Pickup truck

I personally don't like cars and have put a lot of miles on trucks - I just prefer trucks. If the numbers work out for you go for it. Before my wife and I were married we lived 300 miles apart and we never missed weekends with me doing 80% of the driving. We did that for three years and I put about 150k on three different trucks during that time period. It wasn't cost effective but driving across the Pa turnpike in the winter I wanted a truck or SUV.

I've owned both gas and diesel but will probably never own another gas truck. I had a 150 with a 5.4 and my 250 with the 6.7 gets better economy that basically covers the extra cost of diesel at the pump with a .50 a gallon difference. One thing to consider though is the extra maintenance that comes with a diesel - fuel filters, coolant strength, oil capacity, def, and so on. I do it all myself but it still costs a lot more than a gasser. Just the oil and filter runs me about $100 per change.

 

You can cut costs on maintenance on diesels if you buy bulk oil or buy stuff from semi parts dealers instead of Advance or somewhere like that. I can do FF, OF, and oil in my 11 dodge for $80 or a little less. I don't know about the 6.7 Ford but I was doing the 6.4 for $55 and another $50 for the FF.

 

I've considered this myself, ditching the 2 vehicle plan and getting a crew cab truck. *IF* I did, I'd go Taco and get a trailer. Not a fan of maintaining more vehicles than necessary.

Thinking about this for more than ten minutes, I always conclude keep a car and a beater. I do things to my truck I could never do with a nice vehicle. When you add those extra 2 doors, you lose a heck of a lot of bed space, so it becomes more like an SUV with a little bed. At which point, you might as well go SUV and get the covered space. But the mpg is so bad, and you really didn't want an SUV, so man my Subaru makes a lot of sense.

One day, if I didn't commute 70-90 miles daily, I'd go back to just a truck. Until then the '86 F250 is ready to be abused and the Scoobie for the family hauling, grocery getting, and getting my butt to work.

Good luck with your decision. I think anyone buying a new diesel is nuts, not because of the technology but rather the EPA and the overall price of these things.

 

This is exactly the logic that ended me up in the Taco.

We have a Pilot already, and where considering replacing my old car with something like an Accord... Rides like a limo and close to 35mpg. Then look for a beater truck for hauling.

This is every time I ran the numbers and considered it all the extra maintenance of a third vehicle, extra fees, taxes and insurance, finding a place to store the 3rd vehicle (one would live in the driveway and have to get moved every time i need to clear snow etc) ..... the hassle just didn't seem to make sense at this point in our life.

So we got the taco. Yeah the bed wont haul anything serious but if fits in my garage and is not to bad for my commute that's 30 miles round trip 4 days a week. not great but not impossible... I worked out that the Taco is costing me roughly $300 extra in gas a year vs. commuting in a car like the Accord and that's a wash or more likely cheaper than the extra expenses of having a truck as a third.

Also consider I only burn a cord or two per year so I can manage that in a small truck just taking more trips.

5-7 years from now I will probably tire of driving the truck to work, and hopefully by then we will be moved to a bigger place with more space and then it will make sense financially to just hold onto it as a 3rd vehicle and get an economical car for daily driving.

 

Between the Dodge and the Ford 1/2 ton I'd go with the Ford. Mostly because I think Ford has the best 1/2 ton out, and while Dodge is getting better, I think they are still behind Ford and Toyota, and probably Nissan. They have pulled ahead of Chevy though as far as reliability and quality. GM seems to have their heads up their @$$es and keep pumping out more crap every year. A GM truck might run for 200,000 miles, but it'll nickle and dime you do death with seat and door handles, window motors, and a multitude of other small parts.

For the 7 years I commuted 60 miles a day with my Nissan Frontier, but just last fall I decided to turn it into a weekend duty vehicle and got a car to commute with. My Nissan has 160,000 miles on it and is starting to show it's age a little, but I love the truck too much to get rid of it. It's a crew cab, but with a tailgate extender and a 5x10 trailer I can still haul a lot of wood in one trip. I'll probably upgrade to a 6x12 trailer before I'd get a larger truck, but I like the size of the Frontier. The same goes for the Tacoma, they are great trucks and can do a lot of work for a homeowner, while still being small enough to fit inside a garage or let your wife drive without worrying about her scraping other cars in parking lots.

