Epiphany a.k.a a Miracle Occurred!

We are fixing and keeping the SVX!

Hubby told me he changed his mind while we were driving to his work this morning. I asked him at least three times if he was sure, and he told me to call the mechanic and authorize the repairs. I did that as soon as I got home.

Background: (as if there’s anyone left in the world who hasn’t heard ) For a month I’ve been agonizing over getting rid of our SVX. It was my daily drive, and our long distance cruiser on the high speed autobahns here in Germany. My husband has been griping about its high maintenance and repair costs for about 2 years. Each time it needed anything more than minimal servicing, he threatened to get rid of it for something “cheaper”. I was responsible for taking it in for servicing and repairs, and never neglected any sign of something weird or feeling “not right”.

About three years ago we moved from Switzerland to Germany. I suspect now that this car has NOT been properly serviced for the last three years since we changed to another Subaru mechanic. Otherwise I don’t see how the car could get so quickly into such horrible condition when it had just passed a full mandatory mechanical and emissions inspection last November. Errr… inspection here in Germany isn’t always done by independents, but often by the same guy who repairs the car. I took the car in for servicing & tire change, and had the inspection done at the same time. No problems were found. My Swiss mechanic agrees that at least some brake wear should have been apparent, though he’s being diplomatic about the rest: head gaskets, transmission leak and a few other things.

Bottom line: 4000 Swiss francs, or about $3,200 US. (that’s high estimate, low possible is 3,500 SF or $2,800 US, but I’m always prepared for the highest quoted figure). Swiss mechanic again assured me today over the phone that it should definitely be no higher than 4000 SF. I won’t get upset at +/- 10% but he’s usually extremely accurate and always a bit high in his estimates.

That was the final straw for my husband. The SVX has gotta go. I tried the emotional approach, but begging and whining didn’t work. So I switched to hard-line “man logic”.

It came down to simple arithmetic. Hubby wasn’t prepared to buy a relatively new/er, more expensive car (no financing, just a cash deal). He wanted to spend about 10,000-12,000 euro. ($12,300 - $14,800 US). He wanted to get some trade-in for the SVX. He wanted a bigger station wagon, but something that would have cheaper running costs.

I got out my Excel spreadsheet earlier this week and started calculating the costs over 5-6 years for keeping the SVX, and a 1998 2.5L GX Legacy wagon we test drove two days ago. We haven’t received the final offer (we’d want 2nd set of rims and winter tires included in the deal, so he’s to mail us the offer in the next few days). But the dealer didn’t want the SVX for trade. Asking price 9,750 euro (a little over $12,000 US). I was planning to post full details once we had the actual offer. Frankly, there were some issues which made me reject the car, although hubby seemed very interested.

So, I used 10,000 euro ($12,300 US) as my base purchase price for the Legacy, and $3,200 US as base “purchase” (repair) price for the SVX. Then I added tax, insurance, gasoline for 15,000 km (9,320 miles) per year with the Legacy getting a grade cheaper gas. For the SVX, I added 1,000 euro ($1,230 US) in maintenance per year, with 300 euro ($370US) thrown in the first year for basic servicing since nothing major should go wrong after the full repair. (hoping) Although the Legacy’s actual condition is unknown at this point, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and had $0 maintenance the first year (dealer 1yr warranty) with 300 euro ($370 US) per year servicing/repair costs. I did NOT include possible head gasket problems which this car is prone to. I also added two sets of tires for each car over the six year period) Then I increased all costs for both cars by 10% in the third year for inflation.

Here are my admittedly very rough per annum running cost calculations:
1st year, with new tires, the SVX costs 6,715 euro ($8,265), the Legacy costs 12,961 ($15,952)
2nd year SVX 4,815 euro ($5,925); Legacy 3,411 ($4,197) (second set of tires thrown in here)
3rd year (no tires, 10% incr.) SVX costs 4,745 ($5,839), Legacy 3,312 ($4,075)
subsequent years left same as 3rd .

