I've been casually browsing Craigslist for several Texas cities, looking for Suburbans, Yukon XLs or Expedition ELs. It's not hard to find sub-$10K units with 100K miles or less, and rust free, too. Sometimes Michigan sucks. Everyone around here commutes, so ten year old vehicles all have 200K miles and rust at least starting.
What can you find in the Jacksonville, FL Craigslist? We have a man on the ground there.
Houston, especially the north-ish part is where I'm at. I'm 20 minutes from IAH if you need to fly in.
San Antonio here. I know we have members in both Austin and DFW too.
In reply to Vigo :
Ditto.
I got my diesel excursion for a really good deal in southern California. Lots of deals there as well when gas prices go up lol
Also, don't move to Texas lol
I'm in Austin
The west side of the county where Seth lives......Yup, what up to hot for you?
Fort worth checking in. Happy to look at something if needed.
In reply to DeadSkunk :
Born and bred Texan, lived here all of my 53 years. Trucks (the bigger the better) are just a way of life here. We all grew up with them, they're just part of the landscape.
There's a distinct hierarchy to trucks here - the newest, fanciest, and most expensive are leased by soccermoms and professionals. and they rarely ever carry anything dirtier than a couple of bags of mulch from the local organic garden supply. The ones that are a few years old and have been traded in get bought by young families who overextend their credit to impress their neighbors and coworkers. Once they've racked up some serious miles, wear and tear, dents and scratches, and suffer the first major breakdown, they get traded in and bought (usually at auctions or "your job is your credit" car lots) by a certain class of people who never do any maintenance, but hook up a thumpin' stereo, blingin' rims, and some of the best exterior accessories Pep Boys has to offer.
In reply to DeadSkunk :
I know what you mean. I live in Ohio and when i used to work on cars we would have travellers from the south that would break down on their way through. The bottom side of their 25 year old vehicles look like 5 year old Ohio car. Ive never done a fly and drive because ive been worried about problems, like out of state title issues, major break downs 400 miles from home, etc, etc, but im very tempted to give it a shot next time.
John Welsh said:What can you find in the Jacksonville, FL Craigslist? We have a man on the ground there.
Oh, Jacksonville was one of the first areas I looked. There just seems to be more selection and lower prices in Texas. Some of that is just due to places like Houston being so much larger than Jacksonville , but there also appears to be an awful lot of 2WD SUVs. You rarely see 2WD up here and it's not an issue for me, I'm thinking of replacing my 2WD Astro which has recently stopped working.
My dad lives in Lampasas, we've discussed starting a business of moving solid cars north for fun and profit.
Fly and Drive, Fly and Drive, Fly and Drive.
I buy more vehicles from out of the midwest than I do locally.
In reply to DeadSkunk :
Looks like youve got a lot of help in a lot of areas.
Additional side note...others here have sung the praises of the V8 Toyota Sequoia. Although, more Tahoe sized rather than Suburban sized.
TheRX7Project said:My dad lives in Lampasas, we've discussed starting a business of moving solid cars north for fun and profit.
I have four kids being raised in the Houston area. statistically it's likely that at least a couple of them are going to end up in the area while I'm headed back north eventually. I'm going to buy a LOT of one way tickets to come visit them.
Also, don't move to Texas lol
Not unless you work inside or don't care about sweating your ass off. Honestly, most people work inside which is how Texas stays the #2 most populous state.
Also, if anyone moves to Texas be prepared to listen to all the people from the #1 most populous state who moved to Texas telling you how E36 M3ty the place they intentionally moved to is! Active duty members get a pass, though.
earlybroncoguy1 said:There's a distinct hierarchy to trucks here - the newest, fanciest, and most expensive are leased by soccermoms and professionals. and they rarely ever carry anything dirtier than a couple of bags of mulch from the local organic garden supply. The ones that are a few years old and have been traded in get bought by young families who overextend their credit to impress their neighbors and coworkers. Once they've racked up some serious miles, wear and tear, dents and scratches, and suffer the first major breakdown, they get traded in and bought (usually at auctions or "your job is your credit" car lots) by a certain class of people who never do any maintenance, but hook up a thumpin' stereo, blingin' rims, and some of the best exterior accessories Pep Boys has to offer.
Perfectly summed up.
Weatherford Texas here. Just west of DFW.
Vigo said:Also, don't move to Texas lol
Not unless you work inside or don't care about sweating your ass off. Honestly, most people work inside which is how Texas stays the #2 most populous state.
Also, if anyone moves to Texas be prepared to listen to all the people from the #1 most populous state who moved to Texas telling you how E36 M3ty the place they intentionally moved to is! Active duty members get a pass, though.
Fall time two years ago we went back home (Cincinnati) to see my Mom. When we left here it was still in the high 90's and it had been over 100° for a couple weeks prior. It was 90° one day when we were there and it felt at least 20° hotter at 90° in Cincinnati than it did at 110° here in central Texas. On the other hand 50° here feels colder than 30° there. I work in a giant metal unconditioned box and generally don't complain about the weather.
having driven across Texas a couple of times, how can any vehicle have less than 100k on the odo? Everything is 100 miles away from everything else! (I kid!)
You can move to Houston. Austin and San Antonio seem to be getting a bit snooty, we're cool. 
It was 90° one day when we were there and it felt at least 20° hotter at 90° in Cincinnati than it did at 110° here in central Texas. On the other hand 50° here feels colder than 30° there. I work in a giant metal unconditioned box and generally don't complain about the weather.
It's definitely true that humidity has a huge impact but Texas has all varieties of that from super nasty to super dry. I used to not mind the weather, but as the years went on, being sweaty all day was one of the main things that drove me out of shops. Now they're all gradually becoming air conditioned, I guess because people caught up with the science that workers are more productive and make less mistakes when their environment is <90f. I still work in it for myself, but generally not more than 5 hours at a time whereas I currently have a teaching schedule that runs from 8:00a-8:30p on tues and thurs and that doesn't seem to wear on me at all.
Here's a pic from inside my little garage last summer.
mad_machine said:having driven across Texas a couple of times, how can any vehicle have less than 100k on the odo? Everything is 100 miles away from everything else! (I kid!)
I've owned my Focus ST for just shy of 14 months.... it has nearly 42k miles now... and only 3k of those happened outside Texas.
Every trip I take to Houston from Ft Worth is the equivalent of driving from Chicago to Sandusky, Ohio.
Vigo said:Also, don't move to Texas lol
Not unless you work inside or don't care about sweating your ass off. Honestly, most people work inside which is how Texas stays the #2 most populous state.
Also, if anyone moves to Texas be prepared to listen to all the people from the #1 most populous state who moved to Texas telling you how E36 M3ty the place they intentionally moved to is! Active duty members get a pass, though.
Lmao, all me. Hit the nail on the head sir!
I remember reading an article in the late 90's that stated that over 50% of the Suburban production went directly to Texas from the GM plants.
You don't necessarily have to move to Texas to get one of those rust free pickemup trucks. Probably pretty cheap to fly down there and drive back. Very strong chance the air conditioner blows plenty cold too.
Brings to mind a bumper sticker I had.
Welcome to California
Now go home
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