop)... figures, it couldn't be the $100 wheel speed sensor instead.
That's $2000 minimum in maintenance and repairs... on a car with a "fair" trade-in value of $4000 according to Edmunds.com.
She works at a Toyota dealership and can thus get a Yaris at invoice. (I know, the Honda Fit is better, blah blah blah, but she'll pay MSRP for one.) $4000 trade + $2000 down = barely affordable payments on one. I say "barely" because we just bought a new car 3 months ago, so it'll be painful until one of them is paid off.
Or we can spin the roulette, put $2000 in the Bug, and hope nothing (ignorable) happens after that.
Money experts will say it's always cheaper to keep an old car and fix it than buy a new one. I don't think any of those "experts" owned a VW out of warranty, though.
#2
since she is the one who "beats the hell out of it" buy her the parts & lock her in the garage with the beetle until it's done.
#3
Quote, originally posted by goosler » since she is the one who "beats the hell out of it" buy her the parts & lock her in the garage with the beetle until it's done. x2
I wouldn't touch it!!!
#4
Uh, thanks. No, not really.Anyone not on crack, please respond with intelligence. Thanks.
#5
What is cheaper? $2k or $12k...
Seems like an easy choice in pure money terms.If you are spending $2k to fix the Bug and it should be back to driveable, then that sounds cheap... and personally you should not be including the $600 tires in your 'repair' costs, since its stupid to say "oh replacement tires are $600, might as well go buy a new car."
So your repair costs should really be thought of as $1400... not such a large amount to keep an older car on the road, considering what you would pay on the Yaris in payments during the 1st year will be more then $1400.
epitome
I need to follow this motto more often... "Not everything you eat has to, or should, taste really f*cking awesome. Sometimes you need to eat 'boring' food to stay healthy."
#6
Quote, originally posted by g-man_ae »
Money experts will say it's always cheaper to keep an old car and fix it than buy a new one. I don't think any of those "experts" owned a VW out of warranty, though.That's because they don't buy VW's in the first place.
#7
Quote, originally posted by dunhamjr » you should not be including the $600 tires in your 'repair' costs, since its stupid to say "oh replacement tires are $600, might as well go buy a new car." It's $600 that can be put toward a down payment instead of the old car. That's the point.
#8
But at the same time, it's $600 that will end up taken off the trade-in or resale value of the old car (unless you find a truly dumb private buyer).
Splinter - Team Post-Killing Ninja
Help clear my driveway: 1994 Chevy beater truck
#9
it really depends on if she wants a new car or plans on getting one within a year or two. If she will Id say trade it now. If not, Id wait.
#10
FWIW, there's a number of outfits that can rebuild that ABS controller quite a bit cheaper than it costs new.
Can't remember any names off hands because it's been a while since I had a VW.
Finally, you could take that $7k and buy a recent model ford focus, probably with warranty left and no payments.
Modified by nm+ at 8:22 AM 8-25-2008
I probably don't know what I'm talking about (but I know more than you)
Rainbow Farts - Team My Little PonyOriginally Posted by Ducky TSX
#11
I'd put the $2000 into the Beetle rather than buying a new car. Once you do those repairs, you'll have a good running Beetle that shouldn't give you a ton of trouble for a while versus a car payment that you can barely afford on the Yaris.I think the smart money is in fixing rather than buying. Think of it this way - if the Yaris has a car payment of $300 per month, once you fix the Beetle, will it cost you another $3600 to keep it running? Probably not.
#12
maybe i'm crazy, but $600 sounds a little high for tires for that car, unless you've included the costs to get them mounted and balanced. even then though. with a little looking and comparative shopping, you should be able to cut it down to about $400.
#13
Quote, originally posted by nachtmusik » maybe i'm crazy, but $600 sounds a little high for tires for that car, unless you've included the costs to get them mounted and balanced. even then though. with a little looking and comparative shopping, you should be able to cut it down to about $400. agreed.
tirerack.com has lots of options, that installed should be under the $500 mark, if not under the $400 mark as well.
epitome
I need to follow this motto more often... "Not everything you eat has to, or should, taste really f*cking awesome. Sometimes you need to eat 'boring' food to stay healthy."
