At what point are you trading up?

OffTheAir · December 31, 2022

I have a 2014 Sierra that's been in the family since new, with it being passed down to me in 2016. I will admit, there are times here and there where I think about trading, but then I sit there and think about just how irrational of a decision that would be, and how I might regret it.

I really enjoy not having to have car payments. And there is no denying it, the new trucks out there are really nice, but they're just not something that I envision myself in the driver's seat of. The mid-sized offerings out there fit my lifestyle better, but does it really make sense to trade in my 1500 and then dish out thousands for something with less capability?

It's been mentioned already on this thread, but I really just absolutely adore how simple my truck is. Easy-to-use buttons for everything, no distractions on the dash, a basic touch screen that just plays music. I just do not like extra complexities that will distract me from driving. Additionally, I've gotten to know a lot about the truck from what goes wrong to how to fix it. I also still really adore the styling. I think modern trucks are heading towards a more unconventional approach to styling, which great! But I really love the classic pickup truck look, and I think the K2s are the last to kind of carry that.

Yeah, going to the pump sucks, and I get frustrated with the rust progression on my truck despite my back-aching efforts to prevent it (thanks Michigan), but as far as overall mechanical and exterior condition, it has help up splendidly. I just can't justify getting rid of it when there's nothing wrong with it, you know?

NWI Denali · December 31, 2022

8yrs/100k, whichever comes first, seems to be the sweet spot for trading vehicles before the value really plummets

NWI Denali · December 31, 2022

9 hours ago, Joe98 said:

Hello Everyone, I had the pleasure of owning a 2018 Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate with the 6.2 engine for just over 2 years. Absolutely the best vehicle I’ve ever owned. I’m in Canada, and the fuel prices got stupid crazy about 1.5 years ago so I ended up selling the truck. I now regret that decision every day. If you’re truck isn’t giving you any serious problems or issue’s….Keep it. Up here a new fully loaded out Denali or AT4 lists for over $100 grand easily . It’s insane…….

I just don't get scenarios like this. So you can afford a $60k truck, but you can't afford a couple hundred bucks more a month or year in gas? Just doesn't make sense to me. It's like the same thing as people who buy a second vehicle to offset fuel prices. But not taking into account the added insurance, maintenance, taxes, upfront purchase cost, etc, it's usually a wash. Shrug

15 Z71 · January 2, 2023

I thought about trading mine on a new one until I found out 2019 and newer won't fit in my garage. Mine is a 15 gmc sierra sle double cab z71. Been a great truck no major issues and I'm at 103,000. Just keeping it for now. Don't want to park outside after parking in a garage for 17 years. So don't really know what I will do down the road.

Grumpy Bear · January 3, 2023

Think I'll keep her

7 years, 9 months, 26 days ago on a Sunday Pepper was built. She now has 163,500 trouble free miles on her. This photo was snapped a few months ago at the start of leaf turn. Interior is flawless as is under hood and under body. Body is rust, dent and scratch free. Quite as the day it was built. Shifts flawlessly. Holds an alignment like nothing I've ever owned. Easy on all parts. OEM brakes. OEM battery. One set of tires. Under $50 in 'repair' parts.

Facts are that they no longer:

1..) make a 6.5 foot bed, 119" wheelbase single cab,

2.) offer a Flex Fuel option

3.) have ditched the best and most powerful V6 they ever built.

4.) I don't need a PhD to work on it

5.) Gets car like fuel economy even on E-85.

6.) Was paid for the day I bought it and is insurance cheap.

I put gas in it, maintain it, drive it.

Not for sale. Not for trade. Not for noth'n.

Give her a bath and call it new.

Z45 · January 3, 2023

Likely only when the offer Employee Pricing to all. My last 3 trucks were purchased during that sale event, from stock.

midwestdenaliguy · January 3, 2023

I'll be keeping mine 'til she dies. 2016 Sierra Denali with 170k miles. She's had the most work done to a vehicle I've owned, but GM kept me as a customer because they covered all the repairs even when I was outside of warranty coverage. Entire top end of my 6.2L was rebuilt around 75k miles due to bad heads leaking coolant into the engine. Also had the TCC and transmission temp sensor replaced. Figured as much has been repaired in the last 100k miles by GM she should last well beyond 200k miles. I keep up with all maintenance on my own, so I know all that has been done right.

I plan on buying a Wrangler this year as a fun family vehicle, so trading up my K2 and keeping all the bells and whistles of my Denali would be out of the question because prices are so high for the latest gen. My money will go into a new Wrangler. I rebuilt one a few years ago but sold it and have regretted it ever since. Looking forward to top down drives with the wife and kids (and occasional off-roading with buddies)!

