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atcovan:

Not so stupid, because it's more for the really old clunkers, like that 1975 LTD you're mom-in-law drives to church. She can get a Fusion that gets at least twice the mpg and runs a lot cleaner. The $$ she gets for that LTD is a nice down-payment.

The 1975 LTD is not covered under this.  

http://www.cars.gov/faq.html#question-05

Your trade-in vehicle must

• have been manufactured less than 25 years before the date you trade it in

 But my 1990 ford ranger would be....

moxnix:

But my 1990 ford ranger would be....

Oh the possibilities...

Edit: The '91 Turbo Volvo wagon I bought my daughter is eligible as well. Hmmm....

moxnix:

atcovan:

Not so stupid, because it's more for the really old clunkers, like that 1975 LTD you're mom-in-law drives to church. She can get a Fusion that gets at least twice the mpg and runs a lot cleaner. The $$ she gets for that LTD is a nice down-payment.

The 1975 LTD is not covered under this.  

http://www.cars.gov/faq.html#question-05

Your trade-in vehicle must

• have been manufactured less than 25 years before the date you trade it in

 But my 1990 ford ranger would be....

atcovan:

Oops... my bad. Change that to 1986 4-cylinder Taurus. Not like there are that many '75 LTD's out there, so it really should be on the inclusion list.

Taurus gets better gas mileage then the lower limit (1986 4 cyl auto gets 20 combined)

No inclusion list this is more like solo ST classes.  They give a listing of criteria and any that meet those are eligible for trade-in.

http://www.cars.gov/faq.html#question-05

Your trade-in vehicle must

• have a "new" combined city/highway fuel economy of 18 miles per gallon or less

Chiketkd:

moxnix:

But my 1990 ford ranger would be....

Oh the possibilities...

Edit: The '91 Turbo Volvo wagon I bought my daughter is eligible as well. Hmmm....

Needs to get 28+ combined MPG for me to get the full credit for a car or 23+ for a truck.  I am looking a little bit at it but it would need to be something either real cheap or a real good car. (damn you Ford Fiesta/Mazda 2 for not being out yet)

Have you had that for the year needed already?

moxnix:

Needs to get 28+ combined MPG for me to get the full credit for a car or 23+ for a truck.  I am looking a little bit at it but it would need to be something either real cheap or a real good car. (damn you Ford Fiesta/Mazda 2 for not being out yet)

Have you had that for the year needed already?

Aargh. We bought the car back in January of '09. It seems this Act expires on November 1st, 2009 and/or when the 1 billion allocated has been exhausted.

balaguru:

I'm considering a new AWD explorer with tow package.  It's rated at around 7200 lbs. 

I don't know why Ford would rate a midsize SUV with a soft suspension and relatively short WB with such a high rating.  Common sense dictates that doesn't make sense.  For example, my F-150 SuperCrew with a significantly higher GCVWR, significantly longer WB, significantly wider track, and lower CG is rated at 5200 # MTW, and I believe it.

balaguru:

Should I be looking at some other vehicles?  My price cap is 35K.

Like others have said, you've got 2 basic choices for hauling your 3500# car.

1. Open trailer w/ V8 full-size, I would opt for any 3/4 ton or a 1/2 ton with the biggest engine, tow package, etc.

2. Enclosed (how big is that enclosed?) with a diesel 1 ton.  Maybe you could get by with a V10 if the enclosed is relatively small (i.e., 8.5x20).

Someone mentioned it's nice to separate the greasy, nasty-smelling cargo from the passenger compartment, and I whole-heartedly agree with that one.  Add in that finding a heavy duty SUV (i.e., a lightly used 2500 Suburban or a 7.3 ('01-03) PSD Excursion) is not exactly easy or cheap, consider a crew cab full size truck and/or store as much as you can in/on your trailer. 

For trucks, I don't like caps, it's annoying to crawl around in those, and cuts your visibility out the back window.  I've got a hard cover for the bed, with a bunch of bed dividers made out of 2x4's and most of my wrenches and sockets in roll-up pouches attached to the tailgate.  As such, I've got plenty of dry, organized, and locked storage for gear, tools, tires, etc. before even thinking of storing anything on the race car, or trailer, or passenger compartment (which seats 5 comfortably). 

If you get a truck that does NOT have an unusual bed like mine, hard locking lids for your truck bed are not too expensive.  My only option was a $1100 fiberglass ARE lid; most truck with standard boxes can get something akin to the Roll-Bak aluminum spool for under $800.  Or, depending on how much storage your trailer has or can have, stow everything on there.