I need a new vehicle

Troof.

$600 a month buys a lot of valve cover gaskets and PCV valves for a small block Chevy.

 

But what value to you put on the time and effort in for the repair, the downtime, and the near constant worry of a breakdown?

 

How far you planning to travel?

My work van is a 210k mile 2001 Express Van. Never left me stranded. Costs me less than a couple grand a year, amortized, in repairs (beyond maintenance and wear items).

We've still got the allroad at 195k miles, and literally hours before we were leaving on a trip to Maine the master cylinder went tits up. Rented a Buick Enclave to make the journey, and the rental cost for a week and a half was 1.5x the car payment we cough up every month for Sarah's A4.

And time and effort? What's $7200/yr worth to you? You either like wrenching on your shit and maintain and repair yourself, or you dip into that virtual slush fund and pay someone to do the work, saving yourself the time and effort.

 

Or a lightly used 1500 ecodiesel

 

Oh, and don't forget the higher insurance costs, the unavailability of parts when it does need repair (how's that for time, effort and aggravation?), and inconvenience.

Sarah's 2015 A4 has had more shop time in the last 12 months than either the allroad or the van. Warranty, sure, but when your main wheels for brood transport spends 3-4 days at a time in the shop for steering racks and electronics modules, your "near constant worry" of a breakdown is replaced by 15% of your monthly car payment being for a car you can't drive. :/

 

I have had lots of older vehicles and never, ever, have they cost me more to keep going per year than the yearly cost of new car payments and insurance. Argue all you want about parts, labor, downtime, whatever. But if you are ok with spending $7,000 a year on payments just for a false feeling of security, that's up to you.

 

The way I seet is if the mentioned $7k is the difference b/n what I want to drive and makes me happy versus whatever is cheap/ paid off/ easy to repair on my own time, I'd put up the $$$ and not look back.

 

Used hick-em-ups with miles racked up high sell for almost new prices (with rebates and some work) around here. And they usually do not haggle on prices on used because of high demand.

 

This is not going to be a daily driver nor a family truckster. I will get a new vehicle for my wife and family, this is primarily for me to haul bikes, get to the track and drive when the weather is shit or to pick up my kid from school 1 mile away.

If the car is old, insurance and registration is cheap. I can fix anything on an older vehicle. As PE said, $600 buys a lot of parts particularly for an old bow tie. If the car is solid there is no real worry, i'm not planning on buying a hooptie. Personally i'd rather an older, simpler fixed up car over an older high milage car.

 

My theory has always been that I won't own a truck/car that I wouldn't trust to hop in and drive cross country on a moments notice. My Sequoia and TSX both have over 100k and have been dead nuts reliable.

 

How far are you traveling to get to tracks?

 

I'm with Zoran. I have a 2002 GMC Sierra, and the only problems I've had with it were injectors and one alternator.

01-04 have the biggest problem with injectors, I believe that was fixed in later years, but not 100% certain.

Before this, I owned the famous 01 Ford 7.3 diesel and I like this Chevy much better. No Ford front end issues, more power, nicer transmission (Allison), etc..

 

Most frequent is 1.5hrs. Farthest typically is 4hrs, but rarely.

 

Shit, you could get a rickshaw yanked by illegal immigrants and rabid dachshunds for those kinds of distances.

Why you think so much? Go buy a 150k mile 1/2 ton prickup of your least unfavorite brand and STFU.

 

Audi isn't going to be a very good example of a bulletproof daily driver.

OP will have to be the judge of how reliable his vehicle will need to be. And for what he's considering, in a lot of cases that will come down to the individual vehicle. A truck with 200k well maintained miles will be better than one with 100k that was beat on.

 

Prepaid lease on a silverado double cab loaded z71 will run you 10500 if all paid at once for 39 months. Not bad for 15k miles a year and getting to drive a 52k sticker truck.

 

I would say 7-10 year old max, crew cab, 1/2 ton truck checks every box except for "fun". With a wheel/tire package and a few bolt ons it would increase the fun factor.

I think you can get a Raptor in a crew cab but they're still pricey.

 

You talking Chevy or ford?

 

Between those two, depends on age. Anything older than the latest gen GM had pretty crappy interiors imho, so for me it would be ford. GM gets the drivetrain nod though. Toss up between the two, with the decision coming down to the individual truck.

Don't rule out the Tundra though.

Ram isn't really an option. I've seen far too many of those with significant rust issues lately. And I'm talking newer trucks, with big holes rusted through the bed!

 

Why in the world are we discussing pick up trucks if he's hauling a few motorcycles?

You guys are fucked up. Seriously fucked up.