[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Mid sized pick-up input (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 2/8/2017 1:28:27 PM EDT
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Hello all,
I am getting ready to buy a mid sized pick-up for my family and wanted to ask for opinions and input. It will need to be four door, and I would like a long box. The limitation here is that my garage is only twenty feet long. I will be putting a convertible car seat and an infant car seat in the back so there needs to be a fair amount of room in the back seat. I do a fair amount of camping and hunting so four wheel drive is a must, but it will also be my daily driver so I want fairly good gas mileage. It will also need to have a v-6 engine which I know goes against the gas mileage issue. Price range is $22-27,000. I am looking in the 2011-2014 range to fit in that price range. So far I have been looking at the Toyota Tacoma and a little bit at the Chevy Colorado. I would appreciate any of your experiences. Thanks |
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Whatever you do, install the car seats before you even get serious about buying. I'm in the same boat and no smaller truck had enough room. The rear facing seat was the issue since it forces the front seat to be far forward. The other annoyance is you can't take a third adult because there isn't enough room between the car seats.
For those reasons, I bought a half ton crew cab. |
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Quoted:
Whatever you do, install the car seats before you even get serious about buying. I'm in the same boat and no smaller truck had enough room. The rear facing seat was the issue since it forces the front seat to be far forward. The other annoyance is you can't take a third adult because there isn't enough room between the car seats. For those reasons, I bought a half ton crew cab. |
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Toyota Tacoma /thread I drive a 2008 Taco and use it for the exact, EXACT reasons you listed and it works great for everything out in the mountains here. I have the smaller bed though with a topper. I was gonna recommend looking at this - 6 cylinder, four door, long bed. If they don't have it, tell them you'll wait til they do or will find it elsewhere. I think that $27k might be unrealistic though. |
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Quoted:
Whatever you do, install the car seats before you even get serious about buying. I'm in the same boat and no smaller truck had enough room. The rear facing seat was the issue since it forces the front seat to be far forward. The other annoyance is you can't take a third adult because there isn't enough room between the car seats. For those reasons, I bought a half ton crew cab. Exactly. |
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Exactly. Quoted:
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Whatever you do, install the car seats before you even get serious about buying. I'm in the same boat and no smaller truck had enough room. The rear facing seat was the issue since it forces the front seat to be far forward. The other annoyance is you can't take a third adult because there isn't enough room between the car seats. For those reasons, I bought a half ton crew cab. Exactly. I went as far as taking the car seat to the dealer to see what it fit in. I wound up with a Ram 2500 mega cab. The crew cab only fit with the front seat all the way forward, which was no good even for my short ass. |
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So I am looking at the mid size range because of the limited length of my garage, but the closer I look at overall lengths, the full size rigs are only about 5 inches longer at right around 230 inches. Also the gas mileage of a full size is going to be less.
As far as budget, with two kiddos and two sets of student loans our income can only stretch so far so not going more expensive. So if we add the Ford F150, the Chevy Silverado and the Toyota Tundra all with four doors and short beds to the consideration give me your thoughts. Gas mileage with these larger rigs is definitely going to be a big consideration. |
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i get 17-18 city and 24-25 highway in a 2017 Taco TRD off road quad cab Quoted:
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V6 Tacoma gets terrible real world gas mileage. You sound like a prime candidate for Honda Ridgeline i get 17-18 city and 24-25 highway in a 2017 Taco TRD off road quad cab |
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Not enough room, no real gas mileage advantage and too expensive compared to 1/2 ton. Especially for a family.
