I’m looking for a hold of fold from the pros. I’ve been a long time lurker and have appreciate you so much.

Here’s the list:
My 07 GL450 only has 63,000 miles on it. I know- insane. Lived in Hawaii for a long time now still live in high COL area. There is a lot wrong with my girl-
— body damage- previous owner clipped a parking garage pillar I think. It isn’t terrible but it pulls KBB down a bit
— power steering leak- maybe just the O ring I see repeated here. Shop wanted 4k to pull the whole thing rack and pinion too
— kids have not been gentle with her- pulled the seat screens down so I removed them and the faceplate of the dvd. Can’t have nice things
— interior condition is clean but previous owner also left sunroof open and headliner is a touch saggy
— bought with SRS light- frayed wire on 3rd row driver squib assembly. Easy fix but my shop wouldn’t do it- I found one in Reno that would. I’d do it but I don’t want to tear apart the panel wrong and I don’t have a nice instruction video
— consuming oil with no discernible leak. I put about 1-1.5 quarts in every 3k
— a speaker on the passenger side is annoyingly dying
— airmatic has needed replacing twice 🙄
— occasional starts that click a lot when hot- thinking a vacuum seal or relay perhaps. Not sure.
— rear bearing brushing on both sides rotting away. Probably maintenance priority.
— driver seat heat tried to catch me on fire last month…. Inop for use no obviously

All this on top of me getting all routine maintenance done- I swear- tranny, brakes, tires, service B just a few months ago and a few things at each of those services repaired.

so- if I sell her… which when I put it like this sounds like I should. How much? It drives- it’s been driving. It’s never left me on the side of the road. I just feel like it plans to.

 

You'll be chasing your tail on this forever I'd say. Fix the seat as that's a safety item and then trade it in to a dealer for something new. Let them take the risk. Good conscience says you shouldn't sell this car privately without a fair bit of disclosure.

 

I'd say look at your budget. For myself, it's cheaper to fix an older vehicle than buy a brand new one. A brand new GL is crazy expensive.

 

This is coming up on a twenty year old vehicle, and despite the low mileage, has not lived an easy life.

The GL is expensive to own if you must pay others to do the maintenance and repair, prohibitively so if you can only think to pay the dealership.

You could have been driving a Toyota minivan all this while. In general we desire the GL out of masochism; we want that three-pointed star in the front, rear, and throughout the cabin. It is a well-designed vehicle from a powertrain and chassis perspective, but there are oodles of ancillary, mostly luxury-related, flaws to contend with.

Most of the guys here are not interested in getting rid of their GL, mostly because they do appreciate driving it, and can handle the mountain of difficulties themselves. The determination whether to hold or fold rests not on the vehicle - there is not some intrinsic flaw in your GL that ends the discussion* - but on you. Is the thought of being left stranded traumatic? Do you love driving it? Are you able to park it indoors most of the time? And so on.

* Except the engine crumbly bits problem. Check to see if your VIN is in the ill-fated range.

 

Sell.

 

For anyone who invokes shop pricing, refers to dealer this, dealer that - I’m just assuming that you don’t DIY so this is an automatic sell now.

The only way you’re going to have a decent ownership experience in an x164 is if you viciously deny others any income from working on your vehicle, and put that towards only the most basic and pragmatic maintenance. You are after all talking about a $5000 car that you are proposing throwing 2-3x its value into to ”get right”.

smart money moves on, right now.

if you can afford the cost of both time and money of this one failing spectacularly, at the most inopportune time, I’d say drive it into the ground.

 

Amen.

The old joke about Alfa Romeos holds: They're great, but you need two of 'em. One to drive while the other is in the shop.

FIAT may stand for Fix It Alla Time, or Fix It Again Tony; GL stands for Good Luck. Past about 60k miles, it is a costly vehicle to own, paid in cash or grime and grease.

 

You could have some fun with it.

 

That sum*****…he’s so…controversial

 

Heh.

I don't really like his other videos, but the G wagon "durability tests" are excellent, mostly because he hits the nail on the head: MB makes a mil-spec vehicle that teenage girls use to drive to the mall.

And plastic junk breaks off during the testing.