Information on buying a small truck

[den]

I buy American when I can. Chevy, Ford, Dodge are American trucks.........
----------------------------
It's been a long time since Dodge has been an American truck, it's a foreign company

[paul case]

my dad used to call dodge'' auto makers welfare. he  dont do that anymore since we drive gm for the most part.   

i think its hard to say one is or isnt  ''made in the usa'' anymore. the auto makers now days seem to make them so that you cant work on them much unless you have 2 full sets of tools( sae and metric) and a whole plethera of specialty tools and computers. i guess i will keep my old 76 chev 3/4 ton 4x4 that must have 300k miles and is on its 4th motor. i can work on it.  ;D pc

[Magicman]

i guess i will keep my old 76 chev ...... i can work on it.  ;D pc 

Well spoken.

[Just Me]

 From the viewpoint of someone who is involved in an auto repair business, of the three you listed, the Dodge is the best from a not showing up for stupid repairs point of view. Ford engineers have their heads where the sun doesn't shine, working on them is rediculous. Check out their new and improved spark plugs that are already a problem.

Chevys keep the shop open, just the same repairs over and over again. the shop must be on about the 5000th fuel pump. They need to put an acess panel in the box. The shop has replaced three Dodge pumps in 15 years.

toyota's break just like anything else, despite what some say, and when they do it is expensive. Parts are high, and they make things hard to work on. For example, the starter is under the intake manifold. you have to remove the intake and the fuel injection system just to get to the starter.

Dodges may not be perfect, but they are designed with ease of repair in mind, and that translates to less costly repairs. By and large they do seem to be the most reliable as far as our shop is concerned. I no longer work on cars, but I am at the shop every day to see my brother and see how things are going. The Hemi is capable of some very good mileage numbers if you can keep your foot out of it. I got just over 21mpg on a trip through the UP with my buddys driving with a lite foot. My buddy got 14 on the way home, same roads, but he drives like his butt is on fire. His truck.....

In 2008 I bought a new chevy, just a 4x4 work truck with a 5.3. It was back to the dealer six times in 43K miles for fairly large repairs. Rear diff, lifters[4-6-8 motor] fuel injectors, 2 computors, brakes three times. No Chevys for me!

I bought that truck when gas was $5.50 a gallon. They had huge rebates on full size trucks. I bought it new for $16,100, sold it for $16,000 two years and 43K later. You may want to wait till mid summer to see what gas does. If it goes over $5, there will be panic in the truck market again, and the rebates/incentives will be flying.

I am thinking about a Nissan Frontier for my runaround truck. The big Van I use for work is killing me as my jobs keep getting farther and farther away from home. Keep the van, and a little truck. On the other hand, maybe I will wait till gas goes up and see what I can get a 2wh Dodge Hemi for. Close to the same mileage when driven with care, and more power than you need when you need it?

Larry

PS: Used prices are so high right now as no one is buying new that I actually think that new is a better deal in most cases. Like you said you know what you have, and you get all of the best miles.

[sawguy21]

Your last comment is a good one, we are seeing that here in many cases. A late model low mileage lease return is too close the price of a new one to make it worthwhile.

[Hilltop366]

Larry you did what I was going to suggest Wesdor to do, that is ask your mechanic what he would buy if he was looking for a truck for the described use, and then ask him why. If he has a good reason then use his advise for what it is worth.

I asked my mechanic the same thing a while ago for advise on a truck for work (some snow plowing and the odd load of junk or building materials), I gets little use, usually only around 2000 to 3000 miles a year. He really didn't have a answer on what to buy but lots of what he would not buy and gm was on the top of the do not list unless you were going to get rid of it before the warranty runs out. We are using a 95 f150 with a 300ci I6 it is nearing the end of it's life because of rust mostly, My mechanic suggested that if I spend $2000 on the old Ford it would outlast a new GM.

3/4 vs 1/2 ... my opinion 3/4 no contest the biggest reason would be safety (they have brakes that will stop the weight)

Diesel vs gas ... low miles per year = gas    Lots of miles per year = diesel   Your description of use sounds like gas would be a good fit for gas (just price injectors and injector pump for a diesel)

[Kansas]

The question is how much firewood, how much lumber, and how heavy of a sawmill to tow. With the price of fuel, unless you have the need for heavy towing capabilities, I would scale down to one around an F 150 size and a smaller engine. If you will use it exclusively for hauling loads, then by all means go for the F250 size. If you use it a lot for general driving, go smaller. And yes, go used.

[Just Me]

 I went from a 4x4 diesel, to a 1/2 ton Chevy and had no problems. Springs were made to bend occasionally to my way of thinking.Then sold that POS and bought a Dodge van. For me, I thought about it and the few times a year I really loaded the diesel didn't justify the expense. It was fun, but the same truck, just a single cab stick, went up ten grand in 6 years. Calculators don't lie. I could not justify it.

Now I am thinking about a Nissan Frontier for my DD, and keep back my 3/4 ton van for big trailor loads. At what I am spending on gas in my current work locations, I could make the payment on a new Frontier just with the fuel savings. Frontier is made in USA, and the 4cyl engine is dependable as a rock.

I like the idea of something being made in the USA, but I also realize that those companys have no loyalty to me, so it is my own interests i should be thinking of. If they can not make the product I want, then the market will correct. Fords are too hard to work on/expensive, Chevys are absolute trash right now, and Dodge doesn't make anything that gets decent mileage.

[tyb525]

If you decide to get a GM truck, make sure you DO NOT get one with the smaller V8 (4.8L V8). You will be horrified at the MPG's you get. That is one case where a smaller engine actually gets worse gas mileage than a larger one.

[Mooseherder]

You may also want to look at a used Chevy HHR.
They get over 30 miles per gallon and have some storage benefits like a Van.
I don't know how they are pulling a load though.

[paul case]

hhr?
i just cant imagine a midget hearse pulling a sawmill. pc