At what point do you decide to sell a project car?

So, I'm at a bit of a crossroads with my E82 BMW 128i. I bought it 2.5 years ago with the intention of turning it into a track car that was still nice enough to drive back and forth to the track and maybe a bit on the street. To preface this, I bought the car for dirt cheap and it was heavily abused by the previous owner(s). It was also previously in an accident and not everything that should have been replaced was replaced. Because track car, I didn't really care at the time as it made me less hesitant to abuse the car on track. 

But before I could even get started with track mods, just to get the car in good running condition after I bought it I had to replace quite a few deferred maintenance items due to previous owner neglect: 
 

Water pump, thermostat & coolant – $514 (DME code for the water pump, figured it was a good idea before I ended up on the side of the road)
Coil packs & spark plugs – $186 (Bought the car with a misfire. Because of course I did.)
Serpentine belt kit – $90 (Maybe not urgent, but on these cars, you don’t gamble with the belt that likes to feed itself into the crank pulley.)
Air filter & cabin air filter – $52
Replaced A/C Schrader valves – $270 (to get A/C working again/holding a charge)
Reman steering rack & pinion, shaft, reservoir & fluid – $1,055 (The steering rack was toast when I bought it. The car wouldn’t drive straight)
Driver-side door seal – $148 (had a massive hole in it)
Oil filter cap leak fix – $36
All fluids & plugs replaced – $195
OE “M” shift knob – $122 (The stock knob literally flew off mid-drive and refused to stay on)
Shifter bushing rebuild kit – $80 (The shifter felt like stirring a pot of soup with a pool noodle.)
Suspension refresh – (The OEM shocks were dead. I upgraded to Bilstein B12s, but to be fair, I could have saved quite a bit of money with a stock set of shocks from FCP Euro would’ve been about $380)
Brake pads & rotors – $301
OE fuel pump & filter turret – $357 (Fuel gauge didn’t work. Could’ve been accident-related, but the stutter suggested fuel delivery issues too. At the end of the day, it needed doing.)
ABS sensor - $$$
New tires (initially Continentals on the street, but I eventually swapped over the Michelins)
Just about every exterior light you can think of- $$


This is to say nothing of the long list of items I replaced as a result of the previous accident, or things the previous owner(s) somehow lost:

-Seatbelt/airbag related sensors/components
-Carpets
-Jack pucks
-License plate frames
-OBD cover
-All three underbody panels/trays
-Rear wheel (they put the wrong sized wheel on the rear)
-DMTL pump/charcoal canister
-Right rear axle & wheel bearing
-I replaced the right rear suspension entirely (knuckle, control arms, etc) to avoid anything else that might have been damaged in the accident 
-Exterior window trim
-TPMS module
-Replaced missing wheel bolts
-Reman right rear brake caliper (technically, this one was actually my fault!)


I also replaced quite a few things that probably didn't need to be done, but I was trying to be proactive to avoid issues in the future; so I replaced:

-Radiator hoses
-Timing chain tensioner
-VANOS solenoids
-Motor mounts (while doing the oil pan baffle since the subfame was already down)
-Cleaned up the headlights, etc. 

Even with all of that done, the headliner could use a refresh, as could the fairly rough-looking paint. 


To get the car ready for track work, I did quite a few mods: 

-3.73 diff with Wavetrac LSD (stock is 3.23 open diff)
-CSF Racing radiator
-OEM 135i oil cooler (much bigger job than I expected!)
-OEM DISA 3-stage intake manifold (those OEM DISA valves are pricey!) and a tune to actually activate the 3SIM
-Apex wheels & 200tw tires
-OEM M3/1M control arms (front and rear)
-Bilstein B12 cup kit (in retrospect, I should have went with something much stiffer, even though I like the B12 setup on the street)
-Dinan camber plates
-Condor speed baffled oil pan (again, much bigger project than I expected!) 
-OEM Euro intake & K&N filter w/Turner Motorsports intake elbow
-Whiteline rear subframe bushing inserts
-Hawk ER-1 pads, stainless steel braided brake lines & SRF fluid
-Purchased BimmerGeeks ProTool software (plus K+DCAN cable) and coded out the OEM nannies

The car is now considerably quicker, handles better, is more enjoyable to drive and can handle track time reliably. 

