Decisions decisions

Can't seem to make a decision. I have a opportunity to buy a 1997 Cadillac De Ville that looks to be in perfect condition. A friend's mother died and left it to him but he all ready has 4 cars and only a 2 car garage ( poor guy lol ) They spent probably around 7k over the years keeping the car as perfect as they could. ( it now has 83k on it ) My car is a 03 Protege LX with only 77k on it and a side from a couple of clear coat finish failure spots it is pretty close to perfect. Being retired and living on a VERY tight budget extra money is impossible to come by but I could sell my car and get the caddy an have a couple grand left over. The problem is I see how much it costs to do repairs on the caddy. Should I put the Protege up for sale and take a chance the Caddy won't give me any problems for a few years or keep the Protege where repairs are a lot cheaper and I know it is in mechanically perfect shape?Decisions (gah)

The Protege will be a much more reliable car in the long run. Along with being ALOT easier to work on, and cheaper to fix.

A 96 Deville with 78k in SPOTLESS order with new tires, and not a smudge anywhere is only worth about $2400. The average right now is about $1800-2200.

You will love the Cadillac until it comes time to repair it. That transverse V8 is a real b**** to work with. IIRC to change the alternator you have to drop the sub-frame a few inches and remove it from the bottom.. They also had some issues with oil leaks and head bolt threads.

A Mazda is a whole hell of a lot cheaper to maintain and keep running in the long term.

I read somewhere if the DeVille has over 140k miles on it run away. Our Protege's I have seen listed into the 200k mileage ( with the amount of miles I put on a year ( 6k ) I won't live long enough to ever see 200k. I think the only major thing it would have in the future is suggested changing the timing belt which is a bit expensive.