Hi guys, Im John and Im 15. I turn 16 in February of next year and am planning to get a car either right before I turn 16 or when I turn 16. I really want to get a Ram for my car, I dont care about the mileage as much as I do about safety. Right now I am looking at 1996-1998 Ram 1500's with 4x4 (Iowa) and probably the 5.2L,unless the 5.9 is a better motor. My budget will be about $2000. I was looking at one specifically, it was a 1998 Ram 1500 4x4, 5.2, 155K (Is that too high) regular cab long box for $1995. Is that a good deal? There is no rust or anything. Thanks!

 

Gas mileage should be a consideration.... especially since gas just hit 4 bucks a gallon here..... 12 to 16 is average for the half-tons, city/hwy.....

Either motor is good. Really not much difference between the two.

How mechanically inclined are you? With that kind of mileage, there ARE going to be some necessary repairs in your future. Paying someone else to do them ain't gonna be cheap. Plenum repair, timing chain and gears, possible catalytic converter... etc. (just browse thru some of the threads here.....)

That said..... I bought my 96 with 165K on the clock for more than what you are going to spend there, and after sinking about another 1000 into it in repairs/maintenance, I have a good running truck, that SUCKS gas.

 

When it comes to fixing things, my dad and I do all of the maintenance and repairs on my parents vehicles and we're not too bad at it. Every once in a while we might have to take it somewhere, but as far as things live the cats, chains and stuff like that we can usually do

 

Cool. That always helps.

Make sure to check the plenum, even if you just look down the throttle body. (see stickied thread at top of this forum.) Best to do timing set at the same time as the plenum, as a lot of the same stuff needs to come out of the way.

As for the rest, check over REALLY well, just like any other used vehicle.

 

The 5.2 is an absolute tank of a motor. That said, the 5.9 Is just a bigger tank of a motor.

But gas has to be a consideration because these motors get suck bad mileage.

A less than tuned up 5.9 will get single digit mpg, while a 5.2 will get slightly better.

Even after all that negativity, I wouldn't trade my truck for anything. They just run and run forever

 

Got 228k on mine....sunk about 6k in parts the past 3 years just in parts cuz i do all my own labor and im still sinking money in it cuz its a great truck i love my truck and she runs mint...just have to keep her maintained.....

As for gas....meh i get about 10 city and 13 highway....but i have a 5.9....still not bad

 

I know its not in your budget, but if ya get a ram with a cummins in it, the motor will outlast the truck, and even tuned for extreme pulling/racing will get better fuel economy than the v8's... im pushin over 500hp to the rears and still gettin 14+mpg while turning 35" mud tires.

plenty of 2nd gen cummins trucks out there running around with 1.3 million miles on them now, and they are still workin their asses off with no rebuilds. cummins engine is damn near indestructible if you do routine maintenance on it (oil changes and fuel filter/air filter changes, and drain water out of water separator).

 

Agreed a 2nd gen cummins would be a very reliable truck....ive seen decent ones go for around 2k

 

As much as I would like to say a truck is a great first vehicle and that if you can drive a truck you can pretty much drive anything but unless you are very good with money it is not very logical to buy. I know I wad spending about $100 a week on gas and usually tried to keep at least months worth of gas money an insurance payment and some parts money so that if somethin came up or broke something I would have the money to fix it.

 

i agree with that too...

if you aren't making decent money, you might want to get something cheaper to operate thats more wallet friendly...

I bought my 87 Chevy S10 pickup for $1000 even and it only had a small dent in the hood and very small dent below drivers door... unnoticeable to the untrained eye. runs like a top, and has gotten me by when my dodge was down for the count more than once...(first time was head gasket and turbo, second time was 5th gear missing every single tooth, and intermediate shaft inside transmission that 5th and 6th gear ride on being snapped in two...)

little S10 gets me everywhere and only thing I have had to do to it is change oil and replace coolant temp sensor (little $10 part that is extremely easy to change out)

little 2.5L manual trans S10's are probably one of the cheapest and easiest vehicles to work on, and they average about 24MPG, they can still haul things around in their bed, and they are very easy to drive/park. I wont part with either my S10 or my dodge. Got over 17 grand invested into the dodge (not counting buying the truck for 12 grand) and the S10 is just too damn reliable.