Since Paul brought up little sports cars, I thought I'd bring up my quandary.

My wife's car is an '87 (or so -- I forget) Chevy S-10 Blazer. It's a real piece. Has been shortly after we got it used many years ago, but it's been mostly holding together. Now it's got a starter problem -- probably not too hard to fix; I could probably do it myself -- and a bad suspension problem, which I probably can't do myself. Based on some estimates, I'm looking at probably about $1500US to fix it, most of it for the suspension.

I really don't want to sink money into that car. For one thing, I've got a problem with SUVs carrying around a single person, which is pretty much what it's degraded into being used for. (She used to haul a bunch of crap around, but now it's groceries and car repair stuff.) At the same time, I don't think I can get a car that would be significantly more reliable for anywhere close to $1500. Add to that that I just spent all our money on a new car for me (before hers broke down this much) and I'm not sure where to go.

If we were to get a new car, we'd probably want to get something in a small wagon/hatchback. My wife really likes the Mini Coopers, but there may be too little cargo space. Then again, we hardly ever cart other folks around in her car. But maybe something like a Golf or a Jetta Wagon. Or a Forester wagon. But I probably can't afford anything new.

So my point is, given those criteria (limited budget but could probably swing a cheap payment, $1500 repair on old car, probably an insignifcant amount for tradein or sale for the old car), what would you do?