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Over the course of the last couple years, I have accidentally managed to become an independent contractor/freelance handyman, and I can no longer put off trading my beater Toyota sedan for a small pickup truck. I emphasize small because I really don't need much; just something that can haul about 150lbs of tools in a tool box in the bed, and also can be used for things like delivering furniture items, small amounts of lumber, etc. Also, I love camping, so while I don't need 4wd, something that I can take on a reasonably rough dirt road without too much trouble would be cool. I have no particular brand loyalty when it comes to cars, though I rather like my Toyota so I suppose there's that. I don't know much about trucks: I've only driven a couple, never owned one. My initial research shows that 4cyl trucks are tough to find these days, so I'd be fine with a v6 as long as it gets reasonable gas mileage. I'm pretty good at maintaining/fixing cars, so I don't mind something older, but given parts availability I'd be hesitant to get something older than mid 90's. I'm not expecting to buy right away since I've got no money right now: my plan is to find the model I like, and then save up for it. Ideally I'd like to spend around $5k but I'll go higher if there's something that's worth it. Also: I suppose I could do an SUV of some kind as well, as long as it met the other criteria listed below. My only 'requirements': -reasonable gas millage (23mpg or better, ideally) -extended cab -capable of accepting a lumber rack/roof rack and tool box It'd be nice to have: -bench seats -crank windows -3rd door/crew cab -sunroof (or how cool would a hard top convertible pickup be?!) Trucks I've been looking at so far, and would love to hear opinions on: Ford Ranger Chevy S10 Nissan Frontier all the beater little Toyota trucks gardeners in LA drive around
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Aug 11, 2014 04:13
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Frontier has transmission and cooling pack issues. Ranger isn't great on mileage. S-10 is indestructible (so is it's Isuzu Hombre twin) and easy to fix, and tales well to overloading, but the mileage isn't great. The reason you see a zillion little Toyotas running around is because they are the very best option for durability, mileage, etc. They're the best small truck.
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Aug 11, 2014 04:51
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CaptainFuzychin posted:Trucks I've been looking at so far, and would love to hear opinions on: I have a Ranger (mazda copy) as a beater truck. Don't buy a Ranger, it's not fun to wrench on. My grandfather on the other hand has an 87 Toyota with 310,000 miles on it. I'm convinced that it'll survive the apocalypse just fine and keep on running. Top Gear confirms this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnWKz7Cthkk
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Aug 11, 2014 06:49
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Get a $2500 beater truck, don't worry about the mileage because you didn't spend $5k, and if it somehow unfixably dies, another beater truck is $2500, leaving you in the very worst case about even. You won't worry about denting it, or messing up the interior, or anything. True beater. You can swap in a bench, you're guaranteed crank handles, and you'll probably end up with a kickin rad tape deck. So my suggestion is get the $2500 truck that is easiest to work on, and put it to work. Beater trucks are the best. e: This is like the perfect example: http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/ctd/4609362417.html
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Aug 11, 2014 07:06
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If it weren't for the mpg (12 City, 14 Combined 17 Highway), I'd look for a 96 or newer chevy/gmc half ton. Even if it's higher mileage or the engine goes on you, you can get a new crate engine for $2k from GM with a 3 yr/50k mile warranty. Parts are plentiful and cheap. A z71 extended cab with the 3 doors would be great for camping and what not. But the mpg's suck so... I say this because I'm currently considering something like this: http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/cto/4612300262.html or http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/4609520901.html and not worrying about the engine going because I can just slap a new one in for cheap provided the rest of the vehicle is good. For the $5k you have, you could get one of these trucks and do the engine right away if you wanted. Then you'd have more than just a piece of poo poo work truck. Ramsus fucked around with this message at 09:04 on Aug 11, 2014 |
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Aug 11, 2014 08:50
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I DD a Ranger, and also drive a different one for work. As the previous posters have said, mileage is really poor on these things. I've never figured it on my work truck with the 4-cyl, a shell, and not much else, but it seems to be as bad as or worse than my 3.0 V6 ext cab 4x4 (which gets about 15 city, 20 highway). If you can find a 4-cyl ext cab, that would probably hit most of your requirements, but I have to agree with the Toyota as a better choice all around.
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Aug 11, 2014 12:03
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CaptainFuzychin posted:1.) extended cab truck Pick two Also I had a 2000 2.5l 5 speed ranger loved the piss out of it and still miss it. I'd estimate 17-20 mpg combined (with 220k), apparently the 2.3 is better on gas. Not sure if I believe the 25+ highway claims of the ford forums. puberty worked me over fucked around with this message at 12:46 on Aug 11, 2014 |
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Aug 11, 2014 12:37
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Have you considered a Miata?
