Your data states that both cars have the same resale value, $5000, based on kbb. Are you looking for a different car value webiste to compare to Kelly?

Both cars are 10 years old--be very careful, IMOP. Both get poor gas mileage compared to what you can get now. If you aren't going to keep it, then why not just rent and forget it. This way you don't have to worry about breaking down, etc.

You would be able to move/haul a lot more in the Ram than the Rodeo.

Are you going to move a lot of stuff from LA to NY? The Ram will carry a lot more and could also pull a larger cargo trailer. Knowing the owner is a little safer than the craigslist ad.
Why rush the purchase if the trip is not until September?
Could you lease a vehicle? You could also look on Ebay Motors to see what similar vehicles are selling for.

I doubt that this is a legitimate question. But in the event the OP is for real, I'd suggest googling some car/truck forums and posing the question there. It's not really a travel question for Fodors, but question better suited to a car/truck forum.

If OP has questions about what to see along the way, fire away with those questions.

Isn;t the first a truck?

Don;t know what the second is.

If one is a truck I would be concerend aout hauling htings cross-country. Does the backlock? How will you keep things secure?

Separately, if you are going to try to resell the vehicle in NY - I can;t imagine that will be easy in NYC. We don;t do trucks here and I would think the market would be very limited. If you are selling out in the country it might be OK.

Agree that I would rent a car - and if you need to bring a few things with you get a small U-haul trailer.

The crew cab truck is going to be longer which might pose some difficulty in certain parking spaces. You probably could not do angle in parking on a downtown main street, for example. I agree that you should have some way to secure items in the back of the truck if you are hauling anything. If it has a cap, keep in mind the cap makes it difficult to see behind you and your visibility is also restricted at stop signs when an intersection is angled.

I live in NH. DS drives a 4x4 quad cab because he needs it for work and he needed something the family could ride in when they haul a camper on vacations. Even though we are in a rural area, this kind of truck is not popular. You would probably have an easier time selling the Rodeo.

I do not agree with renting a car to haul a trailer if you aren't used to hauling trailers. This would be even more restrictive for parking places even at a grocery store. Any high winds can grab the trailer making it sway. Improper driving techniques can have you end up rolled over.

I vote for the Rodeo. It will probably be more comfortable for passengers. You really need to check the leg room in the back seat of both vehicles assuming you have people in the backseat.

And just WHERE in the original post was anything said about hauling things? Two questions were asked: the best vehicle for driving across the country; the one with the best resale value.

Good luck getting parts for the Isuzu in some Backwater Town, USA. (My FIL had an Isuzu)

Mark

I have a 2002 Isuzu Rodeo. It is a piece of sh!t. Isuzus are discontinued, so as cdnyul said, it's tougher to get parts in case of problems. I just had to replace my transmission last month - $2,600. I don't know anything about Dodge Rams, but at least they're domestic.

<<<I vote for the Rodeo. It will probably be more comfortable for passengers.>>>

Not really - it rides like the truck it is. My son had a 2000 Isuzu Rodeo, and did drive it across country a couple of years ago. Fortunately, it did fine, but I'm glad I wasn't a passenger. He sold it this past year in the DC area, and good riddance (but it was a very good and useful car while we had it).

If this is just a drive cross country - and not hauling things with them - why is the OP looking at trucks instead of cars?

Not sure where in NY the OP is ending up - but here people drive cars - and trucks are very rare except in very rural areas or a place where something special is needed. I imagine it would be very difficult to resell a truck in this area - esp one so old.

If it were me I would look - depending n how many people they have - for a decent used Accord or Camry - which you can resell in about 30 minutes.

I'm sure the OP has to haul things - they're looking at trucks/SUVs and they're moving across country -- makes total sense. As for reselling, while I wouldn't buy one now, there's plenty of people out there (not in NYC, but certainly in the environs) who will buy a cheap car as long as it's still running. As I said, we sold a 2000 Isuzu Rodeo just this year.

Whoa! Thank you very much for all these answer.
Actually, if we chose to buy the rodeo, we will probably have to change the transmission. So thanks SusanM for these precious information...
We want to buy it know because we really enjoy visiting national parks and we want to enjoy the fact to have a truck to do backcountry trips before leaving California.
The price to rent a car to cross the country is really expensive so we're not going to do that.
And yes, we want to buy a big car to be able to move our stuff in NY.
So based on all your comments, we are going to chose the Ram.

