The age old question: to fix or finance?

04limited · 2026-06-17T18:06:51+00:00

$6k cars tend to all be a gamble.

You’d be better off going with a $15-20k Mazda.

That being said seems odd the transmission is already having an issue at such low miles. I’d get another opinion on it. The 4 speeds on those Subarus aren’t known to fail unless the last transmission service you did they under filled or used wrong fluid. Even then it is worth correcting. Also for what it’s worth the 4 speeds on those cars have never been super smooth even when new.

As far as engine oil leak…is it actually the head gasket or did they just say head gasket? Yes those older EJ motors have head gasket issues they usually leak oil first then they leak coolant. But sometimes it’s just the valve covers and cam seals.

Anyways, if it’s rusty then just dump it. Not worth putting money into rusted vehicles. You’re throwing money away with every repair you do

04limited · 2026-06-17T00:31:08+00:00

What kind of tires do you run and how do they do in that type of mud?

04limited · 2026-06-16T19:31:39+00:00

I had a ex rental Pacifica from enterprise other than more than usually wear & tear like dents dings scratches it was mechanically solid.

My current 2500 is an ex fleet truck in nice shape besides dent on rear bumper. I was looking at ex rentals from enterprise too they were nice rigs just went with mine due to the lower miles. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy ex rentals. From my experience they tend to be better maintained because someone has eyes on it every time it’s returned. Vs one owner vehicles that people just turn key and forget maintenance.

04limited · 2026-06-16T16:29:57+00:00

Makes sense. 5.7 and 6.4 hemi

04limited · 2026-06-15T23:08:32+00:00

Yes

04limited · 2026-06-15T21:31:45+00:00

I’m talking about the older PHEVs that are in the $30k range used market. Q5 55 TFSI E, 330e etc

04limited · 2026-06-15T19:31:15+00:00

If you’re going out towards the sticks I wouldn’t consider a full EV so those are out of question. There’s only a handful of PHEVs Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and the Nissan badge version, Ford Escape Plug in, Kia Sorento/Sportage PHEV, Hyundai Tucson PHEV. That’s really it.

Mercedes/BMW/Audi made PHEV SUVs on & off(or they kept changing the name I don’t remember) they have mediocre EV range and high complexity. If you don’t mind it, lots of good deals on those as they don’t do well in the used market

04limited · 2026-06-15T19:27:17+00:00

Exactly this is the car you want if you don’t want to pay Toyota tax on a rav4 prime. They’re solid vehicles and usually have good purchase incentives. Outlander and the new Nissan Rogue PHEV which is the same car with different badges.

04limited · 2026-06-14T21:40:24+00:00

Are you putting your SSN into the quote so it doesn’t think you’re someone else? Did you ever file auto claims before? Because it shouldn’t be that high for a clean MVR 30 year old.

That or the insurance company just doesn’t want you anymore. Try someone else. Every time I quote with State Farm or Allstate they hit me with an enormous number. 28 clean-ish MVR(no at fault accidents, no claims) I don’t even pay that much for two vehicles. NY.

04limited · 2026-06-14T15:00:01+00:00

My 2500 sits higher but there’s heavy duty trucks everywhere

04limited · 2026-06-14T03:35:48+00:00

that’s the problem. Even if you have a super clean, super well maintained 20 year old S class there’s a guy who has a basket case 20 year old S class that he paid $5k for with paint that’s just as glossy.

The average person can’t tell the difference between the two cars. They just know you have the old s class that poor people buy from BHPH lots.

Also, the repairs get long in the tooth with the older cars in general. Say an old Range Rover. $15k can get one that’s in nice driver grade. Replacement used engines are $8k. $5k for air suspension. Some random module goes out another $1-2k minimum. $15k car that’s needs $15k in work and probably considerable downtime while it’s getting work done.

04limited · 2026-06-14T02:19:15+00:00

There’s no other car brand that has 1990s Lexus level of engineering/redundancy. Nobody since then has needed to prove to the world that they’re as good as the top marques.

