Decision Time

[mobily]

Hi all

Purchased a 2001 Fiesta with 71k on the clock about a year ago for £650. Bought for daily drive taking daughter to school and driving to work. About 13 miles a day with the odd jaunt at the weekend. Main car is a 2009 focus which the wife uses (I must really love her)!

Fiesta has been ultra reliable starting first time every day. Bought 4 new tyres a few months after buying for about £150. Over the year a few things have happened. Wing mirror fell off after I scraped a pillar and is now held on by tape. Rear wiper has stopped working.

MOT today failed as we expected all down to rust. Garage has advised £300 to rectify in addition to £250 for a new clutch due to very high bite and also slipping over the last 3 months.

The decision is should I go ahead and get the work done or look to buy a new car for another circa £650?

My concern is the Fiesta is clearly mechanically reliable but the bodywork is failing. If I get the work done I an confident it will last for another 12 months. If I buy another car at that price it might not be so reliable.

Decisions decisions....

[FOCA]

These are hard decisions to make and you must weigh up the pros and cons etc

you don't say what the mileage is

It can often be a gamble that could go either way, you could spend the £550, and have a good, reliable car that runs for years without trouble, or, that could be just the start of everything else needing replaced at great expense,

Or you could sell your car and end up with a lemon that costs a fortune

In a way you have done well to run a car for a year for so little

Another option is to buy a slightly newer car, if funds permit, if you buy a car at the right age, you will loose the least amount of money, traditionally this is around 3 years (due to the initial depritiation) to 7 years (often after that cars can cost more to run, due to repairs, wear and tear etc) 2001 is 13 year old, now

Often you have to have a special reason for keeping an older car

I once bought a car that cost £800 and lasted a month (yes it was a Va**all ve**ra) i realised i cold have bought a brand new/ nearly new car, or leased a new car for less (for that month, anyway- £200 a month would have bought me a nice car that £800 would have paid 4 months of - if you know what i mean)

Perhaps thinking about buying a much newer car to replace the Fiesta is something worth considering - at least if money has to be spent on it, its value is higher (eg spending £550 on a car worth £650 vs spending £550 on a much newer car that is worth 1-2k, which may be less likely too, certainly due to rust )

Im still running my 2002 car, and have now spent a small fortune on (mostly upgraded) parts, they stopped doing the TDDI in 2002 (with the tough, reliable Bosch injectors that can run on veg oil) and the later cars had the soft, unreliable delphi injectors that can't i do the work for the MOT myself, and the car is fast, relaable(ish) and practical, its never needed welding for rust - if there were not so many reasons to keep it it would have been replaced with a newer car, many other FOC members seem to run newer cars, and replace them more often, there are advantages in this

[dioxity]

If it wasn't for the rust I'd say get it fixed.

No matter how much welding you do, the car will forever be falling apart.

[mobily]

Update

I decided to go ahead with the welding and now have 12 months MOT, but £300 lighter!

In respect of the clutch the mechanic said it could last for a while and might be worth waiting. I have driven it with a high bite for a good few months and it only slips in 4/5th gear.

What is the best way to nurse a clutch? At the moment I accelerate very gently and if going up hills use lower gears.