Car Question, What makes more $$ sense?

[auberge]

-We have a VW Tourag with 89,000 miles on it.
-We owe $4600. It's worth about $7-8k right now.
-We just found out that we need a new timing belt and other repairs for about 2k.
-We are reading bad reviews about repairs to come.
-We will pay $442 a month for about 10 more months.

Should we:
1) Repair it and drive it as long as we can.
2) Sell it while its worth something and get something less expensive (say $300ish a month)

[mrssavy42112]

I don't know how old it is, but it's still worth $7-8K even with all of the repairs needed?

[auberge]

2005 and we could prob get $6500-7k with repairs needed because of all the upgrades.

[mrshabious]

My answer may be biased b/c I am not a huge VW fan. I would sell or trade in and get a Honda or Toyota. With the proper maintenance, one can expect to get 200k miles on it. I am finer with paying more in the short run for a longer term investment, which is what I think the Honda/Toyotas are.

[Susie]

I've owned several Jettas, and they always need a serpentine belt around 100k miles. It's not a surprise. I do it, because I've gotten many, many miles beyond 100k out of them. My current Jetta just hit 150k and I'm hoping for another 50k.

[lys]

Timing belts are normal maintenance - not repairs.
Normally, I would advise to do the repairs/maintenance, pay it off and keep it for as long as it is safe. However, I hate VW products. I would sell it and get a slightly used Honda, Toyota or Subaru. Pay that off ASAP and keep it forever.

[LoveTrains]

Timing belt is not a repair, that is a standard maintainence issue for most foreign cars around that mileage.

I would probably fix it and drive the car into the ground. My dad got 300K miles out of his old passat.