looking for some truck advise

[namehater]

so we decided to sell our gas whore 03 yukon xl denali and my old mediocre 98 maxima so we can get to new vehicles. the goal to this is the denali gets about 10/14 mpg and the maxima just isnt as nice as she used to be lol

we are looking at getting a boat next year so i decided that i MUST get a truck and she will drive some random 4 door that gets kickass gas mileage. she really likes the look of the toyota matrix and we are only wanting to spend about $10k on her car

im looking at dakota club cabs. they are my favorite body style and i think i pretty much HAVE to go mid sized or i will be right back in the same boat of the mpg if i go full sized, the dakota gets about 15/20mpg, not great by any means but i think its still a huge difference from the denali

are there any trucks that i should take a second look at? my price point on the truck isnt really limited, but i would like to keep it in the 15-18k area

[Causedawg 83]

You could get a diesel with about a 100k miles on it. They tend to get better gas mileage with age.

I would also look at the Toyotas. The Tacoma gets obviously better gas mileage than the Tundra, but it won't have as much towing capacity.


I'm a big fan of the GMC's that were made in the first half of this decade. Mine is a 2002 GMC Sierra. It gets around 18-19 mpg on the highway.

If you're getting new, then I don't have a lot of advice to give other than that, but if you're getting used (which I ALWAYS recommend), then I do: Find out exactly what you want. What make, what model, what year (all that based on what looks good, what you can afford, what will pull a boat, and price). Then, decide on how much you want to spend and how far you're willing to drive. I recommend at least 200 miles.

I did that and ended up driving all the way to Lubbock, TX (which is about 210 miles, or 3 hours) to get my Truck. Before I went, though, I called the dealer and found out where the previous owner worked (he happened to be a mechanic and took great care of his vehicles), and I called the guy and talked to him about his old truck. Then I verified everything he said with a CarFax. Then I called the dealer again and made the deal I wanted over the phone. Once it was all said and done, it was well worth driving 3 hours, considering I got exactly what I wanted and spent 11k, while most trucks exactly like mine but in worse condition were being sold for maybe 13-15k. I've had the truck nearly a year and not one problem yet. Oh yeah, and I got a new paint job for free since some bitch rammed me last summer!

Good luck on your very fun new purchase!

[JParker0105]

you could always be like me and ride your mountain bike. lol. i love that thing!

[namehater]

ive looked at the toyotas and they seem to be outside of my price range, to get one in my price range they have to many miles. ive been researching all morning and im really leaning towards the dodge dakota, it seems to hit in all the right places, seems to be plenty to choose from that are 05-06 for $14k-$18k, most with under 20k miles

as long as i can get a truck with better gas mileage than my denali, which is EASY lol and lower my payment, im golden. just by the payment calc, i can get a 18k 72month loan and my payments would only be $280, which is over $100 less than what we are paying a month for the denali

[Causedawg 83]

Well cool deal. It sounds like you know what you're looking for.

My wife's stepdad drives a Dakota and he loves it. They're good trucks.

[namehater]

anybody wanna buy a yukon xl denali? lol

i put it on craigslist, not knowing what our payoff is, i put it up for $22k. the wife is calling the lendor today to find out what the payoff is, then i can adjust the asking price. im not gonna try to get rich off the sell, just get enough to pay off the note, and maybe a grand or two to go towards tags and taxes on the next vehicle, just depends on the payoff

i know that prices vary by area, but wouldnt $20k ish be a good price for this?

For Sale - 2003 GMC Yukon Denali XL only 69k miles!

[laxgod]

I would just enter all the details in New Car Prices and Used Car Blue Book Values - Official Kelley Blue Book Site and see what it says for price.

[Serren]

I would say get a Prius for your wife, but they are expensive, even used. You can make up the difference in gas though. 48mpg is SWEET!

[Serren]

I had my brand new 2007 Avalanche on the market for a month at below KBB price and no takers, not even a call. I was trying to get 27,000 for it, which was what I owed. I eventually traded it in for a 5,000 loss to get my Prius.

Everyday you own that Denali, its value is going down as gas prices go up. Plus there is a glut of SUV's going on the market as people get fed up with feeding them, so that also hurts your value.

