Deciding whether to keep or dump QX56

Started by veeman, April 17, 2020, 11:38:19 AM

veeman

7 years old/117,000 miles.  Bought it certified and two months to go on monthly finance before I own it.  No longer take it to dealer for service because nothing under warranty anymore.  It's been awesome and my favorite car I've owned.  Has had a few issues but everything besides oil changes/filters, brakes, battery, and tires has been covered under warranty and it's never left me stranded.

Took it in for an oil change today at a local independent who I've used a lot in the past.  Front brakes need to be replaced soon (month or two).  Left front hub has movement but no noise when test driven.  Needs to get replaced probably sooner rather than later.  Both of those together are gonna cost close to a grand to fix.  All 4 tires will need to be replaced in a few months (this car with its 22 in wheels eats tires).  That's another grand.  Will need all the fluids changed soon.  The drive belts are dry and cracked and will need to be replaced within 6 months. 

I gotta decide should I invest the money or get a new or another certified car.  Probably makes most sense to invest the money and keep driving it but it's my wife's daily driver in addition to our family car and she does want something a bit more fuel efficient and doesn't require premium gas.  Plus we take a lot of long interstate trips with this car (although not in the last 6 weeks) and older rust belt cars are more likely to have things go wrong mid trip and that's not something I want to deal with. 

Thinking about a Hyundai Palisade.  Most people think the Kia Telluride looks better but my wife and I kinda like the Palisade.  Can get pretty good financing rates right now plus I think should get about 10 grand on trade in for my Infiniti. 

My question is would you dump the Infiniti now or pay to get the front brakes and front hub replaced and dump the car at the end of the summer.   

SJ_GTI

I mean, financially speaking it is almost always better to keep the used car as long as it is practical.

But if you can comfortably afford a newer/nicer vehicle, nothing wrong (IMHO) upgrading at the point you are at. I mean, I traded in my last car when it was a year younger and way less mileage. I would like to get ~6 years out of my current car as well, at which point I'll almost certainly be looking to sell/trade it.

FoMoJo

Quote from: veeman on April 17, 2020, 11:38:19 AM
7 years old/117,000 miles.  Bought it certified and two months to go on monthly finance before I own it.  No longer take it to dealer for service because nothing under warranty anymore.  It's been awesome and my favorite car I've owned.  Has had a few issues but everything besides oil changes/filters, brakes, battery, and tires has been covered under warranty and it's never left me stranded.

Took it in for an oil change today at a local independent who I've used a lot in the past.  Front brakes need to be replaced soon (month or two).  Left front hub has movement but no noise when test driven.  Needs to get replaced probably sooner rather than later.  Both of those together are gonna cost close to a grand to fix.  All 4 tires will need to be replaced in a few months (this car with its 22 in wheels eats tires).  That's another grand.  Will need all the fluids changed soon.  The drive belts are dry and cracked and will need to be replaced within 6 months. 

I gotta decide should I invest the money or get a new or another certified car.  Probably makes most sense to invest the money and keep driving it but it's my wife's daily driver in addition to our family car and she does want something a bit more fuel efficient and doesn't require premium gas.  Plus we take a lot of long interstate trips with this car (although not in the last 6 weeks) and older rust belt cars are more likely to have things go wrong mid trip and that's not something I want to deal with. 

Thinking about a Hyundai Palisade.  Most people think the Kia Telluride looks better but my wife and I kinda like the Palisade.  Can get pretty good financing rates right now plus I think should get about 10 grand on trade in for my Infiniti. 

My question is would you dump the Infiniti now or pay to get the front brakes and front hub replaced and dump the car at the end of the summer.   
Simply the name itself would make me choose the Paslisade over the Telluride.  Besides, KIA is still looked upon as the lesser of the brands.
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MrH

I wouldn't dump a few thousand into it just to keep it until end of summer.

I think a Teluride looks better, but they're basically the same one.  Get whichever one you like more.  Seems like a lot of vehicle for the money.
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veeman

Quote from: FoMoJo on April 17, 2020, 12:16:56 PM
Simply the name itself would make me choose the Paslisade over the Telluride.  Besides, KIA is still looked upon as the lesser of the brands.