Here's the kicker: I'm no longer interested in tracking cars. Not just this car, but really, any car. I went to a couple of events this year and I just can't get into it anymore. Which has led me to only driving the 128i on the street. To be clear, the 128i is actually a really fun car on the street. But in the past 2.5 years of ownership, due to having a take-home work car and multiple cars in my stable, I've only driven it about 8000 miles (purchased with 133,000 miles, now at 141,000). Which, for somewhat of a "weekend sports car", that's not bad. Far more than I drove my former S2000. 

The issue I'm having is that in addition to the boatload of maintenance I've done to the car in the past, here recently even more problems have crept up on me: 

-The A/C went out again. This time I suspect it might be the dreaded evaporator... which, if true, it's listed as a 12+ hour job that requires a full dash removal. 
-The front right wheel bearing is on it's way out. 
-I just replaced the battery and coded the DME for it. 
-The parking brake is pretty loose and now won't hold the car on a hill. I suspect I can likely just adjust it, but there's always a chance I might need to replace the shoes. 
-I find myself missing gears from time to time, which makes me think I should likely replace the transmission mounts. 
-I need to adjust the driver's window to cut down on freeway wind noise (replaced by previous owner, never adjusted correctly, or just doesn't fit right). 
-As mentioned above, it's a good idea to re-do the headliner as it's pretty rough (was likely removed after the accident by the previous owner). 


At this point, I'm burnt out on wrenching to say the least. The car is still a blast, especially on the right road, it's actually more fun than it's spec sheet would suggest, but the never-ending list of issues sometimes causes me to consider buying a book of matches, a can of kerosene and burning it to the ground. 

I guess I'm at the crossroads of: 

1. I've done so much to the car. It's really good to drive. Do I really want to throw it all away? 

2. This car is an absolute money-pit and I'm starting to feel like it's never going to end. Perhaps it's better to cut my losses and move on in order to help maintain my sanity. Perhaps going back to a newer, lower-mileage car that I don't feel the need to modify isn't a bad idea. 

I can admit that putting so much money into a 17-year-old entry-level German car is a very poor decision, both financially as well as from a physical therapy perspective (my lower back isn't what it used to be). But I also know how much I've put into it... but thinking about how much more I'll have to invest has left me thinking "perhaps I should save that cash and invest into a newer car that needs nothing". 


I'm sure some of you have been to this exact place. Any thoughts and experiences would be greatly appreciated. 

My new policy: I only sell project cars (or whatever you want to call them) when the next one is on the horizon. Sometimes, you sell a car thinking you can always just go buy another one, but then when the call comes to get the next one, you just can't swing it for some reason (space, money, time, whatever). If you use the current one as currency for the next one (currency as in... space, money, time, etc.), then it makes the transition to the next one easier.

In reply to confuZion3 :

In terms of being able to just buy another one, I don't think I would ever buy another 128i, as it took too much work to get it to where it's at right now. Perhaps not. Just focusing on the parts that made it more fun to drive cuts down on the massive amount of labor I've poured into this car... but it's hard to forget the hundreds of hours I've poured into wrenching on this old E36 M3box. 

As far as other cars on the horizon, I've driven just about everything. If I sold the 128i, the car I would likely be looking towards would be a 2019+ Camaro, likely with a 10AT. I'm normally a manual guy, but I've driven the 6th gen Camaro with a manual (a couple of them actually, my wife used to own a 2016 SS 6MT) and I struggled to drive them smoothly. I had a lot more fun in the 10-speed we drove, which was shocking. I'm not really sure if a Camaro is on the horizon per se, but if I sold the 128i, that's likely what would take it's place. 

Unfortunately, I can likely only get $12k-$14k out of the 128i if I sold it, no matter how much cash I put into it. The Camaros I would be looking at are in the $30k-$35k range. That's a BIG delta between the two of them, which is the biggest reason I haven't went down that path as of yet. Although the fact that I know that every penny I spend on the 128i is flushed down the toilet isn't lost on me; whereas spending the extra money on a newer Camaro that has already taken it's biggest depreciation hit would likely result in less money lost, long-term. To say nothing of the massive headache that comes with older German car ownership. 

I'm pretty new to projects and have a different budget than you.. and yeah, I get it. Personally I try to break even-ish, but even I'm looking at selling my old German car (e36 and now R53 Mini) and getting something tried and true that will do what I want out of the box. 

I think that's the point you sell it. When it's not useful for what you want out of it. Personally, I'm tired of wrenching. I just want to go out on a nice drive and spend the wrenching time with my family. 

When I start thinking about selling, it's time to sell. Because I've already mentally sold it. 

