| As long as you have the complete repair history and can see that the owner took care of the vehicle then I wouldn't have a problem purchasing one in good condition.
I bought used. I've run through several of the problems you'll read about in the forums but none of them were a material issue. Maintenance expense per year is about twice what my wife's '03 sport trac runs but not a bank breaker. About $500/10,000 miles. As long as you aren't stupid enough to take it to a dealer most of the issues are very minor expenses at an honest independent repair shop. Brakes are the worst I've seen <g>.
Gas mileage is supurb as long as you understand that you are buying a truck. It gets better mileage than any other full size truck I've owned (including 6cylinder models and diesels!). You'd have to drop down to the 4 cylinder mini-trucks to get better mileage. |