Nissan 370Z Forum - View Single Post - What do you do when your winter/beater car becomes a money pit?

Vaughanabe13 · 08-30-2012, 09:37 AM

I have a 97 Maxima that was my dad's and then passed to me as my first car in high school. It has been rode hard and put away wet....repeatedly. Several accidents between the two of us, some repaired and some not. About 120k miles, which I realize is not exactly "end of life" for a 97 Nissan.

So over the past few years, I have had to dump thousands of dollars into this car. New CV joints, new starter (twice), new alternator, tires, pads/rotors/calipers, etc. I know most of that sounds standard for an aging car, but there have been a number of other odd repairs in the past that I don't remember. Luckily my father in law is a mechanical engineer so he helps me with some of the repairs to save cost. It's getting to the point though where I can't take it in for a simple oil change without getting a list of 2K worth of repairs from the dealer. The car is probably not even worth 2K at this point, but I keep dumping money into it because I need it in the winter when my 370Z is in storage. My live-in girlfriend does have a car as well but I don't want to rely on her to drive me everywhere in the winter.

So what would you do in this situation? I'm already paying off my car loan for the Z so it seems ridiculous to even think about getting another car at this point. But at the same time, this thing is just eating up my wallet. I'm trying to save for an engagement ring/wedding right now so I can't keep dumping 1K here, 1K there to keep my Maxima running.

08-30-2012, 09:37 AM	#1 (permalink)
Vaughanabe13 Enthusiast Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Iowa Posts: 387 Drives: 09 Nissan 370Z M6 Rep Power: 14	What do you do when your winter/beater car becomes a money pit? I have a 97 Maxima that was my dad's and then passed to me as my first car in high school. It has been rode hard and put away wet....repeatedly. Several accidents between the two of us, some repaired and some not. About 120k miles, which I realize is not exactly "end of life" for a 97 Nissan. So over the past few years, I have had to dump thousands of dollars into this car. New CV joints, new starter (twice), new alternator, tires, pads/rotors/calipers, etc. I know most of that sounds standard for an aging car, but there have been a number of other odd repairs in the past that I don't remember. Luckily my father in law is a mechanical engineer so he helps me with some of the repairs to save cost. It's getting to the point though where I can't take it in for a simple oil change without getting a list of 2K worth of repairs from the dealer. The car is probably not even worth 2K at this point, but I keep dumping money into it because I need it in the winter when my 370Z is in storage. My live-in girlfriend does have a car as well but I don't want to rely on her to drive me everywhere in the winter. So what would you do in this situation? I'm already paying off my car loan for the Z so it seems ridiculous to even think about getting another car at this point. But at the same time, this thing is just eating up my wallet. I'm trying to save for an engagement ring/wedding right now so I can't keep dumping 1K here, 1K there to keep my Maxima running. __________________ 2009 Nissan 370Z Touring, w/sport, 6MT, chicane yellow/black. Last edited by Vaughanabe13; 08-30-2012 at 09:40 AM.