Yeah I hear ya but that's more of a factor for my wife than me (brand name) and I don't think she cares if it's Hyundai vs Kia.  They're basically kinda the same Korean company with very similar product lines, same warranty, etc.  Kia Telluride has a more butch look. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g7S6dxlGqA

veeman

Quote from: MrH on April 17, 2020, 12:35:11 PM
I wouldn't dump a few thousand into it just to keep it until end of summer.

I think a Teluride looks better, but they're basically the same one.  Get whichever one you like more.  Seems like a lot of vehicle for the money.

Thanks for your opinion!  I think if I tell my wife I think we should get a new car now instead of paying an extra thousand now vs I think we should pay the extra thousand now and wait out the summer she'll probably go along with what I say either way.  Since I got two months left to pay it off, for the former I would pay the car off now (about two thousand dollars) and for the latter I would let it play out with the bank financing (a thousand a month). 

veeman

Quote from: SJ_GTI on April 17, 2020, 11:58:25 AM
I mean, financially speaking it is almost always better to keep the used car as long as it is practical.

But if you can comfortably afford a newer/nicer vehicle, nothing wrong (IMHO) upgrading at the point you are at. I mean, I traded in my last car when it was a year younger and way less mileage. I would like to get ~6 years out of my current car as well, at which point I'll almost certainly be looking to sell/trade it.

It's not the right way to think about it at all I know but I currently pay about a thousand month and have two months left to pay off the car.  If I trade it for a new Palisade with the amount I should get as a trade in minus the amount I owe, I'd be paying around 300 less a month.  Course, if I kept the Infiniti I would be paying 0 a month in a few months as I'd own the car from the bank.   

AutobahnSHO

I think the Telluride is more handsome but haven't read reviews of either one.

Of course I think your current ride is just barely broken in, so I'd update it and enjoy a few years of no car payments. :lol: The money saved would surely pay for tow truck, repairs, rental cars, and hotel stays many times over. 

Will

AutobahnSHO

In addition, Odyssey or Sienna are far superior than any of those.       :cheers:
Will

veeman

Well no doubt a minivan is the best family hauler but...  :lol:

Anyways I decided to hold off on buying anything new and got the brakes and front hub replaced on my Infiniti.  I'm in the process of refinancing my house and didn't want a new debt to show up on my credit check until it goes through which is still a few weeks away.  Also thought I would get a low ball offer on trade in of my car since there's a glut of cars on the used car market.  Also having second thoughts about getting a new car since you can get really good deals on certified low mileage one to two year old used cars right now.     

Raza

For the price of a well optioned Palisade, you could easily get a used manual Aston Martin V8 Vantage. World'll be over soon enough, I say go for it.
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AutobahnSHO

Quote from: veeman on May 17, 2020, 12:32:38 PM
Well no doubt a minivan is the best family hauler but...  :lol:

Anyways I decided to hold off on buying anything new and got the brakes and front hub replaced on my Infiniti.  I'm in the process of refinancing my house and didn't want a new debt to show up on my credit check until it goes through which is still a few weeks away.  Also thought I would get a low ball offer on trade in of my car since there's a glut of cars on the used car market.  Also having second thoughts about getting a new car since you can get really good deals on certified low mileage one to two year old used cars right now.     

Cool cool.

I think the US car market (and probably many other places as well) has a lot of emotional games which the average consumer doesn't think about.

1- cars last a lot longer than people think.
2- that magical 100k miles hump (and/or timing belt change).
3- On the low end (sub $10k and especially sub $5k) the "worth" of the car for sale or tradein is usually much lower than it would cost to get an equivalent car with good history.
4- Even if repairs are necessary, "usually" once stuff is fixed it's not going to break again for a long time.
5- even an engine swap can be under $2500 for mainstream cars. Much cheaper than going out and buying a new car with new unknown problems.
6- it's fun and exciting to get a new car. Keeping the one you have is boring.
Will

AutobahnSHO

It's funny to see ads with "i just replaced x, y, z, h, a, b, c".
-Basically they've fixed all the stuff that will get the car good but are "scared it will keep breaking". But now x, y, z, h, a, b, c are not going to break again. So they will get something else now that the car should last awhile.
Will

MX793

Quote from: AutobahnSHO on May 18, 2020, 12:10:18 PM
It's funny to see ads with "i just replaced x, y, z, h, a, b, c".
-Basically they've fixed all the stuff that will get the car good but are "scared it will keep breaking". But now x, y, z, h, a, b, c are not going to break again. So they will get something else now that the car should last awhile.

