NEW to Dodge: Thinking about buying a Dakota
Take the advice of everyone on this post, make sure you look carefully over ths vehicle...all the issues mentioned above are very important to consider with this model.
Make sure to check the transmission especially and the brakes....perhaps the price on the vehicle is due in part to some issue, or maybe the owner has no idea what he is selling. Most older Daks if not worn out are appraised from $1,500 - $3,000 from what I have seen. So maybe as fwtc said, you got lucky.
Test drive it, watch the gear shifting, and if the engine sounds rough in any way, there may be some bugs in it. Pretty much like I said, take into consideration everything that all the members in this thread have offered. Something else to mention is the electrical system. Most all the older Daks I have worked with have had shorts in the ignition or the steering colum, in fact I have to replace my own colum because of different things not working. For example, when I put certain fuses in, i.e. the radio and cigarette lighter, right now it's blowing the whole box...so watch out for things like that. Ask about it too.
Aside from all the issues that can arise, I will say this, the Dak is an excellent vehicle...gas mileage not horrible, but not perfect either...mine gets about 17-19mpgs. My truck is a 92', has 158K on it, has been in 3 wrecks (almost totaled), and my dad never regularly maintained it...and it's still purring along just fine with a few issues here and there.
If the truck is in good condition, you are getting a steal!
Make sure to check the transmission especially and the brakes....perhaps the price on the vehicle is due in part to some issue, or maybe the owner has no idea what he is selling. Most older Daks if not worn out are appraised from $1,500 - $3,000 from what I have seen. So maybe as fwtc said, you got lucky.
Test drive it, watch the gear shifting, and if the engine sounds rough in any way, there may be some bugs in it. Pretty much like I said, take into consideration everything that all the members in this thread have offered. Something else to mention is the electrical system. Most all the older Daks I have worked with have had shorts in the ignition or the steering colum, in fact I have to replace my own colum because of different things not working. For example, when I put certain fuses in, i.e. the radio and cigarette lighter, right now it's blowing the whole box...so watch out for things like that. Ask about it too.
Aside from all the issues that can arise, I will say this, the Dak is an excellent vehicle...gas mileage not horrible, but not perfect either...mine gets about 17-19mpgs. My truck is a 92', has 158K on it, has been in 3 wrecks (almost totaled), and my dad never regularly maintained it...and it's still purring along just fine with a few issues here and there.
If the truck is in good condition, you are getting a steal!