First truck for son - age vs mileage

Is that him in the car seat in the background?

 

I’ll disagree. I’m young and have had 11 cars - Owned a 500hp Subaru at 17 years old. Glad I was mature enough to he responsible with that much power; most kids would kill themselves or someone else.

Anyways, I think that’s a little high of a budget on the first car. I’d aim for a clean 1st gen or a cheaper 2nd gen. Shop for single and access cabs - Gives him more room in the bed lol.

Those two options you listed are not worth it. Stay away from 05 and 06 (unless it’s build date is August 06 or past).

 

No, that’s a brand new baby girl. I have them ranging form 23 years old to brand new.

 

Damn! That is quite a range.



My hat is off to you!

 

I'll vote for your son getting a Toyota pickup as his first ride. My first ride was a 1991 AC V6 4x4 MT handed down to me by my stepdad. When I think about it now that was equivalent to me getting a 2011 Tacoma today so I consider myself very lucky. So no advice from me just props to starting him off right with a Tacoma!

 

OP, I would go with the 2008 with 120k miles and have extra cash as an emergency fund. 2015 with a whopping 200k miles with an unknown maintenance history is likely to have mechanical/suspension issues in the near future.
I prefer to go with mechanical vs cosmetic all day long on a vehicle since a broken down vehicle that looks pretty doesn't do me no good. In theory, having a kid learn fix his own vehicle is great but I would prefer to have a vehicle that's in better shape mechanically to have him learn the simple maintenance(fluids) and graduate into more complex repairs(suspension,bolt on engine parts, etc..) down the road once things start failing.