In reply to EchoTreeSix :

We’re in the same boat. I would much rather spend the time with my family than I would wrenching on cars. I enjoy a good drive, but this needy car has really burned me out. If it was seemingly going to involve less wrenching/problems for the foreseeable future, I would certainly keep it, as it is really good to drive. But man, it’s been a headache. 
 

I would consider another S2000, but I didn’t hardly drive my last one for the last couple of years I owned it and I’m not really a “let it sit in the garage and collect dust” kind of guy. Anything I would consider a “future collectible” where there’s bound to be a parts shortage in the not-so-distant future, or where I’m going to worry about any potential scratch or parking lot ding is also off the list for the same reasons. 
 

Just curious, when you sell your German projects, what are you thinking about replacing them with? 

​​​​​​Wait, you guys sell your project cars?

​​​​​​

I'm of no help on this subject.

I enjoyed mine and lost a crap ton of $ for the experience.. but have zero regrets about cutting bait. Sounds like you have too many cars. #blasphemy

In reply to roninsoldier83 :

The funny thing is I sold my e36 to buy the R53. As usual, I learn my lessons the hard way. At least the Mini is in much better shape. 

I'm looking at low-powered fun still. Toyobaru twins and Fiesta ST are at the top, though I really prefer RWD at the end of the day. Just a do-it-all car that I can also trust my spouse to drive if she needs to. 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

I know people talk about how much cheaper it is to own a 128i vs its big brother, the 135i, and I’m sure that’s true (I’ve read all the N54/early N55 horror stories). But even the lowly 128i has the ability to nickel and dime you to death. I’ve owned plenty of older wishbone Honda’s and Miata’s over the years- the difference in maintenance costs vs those cars with similar miles is staggering. This will likely be my last German car, or at least the last German car I own outside of warranty. 
 

We actually don’t have many cars right now (lowest we’ve had in years!):

-2008 BMW 128i

-2021 Mazda 3 Turbo AWD (only 15k miles on it, my “kind-of-daily”)

-2016 Mazda 6 (my wife’s daily)

-My take-home work car (Chevy), which, it doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to my employer. But it keeps the miles off my personal cars. The caveat is I can only drive it back and forth to work- can’t use it for anything non-work related. 

In reply to EchoTreeSix :

It sounds like you’re looking for the lower maintenance versions of the cars you’ve already owned lol- Toyobaru (vs E36) & Fiesta ST (vs R53). Makes sense to me. 
 

I’ve driven both generations of Toyobaru… I really wish I liked them more- as they would be at the top of my list. I really enjoyed the last Fiesta ST I drove, but it hurt my right knee, which, unfortunately was an automatic disqualifier. 

I owned a '66 Porsche 912 for over 30 years. Drove it exactly ONCE - from where I bought it, to my garage. It never moved under it's own power again. Back in '86, I had great plans to restore it, and have some fun with it. I had more optimism than money, but I enjoyed taking it apart, cleaning, sandblasting rust off, repairing wiring, etc. Years went by while life kept happening - got married, got divorced, got married again, parents passed away, moved a few times - you know how it is. I worked on it on and off, but never could really justify spending hard-earned money on new parts for it, when kids needed shoes, house needed repairs, medical bills, etc.

I had other projects that came and went - some stayed: Honda ATC 3 wheelers, '66 Chevy C10, Toyhauler travel trailer, '71 Bronco, new house out in the country, big shop to work on everything. As my 60th birthday approached, I finally had to admit that I was spreading myself (and my finances) too thin - I needed to thin the herd, consolidate, so I could concentrate on just once and maybe make some real progress on it.

So, I sold the Porsche. Sold the C10. Sold most of the 3 wheelers. Sold the toyhauler. I still miss the Porsche - especially considering how much I bought it for ($3000), and how much original mid '60's long hood, SWB Porsches are going for these days.

But at least now I can concentrate on the Bronco, making progress, and enjoying working on it. I'm glad I kept it - paid $300 for it as a pile of parts back in 2001, now with all the work I've put into it, and the market for early Broncos has skyrocketed, it's a six-figure Bronco as it sits already - and I'm not even done with it yet.    

In reply to roninsoldier83 :

Here is my dividing line:

Does it make me happy?

If it's making me unhappy most of the time. Read there are brief moments of magic but the rest of the time is a miserable ownership experience, away it goes.

Sell it........

Never buy the worst example. 
 

