Are there any *interesting* trucks anymore?

Still waiting on an insurance appraisal but since its been 2 weeks already while they try to locate parts Im guessing my DD is about to be totaled.   We can get into a whole different discussion on self fixing which is a viable alternative based on the damage but I don't have the time for that these days, wont rule out a buyback to either part it out or self fix for resale later though.

So in anticipation of it getting totaled I've started eyeballing replacements.  Terrible time to shop in general but that aside man its a boring market when searching for full size trucks.   Granted I have not been in that market in years but I didn't realize there was such a dearth of interesting things in the truck market.

Anyway, I guess some parameters would be in order and y'all can tell me what Im missing.

Full size truck capable of pulling an 18 ft car trailer with a decent load (load varies, I move a lot of things with it)

4wd preferred but not necessarily required.

New enough to have CarPlay as a factory option preferred but I can always modify.

NICE interior space.  For awhile I had an old suburban and a Caddy and decided to move to one vehicle so I got my H2 to have the capability of the Suburban with the interior comfort of the Caddy.

Ideally 30k or less 

Now there are plenty of vehicles which fit that, and higher end variants of the F150 will fit the bill nicely and are the most likely candidate but dayum they are all just....boring.   Raptor aside (make my orange please) there is nothing exciting.  And I struggle to pay more for a Raptor when really the extras it brings to the table aren't really required for my use.

Something not slow would be high on the list as well.

No dodges.

Before the last sentence, I was thinking Ram (Dodge) for their nice interior on the new trucks

Is a Jeep Gladiator functional enough as a pick up to be interesting? Too much Dodge content? 

Ideally 30k or less 

Not in this market.

Looking for leather 4wd and carplay. within 500 miles of me and I only get 2 2018 GMC 1500 Sierras with 93k or 142k miles and both are 5.3 trucks

2013+ 3.5 ecoboost f150? 

You can do mods to make them stupid fast.

Is a Jeep Gladiator functional enough as a pick up to be interesting? Too much Dodge content? 

Way over price threshold and still have trouble wrapping my head around towing with a Jeep

yupididit said:

2013+ 3.5 ecoboost f150? 

You can do mods to make them stupid fast.

That's likely what I'll end up with, plenty of candidates in the price range, they are just boring.  I miss the days of factory hot rod trucks I guess.

MrChaos said:

Ideally 30k or less 

Not in this market.

Looking for leather 4wd and carplay. within 500 miles of me and I only get 2 2018 GMC 1500 Sierras with 93k or 142k miles and both are 5.3 trucks

Carplay is an outlier option as most of the trucks Im looking at pre-date it and its not a big deal to update the stereo.  It would just be nice to find one ready to go but not critical.  I may even try to get an hour alone with my old truck to pull the head unit and a few other small options (trailer brake controller) if they total it.

In reply to JThw8 :

Or the 5.0 and throw a whipple on it? 

Factory hotrod trucks are still made so there's no need to miss those days. You just don't want to pay the price of admission into the recent factory hotrod trucks lol

I liked my Silverado Vortec Max LTV 4x4. Almost 400 HP, gobs of torque. Quick for a heavy truck. 

Mine was a 07. Not sure when or if they stopped making them. 

yupididit said:

In reply to JThw8 :

Or the 5.0 and throw a whipple on it? 

Factory hotrod trucks are still made so there's no need to miss those days. You just don't want to pay the price of admission into the recent factory hotrod trucks lol

Price of admission aside, besides the Raptor what's interesting?  Fast...eh fast is easy, boring trucks can be fast, but I dont know I'm just looking for what stands out a bit and not finding it.  Even interesting colors are few and far between.

I have a work car sales plan where I have to be inside a 6 model year window and I'm out of compliance this coming January.

My '16 Chevrolet Silverado double door 4x4 V8 was $32,000 out the door.  Now as I look around I'm struggling to go borrow $25,000 in order to get a $45-$50,000 truck.  

How about this.

Toyman01 + Sized and said:

How about this.

 

Actually casually looked at one because it was Purple and they are amusing but I sincerely doubt it would be in anyway useful as a truck and can't imagine it towing an 18ft trailer.  However it at least emphasizes what I mean by interesting.  I came up in the days of Typhoon/Syclones, Lightnings, 454 SS' and later the SRT10 (briefly considered going against my 'no dodges' rule and getting one of these).   There just doesn't seem to be any specialty trucks in the last 12 years or so to stir interest

Datsun310Guy said:

I have a work car sales plan where I have to be inside a 6 model year window and I'm out of compliance this coming January.

My '16 Chevrolet Silverado double door 4x4 V8 was $32,000 out the door.  Now as I look around I'm struggling to go borrow $25,000 in order to get a $45-$50,000 truck.  

Definitely my other issue, truck prices are just plain stupid.  But even if I remove restrictions its just varying degrees of meh.  Certainly nothing that inspires me to pay that kind of money.  In the end I'll have to buy based on the practical use case but I was hoping for some options to tempt me toward "fun".  Even abandoning most of my parameters there's just nothing there.

