Small Pickup help needed

[mtaylor]

I have a 2011 frontier, it's a pretty damn nice truck.

When you look at a lot of the little things, it's a better truck than the tacoma (In the low-medium price range. I'd prefer a TRD tacoma over my Nissan). Plus, it was on sale. I drove both and preferred the Nissan.

[Crass3000]

I don't know crap about the other trucks but the Ford rangers we have had were beaten to hell and they seemed to keep going. Between hauling tons of loads of dirt, rocks, shingles, etc the mudflaps got so worn down from being overloaded it was amazing. Basically beat the shit out of it and it still lasted a long time. Sucked cause we couldn't haul as much as with a big truck but it sure held up to a beating.

Rangers are comparitavely cheap too.

[Platinum Pete]

In an admittedly unscientific study (counting pickups on a roadtrip), I determined that only 1% of the time will you have anything in the bed of your truck that could *not* be carried by a similar sedan/wagon that gets far better MPG.

Secondly, only the 2wd trucks get good mileage, 4x4s get crap mileage even in 2wd.

Lastly, nearly all truck beds suck. If you can't fit an 4x8' piece of plywood in its bed with the gate up, it's not a truck, it's a truck-like object - basically a useless toy.

Therefore, consider an AWD wagon with a hitch and an 4x8' trailer. Far cheaper in the long run, more versatile, and more fun to drive for 95% of people.

Exceptions are if you actually will be carrying things in the bed 100% of the time or if you need the ground clearance.

I have a 1996 Tacoma 4wd that I adore, but if I had it to do over again (and had parking other than SF street parking) I would have gone the wagon or van plus trailer route.