As you can see, you do save in annual operating costs, but not as much as you’d think. Given the higher “base purchase price” of the Legacy, the SVX still comes out 544 euro ($670 US) cheaper to run over 5 years. You finally see savings of 890 euro ($1,096 US) in the sixth year, but by that time I figure you have to do the head gaskets on the Legacy so those savings disappear.

I then took these figures to my husband, complaining that I MUST have made a mistake somewhere since these figures aren’t believable. The Legacy HAS to be cheaper than the horridly expensive SVX, eh? That was two days ago, and his only correction was to lower the SVX insurance by 20 euro per year ($24.60).

And that’s my story of how I got to keep my beloved SVX.

P.S. I told the mechanic to go over EVERYTHING and fix it even if it is only questionable. I sure hope nothing else major goes wrong in the next two years or else I'm in BIG TROUBLE! From now on, I'll be taking the car down to Switzerland for a checkover once a year, in addition to regular servicing here in Germany. Gonna contact the President of the SVX Club in Germany to find out who his mechanic is.

"If you can't convince them, confuse them." (Harry S. Truman)

[Chiketkd]

Nice! Congrats on keeping the car! Hope you have many more years of enjoyable SVX motoring!!!

-Chike

[SilverSpear]

yeah good luck with the repairs... another saved SVX ... especially when you egt frustrated after seeing all those broken SVX's on ebay..

[benebob]

Congrats! Now just keep on top of the maintance. You'll make out better in the long run as far as huge bills all at once.

[ensteele]

I am very glad to hear that. Congratulations. You did a great job of justifing the SVX.

[Aredubjay]

YIPPEE! <jumping up and down and clapping my hands, a sight that I know scares those who know me>

[RojoRocket]

I then took these figures to my husband, complaining that I MUST have made a mistake somewhere since these figures aren’t believable. The Legacy HAS to be cheaper than the horridly expensive SVX, eh? ).

Clever lady!! hahahahahaha!!! Glad to hear you'll be around a long time Bipa!!

Glenn

aw...shucks ... just Psychology 101. If you look like a dumb blond, sometimes it actually pays off to act like one

And sometimes ya just gotta let the man of the house be the MAN ... while still getting your own way, of course

[TomsSVX]

Glad to hear you are keeping it... That is really good news

Tom

[Mr. Pockets]

Heh. That's a nice story.

Don't believe Randy. He can't really jump up and down - he'd break his hip.

[94svxred]

I love the dumb blonde thing ( my gets away with this all the time)!!! Believe ME she is very smart and uses it to the full atvantage!! and yes I do sometimes benefit

Glad you got to keep the SVX, Bipa. It was apparent how badly you wanted to. Clever, usnig the 'logic' approach. Nice job!
Marc

Thought I would update y'all on how it's going. Have decided that as opposed to my usual novels, I'm going to instead write a children's picture book for a change

Once upon a time, I had a little trouble with my car:


We immediately took it to an official Subaru garage, but the mechanic wasn't very good:


He replaced the rad and a t-stat and a few other odds and ends, but the car just kept overheating:


I decided to take the car back to our old mechanic, but he was far away in Switzerland. Slowly and carefully I drove the car 300km over two days:


The Swiss mechanic drove the car, and put it up on the hoist:


He quickly diagnosed a whole bunch of problems. I was a little shocked at the bad state of the car since it had always had regular service at Subaru dealers. Felt a bit like a drunken mouse:


Hubby got upset and said the car had already cost enough money in repairs. "I'll fix it when pigs fly!" he said, and considered selling it and getting another car that would be cheaper to run:


I had trouble with the idea of a practical station wagon, and wanted to keep the SVX since it is incredible for the German autobahn. So I got out my spreadsheets, did a little cost-analysis, and proved that pigs can and do indeed fly!


Epilogue: The car is all fixed and no unexpected problems were found. We're just waiting for special brakes to be delivered, and once they're installed then I can go collect it and bring baby home.

[Aredubjay]

Congratulations! Keep them pigs in the air!

[ensteele]

That is one of the better stories I have ever read. At least it had a happy ending.