Looking at two vehicles down the street from me; wondered if there were opinions on either.
For those trying to avoid work--> read the whole thing; for those with short-attention spans / limited time --> read only this bold part if you want:
1.) 1995 Ford F350, Extended cab, cloth interior, Black, Long Bed, Duallies, 2WD only, body looks pretty danged good for a '95. Didn't check for ac, power windows/locks, or radio. AC would be a deal breaker. The rest wouldn't on a two-door truck. Don't know what they are asking, but KBB suggests it's probably in the 6,000 dollar range.
2.) 2003 Ford F250, 4x4, Looks like a small lift, Body pristine, black paint, heavy rear-window tint, good tread bigger AT tires, V-10 Triton, Lariat Package, Heated (tan) leather, (super)Crew Cab, Moon-roof, backup sensors, power everything, short bed with spray liner. Didn't check stereo, don't care. I forget the exact asking price, but I think it was just under $15K. It has just over 90K miles.
I often haul wood from the timber through 1/4 mile of field that has a tendency to get pretty muddy in some spots. Generally I can miss the mud, but it's happened before that I got semi-stuck (I've always been able to get out).
Most recently (last spring) I was hauling wood on my VERY small trailer ( loaded to max with prob 1,000lbs+ of wood) behind the Jeep. The Jeep made it through without hesitation, but the wood's weight sunk the trailer down past the axles all the way to the platform. I had to unload all that wood drive out and then reload it. NOT FUN in the mud. It was a procedure that made me question why I burn wood, if you know what I mean.
I have very little experience with RWD vehicles, except for a 4x4 truck before locking it into 4wd. My experience is that they suck royally on snow/ice and can't back up a grassy hill very easily. Grandpa's worktruck on the farm for years (the one delegated to running through the waterways, or for down fence lines, etc was a RWD 1972 Ford F-100 with what apparently is a very rare package (Explorer). It was orange. It died sometime in the late 1990s. I've looked forever for one to restore as it was the truck in which I learned to drive. We somehow managed to keep it from getting stuck, so I guess I shouldn't rag on rwd vehicles too much. My other RWD experience is from my Fiat Spider, but it doesn't see a lot of ice and snow, so it doesn't count. It's the only vehicle that it's fun to lose rear traction on. Amazing how quick <100hp can hurl a car when it only weighs the same as a Radio Flyer.
Do the duallies make it better or worse? I don't want to be loaded fully (and I would load it as full as I could) and then get stuck out in the field. (best I can find online is that its payload is around 4500lbs)
The other option at that same dealership is the fully loaded 2003 Ford F250 Lariat Crew Cab. It is very cool looking, but seems like it might be hard to throw firewood up into the bed, lol. Almost seems a little too redneck for me, even though it's done very nicely. (this f250 shows max payload of 2360lbs; I guess having that crew cab takes up quite a bit of the gvwr!)
I'm less worried about the winter driving, because our other vehicle will be AWD. Currently have a '99 Jeep Grand Cherokee and an '03 Suzuki Aerio, both are AWD; Will be replacing one vehicle with a 2005 Honda CRV, and eventually trading the other vehicle for a truck of some sort.
I live about 1 mile from one office and 7 miles from my other office, so I don't do major driving for work. My wife will drive the CRV. We drive to Colorado for skiing up to 3 times a year, To her parents 5hrs, to my parents 1.5hrs, she works 45 miles away, our family timber is about 37 miles away (I get a lot of wood here, trying to keep the timber in good shape). The CRV will probably be our primary vehicle on long trips because it gets 27+mpg even with all the family and gear. I'd like to be able to drive the new truck if I had to pick up something from my parent's farm, or if I find something like a woodstove up near her parents on craigslist.
I'd like to be able to haul gravel, bags of cement, mortar, sand, etc. Being able to throw a 4x8 sheet of drywall (or 20) in the bed, would be nice too. I'm not 100% convinced i NEED a 3/4 or 1 ton vehicle, but I'm sure that I'd use that extra payload more enough to make it worthwhile.
I own my vehicles, I wasn't really looking forward to getting back into a lot of debt we carried 700 in auto payments for years. I'm trying to simplify these days and put the money into something that has a better return, like my house. I don't have much besides the trade (prob better to sell outright) and about another $1,000 - $2000 to put down. I don't mind making payments 100-150 per month, but that's about my limit.
any advice?