I'd recommend staying away from the Colorado/Canyon like a few have mentioned. I like their styling, but that's were it ends. My old roommate had an 07 Colorado configured exactly like my 05 Frontier (crew cab, 4X4 off-road package, tow package). After 5 years and only 25k miles on it, there was more wrong with it than mine had with 6 years and 140,000 miles. It didn't tow as well, and the interior felt cheap. There was a few times he'd admit (and only when he was drunk) that he wished he'd had gotten a Tacoma instead.

If you're stuck on a 1/2 ton, I'd recommend not getting a first year design or engine. Typically car manufacturers need a year or 2 to get all the bugs out of new designs. I've also hear rumors that Nissan and Toyota will be offering diesels in their 1/2 tons soon.

 

Like jharkin I have a little Yota I bought new in 2001 it's my daily commuter 90 miles / day, my pellet/firewood hauler still looks and runs great. It just turned 350000 miles on this mornings ride I got my moneys worth out it , the dealer keeps trying to buy it back from me.

 

x2, Mine is 10 years old and I still don't use it to commute daily. I drive it but it's not my daily driver. Now hauling firewood is a different story.

 

I have a dinged up (rusted of course) '01 Ram for working and a car for driving.

 

I've been looking at getting a small car for the daily drive give Yota a break , might wait till after winter.

 

Wow, that's a lot of miles. It looks great. I have 3 Yotas.

 

Thanks man it has a few little dings here and there nothing major ,it's been a great ride ,hope it keeps on going for a looong time

 

Have you had to have much work done it?

 

Not really engine wise replace belts, hoses, plugs. U joints one time, exhaust and brakes, things that wear out normally. Still the original clutch, about 4 years ago Toyota had a recall for ball joints and possible premature rusting through of the frame in states that use salt on the roads . I took mine in and it was compromised so they replaced the whole under carriage leaf springs brake lines... got me a rental for the 4 weeks they had my truck all on their dime.
I'm very happy with my Yota

 

The Toyota frame rust thing sadly is true. I have a friend who has had two! of them rust out - first was a gen1 Toyota bought back and then he bought another, I think its an '05 or '06 gen two and that one rusted as well and Toyota did the same as Will's - gave him a whole new frame. In spite of all that he still says he would buy a new one no questions asked. That says a lot about the truck IMO.

We looked at my '14 frame and his old frame and the new frame has a lot more drain holes in the forward boxed section. My buddy thinks that was the problem, the boxed section would trap water and rust from the inside out.

Go read tacomaworld for instance - lots of guys with this issue but seems to be mostly first gens and the first couple years of gen2 (04+)

 

I will stay out of the brand part of the conversation. I do have a Ford F250 I like a lot. Main challenge I see are those 80 miles of daily commute, and all the gas that whatever you buy will need to do that part. You'll drive 2000 miles a year scrounging wood, if that many, but 20,000 commuting to work. For total cost of ownership, versatility and wood scrounging, I would buy a good 6cyl commuting vehicle that could get you 25 plus mpg, with a class 3 hitch. Then get a single axle trailer that can carry 2/3rds-1 full cord. Now you have a good commuter car, and only have to hook the trailer up on scrounge days. And you can haul more wood in a good trailer than the average pickup anyway. And if you aren't planning on an extended cab, you cant haul many in your truck. But a compact SUV or something could haul 4-5, and pull a trailer when needed.

Best of luck. Key point, get some rig that hauls wood, and if its your only rig, give yourself versatility and mpg options if you can.

 

Get one with decent mpg, most of the time you are driving empty / not towing.
Then look for one with good towing capacity with the towing package

When needed, the ability to hook up & tow a big load is nice , yet you get reasonable milage when empty.
Of course, you'll need buy a trailer too.

 

I'd buy another Yota in a heart beat the 2.7, 4 cylinder is one proven power plant only problem is I paid $20k for mine now they cost around $28000

 

Another vote for a solid beater truck and a car for the daily driver.

The first gen. Tundra with the 4.7? v8 is a great truck and starting to come down in price to the point that they are beaterish.

 

I bought my 11 3500 new and have used it as a truck the whole time. I tried 2 vehicles for me and hated driving a car except at fill up time. I went back to a truck as a daily driver. A lot of people would crying at me using it as the inside of the bed is beat up pretty good from loading wood and tossing rounds in.