When does cost of a vehicle to build matter to you?

[The other Sean]

There is no cut and dry answer for me. While the Gladiator is nice, I don't have gladiator money, so, not even a topic for my wallet. My truck is still reliable, so, I am forced to cross that bridge only when it is costing me more than a payment on something newer would be. With that said, my current truck is the newest I've ever bought and it was 3 years old with 37k miles on it when I bought it and I was really stretching myself to buy it.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

There is no cut and dry answer for me. While the Gladiator is nice, I don't have gladiator money, so, not even a topic for my wallet. My truck is still reliable, so, I am forced to cross that bridge only when it is costing me more than a payment on something newer would be. With that said, my current truck is the newest I've ever bought and it was 3 years old with 37k miles on it when I bought it and I was really stretching myself to buy it.

Your not alone. 37,000 miles is a new truck as far as I am concerned and it only cost half as much as a new one. So for whatever you paid, you saved half the cost of ownership. What you said is why my daily driver is not what I use for OB activities. My rig is for OB purposes and that' it. My rig is my vise, my wife use to say, "as long as he has his rig, I know where he is", usually in the garage working on it or out testing it on something.

 

[Spencer Adams Jr.]

I am cheap enough to not justify a new vehicle, but lavish enough to buy genuine parts for my old Land Rover. I treat my vehicle as a tool and like to know every nut and bolt in the drivetrain for field-repairability while saving money going over them after purchase. Once I have given them the once-over, they are ready for use and get used hard. I can't justify smashing a new vehicle I have a payment on driving the tight trails we have in New England.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I am cheap enough to not justify a new vehicle, but lavish enough to buy genuine parts for my old Land Rover. I treat my vehicle as a tool and like to know every nut and bolt in the drivetrain for field-repairability while saving money going over them after purchase. Once I have given them the once-over, they are ready for use and get used hard. I can't justify smashing a new vehicle I have a payment on driving the tight trails we have in New England.

I'm with you but sorry to say, I can't do the work myself any more.

 

[oldmopars]

Your not alone. 37,000 miles is a new truck as far as I am concerned and it only cost half as much as a new one. So for whatever you paid, you saved half the cost of ownership. What you said is why my daily driver is not what I use for OB activities. My rig is for OB purposes and that' it. My rig is my vise, my wife use to say, "as long as he has his rig, I know where he is", usually in the garage working on it or out testing it on something.

I am lucky that while I only have the Suburban for me, I work from home. So, it is not a dedicated OB vehicle, but I don't drive to work, so it is a pleasure vehicle only. It is nice to have a vehicle that you can play with, and it does not have to be fixed to get to work the next day. I live at work, work where I live.
If you have the luxury of a OB rig and a daily driver, the OB rig can be older and more of a project, if you have to drive your OB vehicle, I can see the advantage of something newer even if you have to make a reasonable payment on it.

 

[grubworm]

If you have the luxury of a OB rig and a daily driver, the OB rig can be older and more of a project, if you have to drive your OB vehicle, I can see the advantage of something newer even if you have to make a reasonable payment on it.

that makes a lot of sense

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I am lucky that while I only have the Suburban for me, I work from home. So, it is not a dedicated OB vehicle, but I don't drive to work, so it is a pleasure vehicle only. It is nice to have a vehicle that you can play with, and it does not have to be fixed to get to work the next day. I live at work, work where I live.
If you have the luxury of a OB rig and a daily driver, the OB rig can be older and more of a project, if you have to drive your OB vehicle, I can see the advantage of something newer even if you have to make a reasonable payment on it.

I worked from home myself for 50 years so I understand that situation. I always had my own trucks that I used for business and always had a better station wagon or van for my wife. My car was the toy and the van was the transport and vacation vehicle (if we could afford vacations). We are on the same page my OB friend. cheers

 

[TJDon]

A lot of good opinions here and a lot of varying thoughts for various reasons. All respectable.

