Light Truck Options

[sergechronos]

The 160 mile trip is 2 days a week to school, and vehicle has to make dump runs (~10-12 miles round trip I think) at least once a week. A 4 cylinder 5 speed truck is the goal since it'll net close to 30mpg (or better), which is fairly comparable to most compact cars, while still letting me take stuff to the dump or pick up car parts (or move next to the city next semester) without having to try to fit that stuff into a backseat or trunk.

[jerrid]

Just drop $35k on a ecodiesel 30mpg and 240hp 420tq 😝

[a2j]

Just drop $35k on a ecodiesel 30mpg and 240hp 420tq ��

I was about to suggest this, but than I saw..

Looking to pick up something stupidly cheap

Misleading title... I thought you needed a light duty pickup truck.

[sergechronos]

That was also months ago

Picked up a 93 Ranger 4 cyl, used it for a while then snagged an 01 Nissan Frontier V6. Probably going to ride that out till I'm done with school and can afford a small diesel truck. Hopefully by then Nissan and Toyota have light diesel trucks and there's some competition.

Also, 35k on an ecodiesel isn't a very cost effective solution. A used 2500/f250 with a diesel can be had for half of that price, and a gas powered for even less than that and still capable of pulling a car.

[JasonY]

A used diesel truck also costs a lot of money to keep on the road. The older reliable engined ones arent getting any younger and the chassis/electrical age related issues are making themselves well known now and the newer ones, financial suicide imo to own one w/o a warranty.

And the pre-dpf diesels other than the 6.0 are all overpriced imo. A dealer here sold a 03 7.3 stroke crew/long bed in very good condition for 16k with almost 300k miles on it...LOL

Jason

[sergechronos]

Yeah, prices here are insane lately. A couple years ago they were much better, seems like now everyone has diesel fever.

I wish that manufacturers could make an affordable light duty diesel..I don't need leather interior and all that shit, all I want is a diesel, a manual transmission and about an 8000lb towing capacity that doesn't cost 30k+. Gassers just seem to have either really large motors that suck gas both when you are and aren't towing, or undersized motors that sound like they're struggling to keep up.

[JasonY]

The truck you want isnt built here :/ Toyota Tacoma with a diesel paired to a 6spd manual would be an outstanding little truck to have here in the states.

The new pentastar V6 with the 8spd auto in the new 1/2 ton Rams is quite good and returns pretty good fuel mileage also(around 20) I've seen 4wd ones discounted to around 20k out the door.

Jason

[sergechronos]

The truck you want isnt built here :/ Toyota Tacoma with a diesel paired to a 6spd manual would be an outstanding little truck to have here in the states.

The new pentastar V6 with the 8spd auto in the new 1/2 ton Rams is quite good and returns pretty good fuel mileage also(around 20) I've seen 4wd ones discounted to around 20k out the door.

Jason

Agreed on the Tacoma, or the possibility of the Frontier Diesel that Nissan teased. Either one would be mint IMO.

The V6 Ram is pretty good for fuel economy, but isn't towing capacity limited to like 6000 pounds? Would likely be a pretty good budget all around truck for someone who could only have one vehicle. I do wish that they had manual transmission though, these autos kill me.

Clearly what we need is the diesel Mitsubishi Pajero

[JasonY]

I think the Ram is around 7500. In the hills it would probably struggle a bit, but do better than the 6cyl trucks from the other brands due to its pretty slick 8spd trans.

Jason

[a2j]

I think the Ram is around 7500. In the hills it would probably struggle a bit, but do better than the 6cyl trucks from the other brands due to its pretty slick 8spd trans.

Jason

Ram is 10,450 actually. My fullsize suv is limited to 7500. With a 3L v6 diesel, 7speed auto, hills of montana didn't make much difference with 5000lb trailer and headwinds.