An independent dealer that mostly sells used trucks has one that looks really nice (supercrew, Lariat, nice wheels and tires, nice paint, etc.) and they are asking $13,000 for it. It has the 5.0 engine.

I wouldn't pay 13. But if I could talk them down closer to 10, would this be a good buy? Unknown maintenance history sadly. I hear some people saying the 5.0 is a very reliable engine, and others talking about early ones having lots of issues. But at 225,000 miles assuming it runs perfectly and doesn't make any startup or other unusual noises, that leads me to believe it was taken care of.

How much of a gamble would this be? Anything I can check if I look at it in person to get an idea of how healthy the engine is?

Also, how reliable are the transmissions and 4x4 components on these trucks?

If I have $15k at most to spend on a truck and want a supercrew 4x4, what's going to be the most truck for the money? I'd prefer to stay closer to $10k if possible. Am I better off looking at older trucks with less miles?

 

Ask to have it inspected at a 3rd party mechanic shop or dealer. With no service history anything is possible.

 

Oil sample the engine and trans before purchase.
Easy to do.
May cost a bit up front but then you know if anything is going terrible bad before purchase.

 

I ran a Carfax on it and it looks like it's had pretty regular service at Ford dealers all of its life. Transmission leadframe recall done. One transmission flush. Oil changes every 8,000 miles roughly - is that what's recommended? I would never go that long personally.

 

since you asked, I wouldn't pay 13 or anything even close to that. With that said, I'd also ask myself what would be its use. I've had vehicles with 200k miles, which may be fine for local driving, to/from the store/work. But for highway trips, 200k miles scare me. I get the fact that any vehicle can breakdown at any time and any miles, but I have family/friends in various areas of the county, in one case 25 drive hours away. 200k miles scare me for long road trips.

ive got 3 grown children, I've tried to teach them that once a vehicle reaches 150-175k miles, it shouldn't be their primary family vehicle.

and, I never go over 5k miles on an oil change, generally closer to 4K miles.

 

Just me. I would not pay over 5k for it. I have a GMC with 265k. But I got it cheap.