I originally started this post to either talk myself in or out of buying something newer than my current high mileage, prone to failure grand Cherokee. Seems this is about a 50/50 on buying new/newer or sticking with old/higher maintenance/no monthly payment (if that were the case)
I’m pretty sure I’ve made up my mind. I work on vehicles 40 hours a week and I really look forward to weekends of relaxing and enjoying my free time with family or friends, exploring or just being lazy [emoji16]
For me, free time is not having to work on my rig just to keep it running or reliable a lot, which has been what’s happening lately. Absolutely yes, maintenance is a no brainer. And I’m totally ok with that. Getting some new gear or upgrading to make the experience a little better I’m good with.
I’ve been a Mopar/Jeep guy most of my off-roading years. I know the Wranglers inside and out. But the Toyota 4Runner keeps winking at me. The TRD Pro is $pendy! [emoji15] even used ones. I think? I would be good with a ‘12-‘15 TRD 4Runner or even maybe a Tacoma 4dr with a shell topper and the notorious reliability . Or I stick with my original plan and stay with a Rubicon 4dr Wrangler. The JL/JT is really nice, but still pretty expensive. The JK is a great rig, metric S ton of aftermarket support.
So.........Toyota?? Or Jeep??

 

[TerryD]

I find myself in the situation of liking the more challenging trails and a few years ago, looked at ditching my (then stock) Xterra in favor of a new Rubicon JKU. I was fully set to pay $40k for one and being immediately driving it off-road. However, about that time my wife decided to go back to school and I also came to the realization that while I could do some impressive things with the Rubicon stock, it would have to remain that way for several years because making the payments would have financially crippled us.

So the Xterra stayed and the dreams of the JKUR died. I've since lifted the Xterra, added a winch bumper and winch and sliders. I've upgraded the suspension to carry a load better to handle the amount of gear it takes to get 5 people to camp as well.

It's been driven to the OBX, Savannah and I just spent a week wheeling it around Colorado Springs with some buddies from college. It's currently got 189k miles on the odometer and I drive it to work almost daily. I've done a good bit of maintenance on it to keep it going and dependable and I think that's key. You make payments of vehicles no matter if they are paid for or not. You either pay the bank or you are spending money buying parts and doing maintenance. On the Colorado trip, I had to spend about two hours in an AutoZone parking lot swapping out my clock spring assembly ($385 from Nissan) so I could get my cruise control functioning again for the 1400 mile drive home but I didn't have to write a $400 check toward an auto loan that month either.

My current tally is nearly $10k invested in repairs, maintenance, and accessories in 3 years and just over 45k miles on it. I'm headed into NC this weekend for some daddy/daughter time and try to catch up with the SE crew for a Rally Point...

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

A lot of good opinions here and a lot of varying thoughts for various reasons. All respectable.

I originally started this post to either talk myself in or out of buying something newer than my current high mileage, prone to failure grand Cherokee. Seems this is about a 50/50 on buying new/newer or sticking with old/higher maintenance/no monthly payment (if that were the case)
I’m pretty sure I’ve made up my mind. I work on vehicles 40 hours a week and I really look forward to weekends of relaxing and enjoying my free time with family or friends, exploring or just being lazy [emoji16]
For me, free time is not having to work on my rig just to keep it running or reliable a lot, which has been what’s happening lately. Absolutely yes, maintenance is a no brainer. And I’m totally ok with that. Getting some new gear or upgrading to make the experience a little better I’m good with.
I’ve been a Mopar/Jeep guy most of my off-roading years. I know the Wranglers inside and out. But the Toyota 4Runner keeps winking at me. The TRD Pro is $pendy! [emoji15] even used ones. I think? I would be good with a ‘12-‘15 TRD 4Runner or even maybe a Tacoma 4dr with a shell topper and the notorious reliability . Or I stick with my original plan and stay with a Rubicon 4dr Wrangler. The JL/JT is really nice, but still pretty expensive. The JK is a great rig, metric S ton of aftermarket support.
So.........Toyota?? Or Jeep??

I posted this Toyota on the forum a few weeks ago and got no responses at all. The lady sold it for $5,000 two weeks ago. It was a damn good buy at $8,000.
A one owner car too ! Her husband passed away and she had no use for it anymore.

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

I find myself in the situation of liking the more challenging trails and a few years ago, looked at ditching my (then stock) Xterra in favor of a new Rubicon JKU. I was fully set to pay $40k for one and being immediately driving it off-road. However, about that time my wife decided to go back to school and I also came to the realization that while I could do some impressive things with the Rubicon stock, it would have to remain that way for several years because making the payments would have financially crippled us.

So the Xterra stayed and the dreams of the JKUR died. I've since lifted the Xterra, added a winch bumper and winch and sliders. I've upgraded the suspension to carry a load better to handle the amount of gear it takes to get 5 people to camp as well.