#14
And, try other tire shops.A set of decent (not necessarily excellent, but decent) all seasons shouldn't cost more than $500 mounted and balanced.
#15
Does the Yaris come standard with ABS? If not don't get hers fixed and just pretend it's a new stylish Yaris.
#16
Repair the bug. Makes no sense to get a new car just yet.
#17
fix the old one for sure.tires should NOT be $600, more like $450 mounted and balanced at most.
not sure about the ABS system, but if you have to take the hit and spend the money on it + the timing belt....I'm pretty sure it comes out to less than the price of a new car.
Also, why do you want to jump to a NEW car, buying a used car would be a better financial decision.
Someone also said, the trade value is $4000....dealers assume the tires are good, they have to replace them, they will knock $500 off your trade value instantly.....someone is buying tires for that car....and it's going to be you
#18
I would buy some tires at costco/walmart etc. You can get them installed/balanced/lifetime rotatation/hazard etc for less than 400 out the door ( assuming they are 15" wheels)as for the t-belt/waterpump...you are brave for letting it go that long..That would be #1 on my list of priorities.
Previously Owned: 2010 JK Wrangler, 2007 Passat, 2003 Jetta, 2002 Jetta, 1992 Sentra, 1998 Dakota, 1990 Ford Ranger
#19
fix it. why get a newer car if all she's gonna do is thrash it?
#20
Quote, originally posted by g-man_ae » The wife's New Beetle is a 2000 GLS with 2.0 and 5-speed, 91K miles now. She beats the hell out of it, and yet it hasn't quite been a typical new-millenium VW: the only (sic) repairs so far are a new starter (the old one came from the factory with a screaming banshee that stayed silent until after the warranty expired), new thermostat (piffle), and new A/C fan motor and dash switch (more expensive then it needed to be, stupid worthless USD!). It currently needs new tires ($600 for decent all-seasons) and will soon need a timing belt ($600 with tensioner and water pump @ local non-dealer shop). And now, the ABS took a dump. Both the dealer and the shop diagnosed the ABS light it as the hydraulic unit (integrated pump+controller - you know, the German-engineered Bosch ones on most VWs and some Audis from 1996-2001 that fail all the time but VAG won't recall). $800 to replace that POS (@ local shop)... figures, it couldn't be the $100 wheel speed sensor instead.
That's $2000 minimum in maintenance and repairs... on a car with a "fair" trade-in value of $4000 according to Edmunds.com.
She works at a Toyota dealership and can thus get a Yaris at invoice. (I know, the Honda Fit is better, blah blah blah, but she'll pay MSRP for one.) $4000 trade + $2000 down = barely affordable payments on one. I say "barely" because we just bought a new car 3 months ago, so it'll be painful until one of them is paid off.
Or we can spin the roulette, put $2000 in the Bug, and hope nothing (ignorable) happens after that.
Money experts will say it's always cheaper to keep an old car and fix it than buy a new one. I don't think any of those "experts" owned a VW out of warranty, though.
Before you spend any money in either direction have your wife have the used car manager at her store tell you guys what acv is on her car. There is no need to mention anything that it needs as any UCM worth a sh** will see some and overlook others. Being an 8 yr old and nearly 100k mi vehicle it will probably not going to turn around and retail it. At least at my store we would probably not. Then once you know what you can trade the vehicle in for as it stands can you start to decide what way makes more sense. I would not be as worried being a 2.0 as I would being a 1.8t of the period and having been beaten on by your wife. There you go my $0.02.
#21
Quote, originally posted by VW1.8Tsunami » as for the t-belt/waterpump...you are brave for letting it go that long..That would be #1 on my list of priorities. Water pump still works, why fix it if it ain't broke? VW's break plenty of times on their own.
Timing belt service for the AEG motor is unspecified by VW
but given by the belt OEM as: Inspect at 60K/80K/100K, replace at 105K. So says the VAG enthusiast-owned shop I used to go to, and their shop manuals.
