Got a quote for fixing my old Saab estate, 850 quid which includes fixing the engine and getting it through the MOT (disks/tyres etc)

It was bought for not much more than that last year and has already had a new clutch fitted so I feel I’m just continuously throwing cash at it..

On the flip side, its a second car for the bikes and dogs so if it does go I’ll be replacing it with another banger.

I’m thinking i’d almost be better spending the money fixing it rather than replacing with another car with numerous unknown problems

Its the 3l tdi vecter model with 130k on the clock – lovely car to drive…when it works…

Discs/tyres etc. are consumables you will need regardless of the car age/type. You could replace it with another banger that needs all round pads & discs anyway.

So deduct all that from the cost & then what are you left with?
If you have paid to replace the clutch already, I would hang onto it.

If you’ve got it at your local garage/someone you trust to give you an honest answer why not get them to give the car a look over & advise of any other obvious things that might need doing soon & take it from there…..is the Exhaust OK? When does the cambelt need doing? Any sign of coolant/oil leaks, worn CV gaiters etc…..??

It was bought for not much more than that last year and has already had a new clutch fitted so I feel I’m just continuously throwing cash at it..

Any old car will need lots of cash. So in order to avoid throwing lots of cash, you’ll have to buy a much newer one. Which will cost.. even more cash.

Yeah, I’d agreed with the above, old cars do cost money, but sometimes it’s better the devil you know.

Any old car will need lots of cash. So in order to avoid throwing lots of cash, you’ll have to buy a much newer one. Which will cost.. even more cash.

This. Our old Kuga which we are now happy to throw kids/adult bikes around in, whilst still being a moderaly usefull family machine with part time Haldex 4WD will cost about £650 in bushings and £450 in brake discs soon. But thats £25000/a second hand RS4 cheaper than the new one we’d want.

Would another £850 car have 12mnths mot, a new clutch, tyres, discs ect and just been through a garage ? Any old car is a gamble but at least with this one you know what has and hasn’t been done.

Depending on whether the engine problem is likely to re occur then I think better the devil you know.

I wish there were some type of definitive formula!

As I said in your other thread.

I just threw a 400 quid axle and a set of glow plugs at my 1400 quid 115k miles berlingo

For a few reasons.

1 if I hadn’t it’s worth scrap money and I’d have had to find alot more than 500 quid to replace it like for like even+ as above I know it’s got good brakes on all 4 corners as I’ve done pads and disks and slaves recently, new front springs – new wheel bearings and 4 new tires in the last 30000 miles/3 years all done on my drive.

2 i know the full history of the car as it came from a friend and then I’ve carried it on my self

3. It’s been a good reliable motor and I know it inside out.

Fwiw I was ready to scrap it when I got the first quote of 1200 quid which Frankly having fitted the axle my self on the end is a full on rip off. It’s about 15 bolts

Mean while I had a golf which was mint in all cosmetic respects bar a siezed engine . I gave that away rather than drop a new engine as the build quality was terrible and it was an electrical nightmare with constant light/abs/dash faults needing rewired.

Hateful car.

are there numerous other ‘Adivisory’ issues? if £850 would get it through the mot and keep it going a few years then I’d do it.

130k miles insn’t a lot for a Swedish car.

Discs might be the last set you ever do. clutch even more so. All cars need tyres, especially heavy estates.

I’d be inclined to keep it.

One thing is, it sounds like it’s entirely garage-maintained? That changes the bangernomics a bit. It makes a big difference if you can do the donkey work, brakes and that. (and a huge difference if you can do bigger jobs, mine’d probably have gone in the bin if I’d had to pay garage prices for the new turbo)

What does your mechanic think? Well, presumably he thinks you should give him £800, but is he giving you a stack of advisories, or muttering about the rust in the sills that’ll want welding soon, or anything like that? Chatter is good, always worth trying to engage the mechanic in a bit of conversation.

(my brother’s sneaky, he’ll raise invented concerns with the place that does his van, to see what they say “It’s really rattly” got “well, it’s a sheddy van, it’ll rattle” not “we will spend £1000 on fixing rattles” or “That’s probably because the doors are falling off”.)

You can do discs and pads yourself, its as easy as doing bike ones and you hardly need any tools.

Try to shop around for the bits that need doing – a local garage will not be cheap for tyres for example, use BlackCircles or similar. You might be able to shave a fair amount of that £850 with a minimum of effort.

thanks folks

The MOT bits are all being done myself (or by my dad!) and tyres from Black Circles. Only thing Garage is doing is replacing the Fuel Pump and sorting out the engine.

that doesn’t seem too bad TBH.

my local garage *refused* to get my old Saab through its MOT!
One thing worth thinking about – as I tried to work out the other month – s to ask them if they could do a phantom MOT every 6 months, or before next major repairs — so if something breaks, sense check you’re not throwing cash at it..

We had the exact same car and my wife still misses it. Ours got to 190k miles but when the engine melted we scrapped it. Sounds like you needs quite a few parts but I’d keep going, they’re pretty solid generally, especially if you can do most of it yourself.

Is this the same one you asked about last week ?

I’ve just chucked £800 odd at my 12+ year old 227,000 mile Honda after the gearbox died.

I’ve had it from new so know the full history, cambelts etc.

Figured I’d have to spend more than double on something new enough to not be a bag of trouble and bills.

Brakes and tyres etc are consumables and would probably need doing sooner rather than later on one that you buy.