It would take $1200 to replace the water pump (major leak) and timing belt on a 99 Ford Escort, manual transmission, with 230,000 miles. The previous owner replaced the transmission and engine some years ago, and the mechanic says they function well. I have at max $5,000 of working capital and am not sure if I should repair the Escort or put it toward a used Toyota. Either way, it seems like a gamble. And would it be feasible for somebody with no experience to try the repair themselves?
1 big question is what is the condition of the rest of the Escort? It would be make a big difference if it was in bad shape, needing tires and brakes, etc. If it is solid and reasonably comfortable, fix it and wait until the carpocalypse pandemic settles down.
Though it is possible to find a decent used Toyota or Honda for $5k it would be difficult to do that in a couple weeks (just guessing you don't have a second car).
As far as doing it yourself, this is not a job to take on without a pretty good set of skills and tools. Start with more basic maintenance and build up your skills and tools to this kind of task.
The mechanics have driven it around and says everything else is fine. But I have very little personal experience with cars and I don't know what the probability of another failure occurring is. So I guess I'll take them at their word.
The Corollas and Camrys in my price range seem to be early 2000's, with 180,000+ miles, and about $3000-$5000. Are these safe buys? Are they good value?
Hard to say without looking at/getting a mechanic to assess them. A 15-20 year old car can suffer from a lot of neglect and/or damage. To get an idea of what dealers are asking for comparable cars check out your area on https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale
Thanks for the advice! I think I'm just going to repair my current car for now.
This video should give you an idea of the difficulty level of the job:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dU2-qWaTqU
... Yeah that's a just a bit out of my league...