The manual truck has a 4-cylinder that’s barely enough to get a small truck moving though. Give me a manual diesel ZR2 and I’d go buy it right now. I like the ZR2 and the diesel, but not enough to go buy one.

I’m wholeheartedly in the ‘manual every day’ crowd. I daily drive a manual now, and even loved one when I was commuting in crazy traffic in LA, but I don’t understand wanting a manual truck. I also have a truck that’s automatic, and I’ve driven almost every truck offered with a manual in the past 15 years. They’ve all…

Thank you. Better watch than half on the list and cheaper than almost all of them.

Hmmm...probably not enough. I inherited the truck from my grandmother in 2012 with 18k miles on it. My grandfather bought it new in 2001 and passed away in 2005. Obviously the truck has sat most of its life, so I’ve had to do a number of repairs just based on age. Replaced most of the cooling system because the…

Make me an offer. It’s a 2002 with 48k miles, 2wd, extended cab.

I’ve been toying with Option 1, but those new trucks are so expensive.I have an ‘02 with the 4.3. This one replaced my ‘96 that was almost the same thing. I think I would have already replaced it if I was running the 2.2 though.

That cash I could have used to buy my car 3 years ago has been making me over 3% interest in the meantime. The total interest I’ll pay on the entire loan at 1.9% is around what that money has already made me in interest. And because I bought a car that had already taken most of its depreciation hit, I’m still not…

If you routinely need to haul 7 people, just get a Suburban. We’ve done that a couple times on family trips. Seven people, plus their luggage. Everyone is comfortable and the truck doesn’t feel stressed. I think we could add a boat to the back and it would still be fine.

That was just the charge for the oil. Eight quarts at $25 per quart.

I brought a friend’s Boss 302 in for an oil change while he was deployed. I put the Mobil 1 he had bought for it in the front seat and told them to put that in. When I went to pick it up, they had $200 worth of Ford oil on the bill and said they had to put that in to maintain the warranty.

The cynical part of me suspects that Paul Ryan and all the republicans in congress and the upper echelons of the US government the auto manufacturers would like for US auto workers to make the same as the Mexican auto workers currently make...

The Chevy Cobalt had that as well, though a little less pretty. Anything with tire pressure sensors has the capability of showing you pressure, but most manufacturers just settle for the idiot light.

I’ve entered the VIN off of a lot of cars of people I know into the NHTSA website and I’ve found a few that had recalled airbags. Not a single person that I mentioned it to had any idea what I was talking about when I told them about it. A couple did not want to go to the dealer to get the recall done because they…

It’s definitely not that old of an idea. My grandfather grew up on a farm and my grandparents picked cotton. My dad even remembers visiting the family farm in Tennessee and picking cotton when he was dating my mom, and that was in the late 70's. Maybe it was mostly done by machine by then, but definitely not all.

That’s a general rule based on how quickly the rubber deteriorates outside. I’d say 5 years for tires that are always outside. Tires on my cars that are stored outside start getting cracks around 4 years and I just replaced two sets at 5 years. On my truck I run snows in the winter and all seasons in the summer. Each…

This is the correct version of that meme.

Love the photos. I’ve tried to get shots in a few of those places, but as a peasant I just don’t have the access. I’ve been there a half dozen times or so(including this weekend) and love watching the photographers, especially at the Dolphin Fountain. I don’t have the gear or skills even though I’m a professional…

I too have been on both sides of this deal. I feel like generally the dealership employees are doing the worst job, because they often care as much as you would expect for $10 an hour. Then the cheap outsourced photographers need to do a lot of cars to make decent money, so they don’t have time to bring cars back to…

So you’re saying if I buy one of these manuals to try to fix up my F-14, I’m on the highway to the danger zone?

Generally the used car dealers are looking at the prices in their area to come up with their price. Overall, what they pay, plus what it takes to recondition the car should end up slightly below that number. If the takes more than expected to recondition, then they might end up above or at that price, and have little…