My Legacy has 90,000 miles on it. I am told the power steering rack and pinion needs to be replaced for1080.00, plus battery and cable for 284.00.
My question- is it worth it to have it repaired or should I buy a new vehicle.
If that’s all what’s wrong with the car, I would fix it. Battery and cable are normal maintenance items at that mileage. The rack sounds somewhat expesnsive, so I would shop around. Rebuilt racks are as good as new ones.
Battery cost should be no more than about $90 or so at a place like O’Reilly or Advance Auto. Both battery cables shouldn’t exceed $40 plus labor. Advance Auto will replace battery for free when purchased, but won’t do the cables. Retail on your rack & pinion is about $250-$300. All else is labor. Make sure you get a lifetime warranty on the rack and pinion, so if it does fail again, you are not out the parts charge again. While the rack may have failed a bit prematurely, I don’t think the cost of either repair would be reason to sell the car if you have otherwise kept it up, maintenace-wise.
You are the one that really needs to decide that question. While these cars are usually very reliable they do require maintenance and you are starting to get into the age and mileage when most vehicles will require money spent on maintenance and repairs. The costs though should be a lot less than new car payments. You should be able to go another 100,000 miles and not spend more than around a thousand dollars a year on upkeep for the car, perhaps less. If you like the car enough to keep it longer you will save yourself money by just making repairs on it instead of on a new car loan. Most likely, the interest you would pay on a new five year car loan would be more than enough to pay for the repair costs on your current car for the same period of time.