For those trying to avoid work--> read the whole thing; for those with short-attention spans / limited time --> read only this bold part if you want:
1.) 1995 Ford F350, Extended cab, cloth interior, Black, Long Bed, Duallies, 2WD only, body looks pretty danged good for a '95. Didn't check for ac, power windows/locks, or radio. AC would be a deal breaker. The rest wouldn't on a two-door truck. Don't know what they are asking, but KBB suggests it's probably in the 6,000 dollar range.
2.) 2003 Ford F250, 4x4, Looks like a small lift, Body pristine, black paint, heavy rear-window tint, good tread bigger AT tires, V-10 Triton, Lariat Package, Heated (tan) leather, (super)Crew Cab, Moon-roof, backup sensors, power everything, short bed with spray liner. Didn't check stereo, don't care. I forget the exact asking price, but I think it was just under $15K. It has just over 90K miles.
I often haul wood from the timber through 1/4 mile of field that has a tendency to get pretty muddy in some spots. Generally I can miss the mud, but it's happened before that I got semi-stuck (I've always been able to get out).
Most recently (last spring) I was hauling wood on my VERY small trailer ( loaded to max with prob 1,000lbs+ of wood) behind the Jeep. The Jeep made it through without hesitation, but the wood's weight sunk the trailer down past the axles all the way to the platform. I had to unload all that wood drive out and then reload it. NOT FUN in the mud. It was a procedure that made me question why I burn wood, if you know what I mean.
I have very little experience with RWD vehicles, except for a 4x4 truck before locking it into 4wd. My experience is that they suck royally on snow/ice and can't back up a grassy hill very easily. Grandpa's worktruck on the farm for years (the one delegated to running through the waterways, or for down fence lines, etc was a RWD 1972 Ford F-100 with what apparently is a very rare package (Explorer). It was orange. It died sometime in the late 1990s. I've looked forever for one to restore as it was the truck in which I learned to drive. We somehow managed to keep it from getting stuck, so I guess I shouldn't rag on rwd vehicles too much. My other RWD experience is from my Fiat Spider, but it doesn't see a lot of ice and snow, so it doesn't count. It's the only vehicle that it's fun to lose rear traction on. Amazing how quick <100hp can hurl a car when it only weighs the same as a Radio Flyer.
Do the duallies make it better or worse? I don't want to be loaded fully (and I would load it as full as I could) and then get stuck out in the field. (best I can find online is that its payload is around 4500lbs)
The other option at that same dealership is the fully loaded 2003 Ford F250 Lariat Crew Cab. It is very cool looking, but seems like it might be hard to throw firewood up into the bed, lol. Almost seems a little too redneck for me, even though it's done very nicely. (this f250 shows max payload of 2360lbs; I guess having that crew cab takes up quite a bit of the gvwr!)
I'm less worried about the winter driving, because our other vehicle will be AWD. Currently have a '99 Jeep Grand Cherokee and an '03 Suzuki Aerio, both are AWD; Will be replacing one vehicle with a 2005 Honda CRV, and eventually trading the other vehicle for a truck of some sort.
I live about 1 mile from one office and 7 miles from my other office, so I don't do major driving for work. My wife will drive the CRV. We drive to Colorado for skiing up to 3 times a year, To her parents 5hrs, to my parents 1.5hrs, she works 45 miles away, our family timber is about 37 miles away (I get a lot of wood here, trying to keep the timber in good shape). The CRV will probably be our primary vehicle on long trips because it gets 27+mpg even with all the family and gear. I'd like to be able to drive the new truck if I had to pick up something from my parent's farm, or if I find something like a woodstove up near her parents on craigslist.
I'd like to be able to haul gravel, bags of cement, mortar, sand, etc. Being able to throw a 4x8 sheet of drywall (or 20) in the bed, would be nice too. I'm not 100% convinced i NEED a 3/4 or 1 ton vehicle, but I'm sure that I'd use that extra payload more enough to make it worthwhile.
I own my vehicles, I wasn't really looking forward to getting back into a lot of debt we carried 700 in auto payments for years. I'm trying to simplify these days and put the money into something that has a better return, like my house. I don't have much besides the trade (prob better to sell outright) and about another $1,000 - $2000 to put down. I don't mind making payments 100-150 per month, but that's about my limit.
any advice?
