I posted about this in TNT briefly, but I could use some insight from some other TS'ers.

A little background: I brought my car into service yesterday due to starting problems and was told the transmission needs to be replaced. The car is an Oldsmobile Aurora from 2001 with about 175k miles on it. I've been driving this car for about 3 years and it's in pretty good shape, but continues to have more and more maintenance problems. The tie rods and struts were just replaced less than 6 months ago for a little over $2k. The transmission is going to cost approximately $4500. The car itself isn't worth $4500, let alone $6500+ for this years maintenance and it seems like there have been high maintenance costs each of the 3 years, only getting higher. The car is on its way out no matter what.

We are between two options: continue on or lease a new car. We've ruled out buying a new or used car. With that we went through the pro's and cons of each and came up with the preliminary decision to replace the transmission and go as long as we can on the Aurora.

Cost isn't really the issue as much as value is. Leasing a new car we would put a down payment of about $5k on a 36 month lease, which would last me through the end of school (2013) and probably enough time for me to be able to purchase my own. Along with that would come the comfort of the car itself as well as the comfort in mind that (in theory) there would only be minor occasional issues with the car. It would total out to be be about $15-20k in expenses.

Keeping the Aurora is in a way beating a dead horse. Yes, the transmission will have a 3 year warranty, but what about the rest of the parts on the car. How long until something else major goes wrong? By replacing the transmission, the cost over the next 36 months will be at least $4500 and depending on what else happens will go up or we may end up without a car.

The leases originally on the list are a CTS, 3-Series, and I threw in a Jetta. Tomorrow we are going to check out some local dealers to scope it out.

I'm slightly biased in the sense that I would love to have a new 3-series to drive around in for a few years, but I try not to take my parents for all their worth and I made the decision earlier to keep the Aurora and stick it out since they already bought me a brand new car at 16, which my sister now has (story for another time). In way it's a gamble to carry on with the Olds, hoping that this will be the only issues and we left it at the idea that we would do the transmission and see how long the car lasts, but if something else happens then pick up a lease at that time.

I've been thinking about this since we talked and I can't seem to make a clear decision, over thinking the fact I don't want them to spend that much on me (again) but that might be clouding my thoughts a little on which is really the better choice.

Opinions? Advice? Experiences?

 

Cut your losses, man. $4500 is a over a year of lease payments.

 

+1. Cut your losses. I had a 1992 Saab 9000 in college and went through the same thing.

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Agree with these other smart dudes. Fix the problem and get something you can count on.

 

That's with taxes down but that's what I would do

 

Plan is to drive it into the ground and get a new ride.

 

Get a Golf GTi. Plenty fun.