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I might, if I get this job, be driving 45 min away but otherwise I don't drive far and often.
To me this is the key section of the whole question.
Myself? I have a 24 year old Acclaim as my daily driver. We average about 65 miles a day back and forth, five days a week, back roads to major highways. My daily grind revolves around whether or not this car is up to snuff or not. Thankfully it is and I keep up on things so I'd trust it to go pretty much anywhere without fail. A couple of differences though between our situations.....
You have almost five times the mileage on your Intrepid versus my Acclaim. Plus I don't hesitate to fix things, most times doing upkeep before it's needed. Your Intrepid sounds like it gets what it gets when it can't get around no more, if you follow. This is not good.
You, and the previous owners, have pretty much used up the poor thing. To try and turn back time now would be expensive and not worth the cost as you'd never get back what you put into it. Even with the obvious stuff like brakes and tires done, I'd still be worried about things like struts, tie rods, exhaust, brake lines (rust), fuel lines (rust again), fuel pump. These are things that will leave you on the side of the road.
So, with all that........get your job and make upgrading your transportation priority one any way you can. Pushing a car this old with mileage like that will just accelerate any underlying problems and leave you with calling off work, or being late, and losing your job because you can't get there.
I don't see where you've accounted for a timing belt/water pump replacement which generally needs to be done on these cars every 100K miles like clockwork. When it goes, it goes without notice and leaves you dead in the water.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ncole1
Sell car for $300 or $400 "as is", combine with the $800 you would have spent, see if you can find something working for $1100 that does not need immediate repairs.
^^^^do this^^^^^
Quote:
Originally Posted by duster1979
I don't see where you've accounted for a timing belt/water pump replacement which generally needs to be done on these cars every 100K miles like clockwork. When it goes, it goes without notice and leaves you dead in the water.
Before this. ^^^^^
If you HAVE something you like, and it will go another yr or 2 Without needing tires, brakes, timing belt, .... you can afford to add a couple hundred $$ maint.
If you have a beater that needs a lot to make it usable....... sell it as a runner and move on.
On KEEPERS, I calculate $.10 TOTAL per future mile evaluating repairs. Thus if I spent $1,000 it needs to buy me 10,000 more miles (with no additional repairs). Since most older stuff is likely to break... be conservative. My actual costs are $.01 - $0.05. / mile Including the cost of car. (Ofter under $500, sometimes under $100)
Alright I read the replies and I thank you all a ton for them!
Since you replied I feel I owe you this: I am deciding on NOT repairing much as the car is, as you all basically said, not worth it. I am getting myself some new (used) tires so I'm not slipping and sliding through the winter. Otherwise I'm just gonna make my dollars, save my money, and hope to earn enough to sell this car for at least $400-$600 (whatever I can get for it) and move on with my life.
I hate being picky but I just don't want a van or car older than me. Van because I honestly don't feel remotely comfortable driving anything bigger than a sedan and older than me because I'll be right where I am now, with a 20+ car I hope will last me long.
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