So, I’m looking at getting rod of/trading in my '97 ranger on a solid year-round DD used truck in the spring. I had kind of decided that I wanted to get into a Ford Escape after driving a whole bunch of different small SUV’s but I ultimately decided having to buy and store a utility trailer to cart my dirtbike to the track and such is not something I want to do. So now I’ve decided I need to get into a truck of some sort, but I’m not into trucks and don’t know what is available with the criteria I want to fulfill. That being said, here is what I would like to have in said truck:
-extended cab with real rear seats (not those bullshit tumble seats or whatever)
-4wd of some type for winter (my 2wd ranger fucking blows in snow)
-halfway decent fuel mileage (20+ would be nice, but a touch under wouldnt kill me)
-a box big enough for a dirtbike to fit into it, its fine if it requires the tailgate to stay down/be included (I know a lot of the mini-trucks with quad cabs have ultra-short beds but I don’t know if they would be big enough for this or not)
-Price tag under 12k-ish
BONUS ITEM
-manual trans (most likely not happening with availability in trucks, esp. 4wd)
so far the only trucks I can think of within those options are:
Toyota Tacoma
Chevy Colorado
GMC Canyon
anything else? Also, if you own any of the trucks mentioned (by me or other options in the thread) I’d love to hear owner comments on things like reliability, maintenance, and gas mileage.
You will be lucky to see 15-16 mpg in the GMC and Chevy trucks. Those 5 cyl motors BLOW on gas for how small they are. If it wasn’t for your price tag a new F-150 eco-boost would fill everyone of your required items (auto trans)
If those are the three that you’ve narrowed it down to, Tacoma all the way. It will definitely cost a premium to find one with lower miles and good options, but those things hold their value like whoa.
I’d be weary of the 5cyl in the Colorado/Canyon. My friend has one and it broke all the time for the first 30k. It was all under warranty but still annoying. He had the same o2 sensor changed something like 5 times.
If you change your mind about having a utility trailer the audi allroad might fit what you want. It does loose a notch for reliability but it can be had in auto or 6 speed manual, all wheel drive and can be made pretty fast cheap. It also exceeds your MPG requirements by a large margin. I know justin has 1 auto and 2 6 speed manual ones on the lot right now if you wanted to see one in person.
If you need a small truck your options are limited with huge trade offs. I love rangers but you either get a 4 banger that has absolutely no power or you get a V6 that gets horrible mpg. same story with the colorado except you can get a 5.3 V8 in the newer ones which would be pretty bad ass but they are expensive still. it would be nice if ford would update the engine lineup in the ranger a tad.
If those are your two options I would get the tacoma. If you do some looking around you can get a duramax silverado for around 10K out of texas It will not be stick but it will run forever.
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A 6speed Allroad will not exceed your MPG expectations, I get 21ishMPG mixed driving and I drive like an old man most of the time, If i get on it a few times its high teens. That said the utitlity, power, and comfort is well worth the crappy MPG.
A 6speed Allroad will not exceed your MPG expectations, I get 21ishMPG mixed driving and I drive like an old man most of the time, If i get on it a few times its high teens. That said the utitlity, power, and comfort is well worth the crappy MPG.
-halfway decent fuel mileage (20+ would be nice, but a touch under wouldnt kill me)
so that would put your highway mpg 25-27~? mixed driving at 21mpg is good for a powerful AWD sedan. If you gut your downpipes I bet you would pick up about 1 more MPG. Out of curiosity is yours auto or manual?
My uncle has a 5cyl colorado and loves it to death. he drives like a old man and said it does all right on gas but he was hoping for better (whatever that means) His has been trouble free for the last 3 years. He loves his truck to death. He came from a S-10 with a 4 banger and use to always complain that it was completely gutless. So he very much enjoys the 5cyl power. I have driven them as well and they move out really well but are still pretty expensive for some reason.
I have been looking into the frontiers and tacomas as my next truck. Tacomas are getting around 16-20 MPG and the frontiers are more 15-19mpgs. Keep an eye out on the 05 frontiers, they had a problem with the timing chain and it isnt cheap to fix.