Oh, well why are you looking to get out of whatever you're driving now? I remember you selling one and getting another recently, then that you've been looking for a diesel, and something made me think that was the norm for ya. But don't let me accuse you of non-existant purchases if I'm making it all up haha.

As much as I like Fords, I really honestly would probably get a dodge if I wanted a diesel, especially if I wanted a manual, which I would too. I'd get a quadcab 5.9 that's a pre 2004.5, ideally. Buddy has a 6 speed 2004 white quadcab XLT-equivalent with 135k on it, and that's exactly what I want. I'd just deal with all the stupid Dooodge repairs cause I want no part of a 6.0 and new diesels don't do much for me. I'd love a 94-97 7.3, but it would be ridiculous trying to find a crewcab in good shape with reasonable mileage. I'd think about a Dmax, but they're all auto except for the rare early unicorn here and there.

 

All I have now in a 2009 Mazda 6 which I am keeping. I got rid of the 97 since I didn't need or want 4wd anymore for various reasons. I was just trying to do as much research as possible. I'd like a diesel still. I'm just having a hard time finding one that isn't beat up, rust bucket from the north or has a bunch of miles though.

 

Yeah, I imagine it being tough for you to find one. I know So. Car. is considered the "south" but y'all are pretty far north. Rust is rarely an issue for us unless the vehicle is from the bay, which is twice as bad as road salt.

 

Point made. We aren't deep south, but south enough. A lot of people seem to like it here due to the weather being not extremely hot, and not extremely cold. Sort of a happy medium. Only rust we ever worry about is from the ocean if you live around Charleston.

Struggling right now. Having a hard time getting any sort of decent deals right now, and I unfortunately have to state that things dont seem to be improving much at all.

 

That truck is no longer on Autotrader or the dealer's website. I wonder if they took if off to auction it or some sucker bought it for that price.

I found a 99 that's almost the same as the 97 I had. It is 2wd, manual and is a different color. If somebody that knows me saw it without me telling them about it, they would probably think I got my old truck painted and got new rims. It has 159,000 miles with a price of 4,900 out the door. It was in an accident with moderate damage to the front end back in 99 according to the Carfax report. I hope to get it for a similar price to what I sold my old truck for.

 

So, $4900 for a 159,000 mile truck is a good deal and $7900 was a ripoff for one that had 26,000 miles on it? I would have bought the one with 26k miles.

 

^x2 if that's the case.

 

The 26k miles one was listed 1000 over the max retail price I could find. Plus add the $600 doc fee plus taxes and stuff. The other one is price out the door. It's price is about $300 over the max retail price I could find using the same websites. The tone of the employees at the dealership for the 2002 made them sound like a-holes too. That was for the person on the phone and the one I heard in the background.

 

I've bought many vehicles over the years (over 50) and I learned the hard way that it is better to pay a premium price for a low mileage quality unit than it is to get a high mileage not so quality unit at wholesale prices.

Luckily, when I bought my 02 truck, I got both a low mileage unit for wholesale because the guy needed money after losing his job and he advertised it cheap. Many people wanted it he said but couldn't get financing on a truck as old as it was (7 yrs at the time). I paid $9500 for it with 69k miles on it in 2009.

 

I bought my 03 in the fall of 06 with 55k on it for $7700. Resale on a standard cab 2wd V-6 with a manual trans is lousy. No regrets, it has 173k on it now.

 

I've never worried about resale. I buy what I want. If you don't buy what you want you'll be trading it soon and losing money in the process again. One of the best ways to save money is to not trade cars until you really need to. I think financial guru Susie Orman on tv recommends getting a new car every 13 yrs.

I bought and sold a lot of cars in my younger days. I usually bought from individuals, fixed them up a little and sold them soon after without losing any money. It was like a disease! Ha!

 

I meant lousy resale is the reason I got it so cheap. The same thing with a supercab V-8 automatic would have been well over 10 grand.

Book on it now is $2000.

 

glc, you got a great deal and with the way you take care of it there's no telling how long it will last if you want to keep it.

 

I checked out that 99. It wasn't worth anywhere close to what they wanted. No offense to smokers as you can do what you want with your vehichle. It smelled like **** from cigarettes though. The smell was so strong, it seemed like the smoker was hotboxing. They told me it had no hint of cigarette smell over the phone. It also had burns on the seats. The ABS light was on and at least one rotor is warped. More dents and stuff that you can't see in the pictures. Parts of the interior you can't see in the pictures look like they are 20-30 years older than the rest of the truck. The inside of the tail gate is beat to hell and made it hard to open/close. The panel to access the tailgate release linkage was missing.

I found this one locally. I plan on checking it out tomorrow.

http://columbia.craigslist.org/cto/4369830124.html

 

Wait... hold on half a second... James, where you reside? I noticed thats the Columbia CL, so I assume you live in SC somewhere. Im down around Charleston actually.