Repair engine or replace car altogether?

Legacy_user

Hi everyone!
Please help me resolve the following problem. Do we repair or replace my 8 year old Renault Scenic 1.4 people carrier. It's been a great car, a bit underpowered for the size, but has done okay, up until quite recently. In fact, if it didn't have a coil replacement issue, I would happily get another (I'm not going to, but that's for another post) However, in the last few months, it seems to have been one thing after another, with the most recent problem being that it seems to be burning oil.
My local garage recommended an engine repair shop , they have quoted £795, incl VAT, plus 12 month warranty. They gave me an itemised list of what they would do and which problem that would solve over the phone , very helpful but I'm embarassed to say that it was meaningless to me. Renault garage want to run diagnostic check for £68.15, I don't know what they would charge to fix it, and it will certainly need something done.
I had a look in local dealer, it would cost around £7k for a new (for us) replacement, not very money saving :-( , but, my family have been advising me that I'm throwing "good money after bad" and seem to think that this is the beginning of the end for my wee sugarbabe! They have much more driving and car buying experience than us. We need a reliable family sized car with good boot space as while hubby could revert back to the bus (£16 per week) and I could do without car on a day to day basis, I do need to be able to travel to jobs when I'm face painting etc at events and parties, especially if they are outwith the city.
On the face of it £700+ versus £7000+ seems to be no contest, but am I wasting money in the longer term?
I will be very grateful for any input and advice on offer. Thanks,
Linda
PS The salesman at the dealers was pushing this deal quite hard, I thought, it's a 10 plate Nissan Tiida, delivery mileage, imported from Ireland. 3 year warranty, breakdown cover etc for £7995. What does anyone else think? Good, bad or indifferent? Lx

I love to paint faces :T

Rolandtheroadie

If it's not losing the oil by dropping it on the road, I wouldnt get the work done. How much oil is it burning? A litre a month? more? Less?
I'd keep it and put it in for it's MOT 4 weeks before the MOT's up and see what it fails on. If it's not much, and passes the emissions, I'd keep it another year.
Meanwhile, put the money you'd pay for the new car away every month for when it REALLY needs changed.

Hammyman

£795 is a good price for the engine and it'll see the bodywork out. As scotsman4th said, if its not chucking it on the road and its not using masses, just keep topping it up. At one place I worked, there was a Volvo lorry that went through a gallon a day but it was cheaper to run it like that than to change the motor.

sassy_one

I wouldn't use a car that was burning oil, simply as the engine will also be wearing more and lack power

mcjordi

how much oil is it using a month (how many miles do you do?) what mileage is on the current engine?

Strider590

fab_n_funky_mum wrote: »

H
I had a look in local dealer, it would cost around £7k for a new (for us) replacement, not very money saving :-( , but, my family have been advising me that I'm throwing "good money after bad" and seem to think that this is the beginning of the end for my wee sugarbabe! They have much more driving and car buying experience than us. We need a reliable family sized car with good boot space as while hubby could revert back to the bus (£16 per week) and I could do without car on a day to day basis, I do need to be able to travel to jobs when I'm face painting etc at events and parties, especially if they are outwith the city.
On the face of it £700+ versus £7000+ seems to be no contest, but am I wasting money in the longer term?
I will be very grateful for any input and advice on offer. Thanks,
Linda
PS The salesman at the dealers was pushing this deal quite hard, I thought, it's a 10 plate Nissan Tiida, delivery mileage, imported from Ireland. 3 year warranty, breakdown cover etc for £7995. What does anyone else think? Good, bad or indifferent? Lx

I think the new car is a crazy idea...... Just look around this forum and see how many people are having issues with new cars.
It's always better the devil you know!!!

A lot of people get rid of cars as soon as something goes wrong for the same unjustifiable reason you mention "throwing good money after bad".

Id rather spent £1000 fixing my car than put myself back into debt buying a new one. Only to loose that £1000 in depreciation.

I suspect people use it as an excuse to buy a new car, to buy a new status symbol, but hey...

Hammyman

sassy-one wrote: »

I wouldn't use a car that was burning oil, simply as the engine will also be wearing more and lack power

Not true or not to any level you'd notice unless you're one of those people who accelerates from 0-60 and measures the time every time you do it.

System

Hello again,
many thanks for your input so far (but keep those opinions coming!) Repair is my favoured option, (I'm quite frugal by nature and upbringing) so I'm going to get the diagnostic check run by Renault done first, to try and flag up any other potential problems apart from the oil burning engine. I will let you know how I get on.
To Strider590, your comments are useful, but as I am quite secure within myself, I don't feel the need for status symbols to provide a false sense of self-worth x

luap2411

Hi, as mentioned engines use oil for one of several reasons. Either they leak, you will see oil stains on the ground, burn it due to worn engine parts, or sometimes they can use oil due to a failed head gasket.

It would be useful to know how old the car is, how many miles it has done, and general condition. One one hand buying the newer car should give you some peace of mind, but you will pay heavily in depreciation. the older car will not depreciate as heavily, but will probably require more maintainance as it gets older.

Many engines do use quite a bit of oil. I have an Alfa and anything up to 1 litre per 600 miles is OK ! But if the oil use is down to engine wear this will have been progressively getting worse over time, and may account for the poor performance.

Getting engines repaired on the cheap can be a false economy, it depends on how much work is needed. £795 for a major engine rebuild including removal and refitting sounds very cheap, I would be wary. But if it is just a top end engine rebuild this sounds fair.

My advice would be to get some good independent advice on what is actually wrong with the car, and also what is likely to go wrong with it in the near future, tyres, brakes, exhaust etc. Then make an assessment if you want to continue or call it a day and buy new.

If the car is generally good apart from this problem then might be worth spending the money on it, if it is the head gasket this will likely become worse, and could trash the engine unless fixed fairly soon.

harveybobbles

It'll be the oil seal at the back iof the engine. Depending on which engine it has it will either be a pig of a job or not lol.

System

Thanks for all your input, it's great. Here is a fuller picture as someone asked the mileage etc. It's 8 years old, 1400 engine, 51,000 mileage and is in general good condition, no rust and bodywork seems ok. It's not leaking oil onto road or anything, has blue exhaust on starting and seems underpowered.
We took it for the diagnostic test at Renault, they did not find any faults on computer check. Car passed gas check, although lamba was high. ? possible start of O2 sensor failing. Other findings were low oil (obviously) and said that timimg belt was overdue, although it was changed 18 months ago. The brake pads to be replaced, O/S/F ball joint very worn and wheels need rebalanced. Ther is also an oil leak from crankshaft.
That seems to be everything that came up on testing. I have to phone local engine specialist garage next week regards what action I want to take, so any further advice and input would be much appreciated.
Thanks again,
Linda x