A 4-cylinder stick shift pick-up will deliver the lowest cost per mile to operate and when you sell it (if you sell it) it will return most of your “investment”…A small P/U can be VERY handy…
Should repairs be needed, they tend to be the simple, basic things that ANY mechanic can deal with for a reasonable amount of money…
Know this…For $8K, you are going to get a vehicle with over 100K miles and an automatic transmission that should it fail, usually sends the car to the scrapper…It’s the weak knee of FWD/AWD cars…Also, be shy about those that use rubber timing belts, another trip-wire to the bone yard…