Thanks again! That helps a lot!

So our idea is to cross the country with our stuff to move close to NYC. So we would like to have a chance to see a lot of interesting things during our trip but in the same time, it's not a vacation trip, so we would like to do this journey in about 9-10 days.
What is the best way according you from a trip from LA to NY. We already visited most of the national parks in California and Utah and also Yellowstone and Grand Canyon so we are looking for new places.

Dodge vehicles are made much better, in general, than Isuzu.

Good choice on the Dodge even though you don't "need" to have it for a few months.
Your first choice as to your route will come in Barstow. Taking I-15 will take you through a lot of country you have already been through. If you take I-40 you will go through Oklahoma and Tennessee. The Great Smokies NP in eastern TN might be worth a day out of your schedule.
I wouldn't want to drive a truck through Chicago on the northern route.
The other thing to consider is that the smallest U-Haul trucks are only $19.95/day rental and you can drop them where you move to.

Thanks tomfuller for these advices.
I know about the small U-Haul truck but this price doesn't take into account the number of miles. With miles, the minimum price is $2200!!! (+ taxes and assurance...)

Dukey1 on Mar 5, 13 at 8:00am
And just WHERE in the original post was anything said about hauling things?

The first four words say. "We are going to move"

So, I assume that they would be hauling things and even more so since they mentioned a truck. Most everyone hauls something when they move, even if they use a company to move them.

Yes, as I said above, we'll be hauling our stuff and some small furnitures

Here are some questions that don't have clear answers to me:

Are you planning to keep the truck when you are living in NYC or is this just a drive and sell?

Have you found a place to live in NYC? I don't find driving in the congested parts of NYC to be difficult, though it is often slow, but figuring out what to do with your vehicle when you stop driving is a pain in the tuchus, to use a good NYC expression.

Do you know what it costs to park in NYC? Buy insurance on a truck this size? Do you know that on street parking is not an option many places? Do you know about alternate-side-of-the-street parking? People of moderate incomes that we have known who feel it necessary to have a car (to go away for weekends, for example) have usually found somewhere in Queens or Jersey to park and take public transportation to get to the car when they need it.

The good news is that gas will not be more expensive and may even be pennies cheaper. This is good news since you will use a ton of it.

The Rodeo is like an SUV. It might drive like a truck (I drive a Durango which is an SUV on a Dodge Dakota base) but it might still be easier for someone to drive who is not used to a large vehicle. The OP might want to check how the seats feel. DH drives a pickup and prefers the upright/alert feel. Some seats aren't comfortable. I do prefer the way our DIL's Dodge minivan handles. It has good visibility, seats are comfortable, and you are lower to the ground. A Grand Caravan can probably hold as much as a Rodeo - I think it can hold more than my Durango.
You might also want to check how much tread is left on tires and the cost of replacement.
I don't think a quad cab without 4 wheel drive will sell. Most pickups of any size in our area (New England) are 4x4. Does it have 4 wheel drive?

The good news, we've been happy with Dodge products. My Durango is about to turn 180,000 miles and we've never had any serious problems. DH thins the engine and tranny are still good.

Having spent 2 days in the back seat of a Jeep Cherokee packed for a move, I vote fly.

Tom, it's good that Sarah was on top of the UHaul rental info!!
As for the length of the trip, be thinking about how to secure your cargo in an open (I assume) truck. The cross country trip can really be done in less time than that, if you had to, and didn't want to sightsee.
And I think the truck is a better choice since you know the owners--and trucks are really built to last longer.
Ack, I "think" I read they are moving to near NYC--they aren't keeping the truck per her first post.

We don't have a place to stay in NY but my new appointment is close to Northvale (NJ). So our plan is to find an first apartment around there that, I asume, is cheaper. We plan to keep the truck during the first month and sell it after.

Northvale is very far north in NJ - right near the NYS line. You will probably want to live in Jersey if possible (have no idea what that area is like) since taxes are lower than NY. But - many of these areas are primarily either houses or townhouses - don;t know about apts.

So you aren't really moving to NYC? You are moving to Jersey.

It makes a HUGE difference. It is real suburban up there, Leave It to Beaver Land, but you can go deer or bear hunting within no time at all, so you may well need the pickup!

