Old Junk vs. New Junk?

[barrelroll]

EDIT: Update in post #74 12/13/19

I've got a conundrum, the current pickup is getting long in the tooth and it's time to replace it with either a lower miles 8.1L suburban or a brand new/ almost new crew cab 3/4 ton.

We currently have an '02 2500HD extended cab/ long bed 4x4 with the 8.lL and 192K on it. We use for pulling 7k of Jeep and trailer through the mountains of Colorado and the girlfriend drives it 5-10 miles per day to work. It's a great tow rig but a little long for DD duties, pretty big for mild 4wheeling and camping when we don't bring the jeep along, and we'd like 4 real doors. The girlfriend loves driving the 8.1 daily on her short commute and it tows great. The original plan was to replace it with an '01-'06 8.1 suburban with 100-150k on it. Yesterday I was under the current truck and it needs engine and trans cooler lines, a wheel bearing, muffler, 2 door handles, tires are close to shot, the list goes on and on. I have the tools/ ability to work on my own junk but not the time or desire to spend a weekend elbow deep in grease stressed about getting a truck done to go to work the next day after I've spent 60 hours on the clock working on junk. The suburban was sounding like a great idea till it dawned on me everything that's wrong with the current truck will be the same issues that pop up on an minimum 13 year old used suburban.

While the girlfriend was at the Chevy dealer picking up parts for the current truck I had her look a little at new 3/4 tons. She was not opposed to the idea of a new truck. After looking at pricing on new bare bones gas 3/4 ton crew cabs and 2-3 year old trucks with under 30k it looks like if you are willing to travel a new truck is the same price as a used truck. The current truck I've had for 7 years and 90k, this one should see less miles and besides 50 miles a week commuting it won't move unless it's pulling truck duty. I can swing a new truck and am tempted to go that direction. I went with a new commuter car and it's nice to drop it off for an oil change, if something breaks drop it off and it's fixed under warranty with a rental car while it's in the shop. With old junk I feel the need to do basic service my self so I'm putting eyes on everything and checking things the lube monkey wouldn't look at. My sanity has been worth what the new commuter car costs me.

What's everyone's thoughts? Buy an older suburban and realize it's going to nickel and dime me and require wrench time? Buy a new truck and enjoy not having to crawl under it? Has anyone made the switch from an 8.1 to a newer gas 3/4 ton? How was the towing power difference of the newer truck?

 

[Twisted Noodle]

We need pictures or this post is invalid..
.
.
. All joking aside, I’d like to see the input. I’m just getting started on truck camping but I myself am sporting a 97 Dodge Ram with 100k.

 

[OverlandNA]

Some people prefer payments over wrench time, others prefer wrench time and spending the payment money enjoying life. Which type are you?

 

[TernOverland]

We just bought a 2003 HD2500 Suburban 4x4, 8.1 with 154K for a daily driver / work car / staff car. We paid 9k for it, and we love it. For the cost of a new comparable vehicle, we can afford to pay a mechanic for anything I don't feel like doing, and still come out thousands ahead.

 

[Buliwyf]

Go new. Since trucks are in style, bargain used trucks are tough to find. It's just too easy to damage modern trucks, you never know what you get with a used truck.

$40k gets you a Ford or Dodge that'll do everything the older burbs do. Our 8.1's might have been detuned, because fleet trucks. But Ford's 6.2 is as powerful as our 8.1 ever was. Just don't fear the gear. Towing performance should be superior, I don't recall ever being impressed by burb towing. Too much of a compromise. Low ride ht, soft springs and shocks, etc. etc.

Avoid diesel, since youre low mileage.

I prefer payments, and wrenching. But my wrenching should be upgrades and maintenance. Not pulling engines, trans, and axles for repairs.

 

[ZWilson07]

I am with him. Seems like the idea of getting another similar to yours is just replacing your problems with a chance of having new sets of problems. If you’re gonna upgrade, might as well go new enough with warranty to not have the headache. Or at the very least, something that’s fairly new that still has some warranty on it. If not, you might as well just keep running what you got.

I’ve been in both situations before so there is a good arguement for both sides. Like already posted, it really just comes down to your preference at this particular point in your life. At one point, I would have argued until I was blue in the face on keeping what you currently have. Now I just want to enjoy nice things, perform maintenance, and upgrading; either way your gonna pay. To be fair, I am a master tech for a living so after doing it all day, the last thing you want to do is big repairs on your own stuff. Which brings it back to the main point, it’s going to come down to your personal preference and the current point of life your in.

Good luck.

 

[Ducky's Dad]

If you can wrench and you can afford a new truck, why not shop for a nice 2-3 year old truck that meets your needs? You get a newish truck and save a pot full of money.

 

[CampStewart]

Seems to me like you are comparing apples to oranges. I have a 04 3/4 ton suburban with the 2nd and 3rd row seats removed and rear barn doors. When it is empty I can haul 4x8 sheets. When loading gear there is easy access from the 4 rear doors to get to anything. It is much shorter than a crew cab pickup and everything in it is watertight without having the added expense of a cap. I regularly tow trailers from 8 to 24ft and it does as well as any 3/4 ton pickup I have seen. I recently bought a new trailer hitch because the factory receiver was bending. If you want those qualities and a 8.1 you have no other choice than a used Suburban. The maintenance items you mentioned in the original post add up to only a few payments and are a fraction of the price of a new vehicle.

 

[vintageracer]

PAYMENTS!!!!