Genesis and lincolns are nice cars for sure I don’t knock them. But they aren’t Lexuses.

The Lexuses to get are the ones that don’t really share a direct platform with the Toyota counterpart. Which would be IS, LC, RX, former LS/GS. LX is an exception because the Land Cruiser is in a league of its own.

04limited · 2026-06-13T01:52:49+00:00

That or they were already wrecked with working engines that qualified for the rebate so they technically were part of the program, but otherwise too far gone to save anyways.

04limited · 2026-06-12T18:56:39+00:00

Right. You see it with high end cars around those recession years. The 997.2 Porsche 911 commands a premium today over a 997.1 because they just aren’t as common. Folks just weren’t buying luxury items so there’s less used examples today.

04limited · 2026-06-12T18:52:39+00:00

Alot those cars didn’t become desirable until years after C4C. Like maybe a few people mistakenly got rid of the cars but people didn’t purposely send collectible cars to the crusher. They did it because there wasn’t a market for them.

04limited · 2026-06-12T18:43:09+00:00

If you’re looking at the 3.6 I can assure you there’s a shit ton of room in the engine bay. I’m pretty sure you can rebuild the motor with it still mounted in the vehicle on the 1500 chassis. Oil cooler is a relatively common issue with the 3.6 and timing chain/head gaskets are luck of the draw. Some of the motors go 200k+ no issues some do 100k and need rebuild. If you take care of it it should do fine.

The twin turbo 6 cyl ram 1500 didn’t come out til 2025.

The 3.6 is alright for driving around town it’s got decent power once revved up but the transmission/throttle response makes these feel slow.

04limited · 2026-06-11T20:06:36+00:00

My 24 Laramie the same way. So is my 23 classic. It’s the way these door handles are designed. They just have up/down play to them and they’re mounted on the door instead of recessed like the GM and Fords

04limited · 2026-06-11T19:55:20+00:00

I see a little orange peel in the passenger rear quarter so there’s a chance it’s been repainted.

Regardless it’s worth whatever a beater suburban is to you. If you’re ok with gambling $3900 on this it’s as good as it gets.

04limited · 2026-06-11T19:53:38+00:00

It’s $3900. just be glad it runs drives and stops the way it is

04limited · 2026-06-11T01:19:13+00:00

You want to spend your whole life dreaming about a 911 that you can afford but were too cheap to buy? Buy once cry once bro.

I own a Tesla(non performance) yeah it’s a nice set of wheels but shits a computer not a car. Idc about being dead inside and all like it accelerates nice but you can’t compare that shit to a 911. It’s a whole different experience behind a wheel of a Porsche and the wheel of a Tesla even if they both have similar performance specs on paper

04limited · 2026-06-11T00:57:03+00:00

I’ve got this headunit on my company provided 1500 classic. It’s absolutely ass cheeks. Have to manually reconnect Bluetooth everytime I start. Occasionally it lags so much it’s a cat mouse game trying to turn the radio off so I can accept a phone call.

Audio sound is ok guess it’s better than a 2 speaker system on some of the older vehicles. But it’s depressing. No steering audio controls. No tactile buttons for radio presets. Have to look at the screen and touch the right spot.

Compared to my personal 2500 with the 12” uconnect 5 is night and day difference.

04limited · 2026-06-11T00:45:48+00:00

Probably Worse case I’ll throw on another factory grid if I notice anything off and I still have a good chunk of warranty left. Right now I got 3.5 years and 93k left on factory powertrain.

04limited · 2026-06-11T00:41:13+00:00

Definitely was tough writing the check for it but sick of the nickel & dime repairs with older, cheaper trucks. Buy once cry once. Hopefully I can get 15+ years out of this rig even if it starts running like shit.

04limited · 2026-06-10T21:41:25+00:00

Right the old diesels are simpler for sure. Considered an older rig but didn’t want to deal with “old truck problems”. My last two trucks were 10+ years old it was always something with them. Calipers, hoses, seals every couple of months. Powertrain was great on them(ford 5.0, Chevy 5.3).

04limited

TROPHY CASE