I am in high school working half time and plan on working full time. I plan to buy a superduty gas or diesel depends on what you guys recommend. My questions is what is the best and cheapest year of superduty? whats better for alot of off-road riding? is it true diesel gets better mileage? how much should i except to pay? Should i but from dealer or private individual? What is fatsest? Would 4 wheel drive be a good idea? Thanks if you contribute. If you could recommend good jobs please do.

 

My questions is what is the best and cheapest year of superduty?

Best would be the newest and most you could afford to buy. Cheapest would be the biggest POS you can find.

whats better for alot of off-road riding?


Whatever you can afford to fix after you break it.


is it true diesel gets better mileage?

Yes.

how much should i except to pay?

$500.00 to $75,000

Should i but from dealer or private individual?

Your choice. Do you need to finance?

What is fatsest?

Not sure what fatsest is. I don't think one year is fatter than any other.

Would 4 wheel drive be a good idea?

Since you asked about off roading, I'm gonna say yeah it might be a good idea.


Thanks if you contribute.

No problem. Hope this helps.

If you could recommend good jobs please do.


Doctor, Lawyer, Chiropractor, CEO, Video game tester.

 

highschool its not the most economical truck for a high school student.

my opinion a 99-04 5.4 4x4 reg cab or extended cab and be done with it. pretty cheap to buy, MPGs are not terrible and maintenance is not killer.

i drove a truck in HS that got about 12 mpg and i was filling up every 4 days or so, this was from 2005-2007 so gas prices were only a bit lower then they are now.

find the newest, best condition, lowest mile gas SD you can find that fits in your budget.

good luck

 

Unless you are using the truck for some type of employment, you may be better off with a 150. You can find pretty clean ones around here for $5,000. Any F250 in that price range around here would be fairly well beat.

 

Who are you planning on going offroading with? If your friends all have jeeps you may want to reconsider. A super duty is 6-8" to wide on each side of most offroad trails unless they have been cut out for full size vehicles.

A diesel will be faster easier. But you pay to play and it will get expensive fast. Its a truck not a sports car.

Diesel is more expensive to run in almost every aspect except mpg. V10/V8 will see 10-13 mpg. diesel will see 13-15.

Like AlaskanEx said you'll be getting gas quite frequently which depending on how much you make an hour can leave your wallet pretty light. I commute 30 miles round trip to work in my truck and get 11 mpg and spend 2-300$ a month in just gas.

 

For a high school/college kid I would suggest the one that's trimmed with Toyota, Honda, or similar. Safer (more forgiving) and more economical.

 

F250/350's will not be good off road compared to jeeps or smaller lighter vehicles. In the mud they are weights that will sink fast. I hope you have a tractor on hand to pull out an 8,000 pound truck.

Stick with a 99-04 gas truck with the 5.4 and you will be fine. Don't expect these trucks to win races.

You will see 13 mpg max, adding lifts and tires will only drag it down.

 

Thanks for replys

 

yes i would use it for landscape and maybe welding with my grandfather.

 

yeah i would stick with an f 150 in high school. It obviously way cooler to roll up in a 250 but at the end of they day when you pay for gas a maintenance and you dont haul anything, an f-150 makes way more sense

 

Look for a 1996-1992 F-150 in good shape regardless of engine/tranny. You can find one almost anywhere. Cheap parts and they all run decent. All of my gradsons have a '96 something, either a F-150 or Bronco, and you can fix them cheap and they all run real good.

 

1) There is no cheapest year, price will be based on condition and age.

2) 4x4 is needed to off road, period. If your offroadign for fun, the superduty is a bad choice, too heavy, too long, too wide, too BIG. Go get a jeep, 4x4 S10, or something A LOT smaller with good mud tires and you'll go through twice as much mud as anybody in a Superduty, and probably do it without ever going into 4WD.

3) Diesels get better mileage, but at the cost of higher gas prices. It usually balances out even unless towing in which case the diesel usually gets better mileage the heavier the load gets.

4) Dont care what job you have, you cant afford to fix a diesel working part time in highschool if it requires work.

5) Buy it from whoever gives you the better deal.

6) Fast and Superduty dont go in the same sentence, they are WORK trucks, not race trucks.

7) Again, depends on what kind of off roading your are wanting to do. If its for play, there are A LOT better choices to chose from. Superduty's are not the best choice for off roading. You can get a nice off road vehicle for under 5K that was built do go off road and wont get you stuck in a 1 foot deep mud hole.

8) If you were my kid, and obviously your not, I would put you in a 4 door economy car that would reliably get you to and from college so that when you graduated fro college with a MEANINGFUL degree(engineering or petroleum), jobs would be searching for you and you could go buy your 75k truck without ever having to think about a single question you posted above.

 

Will you actually take any of our responses and consider them.. probably not. If you want a big truck in high school then get it. You will then learn weather or not it was a good or bad idea and thus the "learning from experience" will be in effect.

Would I let my son get one.. No.

To answer your questions.. If you wanted to atleast drive it before it breaks down too much I would get gas as a cheap diesel is never a good choice. Other than that, unless mom / dad will help you out with gas and repair costs, I would get an older nissan/toyota 4x4 if you want a truck.. A nissan 4x4 was my first and I had it for 13 years, reliable and more reasonable with gas. You can atleast take them off road and have some fun as they are light and small.

 

whats better for alot of off-road riding?

You don't provide your location, but a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gen Toyota 4Runner or pickup. If you're in Michigan maybe that won't fly, but look at what the guys around you are using to 'wheel, and I doubt it's a Super Duty. For mud and trail running you want light and tough - the Super Duty is just tough, not light.

 

What he said!!