The question is usually "what's going to break next?".  Newer cars, and luxury cars especially, have increasingly complex electronics in them that are much harder to diagnose.  You could sink a lot of money just into diagnostic fees to have a mechanic try to identify and isolate a fault if it's something in the electrics, even if the part itself isn't too much to replace.
Needs more Jiggawatts

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AutobahnSHO

Quote from: MX793 on May 20, 2020, 12:23:25 PM
The question is usually "what's going to break next?".  Newer cars, and luxury cars especially, have increasingly complex electronics in them that are much harder to diagnose.  You could sink a lot of money just into diagnostic fees to have a mechanic try to identify and isolate a fault if it's something in the electrics, even if the part itself isn't too much to replace.

Yeah but if you just changed the brakes, timing belt, and waterpump, and air conditioner, those things are not going to fail again soon.

Will

veeman

Yeah for me it's having the thoughts about whether in the future should I really take this 7 year old, 100 thousand mile plus, salted road winter car on a long 8 hr interstate trip with my family.  It's maintained, it's fine, but a newer lower mileage car is less likely to run into problems.  I know there's no magic number of miles or number of years before I should dump it but something tells me now's about time.  If it was my work car, I can tolerate a break down.  Call a tow truck, Uber to work, show up an hour late.  Not a very big deal.  1 am in the middle of BFE, not anywhere near my house, only have a few days for this vacation... not to mention my wife's anger,... uh no thanks.  Yeah anything can happen with any car but older high mileage cars are just much more likely to fail. 

I'll drive it through the summer and then start looking again.  A one or two year old certified luxury name three row SUV might be more enticing than a new Palisade/Telluride.  Used cars can be had at a significant discount now looking at autotrader.  I haven't seen that with new cars. 

AutobahnSHO

I've driven very old cars all the way from NY or SC to Wyoming. :lol: 
Will

AutobahnSHO

But yeah, if you can afford, used are a much better financial coffee.
Will

MX793

Quote from: AutobahnSHO on May 20, 2020, 12:54:53 PM
Yeah but if you just changed the brakes, timing belt, and waterpump, and air conditioner, those things are not going to fail again soon.



No, those aren't going to fail again anytime soon, but what is the next item to fail?  And how much might it cost to fix?

A coworker had a VW T-reg diesel.  Liked the vehicle quite a bit.  Very luxurious, great mileage, perfect tow rig for his camper.  Then, as it got to that 10 year, 100,000 mile mark, things started to fail.  A piece of flex pipe in the exhaust cracked.  Exhaust shop couldn't weld it.  He talked to the dealer about fixing it and they quoted him like 2 grand.  He's mechanically competent, so he decided to do the replacement himself.  Because VW, he couldn't just buy the piece of flex pipe, he had to buy an entire exhaust ($$$).  And because the car was so uncommon, couldn't source one at a junkyard.  Bought the least expensive one he could find online and did the repair himself.  Afterwards, he said he understood why the dealer price was so high.  Not only were parts expensive, but you basically need to remove the engine.

Not long after, one of the heat exchangers failed (either the oil cooler or trans cooler).  Again, dealer quoted a 4-figure price.  Again, coworker fixed it himself.  Again, parts were $$$.  Again, the repairs required substantial labor (service manual said to remove the entire front clip, coworker found a way not to do that, but admitted the approach risked damaging some expensive parts).  Then a main bearing seal started dripping oil a few weeks after that.  He did some research and that one was a major $$$ repair and beyond his ability to do at home.  He decided to trade it in while it was still worth something.

