I'm probably $30k into my unexceptional example, making it the most expensive vehicle I have ever owned, and I have owned a lot of vehicles. This is the only one that managed to leak engine oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, brake fluid, gear oil, coolant, and fuel, acing the bingo card. Guys on Steel Soldiers are pretty casual about what I'd call one catastrophic failure per 12 months. I've seen guys change engines like underwear on this forum. Costs will explode if you can't DIY everything, but you can console yourself by living in imagination land and telling stories about EMPs. The upshot is when you have them running right, they can't accelerate much, but they're slow too, saving money on all the speeding tickets you won't get, all the fuel you don't burn, and the air conditioner you can't buy, so you lose weight in the summer. Study up on that 12/24v system, because it helped me let the magic smoke out of some expensive stuff and it can help you too. Cool truck, though. People will try to buy it from you when you're out and about. Lots of masochists in this world. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have probably bought it anyway. Same reason I got a stupid puppy. Unnecessary problems give me something to do in retirement. I like my truck, even if I could have bought a Tacoma, a Tundra, and a Sequoia with the same money and never had to fix any of them. Where's the fun in that?