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Thanks Jipster. The ground just keeps getting closer every year.
For road trips, get AAA or something for assistance.
Also, you're familiar with both vehicles, know their maintenance history, etc. So that counts for something.
Heck, I still have a '92 Sentra (with 146,000 miles on it), and an '87 BMW with ~195K miles on it that I drive, so you have a number of years to go with your Quest and OB .
As for the Quest, I would put it on Craig's List and see what kind of nibbles you get. For a low priced van, you may get a lot more interest than you think and get more than $2,000 for it.
Then, I would look into a new ride to replace the Quest. Maybe a Mazda3 hatchback?
I own an Audi S4 2005 model, has about 52k miles, 6 months out of warranty. Just been to dealer for regular maintenance and ended up getting some repairs and total bill $2500.00. It has developed a new problem of fuel gauge showing wrong reading and there's some oil leakage from rear middle of front end. I love this car and tried to sell it, found a buyer for a pretty good sale price but couldn't sell it. Its fully loaded and drives well, just some issues coming up which have nothing to do with driving experience.
Couple of friends told me to keep it saying repairs won't be that expensive to justify spending another 20k on a new car (G37), even the insurance would be higher.
Couple of them advised me to get rid of Audi as they are expensive to maintain after warranty (its my first Audi).
What do you guys think? What would you do? Any suggestions are welcome.....thanks.....!
Also in practical terms, if you sell under 100K on the odometer, you're going to have a much easier time.
Audis depreciate like cobble stones thrown off a bridge, so waiting too long is no good either.
I guess I'd check out that oil leak. If it's a rear main seal on the engine, then come back and we'll talk again about this.
And, as shifty said, find out what's going on with this oil leak and report back.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '08 Charger R/T Daytona; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '08 Maser QP; '11 Mini Cooper S
But personally, IMHO,if the trade value of the Audi is good, I would trade it in.. A 80k mile or 100k mile Audi has very little value..
By the way, am I remember correctly that your A/C doesn't work? That was one of the things I would have wanted to fix on mine. I had it converted to the R-34 refrigerant shortly after I bought it 4 years ago, and I had to replace the evaporator at that time, because it leaked. Cost $1,500. As a resident of MD (I see you live in Catonsville), I want A/C. I've done without it in the past, on a couple of occasions, when one of my cars was worth to justify repairing it, but I won't put up with the discomfort any more.
Good luck with your E30. Let us know when you get past 200,000.
You mentioned 5 years and 80,000 as a wise exit point. Since I'm planning a long road trip this summer, I figure this car will have around 55,000-60,000 miles on it when it celebrates it 5th birthday. Would you be inclined to sell it around that time, if you were me, or would you drive it until 80,000?
Maybe 70,000 miles would be a better jumping off point, since the owner's manual calls for the timing belt to be replaced at 75,000. I've heard that this a bigger-than-usual job on an Audi, because the engine is installed longitudinally. Do you know if that's true?
Let me remind you, as this is an important part of the fix versus trade equation, that I have a couple of good inde mechanics that have experience with Audis. I'd do my own repairs if I could, but as runner up for the title of worst mechanic on the planet, I know my limitations.
I think on a case by case basis, the determination of when to ditch the Audi would depend A LOT on its previous behavior. In other words, if I owned this car and it behaved impeccably up to 75K, I might be inclined to test it up to 95K and see how that goes.
There is a psychological barrier at the 100K mark when it comes to selling a modern car----for some reason, when that ODO rolls over just one digit to 1-0-0-0-0-0 that costs you $$$ in resale.
Recently, his grandson sold a '99 A8 with 110,000. The commercial airline pilot who paid market price for it at the time really likes the way it runs & the AWD.
So an Audi with 100K has more than half its life expended, and it's the best half, too.
No, I hadn't heard you sold your E30. Well, there comes a time... :shades: . What did you get for it?
I figure my '87 needs around the same amount of work as yours did. This does not include the clutch, which is still original. I'm coming to that same decision point.