It's been driven to the OBX, Savannah and I just spent a week wheeling it around Colorado Springs with some buddies from college. It's currently got 189k miles on the odometer and I drive it to work almost daily. I've done a good bit of maintenance on it to keep it going and dependable and I think that's key. You make payments of vehicles no matter if they are paid for or not. You either pay the bank or you are spending money buying parts and doing maintenance. On the Colorado trip, I had to spend about two hours in an AutoZone parking lot swapping out my clock spring assembly ($385 from Nissan) so I could get my cruise control functioning again for the 1400 mile drive home but I didn't have to write a $400 check toward an auto loan that month either.

My current tally is nearly $10k invested in repairs, maintenance, and accessories in 3 years and just over 45k miles on it. I'm headed into NC this weekend for some daddy/daughter time and try to catch up with the SE crew for a Rally Point...

If you had bought the new vehicle, and at the same time you were paying for it, the value would be almost half the cost of the original $40,00 purchase price now. In considering the $10,00 in interest on the $40,000 loan during that 3 years your investment would be $50,000. Now worth only $20,000 and still making payments... So if you spent $10,000 on your rig during that time you are $20,000 up on the cost for the 3 years you have been enjoying your rig. I call that a win win.

 

[TJDon]

If you had bought the new vehicle, and at the same time you were paying for it, the value would be almost half the cost of the original $40,00 purchase price now. In considering the $10,00 in interest on the $40,000 loan during that 3 years your investment would be $50,000. Now worth only $20,000 and still making payments... So if you spent $10,000 on your rig during that time you are $20,000 up on the cost for the 3 years you have been enjoying your rig. I call that a win win.

Stop with the common sense! Lol
Man.......now you have me rethinking

 

[Captstout]

A lot of good opinions here and a lot of varying thoughts for various reasons. All respectable.

I originally started this post to either talk myself in or out of buying something newer than my current high mileage, prone to failure grand Cherokee. Seems this is about a 50/50 on buying new/newer or sticking with old/higher maintenance/no monthly payment (if that were the case)
I’m pretty sure I’ve made up my mind. I work on vehicles 40 hours a week and I really look forward to weekends of relaxing and enjoying my free time with family or friends, exploring or just being lazy [emoji16]
For me, free time is not having to work on my rig just to keep it running or reliable a lot, which has been what’s happening lately. Absolutely yes, maintenance is a no brainer. And I’m totally ok with that. Getting some new gear or upgrading to make the experience a little better I’m good with.
I’ve been a Mopar/Jeep guy most of my off-roading years. I know the Wranglers inside and out. But the Toyota 4Runner keeps winking at me. The TRD Pro is $pendy! [emoji15] even used ones. I think? I would be good with a ‘12-‘15 TRD 4Runner or even maybe a Tacoma 4dr with a shell topper and the notorious reliability . Or I stick with my original plan and stay with a Rubicon 4dr Wrangler. The JL/JT is really nice, but still pretty expensive. The JK is a great rig, metric S ton of aftermarket support.
So.........Toyota?? Or Jeep??

I have been looking and pricing TRD off-road. They don't have the massive skid plate of the Pro. But they still come with some armor and rear lockers. Used 2017/2018 are still 30k

Good luck brother

 

[Lanlubber In Remembrance]

Stop with the common sense! Lol
Man.......now you have me rethinking

I'm always throwing bombs in my own plans. I had a great math teacher and she beat it in to my autistic brain as a kid. I wish my English teacher had been so good ! I think about economy constantly and it drives (even) me nuts, at times. I think it comes from having to stretch my dollars all my life or else someone would have to go without shoes on their feet. My G'maw said waste not, want not. It all rubbed off from the after depression years when I was a kid.

 

[KonzaLander]

I’ve been a Mopar/Jeep guy most of my off-roading years. I know the Wranglers inside and out. But the Toyota 4Runner keeps winking at me. The TRD Pro is $pendy! [emoji15] even used ones. I think? I would be good with a ‘12-‘15 TRD 4Runner or even maybe a Tacoma 4dr with a shell topper and the notorious reliability . Or I stick with my original plan and stay with a Rubicon 4dr Wrangler. The JL/JT is really nice, but still pretty expensive. The JK is a great rig, metric S ton of aftermarket support.
So.........Toyota?? Or Jeep??

