In the market. I'm looking to replace a 2004 Dodge Dakota. It's been a good truck. A great truck actually. It's just time to move on so I'm looking around. I'd love to find a truck about the same size or smaller that gets half way decent gas mileage. I mean, it's 2012. These guys could do it if they wanted to. Anyway, I suppose anything will be an upgrade from my 15 mpg V8. I don't want/need a V8. I don't haul anything. This isn't a work truck (although work owns it). It's my daily driver when not on the bike. I like trucks, cos I like trucks, but I do find myself moving things around for work quite often, but I guess I'd consider something else. I'm just not a car guy though... Chevrolet Colorado? Toyota Tacoma? Nissan Frontier This review shows Toyota out ahead of the pack. Thoughts?
Except the Colorado, unless you get a truck older than the one you already have, these are bigger than the Dakota you have now, and not likely to do any better on fuel with any of them. Here in the US the small pickup went extinct with the end of the Ford Ranger. I have one that is and has been a great little truck, but it isn't that great on mileage either. If I was looking, I would include the F-150 and the Dodge 1500.
I bought a new 2007 Tacoma Sport, V6/auto, double cab, long bed and could not be happier. It is paid for and trouble free. I expect to have it for a long, long time. The last tank was 21mpg. Pay it up-front or later on, it has been a wonderful purchase. Zero regrets.
My truck is an 07 FJ Cruiser. Pretty much exactly the same as a V6 Tacoma, but an SUV. I'm at 5 years and 100000 problem free miles. Just a few wear and tear items replaced, but nothing major or expensive. Used to get 21 mpg, with mods I've made it worse. I love it.
Bought an 04 Canyon crew cab last year. I 5 has pretty good power and gets good mileage on the highway if I keep the tach at 1500 rpm. Approx 55 mph.
Wish I could say the same. I bought a 2007 Colorado new right after college. Most disappointing vehicle purchase yet. Paper thin paint that chipped and scratched way too easily, soft, cheap plastic interior you can gouge with your fingernail, and seat foam shavings covering the floor. I didn't have any problems mechanically, and for a 4-cylinder, it had decent power. I was just underwhelmed by the build quality. Turned me off GM products. I traded it for a 10-yr old Tundra and never looked back.
Bought our 2011 Toyota Tacoma new last year. Love the truck! 4wd, 4 cyl, 5 speed, regular cab. I've seen fuel economy reach up to almost 22 mpg. I've only out 6600 miles on it in a year, but it's been great in the snow, rain and offroad where it schooled some other Tacoma drivers with fully built rigs.
I was disappointed that the Colorado was larger than the S-10. And when I looked at a first-year model, there appeared to be rust traps built into the bed, especially where the front bulkhead and the floor met. It looked like a place where there should have been a bead of seam sealer. If nothing else, it was going to trap water, grit, small drill bits, etc., and be a pain to clean out. And the Transformers styling never did anything for me.
Up until just a little over a year ago I owned a 2008 Tacoma regular-cab 4wd, 4cyl, 5speed, very basic, cost about 18K new, traded it last October for 17K after putting over 30K miles on it. I decided I needed something bigger and went with the Tundra, but that's a whole different deal. If I were in the market for a small basic truck now I'd not hesitate to get another Tacoma. I'd probably go with the extended cab (not the double) in order to have some inside storage space and emergency passenger room, but other than that I'd go with the 4cyl. A good friend of mine has one and loves it. My BIL got a Tacoma Double-cab with the 6cyl automatic, and complains that his mileage sucks.....but other than that he likes it. But the 4cyl Tacomas are pretty gutless, it goes from zero to 70 in about a half an hour.
I like my Ridgeline as well, 2007 RTX and I got 19+ mpg the last time I checked, combined city and highway. It does all that I have asked of it with Honda reliability.
I have a 2012 access cab in the same configuration. Good truck, up to 25 mpg, but generally gets 21 in mixed driving. I've put 14k on it since buying new in march. No complaints, even in the power department. I didn't buy it to go fast - that's what the B12 is for.
I'm in a similar boat; own a 3/4 ton GMC now, and my use for it is coming to an end. I'm kinda torn about what to get. Test drove a Tacoma double cab with a stick and hated it. Nothing like the 2001 I used to own. Then I drove an auto and liked it, but like I told the salesman, "I just can't get excited about spending $32,000 on a Tacoma." He said, "Well we can work on the price." and I said, "Not enough to get my excited enough to buy." I found the regular seats too uncomfortable, but the seats the come with the TRD package are much better. I wish you could get them with the base model. I had a lot of good experiences with Ridgelines- had a few as "company vehicles" back in the day. Best riding truck on the market. No, it's not going to town a million pounds and haul 7 tons of bricks, but it'll do everything I need it to do. Haven't priced one in a while, I imagine that would scare me too. Tundra is same cost as the Tacoma (after haggling) but uses more gas, and it much bigger than I'll need. Might just stick with the POS GMC. No payments is nice even with 9-12 mpg.
You can buy a hell of a lot of gas for $30K+. My experience a year ago was that the Tundra didn't cost any more than a loaded/fancy Taco. And the Taco is a little sluggish with the 4 for sure, and while a little better with the 6, not a drag racer by any means. The Tundra with the 5.7 is amazingly quick and powerful. But it is a big beast. I'm happy with mine, have had need of a larger truck this past year.....although that need will soon come to an end. I plan to keep it, however, simply because I couldn't replace it with anything remotely approaching economical good sense.
That Colorado is Fugly. I have a 97 GMC 1500 ext cab 2 wheel drive. 350 and a auto. She's got 175k on her clock and doesn't use a drop of oil. I've had to replace the normal things like water pump, radator tanks, intake gaskets twice. One fuel pump when my oldest girl ran the tank dry. With the new crap we have for gas it gets 13 to 15 mpg town driveing. I want a new truck because I want a new truck but I can buy a few parts here and there and a lot of gas for the price of payments on a new truck and the gas millage will be no better. So I bought a 87 GMC S-15 with a 2.8 I'm doing a cheap restor on it and I'm going to run it for gas millage. Ill have areound 1500 in the little thing and get in the 22mpg range. Hell of a lot cheaper then a new truck.
another vote for the ridgeline...makes tons & tons of sense. And if you can find one...the Ford Explorer Sport Trac (2010) might still be on some dealers' lots. I opted for the Avalanche...which falls outside of the small/mid-size category, albeit just by a bit. Mostly only for a handful of pretty tiny reasons, like standard memory seats, & some nice-to-haves that my SO kind of drew a hard line on.
