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[Entwood]

I have a dilemma .. opinions requested.

I love the meega as it is easily the best car I have had.. both solo and as a tow car. I paid £8500 for it 5¹/₂ years ago, and its probably worth around £1800 now. Due to recent mishaps I will probably have to spend/discount £300 if I sold it so actually only worth £1500 - and I might not get that on trade in.

We tow on the continent every year and it is difficult to get breakdown cover on a car more than 12 years old, as this one is now 8, it realistically will need replacing in 4 years.

I did all the calculations on LPG conversion, and mileage wise would recover the cost in 12-14 months, so that is still viable.

What I am thinking.... would it be better to trade this in for a 02/03 for around £5000-£6000 now, and have that LPG converted, so having a car that will do the job for 7-8 years ??

[JamesV6CDX]

At only £700 to convert, it pays back fast.

And... shop around. I insured my 1992 car for breakdown cover a couple of years ago...

[Ken T]

There is the point of "better the devil you know, than the devil you don't". You may change the car, only to find you need to do the cambelt/tensioners etc, plus it's a high mileage so needs lots of small niggly bits fixing, etc. Also, an older car looses less per year than a newer one, so if yours is only worth 1500 now, in 4 years time it could be worth say 500, with a years MOT. A 5000 car now will loose a fair chunk in 4 years, I kind of recon on about 500 per year, so will be worth 2500 in 4 years time. Plus you don't know if VX are going to bring out the new, improved, OMEGA C class !   , so everyone will want one, so the price of older miggies will drop even further ( so you can pick up a bargain then). Its a game, I tend to hang on to mine until something serious goes wrong, that costs a lot more than the cars worth before changing.

Have fun, and best of luck decision making  

Ken

[Golfbuddy]

I'm very much in the 'better the devil you know' camp on this one. You've done a fair amount of work on the car and you know it well. As Ken says, you don't know what you would need to spend on a 'newer' car which would be at least 4 years old, so maybe exhaust, suspension, cambelt, etc.

 

[Martin_1962]

LPG it - it will not lose much more and with LPG won't go under £1000 if in reasonable condition

[Vamps]

This  ‘devil you know’ is a bit of a bu**er, where do you stop with an older car? The next £50 may keep it running fine for a couple of years, or, it may cost you £500 next week.
Bought an estate of ebay last September, low mileage and very clean a ‘good un’ according to my local independent. This was to replace our 140000 mile estate that we had had for 7 years. Had let the MOT run out was running fine and no known faults but was getting a bit untidy and felt that it was time to let it go £150.00 spares or repair. MOT expired.
The replacement arrived, by transporter, em light on, new cam and crank sensor rocker gasket plugs and leads and it is still parked on the drive. Wonder how our old one would have been with half the amount of money spent and a good valet.
Where do you draw the line?

[Golfbuddy]

This  ‘devil you know’ is a bit of a bu**er, where do you stop with an older car? The next £50 may keep it running fine for a couple of years, or, it may cost you £500 next week.
Bought an estate of ebay last September, low mileage and very clean a ‘good un’ according to my local independent. This was to replace our 140000 mile estate that we had had for 7 years. Had let the MOT run out was running fine and no known faults but was getting a bit untidy and felt that it was time to let it go £150.00 spares or repair. MOT expired.
The replacement arrived, by transporter, em light on, new cam and crank sensor rocker gasket plugs and leads and it is still parked on the drive. Wonder how our old one would have been with half the amount of money spent and a good valet.
Where do you draw the line?

Agreed Mike, it is a bit of a lottery. My current view is, providing the car is structurally good, then it's worth sticking with a car. As soon as the rot sets in it's worth replacing.

From what I have seen on here, over the past 6 months or so, most repairs are reasonably affordable. Obviously, a new engine or gearbox is a costly affair but I have yet to see anyone who has had to replace either with a new part.

I think the confidence thing is important as well. There have been a few people who have just lost confidence that their car will complete a given journey and, once again when this is the case, it's probably worth thinking about replacement.