Will probably need a new truck sooner rather than later...

[skb12172]

Meanwhile, I'm still driving my 5 speed, 22 year old Toyota truck. Even in freezing weather, it starts right up. It's not a diesel, but it will probably outlive all of us.

[Dinochrome]

Meanwhile, I'm still driving my 5 speed, 22 year old Toyota truck. Even in freezing weather, it starts right up. It's not a diesel, but it will probably outlive all of us.

I know the feeling. I drove my 1976 GMC Sierra for twenty-three years before the transmission cracked; loved that truck. It had 254,000 miles on it when the speedometer broke eight years ago; it had to be approaching 400K when I turned it over to my mechanic-neighbor. He still uses it for a tractor on his land, just keeps putting in gear-oil.

My "new" truck is a 1989 Chevy Silverado with an (ugh) automatic four-speed. I don't much care for "shiny".

[martini]

Will someone explain to me why the hell I can't buy a full size suv with a diesel? I pretty happy with my Nissan Armada, but damn the thing sucks on mileage@

[g-man]

Still looking for a new truck. I may have to do a cross-country move in the near future (if you hear about it, it's good news), and I don't trust the Avalanche to take me outside the county.

So what do you experts think of this one:
Potential Truck Candidate

I think that at that price, it's overpriced by a few thousand, but I believe if I can get out the door for around 28K, but definitely less than 30K, after haggling and trade-in, I may take it. But I do hate red trucks.

In 2006 I bought a 2004 3500 SLT for $23.5k OTD, with significantly less mileage. Of course this was in the DC area and they couldn't sell it, so they were basically paying me to take the truck away at that price (below trade-in at the time). Other than being 2wd vs that truck being 4wd, it was very similarly kitted out. KBB says $34.4k for that truck at retail in excellent condition, so they're smoking crack to ask $37.9k (or they think their potential buyers are). Even in excellent condition, trade-in on that truck is ~$27.9k, so even figuring 10% in for them, I wouldn't pay any more than $31k for the truck even before you factor the trade. If it's driving at all your Avalanche is worth at least $3k, so I'd go in offering 26k OTD and not pay any higher than 28.

[First Shirt]

Meanwhile, I'm still driving my 5 speed, 22 year old Toyota truck. Even in freezing weather, it starts right up. It's not a diesel, but it will probably outlive all of us.

I bought my 4.3L S-10 4x4 pickup new in December 1991. It has 264K on it, and even after teaching FIVE teenagers how to drive a stick, it still has the original clutch. Just used it today to drag a roll of hay out for the horses.

Until the wheels fall off of it, I'm keeping it.

[JAG2955]

KBB says $34.4k for that truck at retail in excellent condition, so they're smoking crack to ask $37.9k (or they think their potential buyers are). Even in excellent condition, trade-in on that truck is ~$27.9k, so even figuring 10% in for them, I wouldn't pay any more than $31k for the truck even before you factor the trade. If it's driving at all your Avalanche is worth at least $3k, so I'd go in offering 26k OTD and not pay any higher than 28.

Heh, most of their potential buyers are young Marines flush with deployment money. I saw the KBB price, and I even called them today to ask them a few questions about it that were not on the website. I kind of called them out on the pricing, and the guy said that he'd check on it. He said they use NADA and Black Book for pricing, but it is a huge difference. The guy was not very knowledgeable.

Example:
Me: "Does it have an engine brake?"
Him: "What's that?"
Maybe I should grab one of my guys who is a diesel mechanic, and have him spout mumbo-jumbo about how it's a piece of junk and try to take it off their hands for not very much at all. I had lots of questions about fog lights, skid plates, axle ratios, and I'm still waiting on that call back...

I probably won't give up my Avalanche for less than $4K.

[g-man]

Still, I guarantee they went with whichever book quoted the lowest price when they paid some schmuck for the truck on trade in. Even the NADA only lists the truck as a smidge over $36k retail, so they're still huffing crack-rocks at $37.9...

Oh, and if he doesn't know what an engine brake is I'd just walk on the lot and talk to whichever salesman came up instead of going through their 'internet guy'. If you're the 'internet guy' and you don't know how to use Google to spec-check the vehicles you're listing, you're either lazy, stupid, or both.

[JAG2955]

I sent that link to a dealer friend of the family who has given us many years of faithful service. He said that truck would likely pull only $26-28K at auction, so to start my prices there. More and more though, the same dealer has a used (28K miles) 2012 Laramie Longhorn edition (also a 2500 Mega) that I'm getting more and more intrigued by. He also wants $49.5K for it, which is insane. I'm going up there on Saturday to check them out and talk to them. If I could get the 2012 for $40K (about what the trade-in value would be), I'd probably be driving it home. It's been on the lot for over 3 months now, and I'm a darn good negotiator.

[blackeagle603]

Will someone explain to me why the hell I can't buy a full size suv with a diesel?

Get online and shop for a 7.3L 2003 and earlier Excursion. 220k+ on mine and loving it still.

If that's too large there are some used diesel Suburbans out there in nice shape (not as common as Excursions though).

If that's still larger than you want then look for a diesel Liberty. The diesel Tourag is a rocket but too over the top on features/price for my taste.

Open up the search parameters and plan a roadtrip to collect one.

[JAG2955]

So I checked it out today. It drives like a truck drives. But I hated the bench seat. It felt like I was on a school bus again. Also didn't like that it lacked nearly every convenience feature that I grew accustomed to in the Avalanche. I also checked out their 2012 Longhorn Laramie. Other than the seat back pockets had "saddlebag flaps" that reminded me of purses, it was very nice and well-featured. But, and here's a huge but: Whoever owned it (likely a young Marine) beat the hell out of it. It needed two new tires, had been backed into one, maybe two different items, and had so much underbody rust I'm thinking it was either fished out of the drink or may have had some water damage from a hurricane. Way too much rust for a 2012. Lots of dings and scratches all over. Like I said to the guy: Horizontal scratches are indicative of brushing past something, but vertical scratches are a sign of misuse. Especially if you try to cover them up with a crappy touch up pen. There were many big scratches on either side of the bed. Also, why the hell would you smoke in a brand new luxury pickup? There was a big cigarette burn like the guy tried to reach up and open the sunroof with a cigarette in his hand. I passed.

In other news, dealer friend made some calls, and he's got a guy with 3 2012 mega cabs on the lot. Said he'd sell one to me at dealer invoice less rebates. So now I'm just inclined to buy new, or at least look elsewhere.

Thoughts on buying new?