2007 Kia Sportage LX V6 4WD vs. 2011 Honda Element 4 cyl 2WD
My car needs 4 new tires, new brakes, a timing belt, two front struts, and a 4 wheel alignment. It’s also due to have the transmission oil replaced. It’s a Pennsylvania car so it’s rusty underneath. Not terribly so, but rusty nonetheless. It has 107,000 miles. I own it outright and I paid $700 for it in 2020 and have pumped a few grand in to replace the rear differential seal, the high pressure power steering line, tires, and the two rear struts. It’s only worth about $4-5k if I were to sell it (according to KBB)
Or:
Do I buy a 2011 element from a dealer down the road? It was in NC its entire life and is wicked clean underneath. It has 170,000 miles and was regularly maintained. (I had an Element before the Kia and it had 280,000 when I sold it). It has had two owners and never been in an accident. The dealer had the recall work done by the Honda dealer in town and also put 4 brand new tires on. I have the dealer talked into $9k for the Element and including dealer fees, taxes, and tag fees.
Thoughts?
Personally, I think any car you own is better than payments. But before you make any decisions make sure to verify these issues yourself as it can save you money and it’s a good skill to learn. Tires at a minimum should hav 2/32 tread to be considered “safe” to be used with no significant dry rotting. Brakes need to be changed with 2MM of pad life left. Thoes may be harder to tell if your inexperienced, but if there’s no vibrations, grinding, or squeaking you will most likely be okay for a bit. Struts you can put off doing basically until they don’t hold the car up. I was running 40 year old shocks on one of my cars for a while with no issues. Transmission fluid can be checked yourself easily as well. pull the transmission dipstick, and look at it. it should be cherry red, and should not be smelling burnt. Although these are not the worst engines Kia ever made, they did not have a good streak in the early 2000s and had lots of problematic engines. There was an issue with the timing belts with them sheering and breaking. if they do break it can destroy your motor. I personally would do the timing belt, tires if needed, trans fluid id needed, brakes if needed, but I would not get rid of a perfectly good running car that you own outright for something you would be making payment on that you also don’t know how well it was driven or maintained. just because it’s a honda dosent mean it will run forever. these cars are only as good as they were cared for.