16LT4 · January 4, 2023

At the end of '16, I bought a '17 Z71, and hated it so much, accepted the loss when I traded it 6 months and 12k miles later for a '14 Ram Laramie. The Chevy had the Chevy Chuggle, the Shakes, and the tailgate never released properly because the ends of the bed weren't square. And, as it turned out, I did want the extra cab space of a crew cab over the extra 9" of bed space that I thought I didn't when I bought the truck. And to make matters worse, I sold my cherished '08 BMW after having convinced myself I no longer needed an extra vehicle.

Enter the Ram in May '17. Beautiful truck, drove great, but did have the shakes as well. A lead F-C tech told me it was because the frames are made too strong these days, so the slightest road imperfections generate chassis harmonics that reverberate through the cab (picture a tight, plucked high E guitar string vs. a loose low E string), and was an issue more inherent to the crew cabs than the extra cabs. Other than that, though, the truck was by far the nicest driving, riding, and using truck I've ever owned/driven.

So, that got sold back to the dealer, at which point I bought my uncle's '04 F150 FX4 with 140k miles in December '17. While I liked the truck, I was constantly under or in it, including pulling the cams and oil pan to fix the usual 5.4 3v timing issues. I sold it after 15k miles for more than I bought it for in June '19. The best part, is that selling the Ram and buying the Ford freed up some money to re-purchase the '08 BMW back, which I did in Feb. '18, with 136k miles; it now has 195k miles and counting, and won't be leaving my ownership.

Enter the '16 CCSB that I currently have in May '19, and plan to keep for quite a while. I know it reasonably well, I trust it, and have no qualms about it. It has honest gauges; I adamantly do not want electronic screens with gauge animations, I want actual gauges if I'll be looking at them. It's taken us from NY-OBX, and NY-FL Keys many times, is rides great (not Ram great, but great nonetheless), and isn't offensive when I fuel it. The devil I know is better than the devil I don't. My wife drives a '21 Pacifica; I'll keep driving progressively older junk. Once the kids are out of daycare and I'm not having to drop off/pickup every day, my '70 VW will become my daily driver, so I clearly put little need in to such trivial things as technology, comfort, AC, or stereo systems. I also have an '84 GMC that is currently in my garage for a new distributor, timing chain/sprockets, carb rebuild, clutch, u joints, CSB, and just some general love; it's taken not much more than fuel, spark plugs and oil in nearly 40 years, so a couple hundred bucks now is more than OK.

I received a call from the dealer a few weeks ago, offering $30k for my 105k mile '16, but I'd have to replace it, and I'm not interested in that. I'll replace it when the frame cracks and the truck folds in half.

Edited January 7, 2023 by 16LT4

NWI Denali · January 4, 2023

2 hours ago, 16LT4 said:

At the end of '16, I bought a '17 Z71, and hated it so much, accepted the loss when I traded it 6 months and 12k miles later for a '14 Ram Laramie. The Chevy had the Chevy Chuggle, the Shakes, and the tailgate never released properly because the ends of the bed weren't square. And, as it turned out, I did want the extra cab space of a crew cab over the extra 9" of bed space that I thought I didn't when I bought the truck. And to make matters worse, I sold my cherished '08 BMW after having convinced myself I no longer needed an extra vehicle.

Enter the Ram in May '17. Beautiful truck, drove great, but did have the shakes as well. A lead F-C tech told me it was because the frames are made too strong these days, so the slightest road imperfections generate chassis harmonics that reverberate through the cab (picture a tight, plucked high E guitar string vs. a loose low E string), and was an issue more inherent to the crew cabs than the extra cabs. Other than that, though, the truck was by far the nicest driving, riding, and using truck I've ever owned/driven.

So, that got sold back to the dealer, at which point I bought my uncle's '04 F150 FX4 with 140k miles in December '17. While I liked the truck, I was constantly under or in it, including pulling the cams and oil pan to fix the usual 5.4 3v timing issues. I sold it after 15k miles for more than I bought it for in June '19. The best part, is that selling the Ram and buying the Ford freed up some money to re-purchase the '08 BMW back, which I did in Feb. '18, with 136k miles; it now has 195k miles and counting, and won't be leaving my ownership.

Enter the '16 CCSB that I currently have in May '19, and plan to keep for quite a while. I know it reasonably well, I trust it, and have no qualms about it. It has honest gauges; I adamantly do not want electronic screens with gauge animations, I want actual gauges if I'll be looking at them. It's taken us from NY-OBX, and NY-FL Keys many times, is rides great (not Ram great, but great nonetheless), and isn't offensive when I fuel it. The devil I know is better than the devil I don't. My wife drives a '21 Pacifica; I'll keep driving progressively older junk. Once the kids are out of daycare and I'm not having to drop off/pickup every day, my '70 VW will become my daily driver, so I clearly put little need in to such trivial things as technology, comfort, AC, or stereo systems. I also have an '84 GMC that is currently in my garage for a new distributor, timing chain/sprockets, carb rebuild, and just some general love; it's taken not much more than fuel, spark plugs and oil in nearly 40 years, so a couple hundred bucks now is more than OK.