Yes, my A/C is not working either. It worked for the first year or 2 after we bought the car back in 1999. After one recharge which held for about a year, it looked like it was going to cost me $800 to change it over to R-34 and replace all the affected parts. Even then, I couldn't see the worth in doing that. Was saving the money for a clutch replacement, which never needed to be done.
While all my present vehicles (except the E30) has working A/C, I never had it in a car until 1992. So, when the weather gets really hot/humid, I have alternatives to drive.
I can't think of many cars that will bust your wallet like a high miled out A 8.
Sorry, not an Audi fan at all. Seen too many things happen!
My clutch was original, although the slave cylinder was replaced at 104,000.
I enjoyed the E30, but I like the way our new used '07 A4 Q 2.0T drives better. Of course, it's 20 years newer. Never thought I'd buy an Audi, because I'm concerned about its cost of ownership, but my wife is the primary is the primary driver of this car, and we found exactly the exterior and interior colors she wanted on Craigslist.
Let us know what you do with yours.
I used to steer people away from troublesome cars such as Audi's VW's and Volvos. Especially so when they were on a tight budget making payments.
For so many people, it's just an ego thing. Nobody "needs" an A 8 and if a huge repair bill is going to get them in trouble then they shouldn't be buying one!
One thing that's not clear to me with the German luxury cars is whether they really need to be as complex as they are, to provide the generally superior driving dynamics compared with the Asian brands. What's your opinion on this?
So to get that "edge" is requiring more and more technology. It's not like 1955, when say a Mercedes Gullwing sported a tubular space frame, 4 speed transmission, disk brakes (well, later on a few years) 140 mph top speed out of the showroom, mechanical fuel injection, OHC engine, etc. while most other cars were no more technically advanced than a 1935 Ford.
Nowadays, even an entry level Hyundai is a marvel of engineering.
Even though the "esoterics" have been largely equalized in recent years, there's a reason why a lot of people choose to buy, say, a Lexus ES350 instead of a Camry. I think the reason has a lot to do with how the Lexus makes you feel, behind the wheel, in the driveway, or when giving someone a ride.
The '07 A4 Q 2.0T we recently bought cost about 15% more than a well equipped '10 Civic. The main positive differentiater that won my wife over was the elegant and luxurious interior. She understands that the cost of owning the A4 over the next 3-4 years will exceed the expenses of a new Civic by more than 15%. It also didn't hurt that the A4 looks more upscale than the mass market compacts, and, frankly, drives better too.
For the purpose of this question, let's define old and miled up as 10+ years old and 120,000+ miles. Let's leave out the exotics, because the economics of owning those is probably different from cars that sell new now for ~$60,000-$100,000.
Also you have to fight obsolete, and I mean *really* obsolete, technology. And as technology progresses more and more rapidly, obsolescence happens faster and faster.
True exotics, like say 90s Ferraris, will definitely cost you $2 per mile to operate. I'd imagine older luxury cars, depending on your luck, might cost you .50 cents a mile, average out over a few years.
My friend's 1998 BMW 750 iL has lost its dashboard electronics. The car runs fine but you can't read anything or listen to the radio even. Cost to repair? $3500 to $5000 dollars. On a car worth $7500 at best.
My rule of thumb on old luxury cars (and I mean here REAL luxury cars, not Audi A4s or Lexus 300ES)---the Big Benzes, the Big Lexi, the Big Audis, the full-size Jaguars, etc.....my rule is:
"If you can't afford to buy the car new, you can't afford to run it out of warranty".
