Don’t want a new truck

[Mike D Texas]

I would knock on wood...you can't do maintenance on all the electronic components today...Body Control module start acting up on my '12 Expy. 4wd would work sometimes, sometimes it wouldn't, nothing wrong with drivtrain. 4wd worked driving out on the beach to fish, started it up to come home no 4wd had to dig my self out and get towed back to ramp....sold it at 275k..

Maybe but a BCM, PCM or any other CM still doesn’t cost $70-$100k.

My son still drives my hand me down 2004 Z71 with 435,000+ on the original motor. It has been through 2 transmissions.

 

[Ultracarry]

My 2007 4runner has 257,000 now but still runs very well. I tried to sell it recently but only got real low offers which tells me that what's it's worth to others. So I will keep it now and run it for a year or more and hope the catalytic converters don't need replacing at about $2700. If they do, I'll replace them and run it longer to get more use out of it. I would like to get a newer one though sometime. I just don't have the free time to work on vehicles much any more. My 09 Sierra only has 107,000 so I should be good for quite some time with that truck.

I have an 06 4Runner with 285k - timing chain cover oil leak and AC fan motor… both repairs don’t break the bank and the timing chain got replaced @220k so I’m really wondering how long it will last .

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Maybe but a BCM, PCM or any other CM still doesn’t cost $70-$100k.

My son still drives my hand me down 2004 Z71 with 435,000+ on the original motor. It has been through 2 transmissions.

That's great!...You do you buddy! I prefer a new truck every decade with 100k extended warranty. Gives me a few years where maintenance isn't my problem.

 

[rustyN]

Have you replaced the condenser? Might save you from overheating while towing.

No, first I've heard of anyone mentioned replacing the condenser having an effect on it. Guess I'll look into it more.

I could drop probably 4k on aftermarket radiator, trans cooler, and oil cooler, but even that people have reported not totally rectifying the issue. Improvement, but not fix.

I did replace water pump, have coolant system flushed and serviced, and am always on top of oil changes and that didn't seem to do much if anything.

 

[M1SF1T]

We get screwed in North America with protectionist auto regulations that keep simple, reliable, affordable, easy to maintain vehicles out.

Toyota is making a $15K basic pickup you can option with a little turbo diesel, no electronic BS or complex computers or engine killing emissions components. The price of a new Hilux, again with an optional turbo diesel, is half of what a new Tacoma goes for. You can get awesome Land Cruisers too, everywhere except North America...

All these simple, reliable, repairable.

I really like my '23 F350 Powerstroke, but it's full of computers. I had one issue with a coding glitch in the ABS module that left me inoperable in 4x4, drive modes, power steering, ABS, and all these other features for most of the past summer while they figured it out... If that stuff starts going sideways out of warranty you can't fix it yourself.

That said, this is my first new truck, my last truck was a '92 Toyota, and I'm planning to keep this one. Running T6 synthetic, Archoil additive, upgraded fuel filters, drain water separator regularly, DPK to protect if the CP4 goes, then I'll switch to a DCR. Full warranty is up next year and the emissions components are going to get pulled then.

My son is 16 in a year and already a gear head, I'm looking for a 7.3 for him, something he can work on and keep running himself.

 

[HiMtnHntr]

No, first I've heard of anyone mentioned replacing the condenser having an effect on it. Guess I'll look into it more.

I could drop probably 4k on aftermarket radiator, trans cooler, and oil cooler, but even that people have reported not totally rectifying the issue. Improvement, but not fix.

I did replace water pump, have coolant system flushed and serviced, and am always on top of oil changes and that didn't seem to do much if anything.

I have a 150 that overheated while towing in summer with A/C on and replacing condenser fixed it…

 

[HeyDude11]

I drive too many miles per year to keep an older truck, so I swap about every 2 years. If you can drive an older truck and make it work you're better off for sure, but it just doesn't work for me.

 

[NorthIdahoDude]

That's almost never true. Even a new engine and trans can be done for like 10k. New comparable F150 is easily 60k+.

It's hard to do the math with Ford/Chev/Dodge junk because the new ones break a lot, same as the old ones, LOL. Ask me how I know.

However, with my Toyotas (and probably Hondas and Nissans and Suzukis and so on), once they need a $5 to $10k something, I do the math over the long haul, not the short term.

Last one was a 1999 Tacoma, needed about $7k in work (maybe $1500 if I could do my own work and just bought parts, but I can't). That 7k would buy me about 15,000 miles before the timing chain had to get done again. A (at the time) $30k new Toyota would get me 120 to 180k miles before the first major bill.

$7000 / 15000 = $0.46 ish a mile.

$30000 / 120,000 = $0.25 a mile (and I'll honestly be shocked if I don't get 180k or more on the new one before it gets there).

Oh, and I sold the 1999 Tacoma to a guy who could do his own work for $7500 (after paying $8500 for it 10 years earlier), and all I ever did to it was regular maintenance and replaced an alternator once, while driving it around 130k miles. So I spent less than a penny per mile at the end of it all.

So, sure, a guy has gotta have or borrow the money to play that game, but at the end of my life, I spend around half as much to drive a mile by driving a newer vehicle vs an older one. And I spend a lot less time and headache getting the trucks fixed (as in, basically none).

It's one of life's hidden secrets for how not to waste money on transportation.

YMMV.