Welp, I ended up stopping at a dealer in the neighboring town today just poking around. They had a 2015 Ford F-150 XLT 2.7L EcoBoost on the lot. 64K miles, one-owner local trade. Bought it from them new, had all the service done there, and traded out of it.

I took it for a spin while they checked over the Equinox. I sat down with the guy and he shot me straight: $32,995 on the F150, and they would give me $12,000 (that’s twelve thousand American dollars) for the Equinox. I was stoked about that.

After tax, title, license and fees, it was about $22,850 to drive the Ford off the lot. Told him I was hoping to get closer to $20K financed and he got down to $22K on the road. Local rates were good, 2.99% for 48 months. I plan to pay it off in 36.

The options on this truck are pretty much exactly what I was after as far as the infotainment, heated seats, etc. and in 4 years, I will probably have around 115K miles on it.

I was really impressed with the salesman (he was actually the sales manager) I dealt with. Zero bullshit, no games where he tried to get me into a certain monthly payment, no add-on frills. Our negotiation was legitimately 5 minutes. Glad to be done with the Equinox and into something more solid.

congrats, I think you did yourself proud. I like to see young American's buy pickups. Every man needs a pickup. Even some girls need one. Great job!

I think those are sharp looking trucks. How does the power feel with that Eco-boost?

Nice looking truck!

"Ford" introduced the first factory option parts for the pick-up over 100 years ago. The should understand how to do it.

The new Tundra would be a solid investment but they're not going to budge from the msrp and most likely it'll be thousands over the msrp.

That is a great looking truck and you made a heck of a deal. Congratulations!

Very nice truck, and sounds like a solid deal (especially in this day and age). No, really, nice wheels!

When I read the OP’s comments the first thought that came into my head was get an F-150 with the 2.7 engine. My older son had one (until someone t boned him) and it was great and got decent mileage to boot.

Congrats on a well bought truck and trade in.

Cool!

Even came with decent tires, four wheel drive, and a tonneau.

Shave the emblems and you're all set.

Curious, how did you get into an Equinox in the first place?

What did you cross shop it with, and what was the deciding factor? Maybe brand loyalty?

Sometimes I see cars and I just kinda scratch my head as to why anyone would buy it over it's competitors. A legitimate, "I wonder why anyone would buy that? There are so many better cars out there for the money..."

That's a great looking truck. 4X4 as well. I'm also partial to gray vehicles. I've had 3 Tacomas, and one 4Runner, all some sort of gray. You should be able to get minimum 150K - 175k miles, probably more without major issues. Tires, shocks, battery, tune ups, oil changes, alignment and maybe exhaust if you drive on salted roads could come into play. All normal maintenance items. Enjoy your new ride!

I think you did very well. Go build a new one on the Ford web site and be amazed at current prices.

I have a 2016 F150 XLT with the V8. At 55K miles, it has only needed oil changes but two recalls for seatbelts and something else. It gets around 20-23 MPG and more on road trips.

Mine has the aluminum body, which is nice.

Enjoy.

Congrats
I had a 2016 XLT 2.7 EcoBoost
Never had any drivetrain problems with it, but had a persistent squeak/rattle form the panoramic sunroof that the dealer couldn't get fixed after 4 tips in.
Sounds like a pretty good deal for the truck & mileage.

Looks like a 302A package truck, if I'm remembering the XLT trim correctly, so top level on the XLT.
Only major difference between the 15 & 16 is the radio.
2015 used the older Sync2 (which I have in our Flex)
2016 used Sync3

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Curious, how did you get into an Equinox in the first place?

What did you cross shop it with, and what was the deciding factor? Maybe brand loyalty?

Sometimes I see cars and I just kinda scratch my head as to why anyone would buy it over it's competitors. A legitimate, "I wonder why anyone would buy that? There are so many better cars out there for the money..."

Maybe they were all out of Aztecs.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Curious, how did you get into an Equinox in the first place?

What did you cross shop it with, and what was the deciding factor? Maybe brand loyalty?

Sometimes I see cars and I just kinda scratch my head as to why anyone would buy it over it's competitors. A legitimate, "I wonder why anyone would buy that? There are so many better cars out there for the money..."

Maybe they were all out of Aztecs.

I laughed out loud at this. Thanks for that!

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
Curious, how did you get into an Equinox in the first place?

What did you cross shop it with, and what was the deciding factor? Maybe brand loyalty?

Sometimes I see cars and I just kinda scratch my head as to why anyone would buy it over it's competitors. A legitimate, "I wonder why anyone would buy that? There are so many better cars out there for the money..."

Well, in 2015, I was 22 and fresh out of the police academy and making decent money so I bought a brand new Mazda 3. It was actually a really nice car and I enjoyed driving it, but it was small, and my wife had (and still has) a Malibu so we had nothing capable of hauling anything of decent size, which wasn’t a problem because we didn’t have much in the way of space.

In 2017 we had moved and were living in a townhome. We decided a small SUV was more practical than my little car, so I traded it. Wife always had good luck with her Chevy, as did her dad. I grew up without any real brand loyalty but I thought the Equinox probably fit the bill. In hindsight, a RAV4 or CRV would have been the right choice, but the Equinox was cheaper, it only had 14K miles, and it was there:

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good car for me. I drove the balls off it (105K miles in 4.5 years) and it was largely problem free, and it was paid off. But I guess I’ll say at 24 with little experience buying cars, I didn’t really know a lot better.

Ya' done good.
I'd have gone a different way, but you made a wise choice and got a fair deal.

quote:

Originally posted by Revolution37:

Don’t get me wrong, it was a good car for me. I drove the balls off it (105K miles in 4.5 years) and it was largely problem free, and it was paid off. But I guess I’ll say at 24 with little experience buying cars, I didn’t really know a lot better.

Thanks for the detail. I appreciate it.

It's one of those things you want to know, but can't really ask someone who currently has one without being rude.

There are many, many things to complain about living in California...but having plentiful clean, rust free, used cars to pick from is not one of them.

Nice truck, by the way!

That 2.7 ecoboost is quick. Enjoy that F150.

Just be aware that Ecoboost motor will cost, guessing, 14-16,000 dollars to replace. Ford will probably specify a 15,000 mile oil change interval because they like selling high dollar engines to suckers who fall for that. So just ignore that 15,000 mile recommendation and get your oil changed every 5000 miles, this will ensure your engine lasts a long time. Also be aware that it's an engine with cam phasers and a timing chain or belt with a 150,000 mile lifespan. So start shoving a 20 in a jar every week to provide cash for a Major service at 120,000 miles to replace items like the timing belts, water pumps, and clutches in the transmission.

IIRC the 2.7 recommended 10k miles oil changes.
I did mine between 5000-7500 because I was towing a heavyish (more of a sail) cargo trailer on occasion.