I do all of my car buying from the internet first, then I narrow down the selections to those that closely match my requirements...I found hundreds of Dakotas in my extended area, but just a handful of V8 4x4s, which I need to go get my sailboat that I left behind in California 12 years ago.

It seems that Dodge put out 50 or 60 V6s to each V8. And the people selling or turning in their V8 4X4s seemed to be trying to unload the problem before they got stranded somewhere. The best vehicle I looked at I drove 90 miles, had prearranged financing, and had a second driver...I was ready to come home with the prize. The seller forgot to mention that the tranny was slipping. When I asked him about it he wanted to give me lessons on how to nurse a truck with a slipping tranny. I was getting so desperate after another month of searching that I considered buying the thing and paying for a tranny job. Oh well. Now I have a brand new truck...but I bought the extended warranty anyway, and hope that I never have to use it.