What do I do with a poorly serviced 2006 VTI Auto?
I've been gifted a Honda Jazz 2006 VTI Auto, I think MY06, possibly MY05.
The exterior is largely fine. It's got a couple of tiny dings, a rear light that needs the cover replaced and a little bit of paint scrape on one rear corner. The interior is largely fine too but the driver foot well needs to be re-upholstered. The passenger front window rubber seal needs replacing. The battery is new and the tyres are near the end of their usefulness but not too bad. The wipers are original and aren't terrible but could be much better. AC works well.
That's the good news. All of the good news.
It only had one owner from new and has traveled 160,000km. But it's been rarely serviced and the last documented service I found was 2.5 years and 42,000km ago. I can find evidence of a grand total of 8 services in it's lifetime including the first 1,000km inspection. The engine oil appears to have been done regularly. The oil filter and spark plugs were replaced at 110,000, 3 years ago. I'm told the coolant was changed then too but I can't find any evidence of that. The last brake fluid replacement was 107,000km/7 years ago. There was some work done on the rear tyre mount points (???) about 2 years ago but I don't have documentation on that, just word of mouth.
I don't think the transmission or brake fluids have ever been touched. This car has had the shudder on acceleration issue that google tells me is common since day dot. Honda convinced the owner it was totally normal.
The car drives mostly OK but it pretty regularly feels like the transmission is slipping. Although maybe the cylinders aren't firing properly. It's like a hiccup in power/engine response. Not every time you drive but regularly. It has hiccup-like drops to revs when idling too (not showing on the tacho, just the sound/feel).
I imagine it needs flushed transmission fluid, oil change, new oil filter, new brake fluid, new coolant, new air cleaner element, new spark plugs, new tyres, new fuel filter, new passenger window seal, new wipers... then maybe new light cover and some light panel beating. On top of that it'll need them to generally look at everything and spot problems I don't even know about and then pay to have them fixed.
I am not a car guy. I can change the tyres and wipers and top up the fluids (not replace/flush) but that's it.
It looks like it's going to cost me a lot. Thousands. With no guarantee that enough damage hasn't already been done to seriously shorten the car's life/usefulness. No guarantee the acceleration shudder will go away.
The car would be worth ~$6k if it was in good condition with a good service history but it isn't and it hasn't. So maybe $3k? Maybe.
So my question is - should I bother fixing this up? What are my options here?
