GT Russian Roulette; Opinions/Advice Please

I spend a lot of time reading here and I have learned a ton, been entertained and ya'll have impressed me with how helpful everyone is. I haven't posted much, but I need some input from all you knowledgeable GT folk please.

I'm in an 05 5EAT LGT @ ~115k miles and $3100 left to pay it off. Turbo failed on me and was replaced about 5k miles ago. Just replaced the vacuum hoses, radiator and valve cover gasket. I don't have the tools or the time (8 month old rad little boy) to do anything more advanced than an oil change. So the aforementioned repairs have set me back ~$3200 since this January. I know the timing belt/water pump is gonna need to be done sooner than later as well which will be ~$1100 more. All that and I continue to read are posts about repeat turbo failures and endless money being poured into peoples GT fund. Where I need your advice/input is I feel like I should sell or trade in this car before anything else goes wrong. I don't have the money (again, baby boy) to keep dumping into the car, especially when it's not paid off yet. Am I overreacting, or are my financial concerns about never ending repair bills valid?

What do ya'll think?

Get a good turbo on there and you should be fine. Keep up with the maintenance and again, you will be fine.

You could try and sell the GT and downgrade to the 2.5i which would require less maintenance costs, but thats your call.

I'm local to you. Where did you get the work done? There are a ton of locals that can likely give you a hand.

I think as long as the car is stock and regular maintenance is done your good! But once modded thats where it gets expensive.

Its a tough call actually, modded or not. You are getting to the point where its the maintenance that will start biting you. You already listed the timing belt which should be done soon. However, you're going to need to switch out the spark plugs pretty soon too which will cost a decent amount for a shop to do. Brakes will probably need to be bled soon as well.
Even with regular maintenance things happen. My wheel bearing went at the same time two axle boots finally broke down, and I just spent a whole bunch to get my car back on the road after it flooded on the highway due to a failed injector. (I'm at 140k now). Everything does add up, but it will on any high mileage car, things just break after a certain period of time, and there really isn't anything that can be done about it.
Even with a little bit left to pay off, it probably makes sense to just keep putting the money in to maintain the car. However, if something major happens, it probably would be the right idea to dump it at that point.

Thanks for the info guys!

blackgt, 06LegacyRBP
I'm not 100% sure which turbo was installed when it was replaced. I have kept up on the regular maintenance pretty well. I really like this car, I just can't handle having another turbo go or some other surprise. The new one is under the Subaru warranty (I know the shop that did it got the turbo from Subaru) so that is reassuring. They also checked for metal/debris in the engine from the blown turbo and did not find any, so that's also good. Unfortunately (maybe fortunately) IF I sale the GT we'd proly get something bigger than another sedan, growing family and what not.

car_cursed
I have had great experience with "regular" repairs (non turbo related) with Clifford Automotive. Ron is a great mechanic, affordable and honest...but he is getting older and pickier about what he works on. I had the turbo and some other stuff done by Rex's Automotive Repair. Rollie did great work and showed me a lot of what he did. Rex gave me a bit of a discount on the labor too, so that was nice. Most recently Mobile Mechanics did some work (radiator, diagnostics, hoses, valve cover gasket). I won't use Mobile Mechanics again, he took over a week to do those basic repairs and broke my hood prop. He is supposedly replacing, but who knows when. After that fiasco I talked a couple car friends of mine who highly recommended Solid Auto Works and one said Utah Imports was good too. If I keep the GT I'll proly take it to one of those places to do the timing belt/pulleys & water pump and any subsequent work (hopefully nothing major).

If I keep the car I'm banking on, after the timing belt/pulleys & water pump, on this car running for another 80k miles without major repairs. Does that sound reasonable or foolish?

Originally Posted by incufan1

If I keep the car I'm banking on, after the timing belt/pulleys & water pump, on this car running for another 80k miles without major repairs. Does that sound reasonable or foolish?

Depends what you consider major....but I'd at least budget at least $1000-$1200 a year to fix...something....

psucaptainkickass
I had the plugs done at 80k so I was planning on that being done about 150k. The brakes definitely need to be bled, the pedal is getting kinda mushy. I feel ya on the other repairs. I've replaced a wheel bearing, power steering pump, cv boots and I'm sure I'm forgetting some too, ha ha. Yeah, it is way tough. If I can get another 18 months out of this car without major repairs, that would be ideal. Decisions, decisions...

Originally Posted by psucaptainkickass

Depends what you consider major....but I'd at least budget at least $1000-$1200 a year to fix...something....

This word . . . budget . . . how do you mean? haha! Really though, $1200/year in repairing a car I own is better than $3500/year in payments. Good insight. Thanks!

Take the car to solid, they do great work.