Looking at a couple Dakotas 2004 with the 4.7 2wd quad cab $6500 and a 2006 with the 4.7 4wd price is $10000. Both similar miles around 150000. No rust showing. If the price difference is not a big deal which to choose? Bigger cab but 2wd or smaller cab and 4wd. Are the engines similar for those years. Ive driven a 2wd S10 for many years in snow without much trouble but 4wd would be nice. We dont usually have passengers except for 2 small ankle biters (dogs).

 

If price wasn't an issue, I'd probably go with the 2006. The cab seats ankle biters in the back just fine. My 4 year old and 6 year old haven't complained about the space in our 05, but I could see it being a bit tight for adults. I prefer 4WD, although I live in an area where we get a good bit of snow 5-6 months of the year.

The price though of both seems high...maybe I'm just cheap. I got a 2005 4WD (3.7L though) Dakota with 115,000 miles for $2,100 (private sale, random craigs list guy). Granted, the front suspension needed work (including replacing the rack and pinion) and I did a fair amount of rust repair but i'm not sure i'd spend $10k on a 12 year old vehicle. Again, i'm cheap lol. Good luck with whatever you choose!

 

The Quad cab is plenty big. My '08 is now our big vehicle, since my wife has a mini cooper. This weekend we had 5 adults in it running around town and it worked well.

$10k is pretty high on both. 4 years ago I paid $14,000 Canadian for an '08 with a cap, and really low kms.

 

I kind of thought it was high also. They were on a dealer lot. Went and checked them both. They both smelled like ashtrays. The $10,000 one had black spray paint over the rust spots and the other one was just plain ugly. 100s of vehicles on the lot. All seemed overpriced on the holiday blow-out sale. Every on I looked at smelled like an ashtray. My search will continue no rush. I just want a mid size truck and I seem to prefer the Dakota for some reason. I haven’t tried craigs list. Kind of leery about that,but the dealer stuff seems to be crap and overpriced.
thanks for the advise.