Would like some opinions, please. Having a hard time deciding if I should keep this thing or not:
2005 Mazda6 WAGON (with the posted headliner problem). Bought new for 25k. Now 12 years old. About 84k miles. Always dealer repaired (yeah, I know). Have all the repair receipts. Just inspected. Except for one year about 7 years ago when my son used it for work and put almost 30k miles on it in one year! itās only driven about 5k miles a year.
Problems now:
- headliner falling down - repair $300-350. Tacks holding it up fine now (but for how long? and can I live with no headliner??)
- gasket leak in part of engine (dealer said "just starting, not bad, keep an eye on itā) @ $700 repair
- only noticeable rust is some small spots on hood and around driverās whole rear wheel well (small spots were sanded, primed and painted close to original color, wheel well area just painted) $$ - not considering repainting whole car. Leaving as-is.
- LED dashboard readout messed up (numbers/icons donāt show, half show, etc.) needs replacing. @ $450. Can live without, but really irritating not knowing which radio station itās on, where the fanās blowing, if the defrosterās on, etc.
- whole unit of rear window wiper needs replacing ($35) This needs to be done.
- headlights - the plastic lens is ridiculously scratched, almost frosted-looking, on the INSIDE, not outside. Dealer (and other places) said itās not a matter of cleaning the outside as itās the inside thatās the problem and only remedy is whole new units, as the lens alone canāt be changed. Donāt remember what they quoted to fix, but whole unit purchase price online that I find runs about $250 per headlight, plus labor. I guess they light the street well enough, but if they were actually CLEAR theyād light a whole lot better. Need to repair or not??
Thatās it as far as whatās wrong with it. I like the car, gets decent gas mileage, has front wheel drive, sunroof (which I like), cloth seats (sorry, hate leather) I know how it handles, has GREAT cargo space, and no fancy electronic doodads (navigation display, heated seats, auto braking, etc.) which, although nice, Iād rather NOT have, or have to pay for in a new car. AND the BEST thing about it is it has ROUND vents that can be positioned to hit you ANYWHERE! Not one rectangular vent in it. You might think itās silly and irrelevant, but they really are the best. Can virtually position them to hit any spot I want - face, fingers, shoulder - can get very specific. Turn 360 degrees. Canāt do that with rectangular ones - those can only go in the 4 directions. Every car should have these things. Absolutely love them! Anywayā¦
Having all the repair receipts, is adding up the cost of all the repairs over 12 years and the repairs I know are needed (or I can live with) something that comes into play in deciding? Also, I know major things COULD go wrong with it, or maybe not, who knows? Is that a chance to take? Whatās the rationale?
I know I can be spending more than itās worth just because I like it so much, and Iād rather avoid that emotional equation, but I really donāt want all the stuff they have in new cars nowadays (just more expensive things to go wrong, and I find them distracting) plus the fact that I canāt get cloth seats in most of the ones I looked at unless itās the base model, and even then sometimes not. And no round vents!. And yes, you can ābuildā your own car, but cloth seats are not an option on the upper models, which have some features Iād want (like a sunroof). Also, not car handy, so canāt do my own repairs, which would be a big factor in deciding due to saving money.
So realistically, should I keep my WAGON or change? And I emphasize WAGON because people tend to miss that and think sedan, and a wagon is a whole other breed. And just to be clear, I DO NOT want an SUV.
Do I keep it and do piecemeal repairs? Or have a big car payment? Which Iād rather not have. Plus, a new car could have things go wrong with it where some things might be under warranty, but other big ticket items are not unless you buy an extended warranty, which is another $1k plus. And even then there are restrictions. Do they balance each other out?
What about a newer used wagon, like a 2015 or 2016? Although they donāt have the same warranties.
Thanks to all for their input. Really appreciate it.
PS - so far Iāve only looked online - at the Volkswagons, as theyāre really the only ones in my price range. Subarus are a little too out of my range and Volvos or anything else are WAY out of range.
PPS - should my Q be posted in the General Discussion forum also? Or is that considered redunant, unnecessary, or frowned upon, putting the same Q in more than one place?
Oh, yeah, read the topic When to Get Rid of Your Car, but want more specific opinions on mine in particular, not just generally.
Thanks again.