I received a call from the dealer a few weeks ago, offering $30k for my 105k mile '16, but I'd have to replace it, and I'm not interested in that. I'll replace it when the frame cracks and the truck folds in half.

I love that 04-08 body style ford. Too bad those 3v motors were absolute junk

16LT4 · January 6, 2023

I agree the 3v engines have shortcomings, but as long as one realizes the ultimate root causes of engine failures and corrects them, rather than trying to correct symptoms, they’re actually not a bad engine (but not as solid as the 2v engines). Mine went 150k miles before I needed to pull the cams, change phasers, chains, guides, lifters, rockers, tensioners, and oil pump with upgraded parts (much like OE with the GM trucks, use ONLY Ford parts on those); do the job properly and it’s good for at least another 150k miles. I’m not envisioning my K2 ever having cam or lifter issues, but I’d probably rather do a timing job on the 5.4 than deal with wiped cam, lifters, HP fuel lines, etc. of these engines, but that’s just me.

My larger complaints with the truck were 1) the fuel pump control module being located above the rear axle and being encased in a sacrificial metal (the case rots open due to galvanics, killing the fuel pump) 2) Ford’s 4x4 defaulting to 4x4 ON when vacuum is lost, rather than OFF; this partially engages the front hubs, killing them, and one needs to carefully torque the axle nut to ensure proper disengagement. One can only free-spin the front wheels by hand with the engine running; engine off, the hubs are engaged. The diaphragms of the IWEs themselves crack, losing vacuum, and causing partial engagement. 3) boxed frame holds water (like they all do) and I was going to need to weld in a 1/8” plate at one spot 4) I’d already cut out, repaired and painted both rear fenders to repair rust 5) with a 4 speed, the 5.4 was thirsty on the highway; a 6 speed or more is nicer towing, not needing the engine to scream when dropping a gear 6) it was getting too old for me to trust on non-stop drives NY-FL. The truck lived most of its life towing a 10k lb camper on the ocean beach, and lived a few hundred feet from the salt water's edge, so if it wasn't getting hit by salt on winter roads, it lived it during its free time in the summer too.

I do miss it, and if it only needed to live locally, or if we’d already bought the van (and not still had the Jetta it replaced) I’d still have the truck. It definitely drove more “trucklike” (a highly scientific, quantitative description) than the K2.

Edited January 7, 2023 by 16LT4

KARNUT · January 6, 2023

I had two of those engines. One I put a super charger on. I used Amsoil and knew how to deal with the spark plugs. One I traded at 140K for a two door Tahoe. It was a costumer I saw it for years later. He needed a 4x4 truck I wanted the 2 door Tahoe. I and he never had a problem with the engine.

Drew Hager · January 7, 2023

plan on keeping my truck for as long as I can too.

16LT4 · January 7, 2023

21 hours ago, KARNUT said:

I had two of those engines. One I put a super charger on. I used Amsoil and knew how to deal with the spark plugs. One I traded at 140K for a two door Tahoe. It was a costumer I saw it for years later. He needed a 4x4 truck I wanted the 2 door Tahoe. I and he never had a problem with the engine.

What years?

KARNUT · January 7, 2023

1 hour ago, 16LT4 said:

What years?

A 1999 XLT sport I bought new. I put a Super Charger on. A 98 XLT lariat I bought used that I later traded for a 2 door Tahoe. The new one used 1 qt of oil from new every 2500 miles. Never changed through 140K miles. Both used Amsoil change every 25K miles. I usually drove 50-60k miles a year. I did most of my working life. Even retired I’m driving 25K miles a year.

16LT4 · January 8, 2023

11 hours ago, KARNUT said:

A 1999 XLT sport I bought new. I put a Super Charger on. A 98 XLT lariat I bought used that I later traded for a 2 door Tahoe. The new one used 1 qt of oil from new every 2500 miles. Never changed through 140K miles. Both used Amsoil change every 25K miles. I usually drove 50-60k miles a year. I did most of my working life. Even retired I’m driving 25K miles a year.

Different engines. The 2v Modulars are bulletproof (aside from spitting their spark plugs); it’s the 5.4 3v engine that was introduced in the 11th Gen ‘04 F150 (the 4.6 3v didn’t make its way into the 11th Gen for a few more years IIRC) was a much different animal, with an extra valve per cylinder, variable valve timing, a variable-length intake manifold, and their Achilles heal: rubber-sealed hydraulic chain tensioners. The 2v engines used non-hydraulic ratcheting tensioners.