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Aug 11, 2014 20:44
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EVERYWHERE 
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Maybe I'm biased because I love mine but get a four cylinder Toyota. I use it for for exactly the sort of work you are looking at doing plus carrying the odd thousand pound load to the dump. Absolutely do not get the v6 though, get an 80's or 90's fuel injected 22-RE. The 22RE with w56 transmission combo is not only utterly reliable but super easy and cheap to do maintenance on. When I bought mine it had 200k miles with only oil changes and the timing chain guides were starting to make noise so I did them, the chain, a new front cover, oil and water pumps, a clutch and a new battery for under $500 in parts and two evenings of work. Parts are available off the shelf everywhere. A whole new exhaust system recently was around a hundred. 85 to 95 are basically all interchangeable with a slightly different frame and body in 89. The four is plenty powerful to get you around town unless you are in a place with 80+mph freeway traffic. A 2wd will get mileage in the low twenties with daily mixed use. The only failure my truck has had in the 4 years I've had it was my own fault for not noticing the battery was a bit loose, it managed to slip a bit and ground the hot terminal causing a small fire. We put the fire out, replaced the ground wires and it was back to running like normal.
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Aug 11, 2014 22:35
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meatpimp posted:Have you considered a Miata? 
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Aug 11, 2014 23:07
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The things I don't like about older Toyotas is they only seat two people, there's no room inside, and they're gutless. They also go for a premium used out here. I wouldn't want to get into an accident in one, and a lot of them have been beat to poo poo because they are a favorite among the off road crowd.
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Aug 12, 2014 00:26
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Torraque posted:I DD a Ranger, and also drive a different one for work. As the previous posters have said, mileage is really poor on these things. I've never figured it on my work truck with the 4-cyl, a shell, and not much else, but it seems to be as bad as or worse than my 3.0 V6 ext cab 4x4 (which gets about 15 city, 20 highway). Holy poo poo, is the 3.0L that bad? My 4.0L/5-speed gets the same mileage as yours, but makes drat near twice the power.  I wish it got better mileage, but I like my Ranger. 100500 miles so far and I've yet to have a single mechanical issue. The Toyotas are cool but holy poo poo they're slow, especially the older ones, and they seem to be getting harder to find. Edit: And I pulled this pig around a few weeks ago (each bale is ~2100 lbs) and nothing snapped or exploded. Wouldn't recommend it for long distances, but hey. 
Fats fucked around with this message at 05:19 on Aug 12, 2014 |
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Aug 12, 2014 01:55
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The 22re toyota is a great suggestion, but you might be able to find a nissan cheaper and the KA24DE is a better engine imo and who wouldn't love this face? 
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Aug 12, 2014 05:24
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A good start would probably be to post some craigslist prospects or something. What are you actually considering in your area?
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Aug 12, 2014 09:40
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CaptainFuzychin posted:My only 'requirements': If you're already considering hauling lumber on a rack look into a Transit Connect with a roof rack.
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Aug 12, 2014 23:16
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este posted:Get a $2500 beater truck, don't worry about the mileage because you didn't spend $5k, and if it somehow unfixably dies, another beater truck is $2500, leaving you in the very worst case about even. Ramsus posted:If it weren't for the mpg (12 City, 14 Combined 17 Highway), I'd look for a 96 or newer chevy/gmc half ton. Yeah I've thought about scenarios similar to these. I just can't get behind something that gets milage less than 20mpg when I live in LA and spend a colossal amount of my fairly low income on gas as it is. Plus, i don't -need- a bigger truck and between me being fairly new to driving bigger cars and how impossible it is to find parking for my sedan already, I'd rather go smaller than bigger where applicable. Same thing applies to Geoj's suggestion of a Transit Connect; I've considered a couple vans but I really don't want a vehicle that big. Bibendum posted:Maybe I'm biased because I love mine but get a four cylinder Toyota. I use it for for exactly the sort of work you are looking at doing plus carrying the odd thousand pound load to the dump. Ramsus posted:The things I don't like about older Toyotas is they only seat two people, there's no room inside, and they're gutless. They also go for a premium used out here. I wouldn't want to get into an accident in one, and a lot of them have been beat to poo poo because they are a favorite among the off road crowd. Yeah, in the minimal research I've done I've seen 22R and 22RE mentioned as engines to go for on the Toyotas but I'm still not clear as to why. I have yet to find a major drawback to the Toyotas on paper. But yeah I hate to pay the Los Angeles premium for a Toyota, and the gutless/no room inside points are also somewhat concerning. Ramsus posted:A good start would probably be to post some craigslist prospects or something. What are you actually considering in your area? Well, I haven't seen a lot of specific vehicles I'm interested in lately. Here's one that I screen capped on Craigslist just because I thought it was cool though. I didn't even call the guy because I don't have the money to buy yet, but I just thought this truck was kinda bad rear end and it'd fit the bill in most categories, plus I thought his price seemed a bit steep and his claim of 44mpg sounded too optimistic to be true.  