Hello, dodgeforum and the members.

I have finally sold my Infiniti G37 Coupe which needed a clutch and about to buy a Ram 1500.

To be honest, the 3rd generation Ram looks great to me even after all these years and F-150 in this era can't really match the good looks to Ram in my opinion.

To start off, I am Asian. I don't think I see that many, or if any, Asians in a pickup but this always has been my dream to drive one of those trucks and I think their reliability is where it excels. I have been mostly German car enthusiasts all my life with a couple BMWs and MBZs (No Audis please!) with an exception of an Infiniti which I had to part with it in less than a year. I think nothing really surpasses massive torque of domestic V8s as our family still has a 04' Viper we bought new in 04. Viper now has 86k miles which was used for daily driver by my dad in the first 3 years then when he bought a CTS-V, this became more of a weekend car. Though, we never really had any problems with it and was surprised how simple and easy to work on it compared to many German counterparts.

So, sorry for this dramatic intro, I will just try to get to the point.

I live in Oregon and pickup's do not really need to be 4WD to meet my needs as we get rains not snows and I've been fine in my G37 coupe and BMW 650i throughout the winter. Now, I've decided to go back to school and finish doctorates degree, had to sell my Infiniti anyhow to pay for the tuition. I understand my circumstance won't let me spend thousands to maintain the car anymore so German cars were out. I believe domestics are easy on the cost of maintenance compared to European cars as parts are readily available and cheaper. Though how does a Ram 1500 do when it comes to reliability? I've heard quite a bit of stories about transmissions going out. I can't really spend much on buying one but I have found what seems to be a good one around me.

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/4880467497.html

This one kinda seems to be alright. Says all service record available, one owner, clean title, 25k on rebuilt motor and new transmission. Didn't say how many miles it's got so I assume it has high mileage like north of 100k miles. Though, new transmission and rebuilt motor with low mileage will compensate them I guess, as long as there's a receipt for it. I was planning on calling the seller and check the car out. But wanted to ask the forum first.

For the worst case scenario, if it has 200k on the body or something but 25k on the motor and new transmission, is it worth it for the price? 1 owner thing and all service history really attracted me. By looking at the pictures, it looks clean as well. Mainly, I'd like to have a car that will not leave me stranded and will cost me fair amount to maintain, somewhere like up to 1.5k per annum sounds about right to me. Need to run great for the next 4 years till I graduate and should be able to do once or twice a year long road trip (mostly from Portland to Denver and Portland to Baltimore and back so looking at somewhere around 2400 mile round trip and 5000 mile round trip).

Would it be a good idea? Seems to be quite cheaper than the awful dealers in the area, though. Beauty of private sale, I'd say.

Sorry for all the small talks and unnecessary details. Any inputs are appreciated!

 

Way more information is needed on the truck... seller offers almost nothing in information...

Who rebuilt engine. transmission.. Warranty????
as you stated.. NO mileage on total truck. almost useless advertising.
my opinion. what is he hiding.???


and for watts it worth.. my best car I have ever owned.. was an Acura Legend. by a lot.. I have been driving 46 years.
88 to 2004... 260,000 miles and a manual transmission... NO clutch. no repairs... just oil/filter/tires/brakes...Period.

 

Call the guy and go look at it. If you have a mechanic friend offer them a beer to go crawl around it while you shoot the **** with the owner.


If you do go look at it, go on a dry, hasn't been raining day so any leaks are visible under the truck. Look at the frame for any bending or twisting, indicating a possible collision or overload situation. Look for rust in the wheel wells. Check the dash for any cracks and make note of them. Dash replacements are not cheap and could lower the price during negotiations. Verify all modes of the HVAC system are functional. The doors that divert airflow through the airbox break after time. Again, could lower price.

Bring a scan tool and plug it in to make sure all the monitors are in the ready state. If they're not there's a good chance the owner recently wiped any codes to clear a check engine light.

 

Posting is gone.
But as stated better details would help. As far as engine/trans/rearend goes it really depends on the year and mileage. The posi rears were problematic from 2002-2007 or so, the engines are generally good if maintained, but 4.7s are particularly sensitive to dirty/low oil, maintenence records would be nice if available. Trannies are hit or miss, some are great, some are not, seems there is no pattern to it.
But yes, check the HVAC operation for equal temps on both sides and that the air works. Also check all lights, locks and windows, the rear window wiring in the door posts always breaks due to e full swing of the rear doors. This is expensive to fix properly.