Thinking About The Future

[thumper_svx]

I was flying to Quincy, IL on Saturday night for dinner and was doing a lot of thinking. Hell, if you're alone in a Cessna and you're at 6500 feet there's not really much else to do except keep the nose pointed straight and watch the sunset while pondering... I digress.

Anyway, I just wanted to start a thread about the future for our SVX's. I realize that I won't be able to keep my car running forever, and started wondering if everyone here has thought about the point when the cost of keeping the car running just becomes moot because it'd be cheaper to replace it with something else. I know some members are probably already there.

So anyway, how about some thoughts about the future? At what point will you cut your losses on your beloved SVX? What next? Will you keep your SVX as a weekend car?

To start, here's some of the things I pondered;

At what point do I call it quits?

I think that I'll call it quits when I have two or more very expensive repairs in a very short timeframe... say three months. By expensive repairs I mean repairs that run me more than $750 at a pop. A single transmission failure will definitely exceed that cost, but at that point I'll probably consider it worthwhile to drop a 5-speed in, finances allowing. However, another failure prior to that tranny failure (if it comes) might just force my hand to drop the car in favor of something else.

I think we have to all accept that sooner or later the costs of repairs WILL rise. By most modern standards I'd say the maintenance and repair costs on an SVX aren't too bad, at least not out of the realms of normal for most cars in the $20K-$30K realm (not too bad going for a car going on 14 years old)... but sooner or later parts availability will dry up. Unlike many premium cars, we have the advantage that many of the SVX's parts were shared with more budget-minded vehicles that Subaru was marketing at the time.

Would I keep her as a weekender?

Probably, depending on the kinds of repairs she needs. On the flip side, I have only so much garage space and if i were to buy a new(er) car then I'd want to keep THAT in the garage instead of my SVX. I would have to seriously review that as my main need for a car is for transpotation during the week, not for cruising on the weekends for trips. Besides, I have a pilots license for those weekend trips; faster and more fun.

What would I buy instead?

Well, that's the rub isn't it? There just isn't anything available in any reasonable price range that really compares. The SVX was a classic for its time, and is still unsurpassed by anything available for a reasonable cost. Would I consider another SVX? Not really... I think that because of the repair costs I mentioned earlier I think that my current 96 will be my last SVX. I love the SVX to death, but I just find it doubtful that I'd sink more money into another car that might suffer the same problems as my 96.

So what would I consider? Well, hopefully I can keep my SVX running for a few more years yet in the hope that something I like comes along. Not available in the USA, but I do like the Smart Roadster for the styling, efficiency and engineering. Plus I've heard good things about them from friends in Europe. I don't need more than two seats in a daily driver... I rarely if ever even carry two people in my car... so the roadster would work great for me. However, having said that I've heard things recently that worry me; like the fact that Smart has recently started to consider dropping their product lines altogether (a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler BTW) since they don't make enough margin on their cars. At least not as much as they want. They claim they can't sell them for the price they want to sell them for because people won't buy them. Yeah? Get a clue! People buy them because they want to SAVE money... not because they want a performance car! Personally I don't care much for the Brabus or the upcoming V6 version of the roadster... kinda misses the point in my opinion.

Anyway, I digress. Beyond the Smart, I think the only other car I'd like would be the Mini Cooper... but optioned out as an S (which would be my ideal), they get expensive in a hurry!

So anyway... thoughts? Discussion?