[Shotimes] Woes...

[Leigh Smith]

David;

I was in the same boat. I figured my total costs would be lower over the 
next 2-5 years if I bought a younger car for a keeper.

Just replaced my 250k mi. 89 after 10 years for maintenance issue 
reasons. It was my daily driver, and I just couldn't keep up with the 
maint. fast enough. Not the mechanical stuff, which was regularly 
addressed by me at home, it has never even been to a shop for that stuff.

It was the the paint, interior and cosmetic items that are much more 
time consuming / expensive to fix and finally drove me to replace it. 
Dash has bad cracks and couldn't get replacement piece, couldn't find a 
good junkyard piece, and patch pads just didn't look right to me. 
Interior leather has been patch paneled 3/4 times already, more on the 
way. My 5 year old $2400 repaint looks great but needs touched up on two 
panels, $500 each... etc.etc.

I looked for a while and found a cosmetically clean 94 with a couple of 
minor used car maint issues. Looked like it had been detailed regularly. 
Figured the mechanical issues were less than my 89 and I could sort them 
out easier anyway. Most Gen IIs were priced higher but with patience I 
only paid $3500 for a clean stock 94 MTX w/92k mi. Actually needed less 
work than the higher priced ones, but they typically had more mods.

My .02

Leigh

David Rosicke wrote:
> At 192K miles, I am trying to justify the following:
> 
> A/C Repair - $1300 - in the shop right now.  (Update:  They should be able to finish it today, thanks to my help!)
> 
> Paint Job (Wife is pushing hard for that) - Expect $2,000
> 
> 60K Other Misc - About $600 or so in parts.
> 
> Wife says - Keep it.  Don't buy another used car - it could need the same work.
> 
> Since my SHO runs the same as a Acura TL-S/BMW 330i (both rolling) and I can't afford cars of that price, I'm kind of stuck.
> 
> There are in the local paper:
> 
> '92 107K miles, mild hit in front, both Air bags popped, 60K done- $1000
> 
> '94 5 speed, 99K miles, perfect - $4650 (I think he's too high, don't know about 60K)
> 
> I could transfer much of the aftermarket parts from my '91+ over and sell the rest.
> 
> Ugh.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> Anyone have a '95 Stick in very good shape for sale?  Don't know if I'll get it, but I'd like the option.
> 
> Please note that I have not been on the mailing list and getting mail for a considerable amount of time, so I have no idea who has what available.
> 
> Dave R.
> 
> P.S.  My wife does not like the idea of me getting a Neon RTS...
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