Well I live in Minnesota and we get about the same weather all yr as you do. BUT!! If you can make it tru the Iowa winters in a car. GO for it. I did that last yr. 1st time in many yrs I didn't have a truck and it turned out ok. You learn to live with it. No such thing as a straight trade. They will want something for paper work or some stupied fee. make sure you check out the car thru & thru. get a car fax on it. Check for leaks after a text drive. And listen for a noise while driving and check out the belts and tires. Let us know what you do. Rick

 

i'd keep the truck. you've already got the monte that'll get good fuel milage, sure that GP is nice but reallly you'd just be buying the same car as your monte, the truck's more usefull overall. if you don't wanna run your monte in the winter, it would be better to find a cheap 5th gen monte for, oh lets say $1200, and run the crap outta that. insurance is cheap, great fuel milage, and you get to keep your truck.

 

i say go for it, it looks like a pretty well kept up car.

 

i know you already said something about small trucks, but i'd be looking into that dakota in the background of the GP picture. Montes are basically the same as the GP so it'd be like you have 2 of the same car, whereas that blue dakota seems to be around your price range, and you've still got the truck for ground clearance/hauling purposes. Even if it's not 4x4, the clearance alone will help with alot of winter issues. I know you aren't high on small trucks but that's my $.02.

 

Man. I def miss my truck when it comes time for needing to haul something. You never know when that time will be until its here. I also agree with Jester. Check out that dakota. Odds are you wont be sending much if any on difference.

 

Well I went to the dealers today and looked at teh 01 Grand Prix and a 04 Dodge Ram. The grand prix was in great shape good tires and custom rims (didn't get the brand) and the interior was clean, paint was great no scratches that I saw, the only flaw I saw was the black insert in the front bumper was cracked in the middle, the 04 ram was a four door with 134k 4x4 come with a new deep toolbox, but the tires were getting down there, it has one small ping in the tail gate that was starting to rust and a dime size spot of rust starting on the bumper, had 2 scratches I saw nothing bad, and a ding here and there overall was not too bad its on his lot for 9k and he said my truck on trade he would give $5,900 for and he'd come down to $7,900 on the truck. Didnt drive anything yet told him I'd take some time to think it over, since I made it seem like I was more interested in the truck I was thinking he'd offer me a higher price than if I was acting Like i wanted the GP more and he did $5,900 which is what hes asking for the GP. Ik most say straight trades are hard to come by but believe it or not my friend traded in his GP there on a civic last year and the guy actually gave him a check for $1200 because his GP was worth more lol, he has 2 Dakotas both 4x4 a blue sport and a maroon SLT the sport has 169k and the maroon SLT has 149k and on the SLT he is asking $7,300 so I may as well go the full size route If i was gunna go with that, lol thanks for all the input I'll keep it updated

 

oops missed some comments from ya guys, 77GP, totally agree I would miss the truck when it comes time to move to a new place or hauling anything in the bed, furniture etc etc, and Skylark65: I totally was thinking about getting a cheap 5 speed or just a sunfire or cougar to save on gas but that'd bump me up to 3 vehicles and parking space is a huge issue in the apartment where I'm at, plus for the money I pay for a clunker I could use to upgrade the monte but its totally an option I'm giving some thought, thanks for all the input guys

 

not to mention if you like your truck, you'd be going from a dodge to a dodge. Probably pretty close in model years too...

 

i can understand parking being an issue, if that's the case mabe you should stick with what you've got, as long as the truck has no mechanical issues. that '04 ram is a pretty nice deal though, for an extended cab truck, and if it's got the 5.7 hemi, those trucks haul *** but not great on fuel... you'd probibly be looking at 14 MPG maximum with that truck.

i can't remember, is your red dodge a regular cab shortbed 4x4? and does it have the 318 or the 360?

 

Yes its a great deal on the truck most around here like that are 12k, makes me happy to have been dealing with him for years to get a good deal. My trucks an 01 and its extended cab, lots of minor things wrong, got a little rust on the bottom of the passenger door, the ext. cab doors are both gutted so they dont work, the coolant reserve bottle seems to be always going low but the radiator stays full cant find a leak and had it looked at 3 times and was told by 3 shops that its not burinign oil or coolant. and it gets 10.3 mpg average maybe 10.5 I have a hub assembly going bad and the tie rods are starting to go too, the dodge im looking at is the new body style new interior style 04 ram I think its a 4.7 v8 but could be wrong and its a four door and has minor cosmetic issues only thing I hate is it'll need tires by probably next winter maybe a few months before that