We have a small Nissan Sentra 2001 and so far has been very reliable for us without any mayor repair jobs for years now (new spark plugs maybe) and is still under 150.000 Miles. Now we have a small oil leak underneath it since the last oil change and some air filter box issues and a misfire on a cylinder. It will be around 1000$ or more to fix everything on it and the car is only worth about 500$-1500$ selling it off or as a trade in.
We are thinking of trading it off because we already spend 120$ on a new MAF Sensor for it...
We're worried that it it's becoming a money pit for us more than it's worth and maybe trade it in for another better used car, something newer with less miles, less problems, because it is over 20 years old by now.
Should we get it all fixed or get a better "new" used one. We can't afford something expensive, so we are on a budget... We don't know that the cheaper option would be?
A new used car could also bring new used car problems for us I'm afraid off. Just afraid we're spending too much money on this old junk car basically.
On the oil leak. It depends, sometimes it is okay to live with an oil leak. Other times, it must be fixed. Right now, I am living with an oil leak on my Honda Accord 1999. It's not too bad a leak. Just annoying.
One old adage I've heard on this forum: better the devil you know, than the devil you don't. A 2001 Sentra is at towards the end of Nissan "good" run of quality. So it may be worth fixing.
I would rather fix what I have than go way into debt on another vehicle that my be worse than what I've already got, newer or not.