Here's another fun bit to the equation: I'm a road trip fanatic, so the idea of buying a truck in another state and driving it home is appealing to me. I live in Los Angeles but grew up in and have family in Massachusetts, and have various cities that I love to visit on road trips, so I literally check the Boston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland, Phenix, and Las Vegas Craigslists periodically. Here's one in Providence I just found that I'd be all over if I had the cash in my hand. http://providence.craigslist.org/cto/4615403393.html
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Aug 13, 2014 18:19
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CaptainFuzychin posted:Same thing applies to Geoj's suggestion of a Transit Connect; I've considered a couple vans but I really don't want a vehicle that big. Have you seen the Transit Connect? It's not a full-sized van, it's shorter than a Tacoma. But carries a ton and gets 21/29 mpg. Fats fucked around with this message at 01:13 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 01:05
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I squeeze 16-17 with Yukon XL with the 6.0 AWD. Its all in how you drive. City driving kills MPGs in any truck, big and small. But in true economic fashion... A early to mid 90s Toyota will out last and get better fuel economy than any thing else.
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Aug 14, 2014 01:17
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Id get a 92 or older mazda b2200. I sold mine for 1200 with $1k of new tires. This was before the mazda was just a ford ranger. They have no value, sucks for selling but great for buying. Same as the toyota without the toyota tax. I towed my WRX behind mine, and though it was slow, was still fine. They had a 3/4 tonne rating back in the day, and were able to carry more than an F150. Would I be comfortable putting that much in one? Probably not, but it was great as everything was a little beefier than the toyotas. They must have been cheap when new too, as there were lots of them around. depends where you are though, as it was probably regional sales or something that put a lot of them on the road. Easy to fix, mine was fuel injected so the ECU poo poo the bed, I got the truck for free as it wouldn't run when hot. $100 to some random ebay guy to replace the caps and I drove it for 100k km.
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Aug 14, 2014 01:37
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I have an 04 ranger and I have to disagree with it being a pain to wrench on, there's a shitload of room to work inside of unless you're a giant/really fat. If you expect to be pulling trailer loads on a regular basis the 4.0 and a stick though, I have the 3.0 and while it's not utterly gutless, the mileage definitely suffers when I'm pulling a fully loaded trailer, particularly when uphill from a stop. I can load the bed up fully without killing my gas mileage though, and it has much less rolling resistance than a lot of other trucks I've driven. The Vulcan engine is pretty much just getting broken in at 150k miles too, it just doesn't die. I can squeeze 24 highway out of it but city you're looking at 16-18 - but that's pretty much just trucks in general. E: another good thing is that the body hasn't effectively changed since 94 so if you crunch up a panel or something you just grab one from a junkyard and bolt it on. Kilersquirrel fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 04:48
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subaru baja
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Aug 14, 2014 04:53
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Fats posted:Have you seen the Transit Connect? It's not a full-sized van, it's shorter than a Tacoma. But carries a ton and gets 21/29 mpg. I have to admit I've only seen them driving around, never actually looked inside one. I'll give them a closer look, but I just looked them up on ebay motors to get a price idea though, and the cheapest ones are still pushing double what I'd like to spend. blindjoe posted:Id get a 92 or older mazda b2200. I sold mine for 1200 with $1k of new tires. A buddy of mine had one of those, and it was actually his truck that got me thinking about it again. I've been reading up on them as well, I've got that model on my test drive list. adorai posted:subaru baja Oddly enough I actually was considering one of these as well, but I had to discount it because I figured it might not be big enough to haul lumber on. That and it seems like they were made in smaller numbers; presumably as a result, they seem to demand a pretty high price tag, and I also have concerns about parts availability. BrokenKnucklez posted:I squeeze 16-17 with Yukon XL with the 6.0 AWD. Its all in how you drive. City driving kills MPGs in any truck, big and small. Yeah, between this thread and the other research I'm doing, 20-25 year old toyotas are firmly entrenching themselves at the top of my list. EDIT: Does anyone have models of Toyota trucks to recommend I look into from that period? Every time I see one from that range it doesn't have a model name on it. They weren't making Tacomas then were they? CaptainFuzychin fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 19:15
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CaptainFuzychin posted:
The baja is just a 00-04 outback with the back ripped off. Everything else is the same minus heavy duty springs.  It has a rear ski/lumber flap. Standard things to watch out for are headgaskets/timing belt and all the other standard subaru thread poo poo.
