It is big. It is heavy. It goes vrooom vrooom. He wants it to upgrade with some friend's help. Near as I can figure out from the Net this thing must get about 10 miles to the gallon. It does not have the double wheels in the back. If that is the case it is 9.00 every time he drives to town. 2+K to insure and at least 4k annually to feed.
Price 3K. Edmunds says it is worth 2400. He has other transportaion, his school commuter car is Taurus that I chose after FreeperSummit on used cars.
The kid says he wants to mow lawns, we have other means and the reality is that he wants a toy. Vroom Vroom. He has worked all summer to save towards something special. I just didnt expect this would be it. He has no regular job, and is in school at a voc where many other kids have dads who own excavating companies or rigging companies and the kids drive a company truck.
What is a mom to do?
Get A Job, Son.
It’s his own money? Let him go for it. That’s not a lot of miles for a diesel.
I just reread everything. Yes, let him get it. Even if it turns out to be a disaster (for him) he’ll learn a valuable lesson. And if it’s not a disaster - vrooom vrooom!
Actually, if the lad has already saved up the dough and has realistic prospects for earning its upkeep... (where’s Dad?) then while you could advise him it’s wiser to look for something a little more sensible, if he still wants the bad-@$$ country cadillac then I’d say wish him well and tell him to take care of it (and himself) so he can enjoy it a good long time. A diesel, at least, will not lend itself to drag racing. (Mud pulling would be another story.)
Have a good mech check it out, check cylinder compression,
what shape is the injector pump in, etc.
3G is pretty cheap, but repairs are expensive on diesels.
Good Luck.
They’re a pain to park but if you have stuff to haul, mighty nice. Hard to say. Does he have a use for this thing other than transportation, that is, is there a chance it will help with its own upkeep?
$2K to insure and another $4K just in fuel? If he pays the $500 a month for this then I say go for it :-)
He certainly doesn’t need such a vehicle to tote around a couple of lawnmowers though.
10 MPG is going to drain his wallet pretty quickly, too. What the heck does he need a one-ton diesel pickup truck for? If he's mowing lawns and he's towing a trailer with landscaping equipment, then maybe he needs a 3/4-ton (C2500, F-250, etc.).
Is this a "toy," or what? LOL.
Is it a Duramax diesel? They can get up to 20 mpg or so if you’re not towing something. 140k is not a lot of miles for a diesel.
How much money has he saved?
If he has the money to buy it...It’s his to own.
If he has the money to drive it...It’s his to own.
If he has to borrow money from you for either of the above...No deal.
You didn’t mention what year it is.
The early Duramax engines had head gasket failure issues and high injector failure rates. (like 1 in 8) I haven’t shopped DM injectors recently but they were crazy high last I looked.
You can send an oil sample off to Blackstone Labs and it will tell you if there are injector problems right now.
Don’t, its a fad thing. Its a new trend to get a diesel truck, mount an eight or ten inch exhaust stack through the bed and a performance chip.
And the young men love to stomp on the gas and watch a huge plume of soot land all over everything, seriously its a fad.
Now I speak with some experiance, first off I am a diesel mechanic, I own a 2002 Silverado dually with a gas engine that is 496 cubic inches, it cost me over $70 a week to commute to work only 13 miles away. The diesel will get unaltered better gas mileage, the diesel is superior when it comes to long distance driving and towing, the diesel cal out live most engines.
I also have a 2001 Silverado 2500 with the 6.6 Duramax, awesome engine but that yaer had a reansfer case weak design, they would break off the transmission.
The Allison transmission is a beast, strongest tranny I have seen in years.
Tell you kid to get a smaller diesel, preferably in a Toyota.
Diesel fuel will skyrocket soon what with a refinery blown up in central America, a gulf hurricane, a west coast refinery problem.
But I have been a diesel mechanic for many years and yet I drive a gas engine, why? Because when the diesel breaks it will break your bank account.
Try parenting. He needs to understand that this truck is going to become a money pit very quickly that will eat virtually every dime he makes. If you tell him that and show him what the REAL cost of ownership is, he might make a better decision.
New brakes are nice but, what about the engine, the transmission and the drive train? How about the A/C? And the tires?
A vehicle like this will quickly nickel and dime him to death plus the fluctuating price of gas (including diesel) make this a very expensive vehicle. Why else would the current owner want to sell it?
If you explain all of this and he is still determined to get this money pit, let him. But, when he brings it home, make sure he knows that the bank is closed. If his truck is broken or out of gas on a Friday or Saturday night, make sure he knows that he won't be borrowing your car to go out on his date.
If you buy a diesel and you don’t have a very good reason for owning one, you are an idiot. It costs minimum 2000 dollars everytime you take it to a mechanic. Diesels are much harder to diagnose than a gasoline engine. There’s a lot of diesel mechanics that suck. You can’t fix a diesel yourself. It amazes me how many people are driving around with 4 times more truck than they have any use for.
Sure, let the kid buy it and learn the hard way.
I guess there is no Dad at home?
Like someone said, if he can buy it and feed it himself he is big enough to learn that is a lot more truck than he needs unless he is going to pull a gooseneck and in that case forget the GMC with the auto and get a Dodge with a manual tranny. Big trucks have big parts, burn lots of fuel and take lots of money to keep them going.
His friends dads have companies that need this kind of truck. His needs are just keeping up with the Jonses though a Ford Tarus is at the opposite end of the spectrum for a young man trying to keep up with his buddies.
BTW, I doubt the 140K miles for this price though you didn’t state the year. Sell the Tarus, put the money with his and get an F150.
Sorry about my typos, stiff fingers, I’m a hen pecker typist.
Where I live we have the latest craze all over town of these diesel pickups with performance chips, its easier to mod a diesel for more horsepower than a gas engine, especially the newer ones, and its actually cheaper. We have one guy running around town with a single exhaust stack up through his bed that must be 16” across, go figure.
Of course the Honda owners try doing that under the car but they can only profess to a certain degree how big their “manhood” is by how high the car is off the ground.
My son seriously wants my tricked out dually, I told him how much per mile it costs and he shut up real quick.
You say he wants to “upgrade it”. Knowing what that means to him would help to know if he’s approaching this realistically.
Nothing wrong with him having a toy...as long as he is the one who pays for it. He’d have to be working, he’d have to pay his insurance and his gas. As for the upgrade- well, he’ll have to pay for that too. Bottom line, not without a job, mister. At least, that’s what I would tell my kids, if I had any, and what I would tell a student, if they asked me.
I’m just about to turn 200K with my 2005 K3500 Chev dually with a Duramax diesel and I get 18 mpg on the road. Mileage drops to about 12 mpg if I’m pulling a trailer with a car in it. $3K seems really cheap. I’d have it tech checked for injector problems, as those are an expensive repair. The year of manufacture makes a big difference.