Curious -did you think Northvale is in/very near NYC?

If it was me, I'd pick which of the 2 vehicles (or another one) that you'd be happy keeping.

@Janisj: Not sure that I undersand the question but yes, I think that Northvale is very close to NYC.
What we want to do is to find a first housing close to nothvale because it's cheaper and we also assume that will be easier to quickly find an apartment in this area than in the city. and so during this time, we will perhaps keep the car, but in the future (next January or February), we plan to move in NYC because I have an appointment for 2 years and we want to know how is it to live in NYC. But if you are thinking about the ride from NYC to Northvale, my company provide a shuttle service.

No North vale is at least an hour from NYC. Not sure what ways there are to commute - train or express bus. Might be longer based on exactly where you are versus the transit options. I worked with a young man who lived slightly north of there - across the NY border and it took him about 1:15 on the express bus each way. But then it depends on where your offic ein the city is relation to the bus stops in the city (they only make a couple).

It's not an area I know - perhaps someone familiar with commuting from the farthest northern part of NJ has more info.

If you can give us an idea of where you will work in the city (adders or cross section) people can reco best places to live to commute. (For instance if you work downtown in the financial district - Brooklyn is often a convenient commute.)

Sorry - missed the shuttle bus. That makes it sound like the office is someplace out of the way - since this is not something that employer's usually provide.

And I know it's none of my business- but I hope you negotiated a salary commensurate with the cost of living in the NY metro area.

I'm sorry, my previous post was not clear.
My office will be in northvale. So for the frist few months, I want an apartment close to my office because it's convenient and probably cheaper.
But, after that, we want to move in the city because we'll be there for a couple of years only and that would be cool to live in the city during this time. The shuttle (express bus) starts close to the morning side campus so I was thinking to look for an apartment in this location.

So when you say Morningside campus I assume you mean Columbia University. The shuttles that universities run to their off site locations (Lamont? which is actually just over the border in NY State, not NJ)are usually pretty reliable. After living near there for a while you'll have to decide how you feel about switching to that kind of commute. I did a reverse commute NYC to north Jersey for a while and I felt a little stuck being at work without a car in an area where nothing is walking distance. Good luck with you move.

So when you say Morningside campus I assume you mean Columbia University. The shuttles that universities run to their off site locations (Lamont? which is actually just over the border in NY State, not NJ)are usually pretty reliable. After living near there for a while you'll have to decide how you feel about switching to that kind of commute. I did a reverse commute NYC to north Jersey for a while and I felt a little stuck being at work without a car in an area where nothing is walking distance. Good luck with your move.

Thank you for all your advices. That's help me a lot!

Well Moringside Heights is a nice - and expensive area - to live in. If you take a university shuttle back and forth you will find yourself in the boonies with no means of getting around,

And keeping a car in the city is an issue. In my neighborhood - not so far south of there, a space in a public garage is about $600 per month. And street parking is very tricky due to the need to move the car several times a week - usually in the middle of the day - for street cleaning. It can be done - but it quite time-consuming. But if you have a large vehicle (larger than a basic sedan) finding a space on the street can be very difficult.

I'm pretty sure you can commute to or from Manhattan by bus, train (on either side of the Hudson since you are very close to the Tappan Zee Bridge) and by a ferry-train combination when the river is not frozen.

I wish you well but this has been one of the most confusing posts I have read in along time. If you had first looked at a map of the area and then told us what you finally told us at the end, we could have given you better answers and saved a lot of bandwidth.

Good luck in the move and whatever you will be doing in NYC or New Jersey!!

Yes I know, I'm sorry, but it's a very new situation so it's a bit confusing for us too...
Thanks for your help!

I Agree with Susan M. My son had an Isuzu Rodeo 2002 and those cars are worthless, a couple of months after he bought it he had to replace the transmission, then replaced the radiator and a ton more problems came after that one behind the other. My advice stay as far away as you can from Isuzu Rodeos

We took our decision:
(1) we are going to buy the dodge
(2) we'll move to a place close to Northrvale for the few frist months
(3) we'll move to NYC and see what we can do with the car:
(a) if I can park it at my office (in Nothvale) for free, perhaps we'll keep it
(b) if not, we'll sell it and rent a car occasionally for the weekend.

Thanks everybody for your answers