This happened, now my turn for what car…

Normally I find car shopping fun. I look at it as a game, and the goal is to win by getting the car I want at the lowest price possible. But since it's Covid pricing, and we're not even a year into the payments on the new Sportage I'm not looking forward to shopping. 

So to start the story, my son is A senior and takin auto tech as a trade. Apparently I neglected to instruct him that he needs to check the oil in his car, and 6k after the oil change there's no oil on the stick and it's knocking. This is what I find when we drop the pan and inspect the 2 and 4 rod bearings: 

We've been sharing my 1998 Ram for about 6-8 weeks. In that time he managed to slide into a guard rail in the snow and damage the front bumper and headlight, but luckily the only sheet metal damage was the headlight bucket that the auto body shop at school fixed for free. 

I've been trying to figure out what to do on his car and finally found a salvage titled SX4 with 113k for $1k that I figured I could take the engine and other parts from to fix his and then scrap the rest. The plan was to look at it this weekend and tow it home so he could work on it over school vacation. 

Those plans changed when he called me in his way to school to tell me he had an accident. This is what I arrived to:

So the insurance company is looking at it tomorrow, but based on the year, mileage, and initial look at the photos the claims rep says the initial assessment is that it will likely be totaled. 

That changes the plans to get the SX4 for my sons car, since I don't have a way to get it, and now I need to find something for myself, without the option of waiting until fall of 2023 like I had originally planned. 

The question is now what to get for myself. The goal is to keep it under $15k ( but $10k would be even better), manual transmission (nice to have, not mandatory), reliable enough to be a daily driver, and something that will last a few year and maybe even hold it's value. Oh yeah, towing 2k would be good so I can possibly use the snowmobiles if we ever get snow that sticks around  

I've been looking at all sorts of unrelated vehicles, and not all make sense, but I need to really get focused and start making plans for the weekend. 

As an example here are some of the things I've been cross shopping online:

Canyon

Wrangler

Cooper

Another canyon

Silverado

I'm open to comments about the ones linked (good and bad) and suggestions on sites that may be better for searching. 
 

Thanks in advance. 

You could probably get the nicest gen 3 Montero in the country with that budget, but it'll be an automatic..

I drove a 4 cyl 5 speed Colorado for 6 years, it had squeaks and rattles at 16k mi but was otherwise a good truck, not my first choice for a long road trip though.

Any sort of age range you're looking for?

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Not really an age requirement. I'm more concerned with condition and ideally low enough mileage that it will last several years. 

I need to talk to the credit union, so that may create a bracket approach for age and price. Depending on cost I may pay cash if it low enough ($5k ish), if it approaches $10k I'll probably just do a personal loan (not wanting to dip too far into cash reserves), and if it's over $10k I'd be doing a vehicle loan. 

I'll also admit that the manual trans is a nice to have and not a requirement.

 I would look at a Colorado or the nicest trailblazer you can find in your price range.  

They are automatics and you may not like my answer, but a minivan may be a great fit here.  I suggest them all the time because I have tons of experience with them...the second gen Sedona is a horse.  Tow rating of 3500lbs, and it can do more.  Reliable as the sunrise, tons of room to carry and E36 M3 you want, and super cheap to find.  They're also very good in bad weather.  I lived near the Pocono mountains for nearly 10 years of Sedona ownership and never once got stuck.

In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :

It's funny you suggest the Sedona. We traded our 2010 sedona in on the 2021 Sportage to downsize my wife's daily and planned to use the truck for towing and other utilitarian activities that the van had been doing. 

The Sedona wheels with General Altimax arctics are in the bed of the truck right now because I was going to have the tires moved over to a set of wheels I had recently bought for the Ram. 

Considering his track record, I'd go for the cheapest car you can find...it's not gonna last very long anyway.

In reply to stuart in mn :

I'm looking for something for me. I haven't decided what do do about him yet. Right now he's riding the bus (30-45min each way), or getting  rides from friends. 

I'm toying with the idea of selling the SX4 as is for parts/repair, and keeping the Ram for him if the cab isn't tweaked. 

Then he would have to save for parts, and do the nut & bolt work to replace the sheet metal. Maybe some sweat and work will change his driving habits. 
 

I already have a brand new PS pump and lines, door latches, belt and idler kit, and other parts for it sitting in the garage. The Michelins on it have less than 10k on them, and It was fluid filmed to protect it since it was brought up from FL last spring. 

I had a couple of Colorado trucks in the work fleet. The company put right at 300k on them with very little trouble. I bought one of them for my personal fleet for my youngest to drive and sold the other to an employee. Both trucks are well over 300k now and still chugging along. They are not refined, but they are pretty durable. In the 4-5 years and 300k miles we had them, I bought one transmission, a few sets of brakes, a couple of coils, and a thermostat housing. 

