These are my keys. Yes, they are taped. These keys start the car that I love to drive. But, we have come to a juncture. A crossroad, a crux, a turning point. Should I stay or should I go? I need advice. You need some history.
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We bought our 2000 Passat Wagon used in January 2005 from a gem of a seller. The car was garage-kept, dealer maintained with service at recommended intervals. A car-owner after my own heart. We have record of every major and minor detail from this car's birth. Exquisitely maintained and carefully driven, we bought this car when circumstances and concern for safety required that we have a second and more robust vehicle to tote around our bundle of joy. We focused our search on the old reliables - Honda and Toyota. But what we found was that for the same price we could get a newer model VW with less miles and more features thanks to significant and rapid depreciation for these cars. A loss for the owner who had bought it new, a gain for us.
After driving a few we found "the one" and thus began a beautiful relationship. So here's where it gets ugly. The car costs a lot to maintain. Timing belt - $950. Rear Brake Pads - $500. Synthetic Oil Changes - $65 (although only every 6 mo.) Anti-Lock Brake System - $700 (that's coming up this next week, the brakes work fine, just not the ABS) and so on. I don't mind making repairs on an older car. It's the trade-off and to be expected when you don't have a car payment. In fact, I've always found it a pleasure to pay for preventative maintenance, even the big ones. It's like tithing to me, it feels good and I'm grateful to have a car to repair. But I'm starting to mind this one. Mostly I'm scared. Scared to roll the dice. This car has been treated well and we've enjoyed it. But this particular generation of VDub's is known to have some fatal flaws. Repairs that make the amounts above look like chump change. Or, the car could give us another 70,000 miles of driving excitement, free of major coinage.
So do we hang up her license plates, cut our losses and sell her while we can get most of our investment back? If that happens we will need to get a replacement*, which will probably also be used, but one that is cheaper to repair. But I will miss the interior space (a person can still fit in the backseat next to two car seats and not be squished and the driver and front passenger are like a mile apart), the heaviness of the doors, the sound system, sunroof, roof rack, Tiptronic transmission (okay I never actually use it but it looks cool), the quietness inside, an awesome A/C, an engine with a lot of get-up and overall great German handling**. I do not care for driving and I like to drive this car. Buying a newer one or one whose maintenance history we can't verify is out. Selling a car while we have the integrity and peace of mind (and records to back it up) that the car is in great shape is a must to me as well. What should we do?
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*Cars I like but cannot afford as a replacement yet - GMC Arcadia, Saturn Vue, Honda CRV, Acura MDX, Kia Sportage, Hyundai Santa Fe. If gas consumption weren't an issue - Nissan Armada. And my "dream car", the very exciting Volvo XC90.
**We also get superb gas mileage for a car of it's size and heft - 29-30 MPG for a automatic transmission - priceless!
