So I've recently come into some extra cash flow and I need a 4x4. I have quite a few choices of well taken care of trucks. They all look solid and dependable. Some are newer in perfect condition others are older with some cosmetic damage.
The 04 has 187,xxx and the 95 has 252,xxx, the 88 has 160,xxx, 1992 144xxx, and 04 explorer with 130xxx so what I'm asking is what's preferable on a vehicle age or miles? They are in the same ball park of price so what would you buy? All are v8s newer trucks are all 5.4s and older trucks are Windsor motors

 

The newest truck with the lowest milage is preferable so the '04s stand out, I'd buy a '95 because it was the best of that generation but it would have to be priced quite a bit less than the 04, the '92 would have to be a spectacular deal and I wouldn't touch an '88 at any price even if it had zero miles... it would just need too much work to make it reliable and to get it to an acceptable level of performance.

 

The 04 truck or 04 explorer?

 

The 04 F150 is the best buy.......... unless you need an enclosed box, then the EXP.

 

the older trucks are 20- 30 years old. How could they come close to the 2004 in price or dependable ?

 

They are 3/4 the price of the newer vehicles, so in the same ballpark. I didn't know how big a factor high milage plays into a vehicles life live expectancy. It looks like the 04 f150 was mainly driven on the highway. I may end up going on with it.

How big of a problem are the can phasers? How will I know if they are going to fail? This is only my second vehicle.
Any way I go its a step up from my beat up farm truck daily driver. 94 300 i6 with 160Kmiles and looks like it crawled its way out of hells graveyard.

 

Mileage represents wear and tear; age represents deterioration. Twenty to thirty year old rubber isn't going to make it and there's a lot of rubber in these trucks - from shock absorber mounts to windshield gaskets to hoses and tubing under the hood. Not to mention inside the engine itself.
Mileage is going to incur wear in rotating items like bearings in the axels, transmission, and engine. Properly cared for, bearings can go many, many miles with minimal wear. Bushings, on the other hand, not so much. Bushings wear relatively quickly. They can be found on such things as door hinges, suspension components, and steering components.
There are a lot fewer bushings on a vehicle than there are rubber parts.

 

I assume you know about the 5.4 plug issue. If not, they used a 2 piece plug that can carbon up around the tip and cause them to separate while trying to remove them for a plug change. That can end up being an expensive fix if you have multiples separate. I changed them out in my 07 around 60K and had Champion 1 piece plugs (don't chastise me, they work) to reduce the possibility of that issue in the future. If they've never been changed, it could be an issue in the future with the mileage on those vehicles as they should have been changed by 100K.

 

the newer the better. age can affect a vehicle. miles can too.... but parts availability can be a problem with older vehicles. my vote is the 2004 F150........ but if there is more choices than these, Id look more.

 

I had a new 1998 chevy 1500 4x4,3.8 v-6. had 256,000 mls. on it before i traded it in for a new 2010 f-150 4x4. Biggest mistake i ever made!!! I changed the oil every 2500 to 3000 miles,that's what count's,that chevy motor purred like it was new,just the body was toast. I plowed every year for the city & private customers,made probably $40,000 over the yrs.,now i spend $38,000 for my f-150,motor runs great(change oil every 2500-3000 mls)now have 165,000 mls..I baby my truck & other than the motor,everything else sucks!! 4 yr. old Ford & it's a piece of crap!! Once the warranty expired,just about everything went,this yr. here's what i had to replace,first was the steering knuckle(binding up),2nd was the steering rack line's rotted out,3rd was 2 upper control arms,4th replace rack & pinion unit,5th trans.blew-replaced,6th trans cooler lines rotted out-when replacing lines,they broke the fitting to the radiator & had to buy a new radiator & trans cooler. the Gen. light stay's on but Alt. is working,my 4 wheel drive now doesn't work(won't engage)probably the actuators another $500-600. I'm in over $7,000 just this yr. for a 5 yr.old truck,my advise to you is forget about mileage because if you buy a Ford,it won't matter, your screwed just for buying a Ford!!!

 

read my Post under netminderone below. Do your self a favor!!!

 

If you hate Ford, why even post here? Ive had both Chevy and Ford. (Never owned a dodge pick up) I don't think much of people that hate vehicles like this. because all companies make a bad vehicle.

 

New option is an 2007 f150 lariat with 205K miles. Better buy than the 04? The 04 is 6000k and the 07 is 9k I could talk then down to 8k.

 

8K seems kind of high to me. But then I think they are all overpriced.

 

9000$ for a truck with 205k miles. I'd tell them to go pound sound. I'd say 4 or 5k maybe if body was in good shape and had a good maintenance history with that many miles.