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New to me truck recommendation
- Thread Starter USMC1911
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At that price point I think it's more important you find a well taken care of rig than what you buy. At that price point you will get a mid option Ford, Chevy or Ram 3/4 or one ton that is 2-4 years old or a loaded one that is 5+ years old. I would rather have the "worst" of the lot that has low miles and was loved than the best truck that was beat and abused
I was shopping for a Toyota Tacoma (Taco) last year, 2016. My wife had wanted a truck for years but now I needed to get up to a new climbing area that was ripping my All wheel drive Suburu Forrester up. It had been in the shop twice to fix the under carriage I'd been trashing trying to get over the mini grand canyons in the forest service neglected roads, and we still hadn't made it there yet. The people who say "3rd times a charm" haven't gone into the deep woods for the 3rd attempt and had a rainstorm make the road back all but impassable for the return trip for 2 months. So I was shocked to learn several things on my search for a truck. 1st) Tacomas vaunted, lauded and rarely matched reliability went to totalcrap (per consumer Reports), and that the new Ford F-150 beat it. Was more reliable.
My wife and I went over to buy the Taco and test drove it. The thing shockingly would not accommodate my wifes Asian short legs, and those legs are not getting longer as she ages either. Oh she gamely got in and kicked them around in the air down there in a show of moral support, but the little feet didn't reach the pedals. WTF?!!! I figured Asians would design a car they could drive? I look it up and the Toyota Tacoma trucks are now made in a Tijuana plant. Hmm, pfft, I'd be fine with that otherwise. Back when I picked fruit with nationals from Mexico, most Mexicans were not any bigger than me. They generally worked much, much better (faster, but didn't bruise any fruit), but were not bigger. Regardless, we still wanted a Toyota. For some as yet unexplained reason we then also went and test drove the Ford. Had to have been my wife's call as she's the brains around here.
We went over to the Ford dealer knowing 4 things:
1st) That I wanted a Tacoma as they were more reliable. That trumped (haha, unintentional I assure you as - Tacos are mfg in the Tijuana plant and Fords are made in the revamped Mich. plant) all other attributes, which is why we didn't even consider Chevys or Dodge.
2nd) the MSRP for a F-150 was $10 grand more than the Taco and way out of our price range. We couldn't afford it, so the plan was to look at it, then go buy the Taco and snicker at the idiots who instead choose the best selling US vehicle because it had a cupholder (but no reliability).
3rd) We knew the F-150 was too big, we wanted a small truck. Not large. Small. Both because we live in the city and because that's how my wife rolls. Small. And I'm no Andre the Giant myself.
4th) We hate negotiating for cars. HATTTTTEEEEE IITTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Tacomas had a fixed price. I like that. You pay what they say. It's a bit like the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld. The list for the Toyota, as in the non-negotiable price you would pay, was $35,460. The list for the F-150 that we looked at...did I tell you about the foot pedal button? No? Ho Lee Fook. You press a console button and the brake and the gas pedal move towards you 6 inches or as much as you can tolerate. My wifes feet not only reached but she was comfortable in the driving position in the "big" F-150. Not only that, but the extended cab (2 door) Ford had much better foot room and ergonomics than the 4 door Taco. Much better. Oh, the list price was $45,000 and change for the F-150 with a bunch of crap we didn't need and some we were astounded to learn existed and we needed (foot pedal thing). $10 grand more.
Ho man. The test drive was night and day. Night being the Taco best described as "meh" at best and day being "Wow "totally cush" and easy, quiet or fun for the F-150. The Ford was so much better that I can't even begin to explain it. In all aspects. Later I saw that Consumer Reports had given the Tacoma a horrifically low road test score of 56, and I was thinking, "yup". Still couldn't afford the Ford. So we left the Ford dealer and as we walked past the managers desk literally on the way to the Toyota dealership he said: "you're walking away from $12,000 off MSRP?"
I said?
Math being a harsh mistress for me I still quickly figured out that $45,000 minus $12,000 was.....
a lot off. So I turn towards the man and spake thusly: "You tellin me that we can get that truck".... (pointing for effect at the truck) "right there, for $12,000 off? Cause if you can do that I'll buy it and buy it right now. $12,000 off, right? "
"Yup" came the response.
So we sat down to buy it. Please refer to #4 above. HATTTTEEE ITTT!!!!! Turns out, they tried to cheat me out of my $12,000 off several times, and in fact I was walking out twice swearing under my breath (I was not joking either). At the end of the day, that truck was purchased for $33,245. Which was $11,750 off MSRP. I'd been concerned about the off road performance, and looked at a bunch of internet info about that. It breezed up there so easy that I almost layed a brown streak in my pants in happiness right there. The grand canyons that had been slapping my Forrester around felt like a paved road in the truck. I still ground the front a few times, and I'd taken off the factory wind damn that's in the front. But having a jacked up truck with 18" tires made a bit of difference. I'll most likely jack it up a bit more soon as that dance with death isn't quite over yet and spring and the rematch for the finale is right around the corner.