You bought a wrecked car owned by non car people with a ton of deferred maintenance issues. Being a BMW compounded the situation because they engineer systems to shorter maintenance intervals than anyone else.  That is a recipe for pain and frustration. 
 

Buy the owner. Lots of receipts. Maintenance history. Clean. Well maintained…. Etc… Sell before any of the E36 M3 comes due again. Rinse and repeat. 
 

In reply to tester (Forum Supporter) :

I agree with this 1000%!  I normally attempt to buy the absolutely best maintained example I can put my hands on even if that means paying a bit "over market".

Funny enough, though, I am currently looking for a B-Spec type car and I find myself using the logic you did at purchase (if I am going to track it and remove the interior anyway, why do I need a nice one).  This thread reminds to stick to my typical policy of looking for a good owner right out of the gate.  

Having owned something just shy of 200 vehicles in my life, as was stated above I cut it loose when I start thinking about it.  As soon as the dark thoughts start entering my mind, I've already subconsciously said "I've had enough".  I cut it loose and do something that makes me happier (which sometimes is just looking at a bit more money in our savings).  Rather than looking at how much I profited (or likely lost), I look at what I could do with the money.

Good luck in your decision.  You're in good company here for sure!

I feel your pain because not too long ago, I owned a money pit Land Rover LR3. It was "the right year", and my friend has looked over it and replaced all of the common stuff that fails. I looked it over even more and pre-emptively replaced a lot of things to prepare for off roading. That thing still cost me ~10k within 1 year with all the stuff that had to be looked at/fixed (granted, I paid some people to do some things but thats life). I think buying old, high mileage european cars really is just asking for punishment, even if they're "reliable" (for a european car).

Even my current 996 911 is shaping up to be that way but it hasn't cost me much yet cause I haven't bothered starting to fix/replace stuff. At this point, any old cars will be troublesome but I'd stick with Japanese if I ever go back. Right now I am enjoying my new Z4 but I do have a beater 2005 Avalon on the side that has been relatively trouble free and has over 300k miles.

I'd sell it if you have no use for it and are tired of it. You seem to have multiple cars that have similar roles so I don't see why you would keep the headache.

In reply to tester (Forum Supporter) :

Normally I would agree with you, but initially I bought this car as a track car that I was planning on building for NASA TT5 (read: rear-gutted and potentially half-caged). This car would have been a good starting point if I continued down that path. At the time, I also owned a mint, low mileage, perfectly maintained 2008 AP2 S2000 that I couldn’t bring myself to modify beyond a couple light bolt-ons that were easily removable. While I did autoX that car, I couldn’t bring myself to track it due to it being an appreciating asset. I pretty much stopped driving it, as in my mind it started to become more of a collector vehicle. 
 

So, I then bought a very clean, bone stock, well maintained DC2 Integra GS-R to fill the track car role. I didn’t realize just how scarce the B-series was starting to get and while I did track it a bit, the car was so nice, that again, I couldn’t see myself gutting and caging it. 
 

I found the 128i for dirt cheap on FB marketplace. It was a manual with the factory sport package, which is basically a unicorn for these cars- as 98% of them are either automatic and/or convertibles, to say nothing of having the sport package. I was looking for something I would give myself permission to track and beat the hell out of. Which, this car fits that bill nicely. Somewhere along the way, I decided to get away from track car life and as it turned out, it’s extremely good as a street car. 
 

Having owned 40+ cars in my life, including a plethora of older cars, the prospect of restoring an older car didn’t scare me away, but prior to the 128i, admittedly most of my older cars were Japanese. I read how extremely reliable the N52 engine is with a long list of owners hitting 300k miles with them. Which, seemingly the N52 is a very reliable engine that I’ve had zero issues with. Unfortunately it’s everything that’s not powertrain related that seems to fail on these cars. 
 

Although I’m not convinced that buying a far better maintained example would have been much cheaper in the long run (due to me picking up the car so cheap to begin with). Mostly because I followed OHSCrifle’s 128i build thread- he bought a much nicer, better kept example and it still ended up costing him a fortune. Admittedly, it would have been much easier on my lower back with a lower level of overall frustration had I gone that route, but I jumped on the first 6-speed manual coupe I found locally, as they’re not easy to find. 
 

Either way, what’s done is done. Lessons have been learned. No point in playing the “what I should have done to begin with” game, as hindsight is always 20/20. I’m not concerned with my past decision to buy the car, and at the time, it seemed like it would have fit the bill for what I was looking for. At this point, I’m more concerned with my decision to keep it or sell it than I am with lectures over a car I bought 2.5 years ago. 

