Quote: dennis jones

Me personaly, I would of fixed it out of pocket and a hammer, it doesnt look that bad

Why I love my father. He has the same view point in 'totaled' vehicles. "Eh, the frame is tweaked a bit, it'll pull to the right. You'll be fine." ROFL.

Seriously, if the frame/unibody is good, replace the hood and grill and learn live with ugly. its a jeep, suppose to look like it's had some adventures

Jeep? Adventure? Never...... lol. We took our Jeep to Seattle the other day- had to take off the box, kayak rack, and bike rack to fit in the parking garages.... and we still hit the CAUTION 6' 8'' CLEARANCE sign. ROFL.

Ahhh… so many adventures in that baby.

 Quote: Dennis Jones

Me personaly, I would of fixed it out of pocket and a hammer, it doesnt look that bad

Just had a little get together (FIL’s 85th birthday). Had a few of the brothers over tonight and they’re all pretty much insisting, along with our mechanic friend, that due to the long commute on a fairly risky stretch of highway, the winter coming, blah, blah, blah.. that it’s a must I get a sound vehicle. They could repair it and would if it was just being used for weekend adventures.

The radiator is damaged and they’re not sure how far that translates into engine parts (water pump, etc). The hood pushed up the fender so without putting it on a hoist, they’re not sure about any main frame damage (Bob was doing over 100 km/hr). He was also really worried about the fact that he ran it so hot, for the length of time he did, and a lot of the parts being aluminum. Blah, blah, blah.

Everyone here seems to think I should take the money and run. I argued my heart out on the pro side but it was just me and they’re the ones with the tools.

Well, it's been an eventful couple of weeks for sure. If I never have to deal with another car salesman again, my life won't be missing anything.

What's the difference between a Schutzhund washout and an car salesman - car salesmen have a ton of drive. (well, I had to amuse myself somehow through all the blah, blah, blah.)

But seriously, those guys have got some kind of prey drive thing happening and can they ever do some organized pack work when they're going in for the kill.

All headaches aside, I finally drove home my new (well new to me) 2010 Nissan Xterra yesterday (your Nissan hint stuck there Ram).

It has 23,000.00 miles on it, and that is miles. Apparently it came up from the States, the speedo is in miles too. A bit unusual for up here, most are in kilometers. It's great, I've got a bit of a led foot and Bob is always telling me to slow down. I got a chance to say, "Hey...I'm only going 60." (You'd have to live in Canada to appreciate that).

It was just a tad more than I got for the Jeep but we shouldn't be in rice and beans for too long. And it's hunting season so the boys are feasting better than we are, as usual.

One of the coolest things throughout this whole deal was Chucky's dad. He'd heard about Bob hitting the deer that day and offered me up his Dodge truck (he's got two vehicles insured) for as long as I needed it. It was a lot of fun returning it to him last night.

So the Jeep is now an X. Xterra that is. Not a bad vehicle - so far.

Xtera is a good vehicle. Did you get the 2wd or the 4wd ?

4, gotta have 4 up here. I don't think I could imagine driving a vehicle that all hooves didn't kick in when needed.

Always risky to continue on with a vehicle with frame damage. Yes, it can be straightened...but will it fold like a pretzel if you are ever hit again. Most likely & with you in there.

I bought an Xterra the 2nd year they were out. I think it was 2000? I loved it. Had it until just a couple of years ago & sold it. It was a standard trans & it went anywhere & everywhere on or off road. Only sold it because an arthritic knee couldn't handle the clutch anymore, with in town driving.

In 2004, when I bought my Nissan Titan crew cab truck, the Xterra became the 'town' every day vehicle. Truck became the horse truck & dog training vehicle. That 'little' truck NEVER let me down.

I like Nissan trucks & still have my old '89 Pathfinder in the family. My son stil has it registered & uses it if his business work truck is in the shop, but mostly uses it for off-road fun. Set up with bigger tires, brush guard etc. You can't kill this vehicle, it has well over 130,000 miles on it. Except for a little floor rust/rot spots, from the road salt, it is fine.

CJ, I hope you have as much luck & fun with your Xterra.

Aww, thanks Anne. I really appreciate your experience. When I was doing some research I found it quite difficult to find anything negative people had to say about them, so both yours and Ram's endorsement are also really good to hear.

It's like they were made for hauling dogs around. Strategic tie down bracket things built in throughout the back. The seats fold FLAT - the Jeep owners out there would appreciate that. And I love the fact it's not carpeted in the back. I plan on tossing one in there to cut down on the slip factor but I can remove and shake it out anytime.

And you gotta love the 4wd - the flip of a switch. Not that the Jeep was difficult, all in the cab but you did have to physically shift the additional lever.

All our vehicles have been standard. I've never owned an automatic vehicle, until now. And still having problems with not sending the passenger through the front windshield (boy this thing has good brakes – not to be confused with the clutch ) but it's all a retraining experience. The salesman must have thought I got my licence out of a Cracker Jack box the way he was bouncing around on the test drive. Ahhh.... payback was so sweet.

Just a side note: Bob's one claim to fame is in a Nissan Titan commercial. It came out in 2005/06 and was called something like "Missing" or "Work Trucks Unite". It was a pretty cool commercial where they had a bunch of work trucks going AWOL, heading out to camp (on their own).

They were looking for big, unusual work trucks and happened to spot Bob one day when the production crew came thru our town. Some of the trucks I remember in it were a blue garbage truck, a big green tractor, a cattle truck, a crane on wheels, Bob in his company’s big white Lugger truck and of course the Titan.

The Titan is a cool looking truck for sure.

Ahhh vehicles, gotta love em - they sure are the basis for a lot of fun times.

Good luck with the new truck and I think you will appreciate the automatic at times I know I do.
I have both and like Anne said the clutch and bad knee thing don't go together, especially if you have to sit in this stop and go California traffic I'll take auto for that any day.