Auto gearbox playing up on Golf VW 1.6 S REG

[Sparkysea]

Hi PistonHeads

I am writing to ask advice re my Sreg(98)1.6 automatic Golf. I have had it since new and it has 73,000 on the clock.
The auto gear box is playing up and I have had it looked at by a couple of garages one which was gear box expert (in Norfolk) and I was advised I needed a new /reconditioned one...and I would be looking at approx £2000 for a reconditioned one with 12months warranty.

It is juddering moving from 1st to 2nd and is also said to be "slipping" in 2nd.

I was able to drive it back to London where I live, and am now thinking of what to do. I don't want to buy another second hand car as for £2000 I think I would be in the same boat, just another old car with potential problems so am thinking of keeping the car and having the gear box changed, as at least I know my car as it has only been driven by me.

Please can you give me your thoughts on what might be the best thing to do?

Reconditioned or new? I was thinking new might be better as at least I would have a longer warranty and one would have thought the gearbox wouldn't go wrong again it's lifetime.(Had no quotes for new!)

Thanks for your help

Sparky

[rb5er]

Seriously, dont spend 2k on something crap like that, 2k will get you a very nice used car without a notoriously problematic auto box.

[thebigmacmoomin]

Doubt the car is worth 2k, so I dont see it being worth a new / recon gearbox. As above, 2k will get a nice used car.

[Dave Hedgehog]

spending 2 grand on your car is just mad imo

[Codswallop]

£2k sounds like a lot of money for a recon gearbox. It's always worth getting more quotes. Like others have said though, it's a lot of money to put into an old low value car unless some other auto box specialist can do the job for less.

Some places offer exchange services which drop the repair cost (recon gearbox for you in exchange for your old one) - might be worth seeing if that is an option in your case.

Good luck in any case with finding a solution to your predicament.

[Hoofy]

Agreed. The car isn't worth much now. It's that old bangernomics thing. I think if you're paying more than 50% of the value of the car to get something fixed, you need to think hard about whether it is worth it.

Out of interest, how do you get rid of a car that doesn't work? (Say if it was completely immovable unless towed?)