Am. Standard Freedom 90 Gas Furnace 100K BTU - "Cracked" Heat Exchanger (really a cracked seal - I have a photo) Advice?

What would you do?  The furnace is in a crawlspace (not the smallest, and it's clean, but it will add to the PIA factor being in there vs. in an open basement area) and long story short, our issue is the seal around the heat exchanger.  

HVAC co. says Trane says it is not a replaceable part and they will send a replacement heat exchanger for free. Trouble is, I'm told removing and replaceing a heat exchanger is "thousands of dollars" and it is a better value to replace the furnace.

Furnace is 9 years old.

Being offered replacement of furnace at cost of $6785 w/Trane XL-95

I'd like to know if anyone with a lot more HVAC knowledge than I've gleaned from the internet can tell me if what our HVAC guy says is accurate and if the price is within a range of normal. 

They also could do the replacement Monday.

It's a lot of money, but we need heat. (Not the only furnace in the house, btw, so we won't freeze/no plumbing at risk.)

And, if it is fixable and not stupid to fix it, about what would that cost?

Thanks for the advice!

PS. I also wonder what it would do to my estimate if I asked them to replace with the "new" S9V2 furnace Trane has on their website, that claims to be more efficient and also very quiet, which would be nice. 

https://www.trane.com/residential/en/products/heating-and-cooling/gas-furnaces/s9v2.html


we used to have a gazillion plumbers here. Where'd they all go?




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