Best used SUV/Truck under $5k?

[Ghorton87]

Hey everyone! I could really use your help; i am looking for an SUV/Truck for under $5k or so to get me through the next couple years! The only requirement is that it have towing capacity for small aluminium boat. What is the most reliable option in your opinion?

[shorod]

In your price range, knowing the service history is going to become rather important to have some confidence the truck will be reliable. Have you heard the saying, "you get what you pay for?"



My vote would be as new of an Explorer with the V8 as you can get for the price. Set aside a budget for maintenance items and transmission service. One nice thing about Explorers is Ford sold a lot of them in each of the model years so there is no shortage of parts and typically no shortage of folks who know how to work on and fix them.


-Rod

[Ghorton87]

Originally Posted by shorod

In your price range, knowing the service history is going to become rather important to have some confidence the truck will be reliable. Have you heard the saying, "you get what you pay for?"



My vote would be as new of an Explorer with the V8 as you can get for the price. Set aside a budget for maintenance items and transmission service. One nice thing about Explorers is Ford sold a lot of them in each of the model years so there is no shortage of parts and typically no shortage of folks who know how to work on and fix them.


-Rod

Thank you! How do you feel about early 2000 model Chevy Tahoe? There are a bunch of those in my price range.

[shorod]

Similar to the Explorer, there were a bunch of Tahoes sold so there should not be a shortage of parts or people that know how to work on them and have probably already figured out how to remedy many of the common issues. I've personally not had good luck with GM products though so I'm probably not the right person to ask since I'm a bit biased toward Ford and even Chrysler (over GM). There are many folks biased toward GM though, so clearly many people have had good luck with GMs (or just don't know any better. )


-Rod

[Stealthee]

The biggest issues you'll probably have to worry about with that generation is rot and transmission failure.

[Ghorton87]

Thank you for all of the replies! There are a few expedition/explorer and tahoe/suburban options. I also found a 2005 Toyota Sequoia; the motor was rebuilt in 2018 and the replaces all belts, coils and sensors but the transmission and frame has 250k miles. Thoughts?

[Stealthee]

The Tahoe and Surburban are similar vehicles with the main difference being the Suburban is longer. The Explorer and Expedition on the other hand are more different. The Explorer is a small SUV whereas the Expedition is a full size SUV.