- Joined
- Mar 24, 2005
- Location
- Stanley, NC
It's time to get the wife a new vehicle, and I'm trying to decide what to change with my existing fleet. I've got a few thoughts, but I'm interested in knowing what the opinions of this great bastion of wisdom would be.
To clarify a couple of things brought up in posts below:
--A minivan is NOT an option according to her (and me too). I'm sure once we have several kids, that will change, but right now we have none, so no need to jump the gun.
--All current vehicles are paid for.
--I would generally be DD'ing the truck if I get a newer truck. I DD my current truck 70-80% of the time anyway.
--Wife works part time 3ish days a week, and commute is only 20 miles round trip.
--Wife will work from home or not work after kids.
--We planned to have a couple of kids by now, but that didn't work out...2 years and $25k later we'll take what we can get.
Current fleet:
2003 2500HD Duramax Crewcab 4x4, 323k miles, 17mpg, solid truck, but has age/miles working against it
2004 VW Passat TDI (diesel), 189k miles, 40mpg, mechanically and cosmetically excellent
1995 Grand Cherokee ZJ 4.0 4x4, 240k miles, 18mpg, mechanically and cosmetically sounds, but 20 years old and missing a lot of the creature comforts of newer vehicles
2000 Jeep Wrangler TJ, 94k miles, 14mpg, mechanically fine, but always needs work done to it, I've owned it since it was 6 months old and had 6k miles, and it has a lot of sentiment
In the next couple of months, we will be buying a low mileage 05-09 Toyota 4Runner with all the bells and whistles to keep the wife happy for the next 15 years just like the ZJ has. The original plan was to sell/trade the ZJ and replace it with the 4Runner. However, I'd like to reduce the fleet, because I get tired of working on stuff all the time, plus tag/tax/insurance add up too.
The 4Runner will likely become our "family vehicle" for long trips and going places that don't require the truck. I have to have a truck for carrying my mountain bike <joke>, and also because I end up dragging tractors somewhere to make money about once a month, and I'm always buying machinery/tools/cutting firewood/selling tires&axles/etc.
The Passat has been the family vehicle and my DD for a couple years, but hopefully in the near future our family will be growing, and we already have enough trouble fitting all of our stuff and the dog in a sedan, so it will only be more difficult with a kid. My commute is about 50 miles a day, so its not short, but its not exceptionally long either.
The Wrangler just sits. I never take it four wheeling, I never modify it, I just wash it once every 2 or 3 months, and drive it a couple miles down the road to my parents house every once it a while. The longest trip it ever goes on is the 6 miles to the inspection station once a year. It doesn't drive good, it gets poor gas mileage, it always needs attention, and I don't ever use it for any of it's intended purposes. But I don't want to get rid of it because I've had it forever (since I was 16) and thought I'd always have it. It's been a great vehicle, but I don't think it makes sense to keep it.
The 4Runner will be somewhere around $17-22k, so lets assume $20k.
The original plan was to sell/trade the ZJ and keep the payments around $300/month. But that still leaves us with 4 vehicles. It'd be nice to only have 2, but we want to have 3 vehicles so that if one has issues there's a backup, and my Wrangler doesn't fit that bill because my wife doesn't drive a manual well, and neither of us are comfortable with her driving it because it has a lot of quirks.
So I got to thinking about how little the ZJ is worth, and how well it would fit as a 3rd vehicle. Here's what I assume they are worth:
03 Duramax $10-12k
04 Passat $7-8k
95 ZJ $2k
00 TJ $9-10k
If I were to sell the Passat instead of the ZJ, the payments on the 4Runner would be $200/month instead of $300/month. We would still have 4 vehicles though. So then the next step would be to sell the Duramax and the TJ, take that $19k, and pick up a newer truck (06-07ish with 150k miles). Also, the current prices for modded TJ's and diesel trucks seem to be unusually high, so I feel like I might should take advantage of it.
That would leave us with the newer 4Runner as a family vehicle, a nicer/newer truck, and the ZJ as a 4 door, 4x4 backup vehicle. Also, the ZJ has always been off limits for modification, but I got clearance for mild mods to it if I sell my TJ, so I would still have a little bit of a toy.