I would let the son fix the Ram or the SX4 or tell him to go buy his own car. Parts should be available and reasonably priced. It will be a durable vehicle for him to drive and the sweat equity should help him take care of it. 

The Ram is a total, so now to wait for the numbers and decide what the replace it with in the very near future. May have numbers on Friday, but could be as late as Tuesday due to the holiday. 

In reply to No Time :

What is buyback on the Ram? It may be a cheap way to get your son into a car since parts are likely cheap and his labor is free. 

I wouldnt tow anything with a wrangler, some people do it and say its fine, but I barely like driving them on the highway unloaded.

Colorados and Canyons are pretty good but do have the occasional thrust/timing issue that can be pretty expensive to fix.

My vote would be for the silverado. Its a 4.3 but those things have been around forever and are generally very reliable. Parts availability is great and probably will be for a long time. Brake jobs are much easier than on the canyon/colorado.

Looks like your in a place were rust is a worry, so get it protected and I know certain years of the GMT800 have a brake line rust issue, you may want to address preventatively.

I'm sorry to hear this, I remember that truck being in amazing shape! 

Depending on your state, the truck might have to go through a complete re-inspection in order to put it back on the road (if it's been totaled).   I'd definitely want to understand that process before you decide whether to buy it back or not.  

Sorry to hear about that!  That is going to be a hardship!  Glad he is okay though!

My daughter rolled my Focus last September.  Just got the new insurance bill.  Hope to have it replaced with a new Civic Si next month.  Did not want to buy new, but y'all know the car market right now!  

I can recommend the Canyons. I've been driving 4cyl 5spd Colorados for 16 years and over half a million Km's with nothing more than routine maintenance, and I beat on my trucks

In reply to trucke :

First, I hope she was ok after the wreck and after opening the insurance bill.  Good to see how the pillars held up to a rollover on that car.

In reply to Toyman! :

I won't have numbers until tomorrow or Tuesday, so I'll have to wait and see.

I did find what looks like a reasonable deal if I want to increase my budget a bit:

09 Chevy 1500

Insurance called and the buyback is $1000 and I keep my existing title (no savage title to deal with). Because of sale tax that they would pay if I surrender the truck, it makes a $1300 difference in the check I'd get 

So it's $5k and they keep the truck or $3.7k and I keep it. 

I made a few phone calls and getting a clean/minimal rust nose assembly might be challenging, it's probably about $1,000-1,200 for the parts to fix it (including radiator, fan, condenser, coolant reservoir, windshield washer reservoir for RA).

I think the plan is reassemble the SX4 enough to be able to move it around, then sell it (anyone want a project, I know where there's a good engine). Get the truck home and have him disassemble it over school vacation, and put together a list of parts he needs. Then he can call around and pice together a nose and reassemble it.

Worst case I can part out the truck for more than $1300 based on the mechanical condition and no rust, especially once the bent sheet metal is removed.

He can pay for the repairs, and I'll take the $3700 and put it towards a down payment replacement vehicle for myself.

Now to figure out "what car"...

I'd definitely take the $3700 and keep the truck.  Even if it takes some work to find the body parts, the rest of the truck looks clean enough that you'll come out significantly cheaper than trying to buy a replacement truck in this market. 

you're a kind and forgiving Dad. I am sure you gave kid the business. If you were my Dad, the post would be like this:

Title: How to run a backhoe

My kid wrecked a car, and I helped him fix the stupid thing. He did it again, something smething and now I need to dig a big hole in my backyard something like 6 feet down. I rented a backhoe, but I can't figure out the hydraulics properly to get a real vertical wall to the hole. Can anyone point me to a tutorial?

I would not, under nearly any circumstances buy a Canyon or Colorado anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon Line. The frames rust like nothing I've ever seen before. If you must buy one from a high sodium environment, put it on a lift and have a hammer and cheat poker (screwdriver) and aggressively look for rust holes.

So today was a bust. The red Chevy was already sold.

The dealer with the canyon said they had it when I called, but 20 minutes later when I was at the dealership they couldn't find it.  But they had a 2010 ranger (2.3l, auto, rwd) they would sell me for $14k (instead of $16k) since they couldn't find the truck I originally came to see. 

Now I'm back to the drawing board, and it looks like I'll have to jump on something quick if I like it based on the market. 

As part of my homework, what does everyone know about the for 4.0L v6 used in the rangers?

Im probably going to look at this on Monday:

2004 ranger 4wd

Not necessarily the ideal choice, the extended cab is really covered storage with the jump seats, but that covered storage is useful and secure. 
 

Im still looking at other options like this:

Chevy 1500

thanks for any info you can share.