<prompt> Human: So, heres the scenario with some details. My wifes parents bought her a new 2008 Jetta when she graduated college. Its value immediately dropped because it was a new car, and has a KBB of about 12,000 generous, the car is a demon, maybe as low as 9k. A couple of months ago the car started to have engine trouble. Long story short its now being said that we need a new engine priced at 6500.I have a 2008 Civic Hybrid yeah, the year they screwed them up and then it didnt come out for three years. Awesome for me. Its in great shape.Her parents are selling their 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland fully loaded and would sell it to us for whats currently owed 23k with a KBB of 29k.In terms of being able to pay for anything at the moment, were in good shape. Pretty deep reserves, low to no debt, good budgeting generally. We could make any of these choices without taking on further debt. The future isnt 100 though, Im just graduating from a post-grad program and am currently in job hunting mode Though I havent worked since we got married, my wife is the breadwinner so far and were having a kid. She can go back to work if I dont find something so thats not really a big issue, but its hard not to think about.Overall, the point is I dont know what decision to make. How do you determine if something like a new engine is worth the cost? What would we even do with the car if we didnt get it, I feel like selling it for 6 grand would be difficult and I cant even imagine how to do it. But, 6,500 seems like a ton of money to drop in to the Jetta given its history. And the Jeep offer is so tempting but it seems... wasteful. Any advice?Is this even the right subreddit? It doesnt feel right, but I dont know what would be better. It is related pretty heavily to my personal finances right?Assistant: A few years ago I bought a used car for 2500. The engine blew within a month. I got a quote for 2500 to put a brand new engine in. Instead I went out and bought a new BMW. My logic was this: dnjcinrnrlsondd. What Im saying is there wasnt any.While I understand your desire to ditch the car that is a trouble maker, the investment is 4000-6500 get a second or ninth opinion on that engine price BTW thats way ridiculously over quoted as opposed to 23,000. If your goal is to remain liquid I recommend sucking it up and fixing the VW.Even if the VW blows a tranny next, youre still saving money because you already own it.Human: The joy of owning a Jetta is that no one has any idea how to work on it so we get to have it towed around town getting additional opinions. I agree that a second opinion is needed though, the key is figuring out another trustworthy mechanic in this town who might have a clue.My goal is long-term. I care less about remaining really liquid right now than being able to live comfortably in the future when I have kids colleges and retirement to think about. I ran the math and it just didnt give me a clear answer. If I look at it like Im purchasing the VW new I mean, I never purchased it to begin with then Im paying 6500 for a 12000 car with problems for a net gain of 5500 in equity if things go well. Or Im paying 23k for 29k for a net gain of 6000 in equity but a massive hit to liquidity.The other thing in favor of the VW for me is that I honestly dont know what I would do with it otherwise. I cant imagine selling a car with a blown engine is easy.Assistant: Run your particular car issue over at rcars or rVolkswagen . You may get some more insight on what the true costs or alternatives are for the VWHuman: Yeah, Ive been conversing with VW owners club on it too. Last time I tried posting in rvolkswagen they had no idea and just sent me over there. Granted, at the time I was trying to diagnose and fix problems not price a new engine.  <response>: Also check out 