Hey all,

Over the last 2.5 years or so you have been my own personal Raider Support Team and I sure appreciate it. Today, I did the unthinkable. I sold my Raider! I sat down and had a talk with myself about it and realized that I need to get a vehicle more in line with what my family needs (my wife and I and our two adult children who live at home). I can't afford both, so the saga of my Raider ended today. I'm a bit sad, it was the best off road truck I've ever owned, and the most fun to drive vehicle I've ever had.

Perhaps in the future I will own another, but for now rather than saying goodbye, I'll just say, as Douglas Adams might have said,

So long, and thanks for all the advice!

Hmm... Time for a 4 door.

I thought about that, but quite frankly the number of issues with the 3.0 V6 that I have seen have scared me away from a 4dr. I've owned 2 suburbans before. They are cheap, parts are plentiful, and they are easy to work on. Plus, they're huge and comfy

Go buy the sub and give it a couple of months, then gradualy go into grumpy mode and after couple of more months when in full blown 'Im a constantly naggin o'l geezer mode' explain that you are a caveman and you need to have a 2door around back to wrench on to relief all the work and real world related tension that builds up.
I've done this more than once and she's more understanding now and I get away with a lot more before the human excrement hits the ceiling mounted rotary air conditioner.

To proof my point there was no discussion on me trading in the Pajero for a 6000lb fuel sucking monster. I just did it and have been wrenching away since then.

I think you have misread this one somewhere, the 12v 3.0 is an iron lung, it's main issue is that it only makes around 150hp. I guess the only other problem is that it takes abuse more than any other engine i can think of so worst case scenario the previous owner may have ran it into the ground 6-10 times and it'll need a set of heads so it can be ran into the ground 10 more times. 12 Valves... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

Well if that reason is invalid, then it is :-) I guess it comes down to parts availability and preference. If I'm going to get 15mpg I want it to have as much room as a suburban does. This is not to say I won't get another Monty down the road, as there's nothing quite like them.

Enjoy your hiatus. We won't say goodbye. Monteros and Hotel California- "No one ever leaves..."