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Aug 14, 2014 19:17
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Screw the Baja, get a Brat
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Aug 14, 2014 19:36
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Screw the Brat, get an El Camino.
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Aug 14, 2014 19:46
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Screw the El Camino get a Ranchero!
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Aug 14, 2014 20:08
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Brats are awesome but I hesitate to get something that old. El Caminos and Rancheros are cool and all but I'd rather avoid project cars with v8 engines for my daily driver work truck.
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Aug 14, 2014 20:59
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Elephanthead posted:Screw the El Camino get a Ranchero! Screw you both and get an Econoline pick up  I don't think there was a model name. The Tacoma didn't hit the streets till 95 and before that is just search Toyota Pickup... Rest of the world it was called the hilux.
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Aug 14, 2014 21:03
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Screw you both and get an Econoline pick up Just get an older Bronco and take the back top off.
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Aug 14, 2014 21:24
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Toyota Pickup My room mate has one of these and every time he gets parts he gets to play the game. "I need parts for a 91 Toyota Pickup" "What Model?" "Pickup" *big sigh* "Yeah, but what model?" "Its the Toyota -Pickup-" Ranger chat: Look for Mazda B4000's. Exactly the same. Lower prices because less people know to look for them over Rangers.
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Aug 14, 2014 21:29
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^^^ Hah, good to know, not surprising that's an issue. meatpimp posted:Just get an older Bronco and take the back top off. I thought of this too actually, but again there's the whole gas milage thing. For a while I was desperately trying to think of a way I could have something like the linked example below, but I have since given up/postponed that idea based on all the obvious practicality concerns. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachments/toyota-truck-4runner/573054d1295974152-chop-top-pics-dscf2233.jpg CaptainFuzychin fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 21:32
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You know... As much as I hate to even remotely recommend it.... Mini van? Hauls a stupid amount of poo poo, decent on fuel. But then the whole off road thing would be limiting too.
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Aug 14, 2014 22:00
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BrokenKnucklez posted:But then the whole off road thing would be limiting too.
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Aug 14, 2014 22:06
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Would something like a forester work? 23mpg-ish combined according to fuelly.BrokenKnucklez posted:Mini van? Hauls a stupid amount of poo poo, decent on fuel. If you go to home depots in the morning around here there are a not insignificant amount of minivans with a bunch of ladders strapped to the top of them. InitialDave posted:Now that's just a lack of imagination. Not so much a minivan but 25-30mpg and 4wd. Wild guess says it can't carry much of anything though. 
puberty worked me over fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 22:21
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InitialDave posted:Now that's just a lack of imagination. I own British cars. Its imagination every day.
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Aug 14, 2014 22:35
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Who said mid-'90s Toyota?
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Aug 14, 2014 22:48
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What about the Canyon/Colorado? They seem like a ok value though the automatics are 4 speeds. You can get a V8 is the later models (pretty rare though). KennyLoggins fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Aug 14, 2014 |
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Aug 14, 2014 23:05
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KennyLoggins posted:What about the Canyon/Colorado? The 5 cyl base engine in the Colorado (and hummer h3) is a piece of poo poo terrible compromise of an engine. Do not buy. 96 Ranger 2.3L 5 speed owner checking in, I just topped 260k miles and get 18-19mpg all city. The engine compartment is cavernous with the pinto engine in it, it's super easy to wrench on.
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Aug 14, 2014 23:19
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DrPain posted:The 5 cyl base engine in the Colorado (and hummer h3) is a piece of poo poo terrible compromise of an engine. Do not buy. Which is strange considering its based in the same family as the Atlas 4.2 strait 6, which is a good motor. We have used them in the rail yards, and they are utter garbage.
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Aug 14, 2014 23:52
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BrokenKnucklez posted:Which is strange considering its based in the same family as the Atlas 4.2 strait 6, which is a good motor. We have used them in the rail yards, and they are utter garbage. I drove a hummer H3 with the i5, It seemed to be idling too low, and the vibration it transfered through the steering wheel would make your hands numb if you gripped it hard.
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Aug 15, 2014 00:20
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