I have a 2005 ford freestyle with 200K. Was wondering if the car will last with another 150K or should I trade it in? Just wondering!!!
another 150K miles without a significant repair bill is not something I’d expect. If you are not OK putting about $2-3K for a new transmission or some other significant repair, then I’d dump it now. The car will last another 150K miles, but are you wiling to spend the money on maintenance and repairs to get it there?
@Linhut You won’t get much for a trade now and the dealer will just wholesale this vehicle for a few hundred dollars. As most of us will recommend, you are now entering the phase of the car’s life where it will have repairs. Most will be modest, and certainly worth doing if the vehicle is reliable and the cost is modest. The big ones, as pointed out, like a transmission will total the car.
Without a transmission replacement, count on spending $1200 or so per year to keep it going; that’s a lot less than depreciation on a new car.
With careful driving and good care you may get to 350,000 miles, but be prepared for that transmission crapping out unexpectedly.
If you are thinking that by trading it in you are cutting your losses, I think at 200K miles you are too late. IF the car drives fine, just drive it until something major brakes. As mentioned you will have minor repairs down the road no matter what.
If you haven’t already, take it in to your regular mechanic and have them do the full used car workup like if you were about to buy it from someone else. It’s not always the mileage on the vehicle but how it was driven and maintained
200k is nearing the point where repairs on the more expensive side will start appearing. But if you have a manual xmission and the routine maintenance has been kept up to date, and are willing to accept it won’t be as reliable as a newer car, so making 2000 mile out of town trips is probably not a good idea, for around town driving, and if it has a manual xmission especially, keeping it on the road is a reasonably frugal bet.
It’s only worth $1000-$2000 anyway, what’s to lose by keeping it until something major fails? That’s only a few months of new car payments. Keep it running, maintain it, and you might get 50k or more out of it. Meanwhile save money like crazy for its replacement.
I’ll go with the consensus here and agree that you should drive the vehicle until something major breaks. It’s your best bet and it makes economic sense.
Change the oil regularly, have the transmission serviced, and drive it until it dies. With the age and mileage any trade-in is pretty much a numbers shell game anyway.
One of my old Fords was still running and driving well at 420k miles so what you’re asking is plenty doable.
Does it have the CVT? Only use the correct fluid.
I’m interesed in why you think there are only two choices. No dealer is going to give you more than the price of junk for a trade-in. Don’t believe me ? Go and negotiate the very best price you can get on a clean deal using all the internet tools available, then tell them you have decided to trade in the freestyle and see what happens.
Yes because it is really worthless to sell and especially trade it.
I would change your maintenance routines to simply oil changes and fix things that break. If you cannot tolerate the repair off you go to car shopping.
I took that approach with a Honda Civic at 150k and skipped over a expensive timing belt change, 3 major services,shocks over 100k miles. Finally the AC broke and sick of the tired car at 250k with $1200 repair to correct and I sold off for $2200.
An SEL with no options and in clean condition will net you about $2200 in trade. If you have anything that needs repairs, take off the cost. If you don’t mind the trade value, then do it. I would consider just keeping it until a major failure occurs the donate it or sell it to someone that wants this type of car. I see signs on telephone poles around here that offer $600 for any car whether it runs or not.
What is CVT?
Continuously Variable Transmission.