A car is a necessity in LA. If you plan on getting around for social events, etc, you might want to keep the car around.

It's a little wierd that a shop didn't want to perform the services you requested. What did they attribute the smoke to? Replacing the engine just because it smokes may not be a sound decision...find out what's wrong with it first.

What color is the smoke? How bad is it? Would you be replacing it with the same engine, or are you going to try and get a different engine in there?

By the way, from what I can get from googling, the Legend and accord don't share the same platforms (although it seems alot of people seem to think they do). From what I gather by skimming quickly is that the Legend and RL either share the same platform, or are the closest...