I drive a 05 tl. It has 95k on it. It is in good to very good shape overall, but has started having some work needed & failures that can often come with age.
KBB places retail around $6,000 and trade in around $2,800. I just put appx. $2,000 into repairs and work. It needs a steering rack. I do not want to do this myself - the shop quoted my $1,900. They said I have some time before it goes 100% so I’m driving it for now. Two separate shops have told me the exact same thing with similar pricing quotes. Today the A/C stopped working. It is not even remotely cool and seems like it isn’t working at all (and it wasn’t that hot today). I had it recharged last year. Cosmetics are not perfect - dash is cracked, dead pedal needs replacement, glove box clips are failing (will cause glovebox to fall down if not opened exactly right), two of the switches have faceplaces missing, curb rash, etc.
I’m considering getting rid of it but I always have a hard time deciding when to get rid of an older car and when to keep putting money into it. On the one hand, I could put in the apprx. $5000 ($2k already spent, $2k on the rack, estimated $1k on the a/c) and get 50-100k out of it relatively trouble free. Also this is cheaper than anything I’d buy and I like driving the car. On the other hand, it is 15 years old with nearly 100k and it could keep having issues crop up. I am moderately OK with DIY in terms of work, but something like a steering rack is beyond what I can reasonably attempt. Also, right now I do not have time to fool with extensive repairs.
What does oppo think?