Should I hang on to my car or change it?

peahenrose

Hello, looking for some advice, please. I'm v new to these forums so please be gentle!

I have a 2002 Nissan Primera diesel estate. It's done nearly 90,000 miles. It's a great car and has loads of extras such as satnav, reversing camera, etc. It's due a service soon and I suspect that it will need some work and also think that the clutch will need replacing in the fairly near future.

My question is, should I hang on to it for a few more years, with rising maintenance costs etc, or should I change it now?

If I changed it, I'd be looking at (probably) another diesel estate, maybe a bit smaller than the Nissan, something like a Focus or Golf or Peugeot 307 estate. I can't afford to buy new; it would be around 18 months/2 years old. I have seen some at a fairly good price, but buying one would pretty much wipe out my savings. I suspect I wouldn't get much in part exchange for my car.

I need an estate (or maybe an MPV) as I have 2 big dogs and 2 kids as well but would be looking for something a more economical mpg-wise than the 2.2 Nissan I have.

Any advice gratefully appreciated - should I keep my car or change it? If I changed it, can anyone suggest what kind of car I should go for?

Many thanks in advance,
Peahenrose

TiTheRev

Nissan are a very sturdy car, not great diesels but mechanically sound. As long as the bodywork is good it should last a while longer without any major outlay.

Prices are not good for selling so you'd not see the best price possible from your car, but that does however make the potential purchase of a new car more beneficial as the buyer has the upper hand in this economical climate. Another thing to consider is the 2.2 will have a higher insurance and road tax premium which adds to running costs and limits the potential purchasers too. Once you go over 100k people put up a psychological barrier and presume it's past it's best, so that may be another reason to sell.

If it's served you well and is affordable to run, i'd be tempted to keep it for at least 6months and see how the market is then.

HTH ...and welcome

hewhoisnotintheknow

if you have looked after it well theres not point in changing it, as everything that will need changing will have been done and you know whats what

I have run citroens and peugeot over 200 thousand miles with only regular servicing needed, yours has plenty of life left in it

TiTheRev

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

if you have looked after it well theres not point in changing it, as everything that will need changing will have been done and you know whats what

I have run citroens and peugeot over 200 thousand miles with only regular servicing needed, yours has plenty of life left in it

Please refain from swearing on the forums, it lowers the tone and is unnecessary

MX5huggy

Hold on to it, the depreacation on the new car will be far more than the servicing costs on the Nissan. You seem happy with the Nissan and I expect the 2 kids would not like something a bit smaller!!!

Hintza

Assuming you take it a good indepenent garage for servicing cost should hopefully not be that great.

In rhis economic climate I think I would not be spending money on newer cars. I think my aim would be to get another couple of years at least out of it until we all know where we stand from an econimic point of view.

Why do you think it will need a new clutch by the way? As long as you don't ride the clutch is should be ok for awhile yet.

Just an add on:- Better the devil you know !!

Conor_3

If it's working fine, even if it needs £600 for a new clutch, it's worth doing as that clutch will last another 50,000-100,000 miles so it's not like its going to need doing every year.

As you said, a new one will wipe out your savings and it'll also sit there losing £1000+ in value every year for something that does exactly the same as yours does now. And there's no guarantee the new one won't have repair bills but being newer and more complicated, they're likely to be more expensive.

I'd personally look after it and keep it until it wallops oil or is rotting into the ground or starts breaking down more than a few times a year. Until then, it's doing what it's doing just fine and with cars, it's always a case of better the devil you know.

Basically, until your current car starts costing to repair a year the same as the depreciation of a new(er) car, which is roughly about £1-£1.5k once you've got past a year old, there's no point changing from a purely money saving point of view.

mluton

MX5huggy wrote: »

Hold on to it, the depreacation on the new car will be far more than the servicing costs on the Nissan. You seem happy with the Nissan and I expect the 2 kids would not like something a bit smaller!!!

Thats the baby.

peahenrose

Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated. I think I will get the car serviced and hang on to it for a while yet. It does everything I need it to, and diesel's a bit cheaper now than it was. The clutch feels heavy, and I have to put my foot a long way down to get it to engage. It's not slipping though, so hopefully it will last a while longer. I suppose I keep thinking about all the things that could go wrong with it - but it is a good idea to look at from the point of view of how quickly a newer car would depreciate and weigh that up against the servicing costs, as MX5huggy and Conor have pointed out.

TiTheRev

The clutch cable may just need adjusting? If you're going to get it serviced and continue to use it, just ask them to check it while they have the car.

AdrianHi

I had a 1992 Nissan Primera which I took to 116,000 miles and there was nothing really wrong with it when I traded it on.
One thing I do remember doing is adjusting the clutch cable so that it had "free play" through about half of it's full travel, meaning the pedal rested closer to the floor, meant that it did not need pushing down so far.
Your car has lost it's value now, running it way over 100,000 is not going to make much difference and it's a decent (and sadly underrated) car.
A newer car will *definately* cost you in depreciation. An older car *might* cost you in repairs. Better to hang onto your cash as long as possible.