[laerm]

(whew, been a while since I've logged in here)

Hi all. I'm here to see if there'd be any interest in buying my wife's car. It's got some strong pros and strong cons, so I dunno what to do.

Pro:
- ~115000 miles, 75% of that highway
- CA car for 14 of its 18 years
- many many maintenance records since she got it (2000)
- 8/10 cosmetically: one small piece of trim missing, one wheel center cap gone, but looking sharp, really. Interior is in very good shape.
- 2 owners (including us)
- new shocks as of last October
- manual transmission
- sunroof works great and has no leaks

Con:
- needs new motor mounts
- exhaust manifold has vibrated loose due to bad motor mounts
- needs new brakes and rotors (according to shop: I am skeptical of rotors as there are no signs of it in steering wheel feedback)

No jokes, the repairs that need to be done are serious, but I thought maybe one of the gang here wants a little project. The car has a lot of life left and would shine up real well. We happen to live in New York City where a car is just not necessary and I don't have a garage to do the work myself. The car will drive but, due to the exhaust manifold, it lacks power on highways and hills: top speed is probably around 50.

She has a strong emotional attachment to the car and wants to see a nobler end than a junkyard or donation. I completely agree and I hope somebody here does too. So, to that, considering the work, is it worth selling? Would anyone give us anything for him and try to get him back on the road?

Thanks very much –
Micah

 

[golf>jetta]

what are mk3's selling for in your area?
how bad do you need to sell it?

adult owned, lots of records will be a buyers dream

i would vote to spend a saturday wrenching on it, fix the motor mounts and exhaust, you'll get much more out of it (and they are not too terrible to do)
selling it fixed is much easier/faster/higher value than selling it broken

buy and glue on a trim piece, find a center cap, spend a day givin it some love and all the sudden your 1k car becomes a 2k car and might be more life in it for you to own or more reason to sell

 

[laerm]

what are mk3's selling for in your area?
how bad do you need to sell it?

adult owned, lots of records will be a buyers dream

i would vote to spend a saturday wrenching on it, fix the motor mounts and exhaust, you'll get much more out of it (and they are not too terrible to do)
selling it fixed is much easier/faster/higher value than selling it broken

buy and glue on a trim piece, find a center cap, spend a day givin it some love and all the sudden your 1k car becomes a 2k car and might be more life in it for you to own or more reason to sell

Looks like they're selling around $1-3K here.

We don't need to sell it that badly. It's just sitting here and we take it to the grocery store a couple miles away once or twice a week. It'd be nice to have it gone before inspection is due in December though.

I hear ya, but the problem is I don't have the ability to fix it. When we moved here, I gave up on fixing cars. Can't do it in the street. I'd be happy to do it and get the car all spiffed up for her, but it's not worth $2200 for repairs and the only way I could get it to a buddy's to work on it would be towing it.

Micah