I've owned both a compact Toyota truck and Tacoma. Both extra cabs. They are simply not a good buy unless you do a serious amount of off roading. Save yourself the hassle and buy a full size double cab pickup or even better, a SUV of some sort. ETA: I responded before OP's second post. That's the trucks you should be looking at. |
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So I am looking at the mid size range because of the limited length of my garage, but the closer I look at overall lengths, the full size rigs are only about 5 inches longer at right around 230 inches. Also the gas mileage of a full size is going to be less. As far as budget, with two kiddos and two sets of student loans our income can only stretch so far so not going more expensive. So if we add the Ford F150, the Chevy Silverado and the Toyota Tundra all with four doors and short beds to the consideration give me your thoughts. Gas mileage with these larger rigs is definitely going to be a big consideration. I have a Silverado crew cab with a 6'6" bed. Overall length is 239.57 in. so it can theoretically fit in your 20' garage with room to spare. |
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I get 20/29 in mine Quoted:
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V6 Tacoma gets terrible real world gas mileage. You sound like a prime candidate for Honda Ridgeline i get 17-18 city and 24-25 highway in a 2017 Taco TRD off road quad cab And just yesterday in a truck thread I got bashed because I said I get good mileage in a Taco. |
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So I am looking at the mid size range because of the limited length of my garage, but the closer I look at overall lengths, the full size rigs are only about 5 inches longer at right around 230 inches. Also the gas mileage of a full size is going to be less. As far as budget, with two kiddos and two sets of student loans our income can only stretch so far so not going more expensive. So if we add the Ford F150, the Chevy Silverado and the Toyota Tundra all with four doors and short beds to the consideration give me your thoughts. Gas mileage with these larger rigs is definitely going to be a big consideration. For 27K you're right about in the ball park of a new 2016 ram big horn crew cab with in rebates and incentives. Look for one with the 3.6 if you're concerned about fuel economy. |
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1/2 ton out of the question? You would have a lot more choices and better value. For a used small truck a Tacoma no question. I think the new Colorados are better but you won't find one in that price range. My 1/2 crew w/ 6.5" bed wouldn't fit in his garage. If he went with the shorter bed it's about the same length as aneeded extended cab with a 6.5. If OAL is an issue, got to pick your poison. My 99 silverado had 3 doors. A single kid seat in the middle back was OK, but directly behind the seats would be tough. The door opening on the quad cab would be my biggest concern. The suicide doors were great for giving you a lot of space to get in even if you had to open both doors. |
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Lot of needs and little budget. You say long box but mention Tacoma? Maybe my definition of king box and yours differ. A Tacoma is not a mid size truck Up your budget and get a new diesel colorado Tacoma is a mid-size truck. Tundra is a full-size truck. Long box in mid-size refers to a 6' box and short box is a 5' box. No one offers an 8' box on mid-sizes. Compact: Ranger (Out of production) S-10 (Out of production) Mid-size: Colorado Tacoma Frontier Dakota (Out of production) Full-size: Tundra Titan Silverado Sierra Ram F-150 |
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V6 Tacoma gets terrible real world gas mileage. You sound like a prime candidate for Honda Ridgeline So you suggest a unibody instead of a real truck? The Ridgeline is a truck wannabe and sucks at everything a truck is supposed to do. The only advantage is has over a crossover is that the bed is open and not carpeted unlike the back of a crossover. It can't be compared to an SUV because it's a unibody instead of frame rails. |
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Whatever you do, install the car seats before you even get serious about buying. I'm in the same boat and no smaller truck had enough room. The rear facing seat was the issue since it forces the front seat to be far forward. The other annoyance is you can't take a third adult because there isn't enough room between the car seats. For those reasons, I bought a half ton crew cab. I ran into the same problem when I looked at the Frontier and Tacoma. The infant car seat requires the front seat to be all the way forward. That isn't going to work. |
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Only one choice for a mid sized truck with your specifications or better.
2008-2012 Chevy Colorado Crewcab, 5.3 V8 4x4. These can be found averaging from 20-70k miles and price ranging from 18-26k. They are a unicorn, so be prepared to look around some distance from your AO. Absolutely best engine out of ANY of the bullshit posted above. The Trans has some issues but can be pro-actively fixed for a cpl bills and YOU can do it in driveway. Based on the Tune you have put on it, it can get Outstanding power or MPG. If you need more than space than what the shortbed has, get the cargo extender thing that sits on the tailgate. Besides the glaring fact, Long bed trucks suck ass. |
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Lot of needs and little budget. You say long box but mention Tacoma? Maybe my definition of king box and yours differ. A Tacoma is not a mid size truck Up your budget and get a new diesel colorado That's not just using his budget. That's doubling his budget. |
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Whatever you do, install the car seats before you even get serious about buying. I'm in the same boat and no smaller truck had enough room. The rear facing seat was the issue since it forces the front seat to be far forward. The other annoyance is you can't take a third adult because there isn't enough room between the car seats. For those reasons, I bought a half ton crew cab. I have the 4runner and three cars seats are TIGHT. BUT with 2 car seats it wasnt bad- one in the middle and one on side which left the other side seat open and a full size adult (me at 6'2") could fit. If you dont often take an additional adult it would be fine. |
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Quoted:
So I am looking at the mid size range because of the limited length of my garage, but the closer I look at overall lengths, the full size rigs are only about 5 inches longer at right around 230 inches. Also the gas mileage of a full size is going to be less. As far as budget, with two kiddos and two sets of student loans our income can only stretch so far so not going more expensive. So if we add the Ford F150, the Chevy Silverado and the Toyota Tundra all with four doors and short beds to the consideration give me your thoughts. Gas mileage with these larger rigs is definitely going to be a big consideration. Real world gas mileage on any 4x4 6 cyl. 4 door truck is going to be bad. Weight, drag, and gearing have a cost. Obsessing over the nominal difference is silly. the vehicle you spec'ed out does not exist. You need to re-assess your needs, wants and means. |
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Tacoma is terrible with car seats. Even the double cab. If you are over 5' the kids will kick the back of your seat non stop. Plus with a car seat or 2 there is little room for any other goodies like diaper bag, groceries etc.
Go to a dealership with your car seat(s) and put them in a new 17. The cab dimensions are the same as the 2nd gens. That way you can get a feel if its big enough. It wasnt for me so I sold my 16 TRD OR for a 17 Tundra Crewmax. Just needed more room. |