repair costs worth it or get a new car?
 

My 98GS4 has 159k miles and it's time I quit procrastinating. I hear a lot of creaking and clunking from the front end. I realized how bad it was when I drove a brand new rental neon while out of town and it just snapped on how bad the GS sounds right now. I am contemplating just redoing everything. I don't think I need ball joints since I had them done about 30k ago but I will do them anyway. Here's my list..

SPC UCA's $350
KYB GR2 x 4 $317
KYB front upper strut mounts $105
lower control arms $229
OEM LH RH caster arms $269
OEM LH RH ball joints & tie rod ends $220

is that everything? I've already changed out the steering rack bushings. I don't plan on lowering it yet until I get the suspension fixed.

luckily I found a ex lexus tech that started his own shop and he quoted "worst case" about $1150 in labor. He said it was $39/hr. This includes swapping out my starter, alignment, and tuneup. I have a 180amp alternator but don't think I really need it since my stereo is not that extreme.

So all in all.. that's a lot of labor but it seems like a decent deal to get my car feeling new again.

but the question is.. is it worth about $2600 to keep the car? Time to get a new one? I just feel bad about it since the car runs absolutely fine. I always kept it maintained and used synthetics at regular intervals. Runs very strong, doesn't leak anything, and noise is minimal. Tires even wear perfectly with the front end shakes. Also did the timing / water pump at 120k. It has about 8k in replacement parts and new paint due to hail repair recently. I'm just torn. I like no car payments but looking at LS's while thinking my car was going to be totalled by my insurance company made my decision a lot harder.

Have any of you reached this point and what did you do?

Fix it either way, even if you sell it, you are not going to get much money for it when it's all clunky.

The Daizen bushing set is like $100 and will probably fix most of your problems.

YOU GOTTA KEEP IT. I went to the dealer and they had racked up about $3000 of work were most of it was labor and i thought about selling my car too. but after about 2 months, about $700 in parts and a bit of elbow grease later i rebuilt my entire front suspension, corrected a lot of other lil problems and the only major thing i have left is to put new tires on the back. as long as u kno sum1 wit tools n kno how to make deals, AND be willing to search the hell outta eBay and the internet u can get it done for really cheap. dont sell ur GS. u can fix it!

Very true.. With a little direction anything can be done.. Keep the car... Having no car payments is worth every penny. ( assuming you have none)..

It depends if you still like the car, if you are eying something else, and what your $ situation is. It definitely will be the cheapest route to keep the car. You will probably get about 10k for the car at best. Are you planning to buy another 13k car (to break even)?

If you have the $ and are itching for something else, then go for it. Otherwise, maybe fix the car, and then spend an extra few thousand (still cheaper than getting another car) to refresh the car. I don't know what your car is like now but maybe something new (new wheels, kit, BBK, coilovers, ...) to get you excited about the car again.

its always cheaper to fix something than it is to buy something new. thats what my old man always tells me

+1. Two and a half years into making payments on a newer car, you'll wish you just fixed what you had. Make sure you NEED to replace all that crap before getting too worked up. I can't imagine a Lexus would need an entire new suspension after 159,000 miles.

Oh, and that Neon will be an unbelievable pile of sheat in about 3 years, if that makes you feel any better.