Stuck for what to do with my Swift

[Matt]

So I have reached a point with my Suzuki Swift where I don't really know what to do with it, second opinions appreciated. I picked it up fourteen months ago for £700, bit more than I ideally would have paid but I needed a car and it was the first halfway decent thing I found locally. Since then it's gone a bit downhill which has left me with this predicament; the backbox needs replaced, a wheel bearing has starting playing the music of it's people and the clutch throw out bearing has started doing the same. Those are the big problems, it's got a few other niggles mainly related to the build quality (broken trim and it's as noisy as a Motorhead gig inside at speed) which I could sort easily enough.

 

Problem is that a couple thousand miles ago it had four new mid-range tyres put on, it's got a long MOT (September '15), compared to some other examples I have seen it's nicely specced, rust free and the oil has stayed as clean as a whistle over the fourteen months I have been running it (due a change now).

 

So it's got some strong bad points but some strong good points too. Question is do I just spend the dosh to get the major problems fixed and run it for another year or two or do I cut my losses, take a gamble and get some other godforsaken shitbox that may or may not be any better?

[Cavcraft]

Part-exchange it for a Peugeot 206 diesel.

[KruJoe]

There are new back boxes ont' bay at £29.something from memory, I bet front bearings are less than half that. Cluch bearing is more of a ball-ache, but I'd probably play roulette on that.

So get your spanners out lad.

I'm only saying that coz it's a Swift - if it were the AWD Justy version, I'd be persuading you to sell me it

[Matt]

Part-exchange it for a Peugeot 206 diesel.

 

Rear axle bushings though...

 

There are new back boxes ont' bay at £29.something from memory, I bet front bearings are less than half that. Cluch bearing is more of a ball-ache, but I'd probably play roulette on that.

So get your spanners out lad.

I'm only saying that coz it's a Swift - if it were the AWD Justy version, I'd be persuading you to sell me it

 

I'd probably need to buy tools and learn a whole lot overnight for that to happen. It'd make a good parts car for a Justy  

[Lukas]

Get it repaired and keep it. My sensible opinion.

[michael1703]

Put a ballerina outfit on it and called it "Taylor" you'll love it then.

[Matt]

Get it repaired and keep it. My sensible opinion.

 

I'm going to get some quotes for that first but I fear that the gearbox out job will bump the repairs up to near the value of the car at which point it'd be much healthier for my wallet to sell it and buy something else.

 

Put a ballerina outfit on it and called it "Taylor" you'll love it then.

 

I don't know like, it's pretty awful for anything other than going from A to B. I won't miss it when it goes.

[Lacquer Peel]

Fugging hell, a wheel bearing and a back box! Push it into a nearby quarry.

[crapcarcollector]

Sell it me

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Matt]

Sell it me

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I'm not entirely closed to offers.

[Bren]

A wheel bearing and a back box?

 

I'd argue there's not enough wrong with it.

[crapcarcollector]

Perhaps a for sale thread with some details like age, engine, Piccys price and location? I could do with some wheels for the boy....

[Fabergé Greggs]

Sometimes a couple of things come along in tandem on a car and somehow they get on top of you and make you think that it's time to jump ship. 

 

I've been in this situation loads of times with loads of vehicles, and i have never, ever regretted throwing a couple of hours and £70 at the problem and I'm always left with a sense of satisfaction, wondering what i was complaining about in the first place. 

 

My X1/9 has had a noisy throw out bearing for the last 4 years, the happiest 4 years of motoring I've ever had. 

 

Feel free to quote this back at me when I'm about to give up 

[DodgyBastard]

Scrap it, it sounds like a shed.

[Jim Bell]

A back box and a wheel bearing.

 

If I got that as a fail list, I would high five every stranger on my skip back to my piggy bank.

[Stanky]

We used to have one, I thought it had done 80k but on closer inspection it had gone round the clock once already, so was knocking on the door of 200k by the time we flogged it after it became a PITA to get Micro_Stanky in the back (t'was a 3 door) but still ran like a dream. These things are seriously reliable for a 1300cc cheapy runabout. 

 

Give your local exhaust place a bell for a price on the exhaust, I'd be surprised if its north of £75 supplied and fitted. The rear wheel bearing - probably same ballpark S&F. I'd agree with others and leave the clutch bearing until it fails completely - I bet you'll be surprised how long it goes on for if you treat it gently.

 

I know its a cliche, but it almost always is a case of 'better the devil you know' - I was convinced my Almera would phail the last MOT catastrophically but it passed with flying colours after I had the sill welded up - total cost £60, rather than the £600 minimum I expected. Its not perfect, but the other jobs I know about can be dealt with as time and money allow.

