I hope this is the right place for this, I’ll try to provide any and all details.
I have an Audi A4 Avant 1.9 TDI from 2003. This car used to be a driving instructors car, so it’s seen things. I personally have had it for 14 years now and put some mileage into it, it’s currently sitting at around 430.000km. I haven’t taken great care of it, but everytime something came up I got it fixed or at this point fixed it myself.
This car has had one accident in its life which led to the front right light to be replaced and a new side panel.
This year I’ve put around 2000€ in repair costs into this car, last year a little less but not by much. There’s some things I don’t fix anymore (the AC doesn’t work, the passenger side window cannot be moved down) . On Monday it broke down again, second time this year. In August the check engine light came on and it (mid drive) started shaking and stuttering and then refused to speed up, blinked warning lights at me and stopped. I had it towed but it took a week (reasons) to get it to the mechanics and at this point it drove again, normally. They couldn’t find anything but replaced the tandem pump as a precaution. This Monday, same issue, but this time it didn’t even start a little bit anymore.
I was sure it was done for, but turns out, the paneling on the fuse box was loose, water leaked in, a cable rusted, cable manages the fuel pump and hence I couldn’t drive. Repairs: 120€.
Since I thought it was actual engine damage this time I started looking around for used cars and found a good offer on a Seat Ibiza with barely 20.000k.
So here is my question: do I just keep my car, put in repair costs as needed and just see how much longer at will drive. Or do I risk buying a used car with way less mileage and hope it will last me longer than my Audi? I have two mechanics that I trust in my life, one of them tells me to keep the car, the other said, I should get a new one and get a couple of Euros out of my current one and be done with it .
I’d have it inspected. I’m an armature mechanic on my family’s GM and Honda vehicles. I had a car break down multiple times in 1 year but then fixed things and now it’s fairly reliable. It’s always a bit of a gamble with 20 plus year old cars. I have a 98 and a 02.
I’ve had that done multiple times but with different mechanics, most recently last year. The conclusion is always the same, and very unsatisfying: “The car runs fine, nothing to be fixed, but its very old, maybe get a new one.” So basically yes, it’s a gamble. I think based on the fact that I’m currently very reliant on it, I might just try my luck with a new (used) one.