In reply to roninsoldier83 :

Hah, yeah, pretty much! Less old car problems and a brighter outlook for holding onto one for the next decade or so. 

I've driven a twin for a few minutes and only driven a Focus ST. As long as the A pillar blind spot isn't as bad in the Fiesta, I think I'll be OK. But for sure, a longer test drive will be a good idea. 

tester (Forum Supporter) said:

Never buy the worst example.

It depends

My MO is to buy 10 / 15 YO ( typically US based ) cars with major issues like bad engine / transmission then recondition the car.  All suspension parts , all brake parts, fuel pump, belts , hoses, water pump and so on.  I have no issue with throwing $ 3,000 + worth of parts into a $ 500 car that is " worth " $ 3,000 if it was running because that $ 3,000 running car can turn into a $ 500 non running car tomorrow.

A few reasons:

I have a fully equipped shop

I don't care what a car is worth on the open market, only care if it will go another 100,000 miles or so.

The full recondition is done so the car is down once on my time and not at random.

I don't buy cars that have been sitting for decades under a tree and concentrate on ones that have freshly failed.  Also concentrate buying cars from people that have $, take the car to the dealer and just got hit with a $$$ estimate to fix fiddly things.

In reply to Loweguy5 :

Just shy of 200 vehicles?!? I think I've owned ~41 cars in my life and I thought that was excessive! I suppose just like everything else: there really are levels to this stuff! 

As far as buying a rougher example for track work goes, honestly, if I would have stuck to the original plan for the 128i (NASA TT5), it wouldn't have been a terrible idea. Before buying it I had the previous owner put it on a lift: the frame rails are straight as an arrow, the rear subframe (where the accident occurred) measures square and the powertrain is rock solid, even on track, in the summer at high elevation. As a dedicated track car, buying a car that's rougher around the edges but with a reliable powertrain isn't the worst idea on earth. Examples: 

-Control arm bushings are shot? Who cares, you're going to upgrade them anyway. 
-Exhaust is falling apart? Again, who cares, you're going to upgrade it anyway. 
-Missing interior trim? You're going to gut it anyway. 
-Needs new tires? Yeah, you're going to get better rubber anyway. 
-Shocks are blown? You're getting coilovers. 
-A/C doesn't work? Sounds like a recipe for weight reduction. 
-Lots of lights all over the dash? The guy teching your car doesn't care. 

My problem is that along the way, my goals changed. When I fixed all the deferred maintenance stuff, I actually ended up really liking it as a street car... which led to me going down the rabbit hole of making it into a nice street car. That's how I got into this mess. My goals for the car changed and as time went on, I became less interested in spending my weekends at the track and more interested in spending my weekends at our church and with my family. After two decades worth of motorsport involvement, I've started to move on to a different place in my life. That's not really the car's fault. 

I bought the 128i as a project track car. Had I stayed the course, it wouldn't have been a bad purchase. The problem is, I no longer want a project car or a track car. I'm more interested in just having a fun car I can take on a twisty B-road from time to time. Which, the 128i excels at- it's a very fun car to drive, but the neediness of an old, high mileage German car is slowly wearing me down. 

In reply to RyanGreener (Forum Supporter) :

At this point, I believe we're in agreement: buying old European cars really is just asking for punishment. To your point, the 128i powertrain is very stout and reliable. That was one of the biggest selling points for the car: not only is the N52 a tank of an engine, but if I happened to blow a motor due to a money-shift on track, N52's are dirt cheap and available at every junkyard in the US. Coming from an AP2 S2000 where decent F22C's are getting rare and running examples commonly go for over $5000+, the thought of an N52 powered track car (N52's are typically sub-$1000) was very appealing. 

But just because the powertrain is reliable doesn't mean the rest of the car won't slowly fall apart over time. For a track car, who cares. But if you're trying to keep these vehicles in tip-top shape, it's painful. I've always liked Land Rovers from afar, but what you described has kept me from ever actually buying one. 

Although I'm not sure if I have too many vehicles with the same role. If you don't count my wife's car (her daily that she takes to work every day), I only own two cars: 

-2008 BMW 128i 6MT
-2021 Mazda 3 Turbo AWD (automatic)

^^^This is the least number of cars I've owned in years! Selling the others (I averaged ~4 vehicles for years, not counting my wife's cars or my work car) actually felt pretty freeing. We even sold my wife's former garage queen Challenger 392 Scat Pack. 