The BEST MUSIC EVER to a car dealers ears!

 

[barrelroll]

Go new. Since trucks are in style, bargain used trucks are tough to find. It's just too easy to damage modern trucks, you never know what you get with a used truck.

$40k gets you a Ford or Dodge that'll do everything the older burbs do. Our 8.1's might have been detuned, because fleet trucks. But Ford's 6.2 is as powerful as our 8.1 ever was. Just don't fear the gear. Towing performance should be superior, I don't recall ever being impressed by burb towing. Too much of a compromise. Low ride ht, soft springs and shocks, etc. etc.

Avoid diesel, since youre low mileage.

I prefer payments, and wrenching. But my wrenching should be upgrades and maintenance. Not pulling engines, trans, and axles for repairs.

If you can wrench and you can afford a new truck, why not shop for a nice 2-3 year old truck that meets your needs? You get a newish truck and save a pot full of money.

I'm going to keep my eyes pealed for a used truck but they are not cheap. The cheapest local 2015 GM crew cab 3/4 ton had 75k on it, you could tell was a beat work truck, and they wanted 29k for it, new they are going for 33-35k. Most of the newer used stuff is out of warranty and within 2-3k of new. Clean used trucks out of warranty are going for more than new if you can negotiate on new. If you factor in finance rates a new truck starts to pencil out coming out ahead. Also I'll be the only bone head behind the wheel and the trucks we are looking at will most likely have been fleet trucks which is really a roll of the dice if it was treated nice or like a cheap rental car.

We aren't in a hurry to buy a new truck so I'm willing to wait for the right deal and the 20's to come out so the 19's go on sale. We are going to drive all 4 makes this weekend and then come up with a game plan. GM does have a new 3/4 ton coming out soon and Ram is in the first year of a new truck though there's a lot of 18's left. I'd rather not deal with 1st model year blues. Once we drive them we'll have a better idea, it isn't worth saving 2k on a truck if you hate it every time you sit in it.

Seems to me like you are comparing apples to oranges. I have a 04 3/4 ton suburban with the 2nd and 3rd row seats removed and rear barn doors. When it is empty I can haul 4x8 sheets. When loading gear there is easy access from the 4 rear doors to get to anything. It is much shorter than a crew cab pickup and everything in it is watertight without having the added expense of a cap. I regularly tow trailers from 8 to 24ft and it does as well as any 3/4 ton pickup I have seen. I recently bought a new trailer hitch because the factory receiver was bending. If you want those qualities and a 8.1 you have no other choice than a used Suburban. The maintenance items you mentioned in the original post add up to only a few payments and are a fraction of the price of a new vehicle.

If GM made a new 3/4 ton burb we'd seriously consider it. The 07 and newer 3/4 ton burbs are a roll of the dice and still getting up there in age. A pre '06 burb has a minimum of 13 years of parts drying out. 3 rows of seating would be nice but not mandatory. I haven't folded down the seats in a newer crew cab but I could sleep in the back of my '04 2500HD crew with the seats folded down. Between all the work the truck needs (there's some things not on the list) and a set of tires it's going to cost me around $2,000 - $2,500 for me to do the work and then it's a matter of what's next. Buy a used burb and it will have the same issues/ age on parts and if it's lower miles chances are it's sat a fair amount .

Between the jeep, 20' car hauler, and parts/ tools we are at 7k or more and we are either headed up I70 or 285 out of Denver every time we go 4 wheeling. I'm just not sure I trust a half ton with the load, if we did it once a year it wouldn't be a big deal but it's usually once a month or more.

 

[shade]

Between the jeep, 20' car hauler, and parts/ tools we are at 7k or more and we are either headed up I70 or 285 out of Denver every time we go 4 wheeling. I'm just not sure I trust a half ton with the load, if we did it once a year it wouldn't be a big deal but it's usually once a month or more.

I'd want more tow vehicle with that load in the mountains, too.

Good luck with your search. I was in a similar position when truck shopping, since all of the used stock worth considering was priced nearly as high as new. I would've saved money on insurance & taxes with used, but it wasn't worth the minimal savings when compared to having a new, unmolested vehicle. I also planned to keep the truck well past the newness wearing off, so paying more up front to start fresh made more sense to me.

 

[Martinjmpr]

From my own searches it's clear that Dodge (Ram) are the cheapest 3/4 tons out there on the used market. It's not that hard to find a used Ram 2500 gasser with around 30k on it, typically for just over or just under $30,000.

What that says about them, I'll leave to others to assume. I can't really comment on modern Dodge or FCA vehicles since the only Dodge I ever owned was this:

 

[Twisted Noodle]

With all that being said, that power-wagon is awesome! Don’t know if I would use it as my tow vehicle but I might try..

 

[shade]

From my own searches it's clear that Dodge (Ram) are the cheapest 3/4 tons out there on the used market. It's not that hard to find a used Ram 2500 gasser with around 30k on it, typically for just over or just under $30,000.

What that says about them, I'll leave to others to assume. I can't really comment on modern Dodge or FCA vehicles since the only Dodge I ever owned was this:

Which one of the brothers did you buy that from? : )

With all that being said, that power-wagon is awesome! Don’t know if I would use it as my tow vehicle but I might try..

In another thread, someone mentioned that they were happy with the towing performance of their Power Wagon.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Reading forums threads with people asking if driving around in 4WD high for a week until they hear a bang makes me think I should be thinking about new if I ever buy another truck.

"I confused the 4WD knob for the climate fan knob."