Your expectations keep changing as this post goes on. First it was a beater truck and now looks like your willing to open your billfold a little more, which is good!
In 2007 I was pricing Dodge 4 door Cummins here in Ohio and everything I found in my price range was late 90's models with a quarter million miles and rust. I gave up and started searching Ebay and found that Dodges are cheaper in Texas. I bought my 2005 with 78 thousand miles for 18K! The same price that high mileage '99 and 2000 models were going for here. It originally sold new in California.
My expectations are always changing. Take for instance my stroked vs. supercharger thread for my Dart that went back and forth for a month. I'm a guy that tries to see all sides of the dice before he rolls. I like to take into consideration everyone's opinion. Once I make the final decision and commit to it I'm generally happy with my choice because I've researched my options and have thought about it for a long time.
To be honest, I've always liked the idea of having a truck, but no one in my family has ever owned a truck. Even all of my siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. If not a car, all of them have had vans or SUV's because that's what got the job done for them. However, they had fairly light SUV's and never needed to tow a vehicle which I plan on doing in the future.
