pick up truck advice for a skiing family

Until 3 yrs ago we always bought our vehicle and drove it until it dropped maintaining it well.  The problem is when you live on a sand road we were finding that the vehicle goes to hell in year 3 or 4  The struts, breaks, suspension all get that sand in them and it chews everything up.  
Leasing a pick up is a good deal because they have high residual value of 57% after 3 years keeping the payment down.  Now I just rent the maintainence free 1st 3 years and get a new one.  It's probably a bit more expensive but I know for sure what my costs are and lower the risk of big repair bills and the hassle of the vehicle breaking down while always driving a new vehicle.  I travel a lot for work and this is my wife's ride so I don't want her breaking down when I am out of town

Cars and trucks are lousy investments particularly if you live on a dirt road in the Daks.  Renting is the way to go.

I'm in a similar situation but I go a different way. Not sure if my choice is financially optimized, but it has worked for us.

My CRVs rust bigly underneath in about 6 years.  Actually they start rusting right away. Cars have to be driven daily for optimal longevit and mine sits a lot. I walk to work, and I'm not willing to drive just to keep a car from rusting.  I'm sure it doesn't help that I drive a lot in winter, and chase snow.

So after 6 years, I've got 75-80k on a CRV and I can get 10k from a dealer for it.  It means the new one is aorund 15k, and I'm spending 3000 a year on the car itself. That's $250 a month.  I don't have to worry about miles driven and I'm always driving a decent MPG car with AWD and cargo space.

I routinely wash the underside of my truck. Truck is seven years old and no payments for last three years. 107k on it. Goal is to hit 250k. This should take me another decade. I do not drive a lot.

Toyota engines are da bomb!  

Insanity no vehicle is worth that money . Especially for peckerwoods  with paltry net worth

 Hey my home in 1969 cost me $ 17,500 . it is a 2000 sq  Dutch Colonial with. 38 windows  ,  nicely layed out circular floorplan  garage etc .

Long  ago quit equating my vehicle to my genitalia  so now drive Outbacks and Ravs they do the. Damn job . Vehicles are just another tool , nothing else , reliability and durability as The Birdman says is what counts .

Put your money elsewhere where the damnshit grows rather than  depreciates .  

I found that washing underneath made it worse.

The closest car wash is 30+ miles away so my vehicles do not get washed much in the winter.  We dont put that many miles on so a 12k per year lease works well for us.

I have a 17YO Forester with 190K and runs great, uses about a quart of oil every 2K miles and the check engine light has been on for about 5 years, has a little rust around the back wheel wells but runs like a top. I reset the light before inspection, drive it about 100 miles and get it inspected. The light comes back on somewhere in the next 100 miles (fault code is usually either a vacuum leak or catalytic converter). I would have sold it this year but I decided to keep that for the kids to use when they visit. I have a 2010 Outback with about 80K on it, runs like a top, no issues. Bought a  Cross Trek this past year for the misses. All cars are paid for. Haven't had a car payment since 1980. Drive them long and hard, maintain them mechanically but not cosmetically. They never get washed and rarely get vacuumed out. Warp seems to have gotten one thing right, cars are a tool, buy a good tool, keep it sharp and use it until it's life is over.

Well we at least got a crosstrek in common bro!  

ScottyJack wrote

Well we at least got a crosstrek in common bro!

Subis are great. I am curious what the Tribeca replacement will look like in 2018. May want to get one of those and sell my old one. I am concerned that it won't have enough engine for the weight, I refuse to buy a turbo as those things break and are hard on the engine, at least that was my experience in the mid 80s.

How's the oil consumption in your cross treks? Any problems?

Coach Z wrote

   I'm a buy American guy so won't even consider a Japanese brand.
 

I'm surprised you actually think this is still a thing

ScottyJack wrote

My parents paid 20k for our house!  And 46k isnt even the most expensive!!  Rednecks up here who I know make no where near what is needed to "afford" these vehicles are taking 72 month car payments on 50-60k vehicles!!!  
 

Try 84 mo's

Johnnyonthespot wrote

How's the oil consumption in your cross treks? Any problems?

Neither of my newer Subis use ANY oil. It's only my old one and it is inconsistent. I have not been able to correlate it to anything; weather, temp, use type. None of them have ever leaked a drop either.

I have a 14 legacy...Just had to put 1/2 qt of oil in after 1000 miles of hard driving..constant 80+ mph

So what did you get coach?

JasonWx wrote

I have a 14 legacy...Just had to put 1/2 qt of oil in after 1000 miles of hard driving..constant 80+ mph

I hear this is common. Something with the thin oil.

F150 crew cab with 2.7 ecoboost engine since my boat is not that heavy at around 3500 towing weight.
The towing package with pro trailer assist is awesome.  It uses cameras and sensor to essentially make backing the trailer up almost self driving.
Love the truck and got a great deal on it.  The parent co that I work for is a Ford supplier so you get almost 3 grand off the best deal out there.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2015/05/21/all-new-pro-trailer-backup-assist-for-2016-ford-f-150-makes-back.html

Nice wheels Coach , that back up assist has to be awesome !!

Coach gets the best deals. No one gets better deals than Coach!

ScottyJack wrote

Coach gets the best deals. No one gets better deals than Coach!

LOL

Supplier discounts are a dealers dream