Do I put more money into it?
 

Hi all,

I will have had my 2005 S60 for 4 years this coming august and was wondering how long would you people keep putting money into cars?

I know cars cost money to run and maintain, they are a luxury Item after all.

And if I buy another used car it will cost me more than the total repair cost of this one.

Just having a quick look back and in purely maintenance for the last 4 years, not including tax, insurance, fuel I have spent out around £2700 in repairs.

So you can say about £675 per year in just fixing the car.

Not got to this years MOT yet and what they might find (Got a clunk on the front anti roll bar hmmm ).

Added to that I still have the very intermittent Limp Mode due to my Turbo being a little sticky at times.

So I have to take whats coming with the MOT, but do I spend another £1200 (quoted by the dealer) for a new turbo.

If I do then I really am in with the car for the long run as it would be foolish to change cars year or two down the road as it would be money wasted and never recovered with a car of this age.

I have looked and other cars via the dealer and to be honest I am sure prices have gone up for used cars.

Not sure where to go with this one now.

Personally i'd buy a used turbo for £100-£200 rather than spend that much on a new one.
I did this recently with my 2004 D5, resolved my limp issue when booted.

Morning, thanks for the reply.

Ok, sounds like a plan.

Is that just a gamble with condition again?

Dont want to put one on and have the same problem again with a unit that 'may' be sooted up like my present one.

I am also not in the camp of having it chemically cleaned as I read about mixed results with that.

Will probably need to go down the route of a guaranteed re-con unit?

Agree that is a risk with a used turbo.
In my case I had a spare from another car I stripped with 'only' 180k miles on it so used that!

I picked up a 1000 mile old turbo off ebay for £260 so there are bargins to be had.

I've always looked at it in a way that until things get really out of hand, maintaining a car that you know fairly well is better than buying another used car.

I've been running my 2002 D5 S60 for 4 years now and have done around 110k in that time.

I'll never add up how much repairs have cost me in that time, as there have been a few big bills at times.

That said, I don't think I would be going to a dealer for a new turbo on a 13 year old car.

Mine isn't boosting correctly either, but will look other options before the turbo. Could be sticking vanes too though. Never had hit limp though.

You shouldn't need a new turbo just for sticking vanes. Once its off, its a fairly straightforward to clean up without needing to disturb the main cartridge. My over-boosts have gone after my recent cleaning operation. Perhaps as well as I hope I don't have to take the turbo off again on my XC70 any time soon :-)

Keith

My strategy is to stick with a car as you never know what problems you may get with a newer car. Plus a much newer car may be costing you £1000+ per year in depreciation. That said my XC70 (D5 2004) is testing my patience this year. Its just had turbo strip (lots of my labour but only £10 in turbo seals) and had to have lower arm bushes and new front disks at the same time. Straight after that I had a sticking rear caliper which needed sorting (plus new disks and pads for the back) and while I was under there noticed that the right rear Nivomat shock is leaking oil :-(

Still hopefully less to go wrong next year!

Keith

For me there is not enough information in your post to say yes or no. In general I don't count the prices of changing basic consumables (oil, brake pads / disks and filters) when making a decision like this as you will pay this for any car you have. I also do 90% of my own work so the killer of labor prices is also generally not a factor for me.

That said my V70 is also 13 years old and starting to give me stress. If I had the money now I would make a change but unfortunately I have to soldier on with it for a few more months if I can get away with it.

I think in age terms at 13 years the V70 is approaching it's average design life so if you do decide to change it not many could logically argue against you.

Hi all,

Many valid points made here.

The cost of ownership to me has included annual service, but also included in the total, new alternator pulley, new rear door latch mechanism, new alarm unit, cam belt and associated bits, 2 tyres.

I think the problem with older cars is that you invest money to put things right, critical things. Then you have to look at getting your moneys worth out of that by keeping the car for x amount of time as the car overall is not worth what you have put in money wise in overall value.

Thats life, thats motoring.

Buying something different brings in the 'unknown' variable and you never know if a huge bill is lurking ie most cars you buy second hand you are forced for your own piece of mind to do at least a cambelt change if not documented.

So I will just live with it a bit more I think.