70970 7/28/98 F&R brake calipers/pads
98000 11/28/01 Pinion bearings and gears = $1,000
108061 5/5/04 Battery replaced
108597 6/22/04 MAF Sensor / Fuel filter
111557 8/16/04 One Michelin X1 tire LR
132042 2/28/07 Transmission oil change
133401 6/15/07 Front Bilstein shocks
138691 6/25/08 AIR Filter
138873 7/2/08 Spark plugs & Wires
141500 10/9/08 Front brake pads
142100 01/19/09 Coolant flush & fill 2 gallons
142300 02/26/09 Wipers
143899 09/10/09 A/C Compressor replaced, Ashland, OR $750
144413 09/16/09 LF tire replaced Michelin Symmetry*
145177 09/25/09 RF&RR “ “ “
145750 11/21/09 Engine oil & filter change Mobil 1
Up to 70,970 there were new tires @60,000 & a battery, but nothing out of the ordinary until 11/28/01. Original paint & interior. The $$$ I could have spent for a newer model were invested in the equities market with no regrets.
"Can afford to buy a new car, but can't afford the depreciation."
Couldn't make out the model, but it definitely had the Audi rings on the trunk lid. 2 door so I'm guessing it was an A5.
It's been weeks since I've seen a broken down car of any kind. :shades:
Steve, visiting host
But heck, if no oil change is working as good as it is, why rock the boat and put in new oil?
I don't see anything wrong with buying a well-cared-for old luxury car as long as you're willing to a) not pay much for it b) bail out when something big breaks.
The new tires @ 60,000 were Michelin X. One blew out & was replaced in Kamloops, another had a flat in Dublin and because of age, I had to buy a replacement. Discount Tires refused to patch a 12 year old tire so when I got home, I bought two more, again due to age. The Kamloop tire is still in good shape.
Questions?
He handed me a thick binder of receipts (which I had to throw away)
He had all of his work done at a local BMW independent that I hear is honest and does good work.
Later, I looked through the receipts and the repiar charges were STAGGERING to say the least. The car looked like it had been constant trouble and my God did it ever cost HUGE money to keep that hing on the road.
And, nobody wanted it. It looked nice and it ran well but nobody would touch it.
We gave him very little for it and we were very lucky to break even when we finally found a wholesaler who would take it.
It didn't used to be that way in the days when Detroit ruled. Sure, a used Lincoln or Cadillac was higher maintenance than a Ford or Chevy, but they weren't prohibitive. What happened?
So now we have to pay highly trained people in expensively equipped shops to do custom work for us. It's not much different than going to a boat builder in terms of labor and skill.
This has also forced mechanics to specialize, meaning we need to go to different shops for different things.
Last of all components aren't "fixed" anymore---everything is merely replaced. Better for the mechanic, worse for you.
In the general consensus that maintaining older, higher end luxury cars (an XJ, S-Class, 7-Series, etc) is prohibitively expensive and that older, high end cars are not the wisest of automotive purchases,
where do Acura, Lexus, Infiniti stand in this? As more reliable makes of luxury cars, are they exempted from this rule? Or is a LS430 with 125,000 miles on the odometer just as foolish as buying, say, an S430 with the same mileage?
I think it is the low production #s and the "this model only" technology that causes the risk. With the makes you mentioned, chances are many of the features in those cars are shared by lower price models.
Part of the allure of big buck luxury cars is their exclusivity. A V-12 is not something you're going to find in an Acura or an Infiniti, nor the supercharged V-8 out of a full size Jaguar. Add to that all the avoidance radar, active suspensions, etc (perhaps NOW found on entry level lux cars but not THEN).
Not only are old luxury cars technically complex, but the tech in them is obsolete and of limited production.
This is why I'm tempted to go continuously lower in the mass market segments, to avoid some of the complexity. My next car may be a Tata Nano...without the accident avoidance radar and seat cooling package.
Now, we would have to order a 2011 due to the recent model changeover schedule so we shall wait and see. Meanwhile our old cars run fine.
I still really love driving the car. I recently got hit from behind...I just kept the $1,400 the insurance. I thought the car might at any time suffer some catastrophic failure, and that it'd be unwise to spend so much on body work-you can hardly notice the damage.
As I've neglected maintainance for so long,has too much time passed to really put it in good order?
My plan now is just drive it until it fails...it still drives beautifully.
The option would be spend a few thousand if necessary and shoot for 200,000 miles...