Mechanic says she's dead, Jim! Could knock me out of 1st86
 

So I get back home from the weekend 1st86 trip, go to the parking lot at the airport, get in "Barbara Jean"* my 2000 Chevy Astro that I had just spent the entire weekend bragging about how she still ran strong at 289K miles.

We get just about home and she throws a multiple motor bearings! Fortunately its within sight of my GM dealer. They confirmed it today, new engine required is she is to live. OUCH!

Since it was going to get moved to backup status with the FR-S I was plan was to have her around for "heavy lifting" events. Now, with her out of commission I'm in a quandry. Fix her for $7K (new engine/tranny, I'd want to replace both) with a 3y/100K warranty and still get the FR-S, buy a new heavy lifter for $35K to $40K (no FR-S), or get the FR-S, save the 7K in reserve and try to see how much I really need a van/truck and buy a used one.

I'm leaning towards FR-S+truck reserve, and donate Barbara Jean to charity. I have no problems with the thoughts of an engine swap, the rest of the body is solid and I'm used to treating engines as just another part (racing/airplanes/etc).

Anybody got any thoughts?

(*The current stable of cars are named after characters on the TV show "Reba". "Reba" is my wife's red Mustang (the readhead), the Astro is "Barbara Jean" (big good old girl), my son's Accord is "Kyra" because she's the "artsy" one and he's a musician and my motorcycle (Honda 919) is named Cheyenne. I suppose the Astro should have been named "Van" but that seemed to obvious and cars should have women's names.)

Do you haul things around to make a living?

You can rent Pup for about $100 a day on weekends if not less.
7K = lots of new Pup rental.

No but I do relatively frequently for hobbies (woodworking/yardworking) and occasionally to go help out the inlaws. If I were honest though its probably a couple dozen times a year in total and even a smaller number that couldn't be accomdatedwithout renting something.

Yea. agreed, that is why I'm leaning towards pulling the plug.

Can you have some old toyota truck or van or land cruiser for 7 grand? I recommend for you one of those. 90's toyotas are very reliable and cheap to run, so you can have both: truck/van/LC and FS-R.

I drive a lot, and i noticed that old toyotas are the most economical cars to drive daily. I drive like 25.000+ miles in a year. When you have one of those old bastards in your household, you can buy your dream car for enjoyment :)

I second a cheap bulletproof 90s Jap truck for modest transporting. Then you can get HID, leather, and auto climate on your.... Oh. ;)

Yea, I drive about the same.

We've decided to pull the plug on Barbara Jean, donate her to a charity of some sort, and hold the repair money in reserve for now. If we can't get along without a larger vehicle, we'll use the money to go the used route for a small pickup, most likely a Toyota of some sort.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I'll be driving my son's Accord (Kyra) and my motorcycle (Cheyenne) until the FR-S is delivered. No news yet on a name!

You can probably find something cheaper than 7k for hauling.

Agreed, just keeping my options open!

Good decision!

I cringe when people talk about spending big dollars to repair cars that aren't worth as much as the repair costs.

I've been keeping my eyes out for a truck as well. It's realy nice to have the utilty on hand when needed. I'm a big fan of late 90's Chevy trucks.. Right now, with gas prices high, they are getting really cheap. You can pick up a nice 99 or 2000 model Chevy 1500 4x4 ext. cab truck for like $5k or less.

Thanks.

I love my Chevy trucks too. In fact when we bought the Astro it was the first year of the Avalanche and I almost bit on that instead. The Astro was half the price though. Might go that route yet, but hard to go wrong with a small Toyota pickup and that really is all I need.

I think it was definitely the right choice to let the old Astro go, and not spend $7k on it -- that much money might be more than what the truck is worth!

Going forward, I would definitely weight your needs and figure out if it's better to buy a used, small pickup of some sort, or going through a small amount of additional hassle and renting a truck. The latter will probably be cheaper (no need to pay for the vehicle and annual costs like insurance and registration), but just less convenient.

Agreed. Main reason I'm leaning towards buying a truck, at least before onset of next winter, is I don't want to drive the FR-S in snow/ice. Not because I don't think it could handle it (with different tires), but I don't trust others around me.

Signing over the title to the Astro this AM to a mechanic that offered to purchase it from me for the scrap price. He wants to drop a big engine in it and use it for towing. I feel better that its not going to the scrap heap.