Sorry in advance, I know there are always car posts on here!
My wife and I are trying to decide what to do with regards to our car. We have a 1998 Subaru Forester with 257,000 km on the ODO. It needs some work- it leaks oil, it makes a weird vibrating noise when accelerating (engine mounts?), the catalytic converter doesn't work anymore (not a real problem as no e-tests here- except for I'm an environmental scientist so would like to fix this), the check engine light and airbag light are both on, the cruise control, horn, heated seats, air conditioning, power mirrors, and rear windshield wiper don't work (I don't care about any of these but the CC and horn, which is maybe a clock spring issue?), it needs new tires, and it's starting to rust.
Now, we're trying to decide if we want to fix it or buy a "new" car. We love our Subaru. It's extremely reliable and has never let us down, even with all of the problems it has. And it's awesome for my job as I need to carry a ton of stuff for my field work (I had 9 full size coolers in it the other day, plus a bunch of other gear). A little less than half the kms we put on the car are work-related, and I get reimbursed at $0.54/km for those kms. This year we're on track to put on about 8500km from personal use and 7500km for reimbursed work use. The fuel economy is not half bad on the highway (I get as good as 7.5L/100km) but terrible in the city, so that's a factor for sure, though with our low useage it's not the end of the world. I'm not sure about the cost of the repairs required, but I'd guess at least $2000, likely more.
I've been keeping an eye on Kijiji in my area and have a number of cars bookmarked, including a couple of Subarus, a couple of Volkswagens, a Toyota Matrix, and a couple of Priuses/Prii. Basically we require a station wagon or large hatchback. So, what do you all think? Buy a "new" car or fix the Subaru? (For the record, we're leaning towards fixing the Subaru at the moment).