You can look on Craigs List and see what they are going for in your neck of the woods. KBB is ok, but Craigslist will give a real world view of what the going market value is for most things.

Good luck!

[namehater]

wife just called the bank and the payoff on the loan is 19.6k, think ill lower my price on craigslist to 21k that would give me a little play room. the loan value is 19k, we are good friends with the internet sales manager at the largest GM dealer in the area. we might go down there tonight and see what the most he can work out for us for trade-in value

one dealer we went to over the weekend was going to give us about 19k for it, but he didnt really have anything on his lot that we were interested in, and at the time we thought we still owed 24k on the denali, so that threw the figures WAY off lol

[Woundup]

Originally Posted by JParker0105

you could always be like me and ride your mountain bike. lol. i love that thing!

I think that might be hard to tow a boat with.

[namehater]

i took off from work yesterday and we went shopping, but came home with nothing, we just cant squeeze enough out of the denali, we got a dealer to give us 16k trade in on it, but the 2 vehicles we picked out couldnt go low enough to carry the negative equity. such a wasted day of vacation time!

but i did test drive an 02 f150 crew cab that i really liked, after more researching on gas mileage im going to keep the full size trucks as an option, they get almost exactly the same as the mid-sized ones. i still dont want anything 'big' because im just not comfortable in them, but the f150 crew was sized in between a chevy crew cab and a mid sized crew, it was nice

[AlphaQ GehaD]

Well Name, first off id like to say i wish you a great deal of luck on selling your vehicle. Why you ask, Other than the not to well known fact (over the internet), that im a nice guy, but because the market for Used Autos is way down, and even lower for SUV's, Trucks, and any other gas guzzlers out there. A client of mine just bought an 05 expedition for $12k, so maybe if you looked for a Used truck that could help you in the long run with the gas. Save money & throw half on the boat rest on gas.

Did you check if a Honda CRV could tow a boat (depending on the size) it probably could, those things get great mileage. Or actually the same SUV/Truck that Justintime has has great power & mileage, because people go 4x4ing with it. Other than that im not too sure about trucks, as it is im still looking for a car.

However i just got word that an auto body we insure, is selling an 04 Honda Civic with 80,000 mi. for $7,500 i kbb.com it and WOW a deal and a half.

Good luck, BTW....Congrats to you and your family, post pics when you can.

[namehater]

after doing extensive research, im back to looking for a dakota quad cab, they have really good gas mileage and have the highest tow rating of that size and i can get a pretty decked out one for about 15-16k with about 20k or less miles

since we are so upside down on the denali we are pretty much forced to sell it outright so i put it up on autotrader.com for 21k which gives me plenty of room to haggle but is still the best deal within 200miles, also helps that it comes with 1yr of extended warranty, nobody else if offering warranty at all, not even the dealers

heres the add, wanna take a look and see if theres anything i put that is confusing or anything? id appreciate it

Cars For Sale: Car Details - AutoTrader.com

btw- my wife has decided on a pt cruiser, we test drove a couple and were pleasantly surprised with them

[Justintiime]

a Toyota tech I used to work with had a quad cab dakota. He towed a large camper across the country and had the bed loaded with camping stuff, and his whole family in the truck. He said it towed great, but gas mileage wasn't that great. He went to a little bit smaller tire to effectively increase his "gear ratio" and it gave him 3mpg while towing. He never said any wrong about his truck!

[Grenic]

Originally Posted by namehater

but i did test drive an 02 f150 crew cab that i really liked, after more researching on gas mileage im going to keep the full size trucks as an option, they get almost exactly the same as the mid-sized ones. i still dont want anything 'big' because im just not comfortable in them, but the f150 crew was sized in between a chevy crew cab and a mid sized crew, it was nice

Don't kid yourself, Ford's are HARD on gas... The bigger they are, the more they use.

[namehater]

well, im very jaded on what i consider to be 'good' gas mileage lol, drive that denali around for a couple of years and your meaning of 'good' would be a little different lol. heres an example for ya, we figure that we put about $30 every 3 days into the tank, its insane... worse than any hot rod ive ever owned lol