2015 Chevy Malibu - heating core gave out - repair or replace?

[Anonymous]

109K for a chevy is great. heater cores can come and go, suck that it happened so close to other maintenance being done.

700 bucks for tires is way too much.. unless you are going name brand should be able to get this for around 500..

look at the 1800 this way. its essentially 5 months worth of car payments.

so if you keep the car another year, you' ll be "ahead" so to speak.

[Anonymous]

OP, are you a woman? Have your guy take care of these things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you a woman? Have your guy take care of these things.

Sorry, I'm a guy. And most men, unless they want to blow off their family for an entire weekend, aren't really able to fix their cars especially with all the computerized and custom parts in post-2000 cars. This isn't 1970 where we're all holding the tools for Dad.

So - I ain't seeing the dealer any more unless it's a recall. I did get a few good reccos for mechanics in/around Frederick.

For cars under 100k miles which are under some sort of warranty, it makes at least some sense as the bumper to bumper lasts 2-3 years and 20-40k miles, and the power train warranty a bit longer.

My wife was surprisingly open to a Toyota hybrid. Her heart wants a Tesla, and my heart wants an Avalon (land yacht or what passes for it that lasts forever). Our heads may end up agreeing on the Camry/Corolla hybrid, though. Not sure if we would keep the Malibu around as a spare or not.

[Anonymous]

Repair as that stuff happens but I would price shop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:109K for a chevy is great. heater cores can come and go, suck that it happened so close to other maintenance being done.

700 bucks for tires is way too much.. unless you are going name brand should be able to get this for around 500..

look at the 1800 this way. its essentially 5 months worth of car payments.

so if you keep the car another year, you' ll be "ahead" so to speak.

$700 way to much for tires. Check Costco or Sams club.

[Anonymous]

as for the tires, going to shop around a bit, probably Costco.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My wife was surprisingly open to a Toyota hybrid. Her heart wants a Tesla, and my heart wants an Avalon (land yacht or what passes for it that lasts forever). Our heads may end up agreeing on the Camry/Corolla hybrid, though. Not sure if we would keep the Malibu around as a spare or not.

Get the Camry Hybrid over the Corolla. Corolla is great, ultra-reliable, easy to park in a city, and cheaper. But you have a long commute and unless you are especially petite, Corollas are not that comfortable for long commutes. Maybe upgrade from the base model Camry Hybrid to one of the slightly higher trim levels to make your commute comfortable, instead of going all out on the Avalon.

Don't keep the old Malibu around as a spare car. It'll just become another thing to keep maintained, another thing to insure, etc. Just sell it and put the $ towards reducing the purchase of your Camry. The people who keep backup/secondary cars do it if they either A) have a sports car that they don't want to put miles on or doesn't do well in the winter, or B) have a big truck or offroader for trade work/play and use the secondary car for around town. Nobody keeps another car around as a backup to their Camry Hybrid...

Get a Tesla next time around, once they've worked out all of the kinks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, are you a woman? Have your guy take care of these things.

Sorry, I'm a guy. And most men, unless they want to blow off their family for an entire weekend, aren't really able to fix their cars especially with all the computerized and custom parts in post-2000 cars. This isn't 1970 where we're all holding the tools for Dad.

So - I ain't seeing the dealer any more unless it's a recall. I did get a few good reccos for mechanics in/around Frederick.

For cars under 100k miles which are under some sort of warranty, it makes at least some sense as the bumper to bumper lasts 2-3 years and 20-40k miles, and the power train warranty a bit longer.

My wife was surprisingly open to a Toyota hybrid. Her heart wants a Tesla, and my heart wants an Avalon (land yacht or what passes for it that lasts forever). Our heads may end up agreeing on the Camry/Corolla hybrid, though. Not sure if we would keep the Malibu around as a spare or not.

if you are going to get a camry/corolla, get rid of malibu. you will not need a spare, not enough to justify keeping it. i still think you should just fix it and keep driving but i realize we are different.

[Anonymous]

I would get a second quote from another mechanic 👨‍🔧 unless the one you have now is well-trusted.

For a five-yr. old vehicle, that is a pricey repair considering you do not drive it a lot.

I would get rid of this car, never buy domestic again then invest in a certified, used Honda, Toyota or even possibly a Subaru.

[Anonymous]

Definitely repair. My daily driver is a 2012 Dodge Ram with over 200k. Truck runs perfect. I plan on getting to at least 300k.

[Anonymous]

This American car has served you well. Repair it, if you buy buy American,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This American car has served you well. Repair it, if you buy buy American,

Actually Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc. ARE made in America!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This American car has served you well. Repair it, if you buy buy American,

Actually Honda, Toyota, Nissan, etc. ARE made in America!

Non union and profits sent to japan