My mechanic has a big barrel in his office he has you lean over when he tells you what's wrong with your Dobló. In this case, it's not the thermostat, it's the head gasket and it's not only that, it's a cracked cylinder head as well, if that's what it's called in English, I'm translating on the fly from the German.
I.e. repairs will most likely cost more than the thing is worth. After work Alpha is taking me to a Mazda dealership where she found a demo car, almost new, we can have it as early as November! that costs only two thousand whatevers more than we have in the bank.
I'd be tempted to just pay for the repairs instead, as that would cost less, but then I'd still have the Dobló, and be waiting for the next thing to go wrong, whereas if I pay a lot more, I can have a new car and be waiting for the next thing to go wrong, instead.
Also, we've had better luck with Mazdas.
I'll still get to see the Dobló now and then: my father-in-law wants to have it repaired and buy it. Or, he'll pay for the repairs and he gets it for father's day, to be accurate. He's a retired mechanic, it'll keep him busy. Something to haul his garbage in. And a harp now and then.
Posted at September 16, 2005 03:16 PMI just bought a Mazda about 3 weeks ago and I think it is great. I don't know if you could fit a harp in it though.
Posted by: Tim at September 16, 2005 05:08 PMIf it is any consolation, the best car I have ever owned was a 1993 Mazda Protege. It withstood one major accident and several smaller ones and never needed anything more than routine maintenance.
Posted by: Brian at September 16, 2005 05:43 PMWe and people we know have generally had good luck with Mazdas, and less so with Fiats. The one we're considering getting for me is a fairly small compact room for a cello and perhaps an Irish harp, but not a concert harp by any means; my wife is looking at a larger van-type thing, also Mazda. A concert harp might go into that one, but it would be a tight fit. We are beginning to wonder how great a priority harpspace really is with us, seeing that we don't drive the big harp anywhere more than once or twice a month. It would probably be cheaper to get smaller cars and rent a van on those days...
Posted by: mig at September 16, 2005 06:57 PMFinancially speaking, the best thing you can do is to keep your crummy car as long as possible and just keep fixing every damn thing that goes wrong with it, hoping for an accident that will finally total the fucking thing and get you an insurance payout that will cover a down payment on a new one, but until then you just have to keep driving it and trying to ignore all the rattles and uneven whirring noises and cursing it and hating it every day, and when, at last, you get your accident, the plates on the other car turn out to be stolen from a junk yard and your insurance takes your deductible and the total worth of the car minus salvage value is neither enough to fix the car you have or make more than two payments on a new one, but you have to have a car, so you buy a used one slightly less worse than the junk you just abandoned to your mechanic and hold your breath for the first six months waiting for something expensive to break and expose you as a sucker and a fool, yet again, to your friends and family.
Spiritually speaking, one of my friends really likes her Mazda 3.
Posted by: gordon at September 16, 2005 07:06 PMAnd will there be photos of the Mazda dashboard?
Posted by: Suzette at September 17, 2005 02:13 PMOh, you could have had my Golf Fire & Ice. Just a new Lichtmaschine and a masking tape to close the hood - and off you go ;-)
Just kidding. Go for a new car. I was in the same situation in spring and it is a strange feeling now that I haven't been to a garage for already half a year.
Posted by: novala at September 18, 2005 11:20 AM