Which one would you buy?

[Slowpoke Slim]

There are 2 trucks for sale and you have to buy one of them. Which one would you pick?
They are both one owner trucks sold by their private owner. Both of them look great and I can find a fault with neither of them.
Truck #1: A 2019 Ford F150 XLT Crew Cab, loaded, with 170,000 miles on it.
Truck #2: A 2012 Ford F150 XLT Crew Cab, loaded, with 85,000 miles on it.
They are the same price and both of them start easy, run well and quiet and look good.
Which one would you buy and why?

Neither. A half ton isn't a truck. It's a car with a box on the back. And not even an 8' box.

3/4 ton minimum for me, and honestly, I wish I had bought a dually.

 

[sd455dan]

I have to stick with the 2006 XLT 4X4 we picked up for $1k, son sure likes it "price being a factor", I will keep driving my older 03 Ram 3500 diesel.
1K Ford is aging Well, no real problems in the first 8 months of use, no rust no leaks.

 

[Jstpssng]

I have to stick with the 2006 XLT 4X4 we picked up for $1k, son sure likes it "price being a factor", I will keep driving my older 03 Ram 3500 diesel.View attachment 4126148

You can't beat that with a stick. Around here a thousand bucks will get you something with a rotted out frame, only good for plowing your driveway.

 

[sd455dan]

Yes if there is one thing on a vehicle first to run from... it is rust.

 

[civilian]

My brother's 2016 F150, short box, single cab has a badly rusted frame. Aluminum body looks good,, but the frame is awful. Dealer won't take it on a trade in. Jon

 

[tallyho8]

From what I have been hearing here and in other forums, the main reason people pick a 2020 F150 with 250,000 miles instead of a 2012 with 84000 miles for the same price is because they have no money and have to borrow to buy a vehicle and most lenders will not lend money on a vehicle over 10 years old.

 

[Yander]

There are 2 trucks for sale and you have to buy one of them. Which one would you pick?
They are both one owner trucks sold by their private owner. Both of them look great and I can find a fault with neither of them.
Truck #1: A 2019 Ford F150 XLT Crew Cab, loaded, with 170,000 miles on it.
Truck #2: A 2012 Ford F150 XLT Crew Cab, loaded, with 85,000 miles on it.
They are the same price and both of them start easy, run well and quiet and look good.
Which one would you buy and why?

Without reading the punchline of what you did buy, if you did, I'm generally a give-me-the-truck-with-less-miles guy. I actually just purchased a nine-year-old truck because it had sub-100k miles. There were newer, higher-mileage trucks in the same price range, but the more miles on a car, the more wear that truck has had. I don't even care that it was maintained; it had more wear on those parts. I mean, I do care that it was maintained, and sometimes you know, and sometimes you don't. If you are buying from the original driver/owner, you can usually get that out of them

Sitting in a driveway or garage doesn't wear out a vehicle nearly as much as someone behind the wheel.

I didn't borrow money for it, but I could have and almost did.

PS: I once looked at a Ford F150, and when I asked the guy who owned it how often he changed the oil, his response was, I never have. I don't know how long he had it, but I was done looking at that truck.

 

[Yander]

I've been thinking (thinking) about this, brand new at a dealer but almost 3 years old! 6.8L F250 rubber mat, vinyl bench. I'm thinking I could get it probably high $30s.
Hard to find 2dr, 8' bedView attachment 4124329

It would be a great snowplow truck! Get it. I hear winter is going to be a beast this year!

 

[Jstpssng]

I once looked at a Ford F150, and when I asked the guy who owned it how often he changed the oil, his response was, I never have

My second Dakota apparently was like that. I bought it as a "Certified Used Auto"... the dealer really blindsided me with that. Apparently the previous owner had run it dry on antifreeze, put in stop leak and traded. The dealer put lipstick They did replace the radiator but told me it was normal for the transmission to slip when going into 3rd gear. The ticking which started in the engine was just the fuel injection....it was my first time without a carburetor so I didn't know any better.
The "Certification" came with some fancy paperwork so when they wouldn't fix it I called the toll free number... which referred me back to the dealer. In hindsight I should have contacted a lawyer but was working 7 days/week and putting on a thpusand miles.
I babied the transmission about 24,000 miles before it failed. The engine lasted a year before the timing chain failed, taking out the top half of the engine. I had it fixed but should have dropped a used engine instead.
I paid $7500 for it and ran it for a year and a half- spending that much again in repairs. At the time I could have bought a brand new extended cab 4wd Ranger for that price. If I had to leave town I would call the garage first to make sure somebody had time to run the wrecker if I broke down.
When I finally traded, the garage stopped opening on Saturday mornings. It was coincidence, but over the 18 month period that I had that truck I averaged 4 hours of labor there a week... not counting the work I did myself.
1 set of front spyder gears, 2 brand new-not rebuilt- Dodge transmissions ( the first had a faulty pump) 2 fuel pumps, top half of the engine.
The engine and first transmission were from lack of preventive maintenance which the dealer hid.