What's your plans for the current Titan, especially since it's still going strong?
Starting last Nov I've been using my Titan for work and really packing on the miles, and also driving it on some roads I would never want to intentionally drive a nice keeper vehicle on (read "Detroit"! ... and many many rough dirt back roads (ie washboard! and holes!). And this same work will continue for the next 6 months or so at least. And there's the potential that it'll be needed again in about 2 years to do more of this same driving work. So my plan is to keep the ol' Titan for work, running it as long as it's reasonably repairable, and get myself a nicer daily driver soon.
Basically I'm pretty sure I'll be running the '05 into the ground, and I don't wanna use a
new truck for the harsh work I'm doing.
What's interesting is that I get reimbursed for my Titan's usage at the IRS rate of 53.5 cents a mile, and after a 1,500 or 2,000 mile trip that reimbursement check seems pretty nice, especially for use of a truck that's 12 years old and has 155K miles. BUT ... wearing it out like this also means I have to spend time and effort researching and trying to find a suitable replacement, one I
hopefully like as much as the '05. And that's turning out to be not so easy. I've
really enjoyed owning the '05 and as I said have had pretty good luck with it mechanically. It's needed new brakes, as expected, (~$700), and started replacement (~$750), but has had no major breakdowns that wouldn't be kinda expected after 12 years / 150K miles. But with having no payments for about 7 years now, somehow it doesn't hurt much to pay those seemingly big costs to get to roll on down the road for months more with a great truck with no payments. I've also always thought it's a good lookin' truck, which doesn't come easily for me since I'm picky! Although I admit its look is starting to look dated now.
My preference based on utility and looks is the Ram. I'm not crazy about the new Titan look. And those side bed boxes are awesome. But those prices would give me a heart attack!
Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. And agreed. BUT ... the Ram is still a
Chrysler product. And I've been on the Ram forums, and they def have some issues. One common one is for the tailgate to open, slam open that is, since Ram doesn't include a damper, and nobody seems to know how to fix it. Yours either has it or not, and if it does it's a problem. Another common one is a transmission shifting problem where it downshifts so hard that the wheels lock up. This seems most prevalent in 2014 models, but also some in '15 and '16. Maybe gone now. Not sure. Another is a bump when the truck has the optional 32-gal fuel tank (which I'd want!). Apparently there's no damper in the large tank, so when you press the brakes the fuel sloshes to the front so hard it feels like somebody bumped the rear of the truck. Not sure how much of an issue this would
really be, but possibly another nag.
I've also owned a Chrysler before, and the experience was, meh, so-so. Granted it was 21 years ago ... a '96 Caravan. It actually ran very good for 8 years, but it had some gremlins: The windshield wipers would sometimes make a single pass all on their own. The doorlocks never did work right, even after several warranty repair attempts (I gave up after that). And one time the starter engaged and cranked the motor but then did NOT disengage, so eventually the starter turned so long the whole time the engine was running that it overheated and actually caught on fire. Had I not had my crazy friend with me who was willing to crawl under the van and grab the fire with a rag to put it out (and burning his hand anyway), the van might've just burned up right there on the side of the road. Damn him! :wink:
(sorry, this turned into a book)
I don't see me going higher than $45K, and the initial out-the-door price the Nissan sales guy gave me is currently sitting at $47,400, so they'd have to come down at least $2,400. Is that likely?