[derskine]

Screp it

[500tops]

Get a new Duster on tick

[DodgyBastard]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SUZUKI-SWIFT-1-0-1-3-1988-2005-Exhaust-Rear-Silencer-/150480078468?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Car+Make%3ASuzuki%7CModel%3ASwift&hash=item23094fc684

 

£35 for your exhaust, grab a 13mm spanner to unto the U bolt...

 

Front bearing will cost around £40, rear around £20

 

 

Sounds like it's destined for the scrapper. Good luck!

[MrDuke]

Just leave it parked up in a layby somewhere and wait for it to disappear. If you could get to a layby at the west end of the A55, that'd be great. Cheers.

[Matt]

We used to have one, I thought it had done 80k but on closer inspection it had gone round the clock once already, so was knocking on the door of 200k by the time we flogged it after it became a PITA to get Micro_Stanky in the back (t'was a 3 door) but still ran like a dream. These things are seriously reliable for a 1300cc cheapy runabout. 

 

Give your local exhaust place a bell for a price on the exhaust, I'd be surprised if its north of £75 supplied and fitted. The rear wheel bearing - probably same ballpark S&F. I'd agree with others and leave the clutch bearing until it fails completely - I bet you'll be surprised how long it goes on for if you treat it gently.

 

I know its a cliche, but it almost always is a case of 'better the devil you know' - I was convinced my Almera would phail the last MOT catastrophically but it passed with flying colours after I had the sill welded up - total cost £60, rather than the £600 minimum I expected. Its not perfect, but the other jobs I know about can be dealt with as time and money allow.

 

I wonder if the Pakistan built ones are as reliable, direct injection on those ones. The cost of the exhaust and wheel bearing don't bother me really, it's just the fact that the clutch bearing has gotten noisier at the same time as it'd add up fast. I could take the gamble on it being okay but my mother can't drive at the moment for medical reasons and relies on me to get to work and back so if that gamble went south it'd be a massive PITA.

[derskine]

Scrap the fuck out of it and buy an automatic citroen cx

[Stanky]

But have you got an offer of a known-solid alternative car for less than £500, or whatever the cost of all known repairs is? If not, you are almost certainly better off keeping the Suzuki. Don't necessarily have the work done right away, but maybe prioritise what needs doing. Get a quote for the clutch, which sounds like the most pressing of the known issues - or at least the most likely to immobilise you.

 

The wheel bearing can probably wait - if it passed an MOT recently it can't be that bad, and the exhaust can either be wobbed up with exhaust paste and baked bean cans or left until it completely gives up the ghost and replaced for £30-70. 

[DodgyBastard]

But have you got an offer of a known-solid alternative car for less than £500, or whatever the cost of all known repairs is? If not, you are almost certainly better off keeping the Suzuki. Don't necessarily have the work done right away, but maybe prioritise what needs doing. Get a quote for the clutch, which sounds like the most pressing of the known issues - or at least the most likely to immobilise you.

 

The wheel bearing can probably wait - if it passed an MOT recently it can't be that bad, and the exhaust can either be wobbed up with exhaust paste and baked bean cans or left until it completely gives up the ghost and replaced for £30-70. 

 

He can have this for £450 with a fresh mot

 

https://flic.kr/p/q2qoZo

[Matt]

 

Sounds like it's destined for the scrapper. Good luck!

 

 

Scrap the fuck out of it and buy an automatic citroen cx

 

Okay okay, it's not for scrap I get it. I do like the CX, I just don't like it's lack of MOT and the wrong-o-matic gearbox. Also I like getting lots of M to not very many G's which i doubt the CX manages.

 

But have you got an offer of a known-solid alternative car for less than £500, or whatever the cost of all known repairs is? If not, you are almost certainly better off keeping the Suzuki. Don't necessarily have the work done right away, but maybe prioritise what needs doing. Get a quote for the clutch, which sounds like the most pressing of the known issues - or at least the most likely to immobilise you.

 

The wheel bearing can probably wait - if it passed an MOT recently it can't be that bad, and the exhaust can either be wobbed up with exhaust paste and baked bean cans or left until it completely gives up the ghost and replaced for £30-70. 

 

Nope but a mate has just got me a very good hourly rate at his uncle's garage so looks like repairing everything it is going to work out cheap enough for me to just leave it with him and not stress about any of it.

 

He can have this for £450 with a fresh mot

 

https://flic.kr/p/q2qoZo

 

Hurr hurr. I don't want it anyway, the rust would bother me too much.

[DodgyBastard]

You really do suck at Autoshite, think you should go back to the Polos Mattloaf....