Sweet spot for used HD pickups.
How old an HD pickup gives the best value in terms of reliability vs cost? Or does that depend on brand of truck, diesel vs gas, etc? Hard data would be nice but I don't know how one would acquire tha...
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Diesel repairs are very very expensive so much safer to go with a gas powered truck. Different model years by make have different levels of repair frequency and type of problem and Consumer Reports does an annual survey of vehicle owners and their findings involve thousands of vehicles. It is an excellent way to determine which trucks in which years had problems with the engine, the drivetrain,electrical components, cooling system, etc. and you can tell from the report when the problems were addressed by the manufacturers.
Any vehicle that is more than 5 years old or has more than 100,000 miles on the odometer is going to have a greater chance of needing repairs to head gaskets, water pump, transmission, air conditioner, tie-rods, wheel bearings, brake rotors, etc.
If I were looking for a used truck it would be one with under 60K and less than 5 years of age and where I was buying from the original owner who could provide me complete records of maintenance and repairs done. I would never buy a used vehicle of any kind from a dealer.
Overall for a pickup my first choice would be a Toyota as they have been the most trouble free and I have had several that I drove for more than 170k miles. They are not going to handle a full size camper though with their payload capacity but that still leaves other camper choices.
Any vehicle that is more than 5 years old or has more than 100,000 miles on the odometer is going to have a greater chance of needing repairs to head gaskets, water pump, transmission, air conditioner, tie-rods, wheel bearings, brake rotors, etc.
If I were looking for a used truck it would be one with under 60K and less than 5 years of age and where I was buying from the original owner who could provide me complete records of maintenance and repairs done. I would never buy a used vehicle of any kind from a dealer.
Overall for a pickup my first choice would be a Toyota as they have been the most trouble free and I have had several that I drove for more than 170k miles. They are not going to handle a full size camper though with their payload capacity but that still leaves other camper choices.
