1999 Nissan Maxima- Repair clutch or new car search?

[GMan88]

Hi, everyone. Thank you all in advance for your insight. I was able to use everyone’s post on another recent problem to decide to replace my other car. I have another case and I’m wondering if I can get some perspectives. My 1999 Nissan Maxima manual transmission is needing a new clutch. It will be about an $1800 job. It has 204,000 miles on it. Maintained regular oil changes, and tires only a couple month old. It has some scratches and scrapes (Typical for 27 year old car) but not major body damage. Generally it’s been pretty reliable, most of my mechanics tickets have been under $500, every couple years or so. I had last replaced the clutch 11 years/52,000 miles ago. It seemed like a shorter interval than normal to replace my clutch but generally speaking my mechanic said since I’m driving far below average yearly miles that it’s not surprising. I mostly only need a vehicle to get me to work which is in town and not highway driving. Only about 8 miles round trip. A couple other material facts, the car has a knock sensor that comes on from time to time but it has been coming on since 2019 and has not effected performance. I have heard some older Nissans have this issue and a few mechanics I’ve worked with have noted it but weren’t concerned it was a major issue for the car. Overall I like the stick shift as I feel they are a bit better mechanically and becoming a bit more rare. Anyway, where I am at in the process is my mechanic is going to look at it to see if there’s anything catastrophic to the vehicle that could shorten the life of the clutch and or the car itself to determine if there’s any other investment risks to the car. I also was informed by some internet research it may be in my best interest to repair the car either way since it wouldn’t be sellable without a clutch anyway. Would anybody like to give me perspective if It’s worth replacing and continued driving or try to find a newer used car? Thank you!