When do you just give up on your car?

Question

Okay, so I Have 2001 VW Jetta. Currently it has the following wrong with it:

1.) Needs new coil pack (which means BAD gas mileage.)

2.)Trunk won't latch

3.)Needs new MAF

4.) Windshield broke this morning, no obvious cause, it just did!

5.) Some minor things like:

a.) Center console clip broke

b.) Sunroof, once opened, decides when and if to close

c.) Radio and dash buttons decide when to work or not to

I live in Northern Maine so potentially having heater not turn on is a bit scary, lol. It is under 100 K for miles, and the check engine light is currently flashing at me. I keep waiting for it to just die.

It has had routine matainence, routers were replaced two years ago, need new ones again.

Coil pack has already been replaced once.

Has gone through two batteries.

My stupid warranty covers basically nothing useful.

I am in college, I work two jobs while going to school full time, I simply can't afford to keep fixing it. I still owe 2,000 on it and I never wanted this car. My dad picked it, said he would pay for it, economy went down and I was handed payments 2 years ago. Everytime something goes wrong with it now I just cry because I feel so trapped but my dad says its a great car and once I can fix it I will love it.

I don't even like jettas though. When is there enough problems just to quit the car and get a new one?

Answer 1

There is more than 1 coil pack on the car so I am sure you lost a different one this time. You have an economical car that has some irritating problems right now but I think with less than 100,000 miles there is a lot of good life left in it.

The coil pack is very easy to change (google for instructions) and you can buy 1 for much less than 250 dollars but I understand how frustrating problems like this can be if you don't know a lot about cars.

I guess the balance of Payments verse some occasional inconvenience is different for everyone but I never replace a car with less than 200,000 miles, it just makes sense economically considering how long engines & transmissions last these days. But I don't mind tinkering with the small stuff that goes along with high mileage cars.

Just some food for thought.

Good Luck with whatever you decide!

EDIT: Here is a link for a 29 dollar coil pack.

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/detail...

I did not know all the specifics about your engine so you may need a different model number than this.

Your engine probably does not use "coil Packs" you probably have an individual coil for each cylinder but these are cheap and easy to change, they will pay for themselves in saved gas in no time.

Verify that it fits your engine and shop around on the web, I use amazon to buy this kind of stuff and I save a lot of money over the local parts store and mechanics who charge 100 dollars an hour. Might as well do a little research and pay yourself that 100 dollars an hour!

EDIT: 2

I did not know what engine size you had for sure or what model of jetta but http://Rockauto.com has a great point and click cataloge I just used to check for your car and they have great deals as well. Get your info together and visit their website, I think you will be surprised how much you can save.

Answer 2

on ebay for a set of 4 rotors two front and two rear for your car for way less than $60 and shipping is under $20. Also you can get a use coil pack for under $50 or reman for slightly over $100 on many online sites such as rockauto.com and kragen.com and on Ebay as well.

here is a link  

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-Truc...

I also did a search for the MAF on Ebay and here is my search results.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Car-Truc...

Most of the are under $100 and some are under $50. So much for your dad's so call friends. Everybody is out to make money I don't trust anyone. Also search on Amazon.com for great car parts that are shipped fast. Click on the shop all departments link then click on automotive then go to find products for your car and enter the correct year and model and Amazon will bring up all products that compatible with your particular car. You can find a lot of good parts and sometimes the best prices on Amazon then most auto parts store and even better than ebay.

Answer 3

Sometimes money is saved by spending MONEY! let me start with what should be the obvious to your dad and his "friend mechanics"

coil packs are between 3 and 8 seperate little coils designed to work independantly for each spark plug! One single cylinder not getting spark, found bad pack heah it happens, full coil pack goes bad, did something cause this beyond a part failure? is there Electrical wiring issues prevelant to this car, the mechanic should go to tech service bulletin sight and inquire. He may find the car has a bad pick up (cam) sensor that causes the signal to fail or? buying a major part over again without an explanation at this point of why it would fail a second time? the way to view this car at the moment is if you had to spend 2000 on repairs to it but this made it good , for the most part, for a few more years till you got on your feet would it be worth it? for future reference tell your Dad VW and dependable dont blend! Honda, Toyota and Nissan even Ford and Chevy somewhat.

Answer 4

I think you should quit now...that car sounds more busted than anything ive heard. if you decide to fix it they will probably charge you a lot to fix it at least 4 to 5 hundred  

Answer 5

Do you think you can afford a newer car? I doubt it.I only quit a truck when the body rusts out,Every thing else I can fix and I don't want to learn where all the new pollution junk is.

Answer 6

sounds like one problem after another, is it worth it to keep it? I would say NO, tell Dad, you need something reliable, I would get something else, college kids dont have that kind of money to be worried about all those extra expenses