This has crossed my mind. Judging by KBB (I know, not a great source), the value difference between my 58,000 miles and an identical truck with 20,000 miles is around $1,500 trade in value.

I will not be trading in this ram, I will sell it outright when I am ready to buy another one. But the idea behind buying it was that it would last me 10 years/250k miles. At this rate, I will have 250k miles in 4.5 years of ownership. While I don't have to worry about being upside down on it, I wonder how many people will want a 5 year old half-ton truck with 250k? I may be stuck trading it in and taking the hit.

It needs to be comfortable, but I commuted for years in a 1992 Escort hatchback with A/C as its only option, and I enjoyed very much the simplicity of the car. However, it was NOT something I would want to spend time in now.

I agree, but here are the maintenance costs I am looking at...they are substantial:

-Trans Fluid Change=$1200-$1700 (depending on how/where its done)
-Differential Service x2=$500 total
-Transfer Case Service=$250
-Spark Plugs x16 (2 plugs per cylinder x8) every 30k miles=$700
-oil changes are $120 each, and I do them every 10,000 miles per the manual.
-Tires=$1200 a year (give or take).

I did buy the truck to drive, however, I didnt plan on half a million miles @ 10 years. But, business kinda picked up faster than I thought it would.

I drove a G35 yesterday...no thanks. I wasn't a fan. Seats were hard, and didn't feel like good leather, dash was disgusting plastic.

 

let's face it, $6k ain't gonna buy anything nice. someone i know bought an '07 civic coupe (about 80k mi. i believe) for $7K recently. it drives fine and will no doubt be reliable, but it's still a cheap old car.

 

can't imagine you really have to change the plugs every 30K mi.? i changed the plugs on my v8 explorer once at 100k.
if you do the oil change yourself, i can't imagine it costs $120!
as for the sum of above costs, well, the car you're looking for will be max $6k with no doubt some of those costs (cheaper tires though for sure), so maybe $1k a year say. i think it will still likely cost you more to have another vehicle than just drive the snot out of the truck.

 

I would just drive your truck. You're in business for yourself no? Better yet, I would sell your truck now and get a brand new one to get the accelerated depreciation and write the whole thing off of your taxes this year, then you'll start from new.

 

A DIY Oil change runs me about $70, and granted it only takes 10-15 minutes, but 9x out of 10 when I come due, I am in new mexico, 200 miles from anywhere, or somewhere between odessa and lubbock TX, again, 200 miles from anywhere.

The spark plugs went from every 30k in 2014 to every 100k (per the manual) in 2015. Phew. I figured it was the same as my 2011 and just never bothered to look, since it is the same exact engine. But, through the model years, Ram has learned a thing or 2.

I will crunch the rest of the numbers and see how it looks. Meantime, I am going today to test drive a couple of cars, one of which is a beautiful 1998 LS400. I will report back.

 

LS400 had 240k. It was a beautiful car, but the transmission was not shifting correctly and it had a leaking power steering pump. Par for the course with the power steering pump. But the trans fluid was dirty, and smelled burnt, indicating I should run away.

 

I think you can get lucky and buy something nice for 6k. Its going to be in that 8-15 year old range though. Just don't look at Civics, look at old people's cars like Camrys, Avalons, Lexus ES, GS(I'd stick with the 1998-05 2nd gen, the 06-12 models have more problems and feel cheap to me), and LS. Buicks(any of them with the 3.8 V6 is a pretty good bet on being reliable), even a Grand Marquis, Town Car, or Crown Vic(that wasn't a cop car) should be pretty nice for 6k. Only thing about the Fords is they suck down the gas, probably about the same gas mileage as his Dodge Ram.

If the OP would up his budget by about 2-3k he can get a REALLY NICE 01-06 ish LS430. There was a 2001 LS430 for sale on this forum with 55k miles in SC, one owner, southern car, not a ding on it, perfect paint, white leather interior looked brand new, always dealer serviced, always garaged, $10,500

 

So we have narrowed it down after spending a few days driving Various cars.

96-2003 Lexus LS
99-04 Lexus ES
99-05 Avalon XLE

I am leaning heavily toward the ES330, but I will be taking my time, looking for one with low miles. Either that or the LS. The avalon will be a contender if I can find one thats not ghettofied.

 

The early-2000s ES330 was superb in many ways (especially in ride comfort and the interior wood trim). It did have one notable flaw, though, in the drivetrain's computer. The programming sometimes allowed quirky or delayed throttle and transmission response while accelerating from low speeds. A factory re-flash for the ECM was supposed to take care of that problem, but, from what I understood, only had limited effect.

 

Mike is spot on. The biggest flaw in my 03 ES was the throttle response and the computers choice in gearing. Significantly annoying, something to think about. Otherwise a great car, mines still in the family and runs great at 186,000 miles.

 

Steve, is your ES for sale? I will fly there to buy it and put cash in your hand.

 

No, I suggested she sell it but she just did a bunch of work to it and is going to keep it. If it were I would definitely let you know!