High Mileage and Problems

[TheEdgeofSanity]

well, this is officially my first posting on this site, but i'm hoping somebody can give me a hand.

i own a 2000 alero (3400 v6 engine) which has close to 94,000 miles on the car and bought it with 91,000 miles. i've ran into a few problems so far with the transmission (slipping in the winter) and i took it in for an inspection and was told that I need to have the whole transmission rebuilt for a hefty price. also, the engine makes a ticking noise when its at low rpm's. is it worth the trouble to look into these problems and put any money into the car or should i just dump it and find something newer? after all, i do like the car and it has decent handling and the body's in excellent shape but i don't have thousands of dollars to spend on a car thats never going to be right. please, help me!