We just traded my wife's '06 Forester with 62k for an '14 Forester. Neither of us wanted another payment (the '06 was paid for), but the old car started to show a few (!) problems, and she got a bug up her butt to get rid of it rather than fix it. Local Subie dealer had a sale going (1k off MSRP) and they offered over 1k more than KBB and Edmunds said the trade was worth. We went for it.

We're happy, and the new one is way more car than the old.

I know it's apples and oranges, but if your dealer offers a deal you can live with, go for it.

 

If you ask them about trade in value and you like the amount, I'd do it. Why? Because you've had more problems than a lot of us (combined) and you're up for some good "car"ma.

 

And, if you want to come a couple hundred miles east of the 'Burgh, I have a good friend who works (sells) at a Toyota store.

 

05Moose, I wouldn't consider myself as having more problems than most, actually I have been thrilled with the reliability. I use my truck obviously, and that's what it takes to keep it maintained and on the road. I currently have 3 Toyota's.. I'm hooked!

 

When it comes to trading in a car to a dealer, age might be a bigger deal than mileage. Banks become more afraid to write a loan for a used car as it gets older, so if a car is "too old" the dealer might have a hard time selling it. Friends of mine have been told by Carmax that they won't take a car over a certain age, although the magic age seems to vary by model or maybe supply/demand. A regular car dealer once told me that they won't take a car over 9 years old.

Of course you can't trust a dealer any farther than you can throw them, so these comments are just some food for thought.

 

I always think newer car, higher mileage is always better then older car, low mileage. Especially when we are talking about regular car/truck not collectable or any special vehicle.

Tacoma does have a very good resale value. your 06 even with over 170K worth at least $10K+ just like your dealer mentioned. If you can get a good deal on a new one with good trade in quote (to off set the tax). I think you should consider doing it.

At 170K miles, you probably will need to save some $ for tires, small fixes, and some other items? It does add up little by little.

Trade it in while it still worth some $

 

At 170k miles, he's already done tires more than once, so its just as likely that he's running on fairly new ones than fairly old.

 

If you want to trade it in, I would do it now, before 200k.

If you want to keep driving it til it stops, I would wait a long while. My brothers 4Runner just crossed 300k, but I forget which year. I don't know when the "too expensive to maintain" point will hit with ours, but he hasn't hit it yet.

Mine has been relatively trouble free til now (broke a spring in the seat, poked through the cloth into the pocket, as my first real Huh? failure). It is in much better shape at 140k than any other vehicle I have owned to date over 35+ years of driving. Interior, exterior, mechanical all holding up well.

 

Actually, tires are one of the things that made me think of this whole thing. The originals lasted a sad 18,000 miles, since that I have had 3 sets of Goodyear RT/S and got 50K out of each set. The tires are good for summer at this point, but come winter, they may need to be changed. There goes another $700.

Unfortunately they don't make Goodyear RT/S tires anymore, I'll have to find something else for the next truck. The tire dealer told me that they lasted too long, therefrore they discontinued them..LOL. They have been my go-to tire for the last 2 trucks.

 

I honestly think you should consider trading it in on a Prius.

















Joking aside. If you can afford it trade it in and get a new one. I would rather put my money towards a car payment on a vehicle in warranty and rock solid reliability than one that is older and my start showing signs of age.

 

Dark Taco, I have actually driven a Prius a week at a time on 2 different occasions, You will NEVER see me owning a Prius! While the gas mileage was great and I was pretty impressed for what it was, it was more like an electric rollerskate than a car.

I came away from driving a Prius understanding something about Prius drivers... it's not their fault, that's just how you have to drive one of those things!

 

If I bought one of those, I'd probably get an award for worst Prius mileage, because I'd be hammering it off the line all the time. We have some friends that bought two used 2nd-gen ones (the husband is a retired AF Lt. Col., is a test pilot for L3, and has a 100-mile round trip commute), and I got to drive one of theirs one day. The thing that I liked was that all the electric motor's torque is available starting at zero RPM, so it has pretty decent acceleration. What I couldn't get used to is all the sounds (pops, clicks, road noise, wind noise) that are normally drowned out by an IC engine.

 

when ever I pay off a vehicle, I keep putting the same amount of my note in saving so I will have some money to go with my trade or money from selling myself.

 

DING DING DING!! WE HAVE A WINNER!!

My sentiments exactly

 

I had the "honey, what do you think about buying a new truck" talk last night.... We're taking a trip soon that will put another few thousand on it, as soon as I return I think I'll call my favorite dealer and see what they have in a '13 demo like this one was.

I'm going to need $700 worth of tires by winter, that's a payment and a half on a newer one. The next question is EXT or DC, DC lets me reuse my LEER cap and my bed mat, but I'd really like to have a 6' bed which puts me into an EXT or a Sport.

 

Why can't you get a double cab with a long bed? That's what I have, and I love it!

 

DC LB is what I really want, and it would have to be a Sport. Not keen on the painted bumpers but I like the scoop. The wife seems to think that I need either LB or DC but not both ... what does she know????

I think I have her softened up on the DC LB and I have been scanning the web a little. For about $30K I can get a DC LB '13 with 10K on it.. if I can find one, they are scarce.

Really would like to know the difference between the '12 and '13. I like the touch radio in the '13 and I understand that the bluetooth syncs the entire phonebook, I'm not sure about the '12 radio. Either way, teh AUX input will be nice, my '06 doesn't have it.

I put almost 2000 miles on it last week, putting more on it this weekend, then it's time to start primping it for a sale.

 

My 13 syncs my entire contacts from my iPhone. Also have up to 18 speed dials in the case you're moving. Sounds like you have your mind made up. I'm pretty satisfied with mine. Touch screen, Bluetooth, aux and USB.. Ah the 21sr century!

 

The '13 also reads your text messages for you, if your driving and can't look at your phone! :thumbsup:

 

The '13 also reads your text messages for you, if your driving and can't look at your phone!

I did not know that, sweeeeet!

 

I have a bit of a different test for when I get rid of a vehicle. For me its all about transportation value and I tend to keep vehicles a very long time (eg. 22 yrs. on a CJ5 Jeep being the longest). I do virtually all the work on my stuff and when a car reaches the point where I start to repeatedly exclaim "I hate this car" or the neighbors complain about all the swearing coming from the garage, its time for it to go.