Who drives a truck? School me.
11-18-2013, 04:41 PM
#11
Thread Starter
Yeah I read that the Tundra's are built in the USA now anyway. The forum I was on seemed to be full of happy owners.
When I said 4x4 was essential, I didn't mean generally necessary for anyone's winter use. I meant I will only be considering a 4x4 truck. To put it in perspective, a Subaru cannot get up my paved driveway in the winter if it does not have snow tires (too steep)! You are right, I will only use the 4x4 rarely as necessary. I am not taking the truck mudding, but I do not want to get stuck in a puddle on a muddy dirt road in the middle of nowhere while hunting either. 4wd is nice when the roads are slick too. A 2wd truck has zero resale value in Montana.
We will be trading in a 2003 LX470. It has been a great vehicle, but can only tow 6500 lbs. It carries one car on an aluminum flatbed easy enough, but gets 7-8mpg when towing. The mileage is as bad as any truck (12mpg in town, 15mpg highway) so no loss there. I am towing a car nearly 600 miles each way to a road course ~6x per year (and hope to get there more next season). I am also towing a car to a closer track (500 miles round trip) 3x/yr minimum. It cannot safely pull an enclosed car hauler, and I would REALLY love to be able to tow two cars at a time (heaviest being a 3400-lb STI, lightest a 2300-lb MR2). I am towing through mountain passes some of the time. The LX drops to 45mph up the hills with my foot on the floor.
I am looking at a dodge 2500. No plans for a snow plow. I am hoping to find one slightly used with low-ish miles that has some warranty remaining. I haven't been to the dealership yet, but am told they sell for a fortune brand new.
When I said 4x4 was essential, I didn't mean generally necessary for anyone's winter use. I meant I will only be considering a 4x4 truck. To put it in perspective, a Subaru cannot get up my paved driveway in the winter if it does not have snow tires (too steep)! You are right, I will only use the 4x4 rarely as necessary. I am not taking the truck mudding, but I do not want to get stuck in a puddle on a muddy dirt road in the middle of nowhere while hunting either. 4wd is nice when the roads are slick too. A 2wd truck has zero resale value in Montana.
We will be trading in a 2003 LX470. It has been a great vehicle, but can only tow 6500 lbs. It carries one car on an aluminum flatbed easy enough, but gets 7-8mpg when towing. The mileage is as bad as any truck (12mpg in town, 15mpg highway) so no loss there. I am towing a car nearly 600 miles each way to a road course ~6x per year (and hope to get there more next season). I am also towing a car to a closer track (500 miles round trip) 3x/yr minimum. It cannot safely pull an enclosed car hauler, and I would REALLY love to be able to tow two cars at a time (heaviest being a 3400-lb STI, lightest a 2300-lb MR2). I am towing through mountain passes some of the time. The LX drops to 45mph up the hills with my foot on the floor.
I am looking at a dodge 2500. No plans for a snow plow. I am hoping to find one slightly used with low-ish miles that has some warranty remaining. I haven't been to the dealership yet, but am told they sell for a fortune brand new.
11-19-2013, 05:09 AM
#13
Originally Posted by JonBoy' timestamp='1384806587' post='22882871
Nissan's new half-ton pickup will be a 5.0L diesel - comes out next year.
Will it actually be its own truck or will it still be the Ram 1500 in different sheet metal? Not dissing the Ram 1500, just curious.
I'll put money on the new Nissan rather than the RAM 1500
11-20-2013, 09:11 AM
#15
I refuse to buy an American car or a foreign truck. IMHO, ram w/ cummins is the ONLY truck I would trust in front of an enclosed trailer. My old boss had a 2500 (inline 6) and I swear it hauled WAY more than the recommended weight to the scrapyard. If you're hauling more than one car or an enclosed trailer, you're really limited to diesels anyway. Just find a used cummins with a little over 100k (because they're just getting broken in) and pre-hippy juice and if you ever sell it, you'll get your money back. The power stroke and duramax will do the job, but the cummins is going to outlast them. My opinion is brand new vehicles are a waste of money and you wouldn't be asking opinions if you had money to burn.
11-20-2013, 01:14 PM
#16
Unfortunately, with a Cummins, you get a commercial engine in a consumer chassis. So yes, the engine is great but the rest of the vehicle is not so great. That said, virtually all heavy duty pickups have issues with the front end. Most need new bearings, axles, CV joints, etc, etc, every 100K miles (or less), depending on how you use the truck. That massive engine weighs a LOT and the truck just can't handle the weight very well.
Used is definitely the way to go, regardless of what you buy. Trucks depreciate very quickly and you can get a 3-5 year old truck with low miles for less than half of MSRP.
Used is definitely the way to go, regardless of what you buy. Trucks depreciate very quickly and you can get a 3-5 year old truck with low miles for less than half of MSRP.
11-20-2013, 01:35 PM
#17
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Orange County, California
Posts: 1,582
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Actually its quite interesting to see how well diesel trucks hold their value comparatively to gas trucks. When i was looking for my truck i was shocked how much more a diesel with high mileage was. For my use, the gas version was fine, but it was interesting when you start to look at pricing.
11-20-2013, 02:02 PM
#18
11-20-2013, 05:06 PM
#20
Registered User
Unfortunately, with a Cummins, you get a commercial engine in a consumer chassis. So yes, the engine is great but the rest of the vehicle is not so great. That said, virtually all heavy duty pickups have issues with the front end. Most need new bearings, axles, CV joints, etc, etc, every 100K miles (or less), depending on how you use the truck. That massive engine weighs a LOT and the truck just can't handle the weight very well.
Used is definitely the way to go, regardless of what you buy. Trucks depreciate very quickly and you can get a 3-5 year old truck with low miles for less than half of MSRP.
Used is definitely the way to go, regardless of what you buy. Trucks depreciate very quickly and you can get a 3-5 year old truck with low miles for less than half of MSRP.
Maybe that's the case in Canada, but in America, used trucks have a pretty high resale.
Example, February 13' I traded in my 05' 2500hd silverado for 15k. I picked it up new for 27k. Maybe things have changed in the past 9 months, but I highly doubt it.