So it's a tad over your $30,000 price tag, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. The wife still hasn't driving it, but at least I know that when I have my heart attack out in the woods, if she's with me, we're gonna be heading towards the hospital with her driving instead of me laying there listening to the wailing and nashing of teeth.
Oh, the main point, my truck comes stock to tow 5000 lbs, but thats the limit of the tow bar, not the truck. I have the back up tow thinggy camera and the transmission cooler etc etc to tow all kinds of crap, so the truck will tow more if I change out the stock tow hook up. But my boat only weighs 900 lbs, so I didn't care anything about towing. But that F-150 will easily get to 11,000 lbs if you rig it correctly.
***cough*** edit** cough** I've re-read your needs and see you need 14,000 lbs towing. Please forget everything I just said. I'm an idiot. Good luck!
My wife and I went over to buy the Taco and test drove it. The thing shockingly would not accommodate my wifes Asian short legs, and those legs are not getting longer as she ages either. Oh she gamely got in and kicked them around in the air down there in a show of moral support, but the little feet didn't reach the pedals. WTF?!!! I figured Asians would design a car they could drive? I look it up and the Toyota Tacoma trucks are now made in a Tijuana plant. Hmm, pfft, I'd be fine with that otherwise. Back when I picked fruit with nationals from Mexico, most Mexicans were not any bigger than me. They generally worked much, much better (faster, but didn't bruise any fruit), but were not bigger. Regardless, we still wanted a Toyota. For some as yet unexplained reason we then also went and test drove the Ford. Had to have been my wife's call as she's the brains around here.
We went over to the Ford dealer knowing 4 things:
1st) That I wanted a Tacoma as they were more reliable. That trumped (haha, unintentional I assure you as - Tacos are mfg in the Tijuana plant and Fords are made in the revamped Mich. plant) all other attributes, which is why we didn't even consider Chevys or Dodge.
2nd) the MSRP for a F-150 was $10 grand more than the Taco and way out of our price range. We couldn't afford it, so the plan was to look at it, then go buy the Taco and snicker at the idiots who instead choose the best selling US vehicle because it had a cupholder (but no reliability).
3rd) We knew the F-150 was too big, we wanted a small truck. Not large. Small. Both because we live in the city and because that's how my wife rolls. Small. And I'm no Andre the Giant myself.
4th) We hate negotiating for cars. HATTTTTEEEEE IITTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Tacomas had a fixed price. I like that. You pay what they say. It's a bit like the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld. The list for the Toyota, as in the non-negotiable price you would pay, was $35,460. The list for the F-150 that we looked at...did I tell you about the foot pedal button? No? Ho Lee Fook. You press a console button and the brake and the gas pedal move towards you 6 inches or as much as you can tolerate. My wifes feet not only reached but she was comfortable in the driving position in the "big" F-150. Not only that, but the extended cab (2 door) Ford had much better foot room and ergonomics than the 4 door Taco. Much better. Oh, the list price was $45,000 and change for the F-150 with a bunch of crap we didn't need and some we were astounded to learn existed and we needed (foot pedal thing). $10 grand more.
Ho man. The test drive was night and day. Night being the Taco best described as "meh" at best and day being "Wow "totally cush" and easy, quiet or fun for the F-150. The Ford was so much better that I can't even begin to explain it. In all aspects. Later I saw that Consumer Reports had given the Tacoma a horrifically low road test score of 56, and I was thinking, "yup". Still couldn't afford the Ford. So we left the Ford dealer and as we walked past the managers desk literally on the way to the Toyota dealership he said: "you're walking away from $12,000 off MSRP?"
I said?
Math being a harsh mistress for me I still quickly figured out that $45,000 minus $12,000 was.....
a lot off. So I turn towards the man and spake thusly: "You tellin me that we can get that truck".... (pointing for effect at the truck) "right there, for $12,000 off? Cause if you can do that I'll buy it and buy it right now. $12,000 off, right? "
"Yup" came the response.
So we sat down to buy it. Please refer to #4 above. HATTTTEEE ITTT!!!!! Turns out, they tried to cheat me out of my $12,000 off several times, and in fact I was walking out twice swearing under my breath (I was not joking either). At the end of the day, that truck was purchased for $33,245. Which was $11,750 off MSRP. I'd been concerned about the off road performance, and looked at a bunch of internet info about that. It breezed up there so easy that I almost layed a brown streak in my pants in happiness right there. The grand canyons that had been slapping my Forrester around felt like a paved road in the truck. I still ground the front a few times, and I'd taken off the factory wind damn that's in the front. But having a jacked up truck with 18" tires made a bit of difference. I'll most likely jack it up a bit more soon as that dance with death isn't quite over yet and spring and the rematch for the finale is right around the corner.
