Compact Trucks

[saveliberty]

You are from the school of let someone else take the depreciation hit and I'll buy it when its three years old or older. Again, a winning strategy for a different group of folks. People "put cash in a pile and burn it" all the time. Some invested in Beanie Babies, stocks, landscaping, horses or whatever. Each person decides what is the best choice for their dollar.

 

[DGS49]

Car leasing can be advantageous under some circumstances, but those are rare. Dealers take advantage of the unsophisticated buyers who come in, lured by a low-ball price, then end up paying dramatically more for a vehicle that only has the normal complement of "options" that most people want. The story line is this: Well, air conditioning is a $1,000 option, so that's $30 per month for 36 months. BALONEY. You are not BUYING the A/C unit, you are renting it for three years. The lease payment adjustment should be 40% of $1,000/36.

Buicks and VW's are traditionally pretty good on lease because Buick dealers are desperate to move cars and VW's hold their value.

The worst thing about a lease is that once you lease that first car, you are virtually locked into leasing forever, because at the end of the lease you have no car, no money, and no trade in.

 

[Roadrunner]

I have two $50,000 plus pick ups out for the year so far. It is a strange world.

I paid $25,000 for my Chevy SWB 4x4.

I wanted LWB but could not find one without power windows.

I really didn't need the 4x4, should have bought a 2WD, in hindsight.

Put too many highway miles on it in the last 3 years.

 

[Roadrunner]

You are from the school of let someone else take the depreciation hit and I'll buy it when its three years old or older. Again, a winning strategy for a different group of folks. People "put cash in a pile and burn it" all the time. Some invested in Beanie Babies, stocks, landscaping, horses or whatever. Each person decides what is the best choice for their dollar.

I have done well over 35 years, buying new, maintaining them well, and getting rid of them before repairs set in.

You don't trade in, you sell, then, you pay rock bottom for the vehicle you want, or, walk out to another dealer.

You can always find what you want for invoice price or less.

They get rebates at the end of the year for every vehicle they sell.

 

[SmarterThanTheAverageBear]

i would never leave a vehicle. but if you're a salesman who travels and wants a new vehicle or something like that, it could be a good deal

 

[SmarterThanTheAverageBear]

You are from the school of let someone else take the depreciation hit and I'll buy it when its three years old or older. Again, a winning strategy for a different group of folks. People "put cash in a pile and burn it" all the time. Some invested in Beanie Babies, stocks, landscaping, horses or whatever. Each person decides what is the best choice for their dollar.

I have done well over 35 years, buying new, maintaining them well, and getting rid of them before repairs set in.

You don't trade in, you sell, then, you pay rock bottom for the vehicle you want, or, walk out to another dealer.

You can always find what you want for invoice price or less.

They get rebates at the end of the year for every vehicle they sell.

Used to be a person could go in October and can count on finding super deals because the new model years were coming, but now they have new model years coming out all the time.

 

[saveliberty]

I hear a lot of posters operating on myth.

 

[DGS49]

Well I finally bought a truck over the weekend.

After spending a lot of time looking at what I wanted the truck for and allowing my wife to have a quasi-veto on the decision, I ended up going for a Ridgeline rather than my first choice, which was a Nissan Frontier. I wrote above about the Ridgeline; bottom line, it is a nice, mid-size SUV with a box on the back. I got the luxury model (RTL), with sunroof and nav. It also has a new tri-fold tonneau cover, which will make it possible to carry more stuff protected from the weather.

I did not get a good deal on the truck. I will have to pay for a new timing belt (etc) and tires within the next 6 months, and adding those costs my total out-of-pocket will be about what I would have paid a dealer for the car. There are some "little" things wrong - things like lights burned out, that I probably should have picked up, although I'm not sure what I would have done about it. The seller was paying off a loan, so the price was not negotiable. The option was to walk away. It will be with my trusted mechanic tomorrow, so I'm holding my breath. The sellers were keen to get rid of it because they said they couldn't afford the payment - but they were headed out to buy a Colorado (used) when they left me. Doesn't really add up. Were they hiding something major (other than the timing belt)?

Once you decide to buy a used Ridgeline there are basically only two options: buy one with high miles and pray, or buy one with reasonable miles and pay an arm and a leg.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I wonder if the transmission is going, the engine has problems, or both.

 

[DGS49]

My mechanic gave it a clean bill of health (would pass PA state inspection, no problems). Tires are borderline, so I ordered a set from TireRack (Firestone Destination LE2 - all season) and will have them mounted shortly. (I will be driving it down to Florida in a couple weeks).

Dealer quoted One Thousand Dollars for a new timing belt. My mechanic charged me $670 for timing belt, water pump, tensioner, and serpentine belt. Materials cost: $300 - all Honda OEM.

The Ridgeline seems to run like a Honda - smooth, quiet, etc.

There is something going on with the interior lights and my mechanic suggested that a Honda dealer's service department might be able to pinpoint the problem more quickly than he could. Lights don't go on when I open the door, even though the switch is in the correct position for that.

Functionally and visibly, I'm very pleased. It looks great and the utility is outstanding. I had plywood and lumber in the bed on Saturday, and it only extended past the end of the tailgate by about a foot. Plywood sits flat on the bed, unlike on other mid-sized trucks. Interior space behind the front seats is huge, and not carpeted, so it's good for even slightly messy stuff (e.g., a muddy bicycle).