Hey, if it breaks before 100K and grenades the motor, it falls under the VW's 100K powertrain warranty, right? Since nowhere do they specificy any timing belt service on these cars.
#22
Quote, originally posted by VW1.8Tsunami » I would buy some tires at costco/walmart etc. Costco: $125/tire (Michelin all-seasons in stock 16" size w/ mount/balance/etc.) x 4 + 7% sales tax = ~ $550. So $600 is a good conservative estimate.
On the trade-in, since she'd do this where she works and they're not a-holes, I don't think they'd look too closely at anything, as long as it looks decent and drives fine.
#24
Quote, originally posted by g-man_ae » Water pump still works, why fix it if it ain't broke? VW's break plenty of times on their own. On cars with a timing-belt-driven water pump, it's more cost-effective to replace everything at once than to wait for it to break later (and it will, if it's the plastic impeller style favored by most German makes).
They'd only have to replace the timing belt under warranty if there was evidence of the belt being inspected on schedule. Granted there's not much to inspect, but if it breaks at 61,000 miles and you didn't take it in for the 60,000 mile inspection, they can say the 60,000 mile inspection would have caught the impending failure and you're SOL.
Splinter - Team Post-Killing Ninja
Help clear my driveway: 1994 Chevy beater truck
#25
Quote, originally posted by 00Psst » Once you do those repairs, you'll have a good running Beetle that shouldn't give you a ton of trouble Not too familiar with aging VW A4-cars, are you?
#26
Having no car payments would be better.
#27
dealers do not use edmunds for trade in values. Just about every dealer uses the same wholesale book. And that Jetta isnt going to be worth anywhere near $4,000 as a trade in. You are better off selling it privately or reapairing and keeping it.
#28
Another vote for keep the NB. $600 for decent treis? Are you joking? $400 for good but not rip-offs. $600 for a timing belt job? Sounds high to me...but maybe not... But remember, both of these aer maintenance tiems. Sounds liek there is only oen repair and it's not dire...the car can be driven without ABS until you can get around to fixing it...even if you do it all at once... $2,000 vs $??? for a new car? No brainer man...
Dave
After a good fight, my cousin Chris has moved on.
Rest In Peace Chrissy.
Christopher Donald Ruhnke 5/11/89-5/8/10
#29
Not only that, but the water pump is driven off the timing belt on the 4-cylinder A4s, and there have been cases of the water pump failing, jamming, and taking out the timing belt with it.
#30
Here, less than $70 a pop, all season and its a tire rack best seller. Somewhat meaningful since they do so much business. You should be able to get those mounted for less than $15 a corner for a grand total south of ~$370.
I do not have a witty comment to share at the moment.
#31
Put aside ~$1,100 for tires ($500 to buy, mount & balance some Kuhmos[good] or Sumitomos[better]) and the timing belt ($600).Let the ABS thing go a couple years, since the brakes still work. Just before she's completely fed up with the car, get a used ABS module/valves assy. out of a salvage yard and trade it in.
Why the above course? It's better if one of the cars is close to being paid for before you both go new or nearly new car shopping.
#32
Quote, originally posted by g-man_ae » Not too familiar with aging VW A4-cars, are you?
Why do you even keep the Beetle then? I realize it's paid off, but if you don't trust that platform why keep it? Is it the adorable jelly bean shape of the NB? The flower vase holder?
Threads like these amuse me. You already know what you want to do (i.e. trade in the Beetle and buy a Yaris).
#33
Quote, originally posted by TurboWraith » Here, less than $70 a pop, all season and its a tire rack best seller. Somewhat meaningful since they do so much business. You should be able to get those mounted for less than $15 a corner for a grand total south of ~$370. No man, he has to spend $600! GTFO!
#34
So your repair bill is $2000. Say your payment on the Yaris is going to be $200/month. If, after its fixed, your going to keep the Beetle over 10 months and believe it won't need any more large repairs, its better to keep the Beetle. Its a better car than the Yaris anyway.
#35
Junk it.
Because, after putting $2k into it, you'll still have an eight-year old Beetle with 91k on it.
--Chris
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