Does this sound like a sensible plan? Am I crazy to sell the TJ? Should I just leave well enough alone and tell her to keep driving the ZJ
? Is anybody still reading after all that rambling?
To clarify a couple of things brought up in posts below:
--A minivan is NOT an option according to her (and me too). I'm sure once we have several kids, that will change, but right now we have none, so no need to jump the gun.
--All current vehicles are paid for.
--I would generally be DD'ing the truck if I get a newer truck. I DD my current truck 70-80% of the time anyway.
--Wife works part time 3ish days a week, and commute is only 20 miles round trip.
--Wife will work from home or not work after kids.
--We planned to have a couple of kids by now, but that didn't work out...2 years and $25k later we'll take what we can get.
Current fleet:
2003 2500HD Duramax Crewcab 4x4, 323k miles, 17mpg, solid truck, but has age/miles working against it
2004 VW Passat TDI (diesel), 189k miles, 40mpg, mechanically and cosmetically excellent
1995 Grand Cherokee ZJ 4.0 4x4, 240k miles, 18mpg, mechanically and cosmetically sounds, but 20 years old and missing a lot of the creature comforts of newer vehicles
2000 Jeep Wrangler TJ, 94k miles, 14mpg, mechanically fine, but always needs work done to it, I've owned it since it was 6 months old and had 6k miles, and it has a lot of sentiment
In the next couple of months, we will be buying a low mileage 05-09 Toyota 4Runner with all the bells and whistles to keep the wife happy for the next 15 years just like the ZJ has. The original plan was to sell/trade the ZJ and replace it with the 4Runner. However, I'd like to reduce the fleet, because I get tired of working on stuff all the time, plus tag/tax/insurance add up too.
The 4Runner will likely become our "family vehicle" for long trips and going places that don't require the truck. I have to have a truck for carrying my mountain bike <joke>, and also because I end up dragging tractors somewhere to make money about once a month, and I'm always buying machinery/tools/cutting firewood/selling tires&axles/etc.
The Passat has been the family vehicle and my DD for a couple years, but hopefully in the near future our family will be growing, and we already have enough trouble fitting all of our stuff and the dog in a sedan, so it will only be more difficult with a kid. My commute is about 50 miles a day, so its not short, but its not exceptionally long either.
The Wrangler just sits. I never take it four wheeling, I never modify it, I just wash it once every 2 or 3 months, and drive it a couple miles down the road to my parents house every once it a while. The longest trip it ever goes on is the 6 miles to the inspection station once a year. It doesn't drive good, it gets poor gas mileage, it always needs attention, and I don't ever use it for any of it's intended purposes. But I don't want to get rid of it because I've had it forever (since I was 16) and thought I'd always have it. It's been a great vehicle, but I don't think it makes sense to keep it.
The 4Runner will be somewhere around $17-22k, so lets assume $20k.
The original plan was to sell/trade the ZJ and keep the payments around $300/month. But that still leaves us with 4 vehicles. It'd be nice to only have 2, but we want to have 3 vehicles so that if one has issues there's a backup, and my Wrangler doesn't fit that bill because my wife doesn't drive a manual well, and neither of us are comfortable with her driving it because it has a lot of quirks.
So I got to thinking about how little the ZJ is worth, and how well it would fit as a 3rd vehicle. Here's what I assume they are worth:
03 Duramax $10-12k
04 Passat $7-8k
95 ZJ $2k
00 TJ $9-10k
If I were to sell the Passat instead of the ZJ, the payments on the 4Runner would be $200/month instead of $300/month. We would still have 4 vehicles though. So then the next step would be to sell the Duramax and the TJ, take that $19k, and pick up a newer truck (06-07ish with 150k miles). Also, the current prices for modded TJ's and diesel trucks seem to be unusually high, so I feel like I might should take advantage of it.
That would leave us with the newer 4Runner as a family vehicle, a nicer/newer truck, and the ZJ as a 4 door, 4x4 backup vehicle. Also, the ZJ has always been off limits for modification, but I got clearance for mild mods to it if I sell my TJ, so I would still have a little bit of a toy.
Does this sound like a sensible plan? Am I crazy to sell the TJ? Should I just leave well enough alone and tell her to keep driving the ZJ
? Is anybody still reading after all that rambling?
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Am I the only person that thinks part of a mans masculinity is lost when they start driving a mini van?
