I flew to vegas and bought mine and drove it home 7 hours, it was middle of the night so I just pulled into a mcdonalds at 4am and slept in the back for a couple hours and drove it the rest of the way home, lots of rust free ones on the west coast but always check the car fax to see where it has been. I wouldn't touch one from anywhere on the east coast, maybe florida.... and plenty in Texas seem to be priced fairYeah it wouldn't be unheard of to hear a transmission or two replaced with either generation. I mean I'm getting a massive beefy full-sized SUV with a beefy V8, I expect gas mileages to equal that. I'd rather deal with a cracked dash than having swiss cheese holes in my frame.
I thought about taking a small trip somewhere down south/midwest to get a clean framed one. Yeah I have some basic hand tools, gonna bring a aftermarket head unit with me to swap out in like a Walmart parking lot so driving back is a lot easier.