So it's a tad over your $30,000 price tag, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. The wife still hasn't driving it, but at least I know that when I have my heart attack out in the woods, if she's with me, we're gonna be heading towards the hospital with her driving instead of me laying there listening to the wailing and nashing of teeth.
Oh, the main point, my truck comes stock to tow 5000 lbs, but thats the limit of the tow bar, not the truck. I have the back up tow thinggy camera and the transmission cooler etc etc to tow all kinds of crap, so the truck will tow more if I change out the stock tow hook up. But my boat only weighs 900 lbs, so I didn't care anything about towing. But that F-150 will easily get to 11,000 lbs if you rig it correctly.
***cough*** edit** cough** I've re-read your needs and see you need 14,000 lbs towing. Please forget everything I just said. I'm an idiot. Good luck!
Last Edited:
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if it were me id buy an '06-'07 silverado with the LBZ duramax. just my .02
Ditto. I own a 2002 and would never look back. My Dodge 1ton Cummins dually had a horrible transmission. You cannot do better than an Allison unless you love manual trans. Sit in a few brands... the Silverado was made for comfortable long distance driving. Maybe the new Fords are better but the older ones were not comfy to drive when I drove up and down fwy 5 working for a buddy. And Dodge were just very rough and poor seats. Wore one out pulling RVs to delivery. Very low quality electrical too. And while the Cummins is pretty bulletproof, Chevies and Fords beat me up the hill every time.
IMO you wouldn't need a dually for your intended use. But you might like one anyway. Diesel vs gas means more torque. With the lighter weight of a pull trailer maybe not needed? Fuel economy is about a draw since diesel is more expensive.
Titans don't get good fuel economy as far as I know.
IMO you wouldn't need a dually for your intended use. But you might like one anyway. Diesel vs gas means more torque. With the lighter weight of a pull trailer maybe not needed? Fuel economy is about a draw since diesel is more expensive.
Titans don't get good fuel economy as far as I know.
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cant beat the towing capability of a diesel. gas just dont cut it.
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No mater what you get used, it was sold for an underlying reason.... just sayin that you roll the dice & extended warranties are crap...
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yeah, some extended warranties are crap. some of them are very good. a co worker bought his ext. warranty for $4800. he brought his escalade to our shop. so far, i have replaced the Engine, upper control arms, lower ball joints, power st. pump, heated seat control module, drivers lumbar assembly, blower motor, rear air shocks, rear air compressor, brake booster,brake master cyl, brake light switch,rear liftgate glass and a few other things for a total of +$14k worth of repairs. im not sure what the moral of the story is though... either dont buy an escalade? or be sure to buy a good extended warranty?
I must be very lucky because I've only ever owned one new vehicle... the 2004 Dodge 3500 I bought just to deliver RVs... it was a piece of crud!!! Very thin tin, bad electrical elements, but most of all the Mercedes automatic transmission that they got because the Dodge transmissions were crapping themselves ran in the wrong power band for diesel towing. 55mph had me at 1500rpm but 2000rpm had me at 75mph, just wasting fuel.
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Caddies ain't what they were 40yrs ago.
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I'll never own another pickup without at least a partial back seat/place to toss stuff behind me.
When shopping for any used vehicle, look out for debris in the heat/AC/vent cowling below the wipers. Pine needles (especially) will block up significant pools of rain water and cause leakage under the dash into cab.
When shopping for any used vehicle, look out for debris in the heat/AC/vent cowling below the wipers. Pine needles (especially) will block up significant pools of rain water and cause leakage under the dash into cab.
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glorified tahoe with a crapload more control modules
And a much bigger price tag. Plus, my most unfavorite sister in law owns one for her real estate biz in Vegas. High rollers, sheesh. I drink beer, not champagne.
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unless you drink miller highlife... "the champagne of beers"
Gag!!!
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i too have had great success with many used vehicle's throughout the years because back then, i could work on them so I needed no warranty. Nowadays its a totally different scenario with a friggin computer tucked underneath every hood...... I've have always been a Ford man.
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Good stuff guys. Reminds me of a video I just watched the other day:
Entertaining, if nothing else...
Entertaining, if nothing else...
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Just because the sales person and the spec sheet says it is so, does not mean it is a good idea. If this was really true you would see a whole lot more of these towing trailers around.
Virtually everyone I know who had F 150's and towed travel trailers, 22 foot boats, toy haulers all went to 3/4 rated pickups or better after one season of butt puckering on stopping and transmission replacements.
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Run as Far away from ford ecoboost as possible
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