I technically have a take-home work car, but again, I don't own it, and I can only use it for work-related purposes. The Mazda is a bone stock AWD automatic (AWD is nice for the winter here in Colorado and I do like having an auto in traffic). The BMW is a modified RWD manual. The Mazda is very stress-free (especially in traffic) while being peppy and a bit playful. The BMW, while it's not a lightweight, hardcore roadster, it's a good bit more fun and more involving than the Mazda; the BMW is more playful, RWD (now with an actual LSD), has a manual, shorter gearing (thanks to the 3.73 diff) hydraulic steering (vs EPS) and an NA inline-6 that makes better noises. These days I find myself taking the Mazda when I want to relax and taking the BMW when I want to have fun. If the BMW were as low maintenance as the Mazda, I wouldn't bother making this thread and would just keep it. But that damn thing is needier than an ex who just "wants to talk."

It's a combination of things:

1. When I realize that I've achieved all the design goals, my interest starts to fade.

2. When I realize that I've painted myself into a financial corner, worrying more about breaking it than enjoying the drive.

3. When traffic is death by 1000 red lights, and I no longer enjoy driving it.

4. When I realize that I can go buy a used car that's as fast, is more reliable, and more comfortable.

I'm about at the same point with my 914 project. The only crappy part is it's not a running driving project yet, so it's worth a pile of parts. Gotta make it mobile and then decide, but usually once it's in my head it's hard to get it out.

roninsoldier83 said:

In reply to RyanGreener (Forum Supporter) :

At this point, I believe we're in agreement: buying old European cars really is just asking for punishment. To your point, the 128i powertrain is very stout and reliable. That was one of the biggest selling points for the car: not only is the N52 a tank of an engine, but if I happened to blow a motor due to a money-shift on track, N52's are dirt cheap and available at every junkyard in the US. Coming from an AP2 S2000 where decent F22C's are getting rare and running examples commonly go for over $5000+, the thought of an N52 powered track car (N52's are typically sub-$1000) was very appealing. 

But just because the powertrain is reliable doesn't mean the rest of the car won't slowly fall apart over time. For a track car, who cares. But if you're trying to keep these vehicles in tip-top shape, it's painful. I've always liked Land Rovers from afar, but what you described has kept me from ever actually buying one. 

Although I'm not sure if I have too many vehicles with the same role. If you don't count my wife's car (her daily that she takes to work every day), I only own two cars: 

-2008 BMW 128i 6MT
-2021 Mazda 3 Turbo AWD (automatic)

^^^This is the least number of cars I've owned in years! Selling the others (I averaged ~4 vehicles for years, not counting my wife's cars or my work car) actually felt pretty freeing. We even sold my wife's former garage queen Challenger 392 Scat Pack. 

I technically have a take-home work car, but again, I don't own it, and I can only use it for work-related purposes. The Mazda is a bone stock AWD automatic (AWD is nice for the winter here in Colorado and I do like having an auto in traffic). The BMW is a modified RWD manual. The Mazda is very stress-free (especially in traffic) while being peppy and a bit playful. The BMW, while it's not a lightweight, hardcore roadster, it's a good bit more fun and more involving than the Mazda; the BMW is more playful, RWD (now with an actual LSD), has a manual, shorter gearing (thanks to the 3.73 diff) hydraulic steering (vs EPS) and an NA inline-6 that makes better noises. These days I find myself taking the Mazda when I want to relax and taking the BMW when I want to have fun. If the BMW were as low maintenance as the Mazda, I wouldn't bother making this thread and would just keep it. But that damn thing is needier than an ex who just "wants to talk."

I had no idea you thinned the herd that much. Well in this case, I'd actually get rid of the car and just get something else. If you don't go to the track and you don't want to deal with constant headaches, the answer is pretty clear. I'm getting rid of my 911 because I don't have time to wrench on anything anymore thanks to a newborn so I'd rather just get into something to drive that is fun.

I honestly don't really know...  years ago I would get rid of a car mainly for financial reasons - I could not afford to own more than 2 or 3.  But then I started getting into little British cars that are more affordable... and my level of disposable income increased... and that combined with my pack-rat tendencies is not a good combination. At this point, the biggest issue I have is space.  I have more vehicles than I have room to store, much less have room to work on.  I would say time as well, but that is more of a "me" problem than a real problem, if that makes any sense.  My time management skills are terrible.