Brakes and water pump are wear items.  They need periodic replacement, the latter typically around that 100k mark.  AC isn't a critical failure.  But what's next on the list that might be?  Is the radiator on the verge of splitting a seam and dumping coolant all over the road (happened to a friend)?  Sudden transmission cooler rupture (happened to a relative)?  These aren't wear items and aren't inconvenient "I'll fix it when I get a chance" failures.  These are "call a tow truck and find another mode of transportation while it spends a few days in the shop" failures.
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AutobahnSHO

Quote from: MX793 on May 27, 2020, 06:19:47 AM

Brakes and water pump are wear items.  They need periodic replacement, the latter typically around that 100k mark.  AC isn't a critical failure.  But what's next on the list that might be?  Is the radiator on the verge of splitting a seam and dumping coolant all over the road (happened to a friend)?  Sudden transmission cooler rupture (happened to a relative)?  These aren't wear items and aren't inconvenient "I'll fix it when I get a chance" failures.  These are "call a tow truck and find another mode of transportation while it spends a few days in the shop" failures.

And calling a tow truck and paying for a rental car and a shop to fix stuff is still cheaper than starting a round of car payments. :huh:
Will

MX793

Quote from: AutobahnSHO on May 27, 2020, 09:23:55 PM
And calling a tow truck and paying for a rental car and a shop to fix stuff is still cheaper than starting a round of car payments. :huh:

Rust belt cars age much faster than elsewhere.  A few years back, a friend bought an early WRX.  Car was like 12 or 13 years old, average mileage.  Single-owner, unmodified/unmolested.  Had a little body rust in the usual areas, but otherwise seemed to be in good shape.  Within the first month, he was sitting at an intersection and the radiator emptied its contents onto the street.  No sooner was that fixed, a CV joint self-destructed while on a road trip.  A few weeks after that, the fuel tank split a seam and started leaking.  At least one shop actually refused to repair it because the chassis was so rusted that the car wouldn't pass inspection.  He managed to get it fixed with a used junkyard tank and then found some sucker out of state who wanted to buy it.  He sunk at least 50% of what he'd paid for the car in repairs within 6 months.  Major repair after major repair could well add up to money better spent on a newer, lower mileage vehicle.
Needs more Jiggawatts

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CaminoRacer

Yeah, if you have to spend $600 every other month to fix something, might as well get a new Civic or something for $200-300 a month.
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MX793

Quote from: CaminoRacer on May 28, 2020, 09:28:54 AM
Yeah, if you have to spend $600 every other month to fix something, might as well get a new Civic or something for $200-300 a month.

And it's not just the cost of fixing the car, it's the other costs like missing work.  I worked with a guy who was a temp/contract worker with the potential for full time employment if it panned out.  He was frequently late to work, or didn't show at all, and his excuse was typically "car trouble".  Needless to say, he was not offered a permanent position.  I think we may have even terminated his contract early.
Needs more Jiggawatts

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giant_mtb

Quote from: MX793 on May 28, 2020, 09:54:32 AM
And it's not just the cost of fixing the car, it's the other costs like missing work.  I worked with a guy who was a temp/contract worker with the potential for full time employment if it panned out.  He was frequently late to work, or didn't show at all, and his excuse was typically "car trouble".  Needless to say, he was not offered a permanent position.  I think we may have even terminated his contract early.

Was it actually car trouble, or was it "car trouble."

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CaminoRacer

2020 BMW 330i, 1969 El Camino, 2017 Bolt EV

MX793

Quote from: giant_mtb on May 28, 2020, 10:57:43 AM
Was it actually car trouble, or was it "car trouble."

Obviously I did not witness any automotive failures first hand.  I know one day he was late (although not too late) because he got pulled over after overtaking a NY Conservation Officer while talking on his cell phone.  He shows up like 30 minutes late and says "Did you know DEC officers can write traffic tickets?".
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AutobahnSHO

Ok but I bought a 12yr old minivan with 168k miles and 5 years later it has 80k more miles with minimal repairs. Spent quite a bit to have dealer do the timing belt and water pump etc...
Will

AutobahnSHO

Quote from: CaminoRacer on May 28, 2020, 09:28:54 AM
Yeah, if you have to spend $600 every other month to fix something, might as well get a new Civic or something for $200-300 a month.

Yes but 4 repairs like that is still a year of car payments...
Will

giant_mtb

Quote from: AutobahnSHO on May 28, 2020, 06:20:27 PM
Yes but 4 repairs like that is still a year of car payments...

Fair enough, but predictability is a factor.  On an older vehicle, you may never know when something will pop up, and some people just don't want to deal with that uncertainty.

Me and you are lucky...our high-miles Japanese vehicles are going strong.  Taco is at 194k miles with no major issues (fingers crossed). :lol: