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Is it sensible to spend a couple of grand to keep a fifteen-year-old car running?

I have a mid-90s Buick and a late-80s Jeep and one more '77 station wagon. The Buick gives me an intermittant SERVICE ENGINE SOON light that cannot be tracked down. It's probably the EGR valve and might simply be a well-hidden loose wire. It has almost a hundred grand on the clock and we know it has lost compression and has a minor coolant leak somewhere, a broken drink holder, a few bad scratches in the paint, perhaps a bad shock absorber, etc etc. It's big enough for my family; we couldn't manage with a little Toyota or something.

The Jeep needs a transmission but we're getting by for now on the goop you can pour in. The station wagon gets about 8 miles per gallon and is our car of last resort. It needs to be turned into scrap, but we've been very grateful to still have it several times here lately. The question of the day--does it make more sense economically to keep fixing older cars you are comfortable with, or to buy other not-quite-so-old cars?

I don't WANT a new car *or* a new-car-payment. My husband can do most repairs himself, time permitting, and we do have AAA. I'm kind of paralyzed by indecision as I hate change. :-) But change looks a lot better from the side of the road waiting for a tow truck, eh?

It depends on your mechanical abilities and philosophy. Both of my vehicles are 1979 (last year they made good cars). My full size chevy truck (14mpg) has about 300,000 miles on it and my diesel rabbit (50mpg) 448,000 miles. Both vehicles are in decent enough mechanical condtion to drive anywhere with confidence. Just had both emission inspected and even the emission guys were impressed with how well they did. Both look fine to me, but are obviously not showroom fresh.

The truck's been through two engines, three transimssions and two paint jobs. I had to put a clutch in the rabbit this year (didn't need new parts, but I didn't find out till I had it apart. Just some lousy german engineering that allowed wear dust to collect on the inside of the flywheel flange. should have made 700,000 easy).

I do my own work and save significant amounts of money (i.e. an rebuilt auto transmission for the truck cost about $400 and I put it in myself. cheapest I could have it done was $1,200. My last paint job for the truck cost $12.00). The key to long life of a vehicle is to keep things repaired. Vehicles usually don't wear out all at once. Some things, like brake shoes/pads, wheel bearings, starter/generator brushes and bearings, coolant hoses and water pumps, and other predictable wearing parts should just be replaced periodically to head off breakdowns (they're relatively cheap and the long term cost of doing this is less than one tow in from the highway). Junkers are the end result of long time neglect.

An important consideration: Many, many people will judge you by the vehicles you drive. If you are in a position where this could affect your career or financial status, this has to be taken into account.

Couple things...

Statistically, the "service engine soon" light is most likely just the sensing computer on the fritz. That isn't necessarily good news. In many states, you are required to make those lights go off. That can be expensive. I know. One of those little SOB's once cost me close to $1000, and there was nothing else wrong with the engine. But California required that I make that friggin' light go off.

I like Jeeps too, but they are absolute pieces of junk when it comes to reliability. If you can't afford to own one -- and it sounds like you can't -- get rid of it. Don't put one more nickel into it.

I don't know about the Buick. I'd be inclined to get rid of it too, just on general principle. My experience has been that once a car starts becoming a pain in the butt, it continues to be a pain in the butt. You never can fix them. One thing or the other continues to go wrong. They become sink-holes for money.

By the same token, a good car should be driven until the tires go square. Never sell it.

If I were you, I'd do this:

Go down to your local public library and get last April's edition of Consumers Reports. That's their annual car issue. It's a commie magazine, but they do give good advice on some things. Cars are one of those things. They will give you better advice on this subject than any of us will. Cost is zero.

I agree with the person who recommended a Nissan Maxima. Nissans generally sell for less than Toyotas and Hondas, and they are every bit as good. Any Nissan will do. I personally like the Sentras. I buy my daughter two or three of them a year -- just as fast as she wrecks them.

Carmax sounds okay too.

Good luck!

What's the smartest way to ensure having two good running cars?

Several basic ideas here:

Get rid of anything prior to 1990 or 1991 vintage. There's just a huge quality difference between 90's and up cars and what went before.
100K Miles used to be considered lifespan for any car; 200K and beyond is becoming more the norm than the exception for many 90's and up models.
Figure on paying somewhere between $2500 and $6000 for good used cars that you buy; if you do a good job shopping you shouldn't need more than that.
Have a general idea of several kinds of cars to look for which are hard to go wrong with.
Somewhere in the early 90's the Japanese started making several kinds of cars to live longer than the guy who owns them, most notably the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry. There are several other Japanese makes which are generally good as well. Volkswagans are still a good idea, and the Chrysler cab-forward cars are a bargain used.
The little Neon in particular is worth looking at. The Neon is a fast car with superb handling characteristics which gets unreal gas mileage and can often be bought cheap because almost every single one prior to the late 98 models had to have the head gasket replaced around 80K miles. In real-world terms this often means you can buy a 96 or 97 neon with 70K miles on it for $1500 or $2000, immediately have the headgasket and timing belt replaced on it, and you're set for nearly forever for around $2500 or $3000.
Avoid cars which are spectacularly difficult to work on. A job on a car which is overly difficult to do often simply never gets down. Cars I would avoid for this reason would include Ford cars with the 6-cylindar duratec engine, the 6-cylindar camry, the Kia sportage, and several others. If you can't picture how you'd change the plugs on a car, don't buy it; the mechanic probably can't picture it either.
No well-built modern car needs more than a 4-cylindar engine anymore. The Neon, Stratus, Accord, Camry, and any number of other cars are faster than anybody needs with four cylindar motors, and nobody needs to be spending money on gasoline unnecessarily.
Use synthetic oil in all your vehicles, keep track of things like ignition wires, plugs, brake disk pads, air filters, etc. etc. The owner can still do most of that sort of thing himself/herself.

one more '77 station wagon. .The station wagon gets about 8 miles per gallon and is our car of last resort. It needs to be turned into scrap,
You didn't say if it is a fullsized or compact but at 8 mpg it sounded like a big one. 77 was the last year before cafe, if it is a big one it might have more value than you think. One mans junk could be another man treasure. At 25 years it is probably about to appreciate rather than depreciate. I would check with someone into collector cars before I scaped it.

FYI, the '77 Volare Station Wagon has cost a grand total of about $3500, inclusive of purchase price and the engine and tranny, in the past 6 years, not counting insurance and fuel. That is about $50 a month. Show me a car lot where I can beat that, and I'm there. Besides, it has its own charm, being in the top-ten worst cars in america list... And there is only one time it hasn't gotten me home before it crapped out. That was a battery problem, and I won't blame it on Baby Blue.

The Jeep has cost us, so far, $700, not counting what I'm spending on ebay for parts and manuals, about another $150. With 185K+ miles, its book value is $3600. Lucas tranny fix is GOOD stuff. My tranny shop owner is an honest man, and has told me to keep driving it as long as it keeps running well, and bring it back to him when it finally really does flake out, which could be years. About $95/month, so far.

The Buick is a Buick. What can you say? We've put over 50K miles on it since Christmas '99. Cost is about $250/month for the time we've owned it, not counting gas and insurance.