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Hi,

I'm new to this forum. If this should be in a different thread, let me know.

I'm a crazy guy, who never took care of his baby. It's a '98 DX hatchback with 100,000 km. After17 years of owning it, I can't believe the reliability. It's really amazing.

But as I said, I never took care of it. At all.

Now it's time: I live in Winnipeg, Canada. Snow and salt in our winters. The body has a significant amount of rust showing up in the rear fender wells, so it's probably got much more than that where I can't see it.

Would I be even more crazy to spend $5, $7, or even $10,000 on it, at an autobody shop, to have them replace tons of metal?

The engine and transmission are in very good shape, but I was also thinking of spending money there (valve job?), and maybe some new shocks.

Yeah, I'm crazy. But I guess my logic is this: I could spend $15 or $20K on another new small car, that I won't like nearly as much as my Civic. Is it possible to spend quite a bit of dough on my car, and keep it another 15 years?

Before anyone asks: I'm not a mechanic, and would have no intention of doing anything myself.

 
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Yes it would be crazy. Better to sell it and buy another one or similar in good to great shape for around $2,500 to $3500. You could get a 90's hatch-back with a B-series (twin cam) for $3,000 to $5,000. If you were to go any higher in price look for cars (any manufacturer) in the 2005 and up years. In general ( and I may get **** for this) newer cars are made better: tighter tolerances, longer lasting paint jobs, better interiors (some exceptions), more safety features... so why spend thousands to repair the old when you can put it towards better/newer/ lower mileage.

 
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I hear you about these cars, the '96 to '00 were really well built, but yes it would be crazy. The car isn't worth much anymore. I have a '97 DX coupe and it has also been extremely reliable (had it since new) and am in Ontario so am familiar with salt and rust. I used touch up paint on the body over the years so never got any widespread rust, but as of this year the paint is starting to bubble at the right rear where the bumper cover meets the quarter panel.

In theory you could spend a lot of money on the body but the things like rattles and squeaks from the inside, torn/stained fabric still won't be fixed.

If you're thinking of changing out struts, search for my post in which I discussed changing out my rear struts. Be prepared to replace other parts.

I have to ask, how the heck did you only rack up 100,000 km in that much time? I have almost triple that (275,000) and still I'm below the average.