What do you have and also, what do I need to know when helping her look?

She is 16 and she is interested in an F-150, super crew, no older than 2017 and preferably with less than 100,000 miles. 4x4, Lariat trim at least, and a full short bed if she can find it. We use our trucks for work and life around the ranch and the full short bed is handy. It is not a deal breaker though. Her color preference is "not white". As you know, I do nearly 100% of all of our repairs and maintenance, and I am quite versed in 6.0 diesel, 7.3 diesel, 2002 5.4 and 2013 5.4, and old 351's.. I am NOT versed or knowledgably in newer vehicles. My gut says to avoid anything with eco in the name and get a 5.0 and be happy. But there are a lot of options if the 3.5 is thrown into the possibilities.

She is going to pay for it herself, cash most likely, but that puts a lot of pressure on me to make sure she finds something that's not a steaming piece of junk that takes a dump the second she brings it home. I hate dealing with salesman or these sideshow car dealerships because everything is 'a deal'.

What do I need to know about 2017 or newer Eco Boosts? What about the 5.0? What do I need to check for? Is 100,000 miles too much on one of these?

Ford offered a really short bed truck in 4 door models that had something like 5.5' bed AND a more traditional short bed (6' nominal length) that's something like 6.5'. I am sure those lengths vary with body styles in recent years - but that's the jest of it. There are different length short beds.

2017 F150 is what you're looking for, no 10 speed issues. 2018-2020 5.0 commonly has oil consumption issues

The short bed (5.5) is going to be much easier to find then a long bed (6.5). If you go with an Eco boost 2017-2019 ask if the cam phasers have been fixed. If you have any questions I'm happy to help, contact in profile or reach out to 1ags.

My first truck was a maroon 1996 Chevrolet.

https://texags.com/forums/50/topics/3506447

Raise that girl right and buy my 89 F150, inline 6 4x4 manual. She'll be the envy of her friends.

Spoony Love said:

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Raise that girl right and buy my 89 F150, inline 6 4x4 manual. She'll be the envy of her friends.

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She won't be down for a bricknose.

But...I am not my daughter, you got pics? I had an '85 F150, one gen older than yours, with an I6 4.9. It was a pig but I wish I still had it.

My first truck was a red '85 F-150, single cab, long bed. It was given to me by my great-grandfather. Good times in that thing.

My truck that I just recently listed for sale here meets all of your criteria except for the mileage. Even has the 6.5ft bed! Take a look and I would love to talk to you more if you're interested.


https://texags.com/forums/50/topics/3506215

Most of us only dreamed of being able to do that when we were 16.

BrazosDog02 said:

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Complete Idiot said:

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Good luck with the search, but I'm only curious how a 16 year old can pay $20K cash for a vehicle. Amazing yard care business? Successful gambler? Prize winnings?

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Fortunately, they learned a lot about how to work from an early age and how to save and invest. We live a rural lifestyle and they have been working since they were able to be useful. Buying/selling cattle, livestock, making home goods, odd jobs whenever and however they could be managed, etc, etc. They have their fingers in a lot of things.

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Nice, impressive. I did yard work and babysitting starting age 10, started working in restaurants age 13 (for cash, illegally - not sure that would fly today). I had nowhere near the equivalent of $20K cash (sadly, just $8k back in the late 80's) even after that. Probably due to having a tropical fish hobby when young, then baseball cards, and later a girlfriend.

Rather than having her put all that hard earned money into a depreciating asset, did yall consider helping her get the lowest rate loan you can find and encouraging her to put some into a S&P 500 index, or something similar? Or maybe buying something cheaper, but reliable, with cash and putting the rest into an investment account? Maybe she has $50K or more socked away and this is just half or less of the egg, and Dave Ramsey always insists to buy cars with cash so I know there are other viewpoints.