We need your help again please. That’s why we’re publishing this week’s Ask TFLtruck on Monday.
Every day we receive emails (like the one below) from our readers and viewers asking our advise on what new truck to purchase. Often we answer the emails on TFLtruck’s new forum HERE. But today we would love to gear from you and get your advise as well.
Geno recently sent us the email below asking if he should purchase a Ram Rebel for his son and himself:
I’m getting a truck for my 16 year old son and I will be sharing it with him for various duties/reasons. We like to go offloading and he will use it to drive to school, he is a Hockey/Football player. Probably a light weight truck that can still tow our Malibu 20 foot boat. I am 6’5 and 260 and he is supposed to even be my size. We go camping mountain biking, hunting, and on road trips a lot together. We live in suburbs of Denver and go to the mountains all year long. My father in law has a house in the mountains by Granby and we go there all summer pretty much. My wife just got the Tahoe fully loaded and the interior and all the features in that are awesome, I have heard the ram 1500 is great too especially the Rebel, but I am open to anything and prefer the off road package on it. Thanks. Any recommendations? This will be mainly his but I will use it too. I used to have a 1993 f150 and had to ditch it with all my kids. I now drive a 2011 GMC Yukon Denali XL. Please give recommendations. Thank you. Geno
My advice to you Geno would be to get any 5-10-year-old off-road worthy truck. Why used? Because 16-year-old is too young for a brand new truck in my opinion.
My first car was a Honda Civic CVCC and my dad purchased it new when I was 12-years-old knowing that I would drive it when I turned 16. Here’s a picture of me with that Civic.
As you can tell I upgraded the lights. I also punched a hole in the muffler with a screw driver to make it a bit more throaty. I must admit to this day I still feel bad because my dad kept taking the Civic back to Midas Mufflers and complaining about the quality of their muffles. Oops!
When my father bought the Honda Civic it was the cheapest new car you could buy in America. If I recall it was about $2500.00 new. Now that I look back, it was probably not a wise purchase for a speed-crazed teen.
One night in Illinois during an ice rain storm I slid the Civic into a Pontiac Grand Prix. I was a slow motion crash and by the time the passenger door struck the rear bumper of the Pontiac I must have only been traveling at about 5 MPH. Even at that slow speed the Civc’s passenger door crumbled like a wet Kleenex. I was lucky that I was alone in the car because a passenger would have been crushed.
Geno, my best advice is get your son something older and safe. If you get him a brand new Ram Rebel, he’ll have no place to go but down in his truck purchases for the rest of his life. There are plenty of safe and reliable 5-10 year-old-trucks on Craig’s list. Make it a father and son search and have some fun buying the best truck. Hell, let your son find the used trucks and you guys can have hours of fun test driving all of the different models.
I’m sure our readers will have great suggestions as well. Please help Geno in the comments below.
Thanks!
