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At 64 years I find myself rapidly loosing the urge to keep an old car running, but right now the Sentra needs a $10 (OE) front crank oil seal and 1 hour labor to basically be ready to go anywhere. Even with the leaking seal, it did 6k miles with the oil level dropping only half way down the safe range marking on the dipstick on synthetic oil. Allowing the front seal leak to continue jeopardizes the life expectancy of other underhood components.
I have a big project in the garage that must be finished. Towing the trailer with the Sentra is no problem, maybe not so with the Mirage with the 10-100 warranty that could be denied.
I can buy the Mirage with cash, insurance will be close to the same without collision, and I can forget about car repairs for a decade when I will be closing in on 75.
Some more research shows the $1250 cash applies to a 2015 while that climbs to $2000 on a left over 2014 model, and the car on their showroom was made May 2014. I also own a Suzuki motor cycle which may mean another $250. Combined I might be able to get a 2014 for $11k versus the 2015 for $12k. That's $3-4k less than the average new purchase price here of $15.6k. Best price used within 200 miles is 10k.
To rationalize the fuel savings as cost effective is ludicrous. Even if I could average twice the mpg (75mpg) it would only save me $37 of Aprils fuel cost.
Bottom line for me is making life less complicated and right now it is a very close call.
The Sentra dumps a tranny, it goes for scrap, but it could run on another 100k miles without any real major repairs.
We'll see. I paid $7k for my CRX 1.5 new in 1984, drove it 50k miles and sold it for $5k. $2k for 50 k miles ain't bad averaging 44 mpg.
regards
mech
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