Don't open that can of worms! As a person who owns both makes, albeit older than what you are looking at, I don't think you can go wrong either way. I have found Toyota maintenance is typically done prematurely on parts that will eventually wear out while the typical Jeep maintenance is done on parts that have worn out prematurely.

 

[The other Sean]

Stop with the common sense! Lol
Man.......now you have me rethinking

That's a thing as well. Sometimes, you just need to spend a little on yourself. I kind of did this with my current truck. I had paid my last truck off early, went 5+ years without a payment. The truck was a regular cab 2wd and was just not completely what I wanted. Still reliable, but getting older. Did I "need" to replace it? not really. But, I rationalized I was responsible and paid off early and saved money not going out right away and replacing it, so, I had earned my "new" rig.

 

[The other Sean]

Your not alone. 37,000 miles is a new truck as far as I am concerned and it only cost half as much as a new one. So for whatever you paid, you saved half the cost of ownership. What you said is why my daily driver is not what I use for OB activities. My rig is for OB purposes and that' it. My rig is my vise, my wife use to say, "as long as he has his rig, I know where he is", usually in the garage working on it or out testing it on something.

Yup, the thing was new as far as I was concerned. By going used, I was able to afford the Pro-4x trim level for the same cost as a new base model Frontier would have cost (about a 10K difference) and I have always been happy with that decision as it has all the options available aside from leather and sunroof.

My daily driver is a $700 econobox beater that while bought as a throwaway car, has served me for 24k miles trouble free.

 

[old_man]

My wife keeps bugging me to buy a new Jeep. I keep telling her I like the one you bought me as a surprise for my birthday 24 years ago. She threatens to go write a check and get me a new one for my birthday and I keep telling her NO. I built it, I know it, I trust it. I have never had a payment on my vehicles and never will.

People who have gone through hard times are reluctant to borrow money. I'm hoping to retire soon and don't want any debt.

 

[oldmopars]

I have ADHD, my attention span is way shorter than the length of the payments. The few cars I have made payments on got traded long before the payments ended. Not doing that anymore, lost a lot of money. All mine are paid off now. Anything new will be cash.

 

[ChasingOurTrunks]

I have found Toyota maintenance is typically done prematurely on parts that will eventually wear out while the typical Jeep maintenance is done on parts that have worn out prematurely.

This has been my experience as well, 100%.

OP, the 4Runner will be nearly as good as a JK in all aspects except two: It's off-the-lot rock crawling/intense 4x4 trail capability will be slightly less, and if you are buying used it will be a bit more expensive as Toyotas hold value. For Overlanding, either platform is excellent.

However, the fit and finish of most modern Toyotas is better than most JKs in terms of driver comfort, the payload is better, and they are significantly more reliable overall. This is not a statement based on anecdotes (though my own anecdotes and @KonzaLander's experience are similar), but on numbers. If a person looks at a thousand JKs and a thousand 4Runners, a greater portion of the JKs will have had more trips to the dealership for repair. That doesn't mean all Toyotas are perfect or that all Jeeps are crap, just as far as probabilities go you are more likely to land on a trouble free Toyota than you are to land on a trouble free JK.

I'd buy another jeep in a heartbeat because I love them, but for your stated needs I'd suggest if you are replacing, Toyota would be a better bet from the "wanting to not have to wrench on weekends" perspective.


Now, here's another curveball for you:

Vehicle Reliability can cover a lot of areas, so what areas are you most concerned about in your current GC?

If you are worried about things like wheel bearings, axles, etc. you can replace the entire system for a few thousand bucks.

If you are worried about your motor going sideways, you could look at a Cummins swap for $10k.

If you are worried about the electronics and creature comforts going on the fritz...set the damn thing on fire because that's the only way to kill those gremlins.

In other words, you may be able to make what you have into what you want for cheaper than buying what you want new/gently used, and if nothing else this might be worth exploring first as an idea because then if you DO buy new/used, you'll know that you exhausted every option first. This path is not for the faint of heart, though, and you really have to enjoy the process to see any real savings, otherwise your time and energy that you'd put into this is probably going to make it very spendy overall. You would get 'pride of ownership', but that may not be of high value to you. That being said, you can also get 'pride of ownership' in the same way from a new rig too (We do, when we replaced our jeep with the used little truck).