To upgrade or Not to upgrade....

[mizzou]

I am sort of ambivalent to upgrading my truck. I've got a 02 silverado that is decked out, 100k miles, v8, 4x4, etc.

It's nice, I love it.

I have some spare $$$ laying around, and I have always wanted to downsize to a compact pickup, like a tacoma or ranger, but after scouring the costs of buying a used Tacoma that is (2009+), I can't seem to justify spending $8k on trade in (worst case scenario) and pay $23k on a newer truck.

Some positives on trading up:
-Better safety
-Better size
-Better features
-Less upcoming maintenance (ideally)
-Can negotiate only on a good deal because I don't necessarily HAVE to upgrade

Negatives being, I'm out like $10-15,000 on a car loan...., which is going to be like $200-250 a month on 5 years i believe.
--------

Anyone been in this position before, and if so, what decision did you make and how happy have you been with that decision?


I can see some problems coming up with my current truck
1. transmission (it slips ever so slightly)
2. fuel line and brake line corrosion
3. shocks
4. brake pad/rotor replacement
5. 1xfront wheel hub bearing replacement needed

 

[ThatsABigOne]

Pay off your car first.

 

[Doppel]

No, spend the money on something more fun.

If you do it, get a new Toyota. Too many used cars right now are going for too much money despite being used.

You can find tons on autotrader 2009 4X4 double cab tacomas with 35-45k miles on them going for $25,000 or even more and yet a brand freaking new 4X4 double cab with AT according to truecar is $27,500. Surely options on those old ones wouldn't bring the new past $30k.

Anyway, right now the Tacoma is like the Rav4. Toyota is trying to see how long they can drag that Fer out, look at it it's the 2005 gen basically.

 

[HarryLui]

Spend they money fixing your truck.

 

[JCH13]

Those repairs are relatively minor, I wouldn't worry.

How do you know the transmission is slipping? Maybe you just need to replace the lockup solenoid, or get it serviced. 100k is a somewhat normal flush interval for an automatic transmission.

New/Used Tacomas are stupid expensive. I would aim for a Nissan frontier, they have a real metal bed and a much better tie-down system.

 

[mvbighead]

Personally, I'd keep the truck, and grab a small car of some sort.

The wife and I recently picked up a truck similar to what you already have, though a bit older and about double the miles. It's a truck. We need it for truck things. But I don't need a truck as my daily driver, you may differ.

In my position, I'd much rather pick up an efficient car for a smoother ride for commuting, not to mention better mileage. After the wife and I did that, we put liability on the one car we were least likely to drive, and our insurance premium went down a buck or two.

As for your truck, those issues are all minor. I wouldn't expect the bill to total out over $1000 for all of it, and I'd suspect a fair amount less.

 

[hanoverphist]

Spend they money fixing your truck.

this. those repairs arent that bad. the transmission is the worst one, and it may be just a flush and filter away from being solved. toyotas arent cheap to fix or easy to work on (lack of space makes things harder to get to and replace/ repair), so youre not saving much in that respect. the mileage isnt much better either, my dad has a taco and always bitches about the crappy mileage. my bro has a 4runner and says he gets about 18 avg, hell my old dodge with a 318 gets 16 and has a ton more power/ room.

 

[mizzou]

Pay off your car first.

I never had a loan in the first place

 

[halik]

If gas milage/size matter, why the hell do you have a truck as a daily driver?

 

[mizzou]

If gas milage/size matter, why the hell do you have a truck as a daily driver?

Having something with a big bed is useful for my hobbies and crap. I don't really need a big v8 or full size truck though. I remember at the time I bought it, I was looking at S10's and comparing them to fully loaded 1500's, and it seemed like you got more bang for the buck going full size, which I guess is still true. MPG seemed the same anyway.

Right now my wife has a civic and I have a daily driver saturn, but I am selling the saturn because over the 5 years I've had it, I at best break even $$ wise driving it and owning the truck at the same time, taking into account maintenance and insurance payments.

So it's actually cheaper having one vehicle for myself, having just the truck.

Was just curious if anyone had been in a similar position, seems like I should continue doing what I've been doing.

 

[mvbighead]

Having something with a big bed is useful for my hobbies and crap. I don't really need a big v8 or full size truck though. I remember at the time I bought it, I was looking at S10's and comparing them to fully loaded 1500's, and it seemed like you got more bang for the buck going full size, which I guess is still true. MPG seemed the same anyway.

Right now my wife has a civic and I have a daily driver saturn, but I am selling the saturn because over the 5 years I've had it, I at best break even $$ wise driving it and owning the truck at the same time, taking into account maintenance and insurance payments.

So it's actually cheaper having one vehicle for myself, having just the truck.

Was just curious if anyone had been in a similar position, seems like I should continue doing what I've been doing.

Well, if you do any wrenching yourself, the 3rd vehicle can be a life saver. For me, if a project takes a little long, it doesn't matter, as I have something else to fall back on.

Curious how you can't break even with a more fuel efficient vehicle though. $80 fill up vs. a $40 fill up can add up pretty quickly. If the Saturn is a beater, you put liability on it to cover the insurance, and then list it as your primary with the Silverado as the secondary. For me, the wife and I have a 2007 Impala (car pool/commuter), 2000 Jeep GC (alternate DD/winter vehicle/crap hauler), and a 2000 Silverado (truck used for truck things/also winter vehicle). Our insurance basically stayed the same when we added the truck.

Ideally, we'd like to get rid of the Jeep in favor of an Equinox or other 4 cylinder SUV that gets 25+MPG while still having AWD, but we're going to wait on that till we can do it without a loan. As it is, all vehicles are working fine, and having a third makes doing anything to one or the other easier as we still each have a vehicle to drive.

Also, if we ever do get that smaller vehicle, oil changes are less expensive (4 qts vs the 6 that the truck/jeep take), not to mention the fuel saving and ride difference.