The guy I bought my 3.5 Ecoboost from really wanted a Raptor. So much so that before selling it to me he got bigger wheels and tires, some fender flares, and aftermarket grille, headlights amd taillights, and blacked out all the chrome. It's far from boring looking and the performance is pretty great. I don't have carplay but I'm sure an audio installer could get it squared away if I needed it.  The aftermarket for F-150's is so huge, you can make it into anything you want it to be. 

JThw8 said:

Is a Jeep Gladiator functional enough as a pick up to be interesting? Too much Dodge content? 

Way over price threshold and still have trouble wrapping my head around towing with a Jeep

also they are slow in non ecodiesel versions(285hp/260ftlbs for the pentastar in a 4800-5k lb truck), and the ecodiesel versions have issues towing because of the compromised cooling package(nature of the jeep front end being like 50% smaller than the ram 1500 or grand cherokee.)

Dont get me wrong, I love my gladiator ecodiesel so far but i have no plans to tow with it.

JThw8 said:

Datsun310Guy said:

I have a work car sales plan where I have to be inside a 6 model year window and I'm out of compliance this coming January.

My '16 Chevrolet Silverado double door 4x4 V8 was $32,000 out the door.  Now as I look around I'm struggling to go borrow $25,000 in order to get a $45-$50,000 truck.  

Definitely my other issue, truck prices are just plain stupid.  But even if I remove restrictions its just varying degrees of meh.  Certainly nothing that inspires me to pay that kind of money.  In the end I'll have to buy based on the practical use case but I was hoping for some options to tempt me toward "fun".  Even abandoning most of my parameters there's just nothing there.

also would a full size suv not tow what you need? the burb/yukon/escalade should tow 8500 as will the armada and expedition.

ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:

The guy I bought my 3.5 Ecoboost from really wanted a Raptor. So much so that before selling it to me he got bigger wheels and tires, some fender flares, and aftermarket grille, headlights amd taillights, and blacked out all the chrome. It's far from boring looking and the performance is pretty great. I don't have carplay but I'm sure an audio installer could get it squared away if I needed it.  The aftermarket for F-150's is so huge, you can make it into anything you want it to be. 

Already looked into updating the mid teens F150s to carplay spec since that will likely be where I end up.  Its an easy fix.  My issue with the rest is Im not looking to "make it into something"  I have project cars, if I'm paying near 30k for a DD I dont want to spend time messing with it (stereo aside).   
In short this thread is confirming what I already thought.  There just arent interesting trucks on the market, you can make them that way sure, but no fun factory packages I missed.  That's really all I was trying to figure out, am I missing out on looking at something.

MrChaos said:

JThw8 said:

Datsun310Guy said:

I have a work car sales plan where I have to be inside a 6 model year window and I'm out of compliance this coming January.

My '16 Chevrolet Silverado double door 4x4 V8 was $32,000 out the door.  Now as I look around I'm struggling to go borrow $25,000 in order to get a $45-$50,000 truck.  

Definitely my other issue, truck prices are just plain stupid.  But even if I remove restrictions its just varying degrees of meh.  Certainly nothing that inspires me to pay that kind of money.  In the end I'll have to buy based on the practical use case but I was hoping for some options to tempt me toward "fun".  Even abandoning most of my parameters there's just nothing there.

also would a full size suv not tow what you need? the burb/yukon/escalade should tow 8500 as will the armada and expedition.

I've owned multiple GM SUV platforms including my current H2, no hate for them and not ruling out certain SUVs, they are capable for sure.  But again its back to the original question, is there anything INTERESTING, and no, in the SUV land its the same old soccer mobiles.  Trying to get a bit newer but honestly I may end up with a 7.3 diesel expedition Im looking at local 

JThw8 said:

yupididit said:

In reply to JThw8 :

Or the 5.0 and throw a whipple on it? 

Factory hotrod trucks are still made so there's no need to miss those days. You just don't want to pay the price of admission into the recent factory hotrod trucks lol

Price of admission aside, besides the Raptor what's interesting?  Fast...eh fast is easy, boring trucks can be fast, but I dont know I'm just looking for what stands out a bit and not finding it.  Even interesting colors are few and far between.

What are the old days hot rod trucks you're missing? Basically all I can think of are the lightning and the srt10 and at least one of those was useless as an actual truck. Plus a new Ecoboost f150 is probably faster anyway. I've driven a 3.5 f150 and it's certainly not boring when you put your foot to the floor. Even towing a 7k lb trailer the thing isn't slow. Anyway, I'm just not sure what you're looking for. Interesting colors are out there, but with your budget restrictions you're not really in a position to be super picky.

dps214 said:

JThw8 said:

yupididit said:

In reply to JThw8 :

Or the 5.0 and throw a whipple on it? 

Factory hotrod trucks are still made so there's no need to miss those days. You just don't want to pay the price of admission into the recent factory hotrod trucks lol

Price of admission aside, besides the Raptor what's interesting?  Fast...eh fast is easy, boring trucks can be fast, but I dont know I'm just looking for what stands out a bit and not finding it.  Even interesting colors are few and far between.

What are the old days hot rod trucks you're missing? Basically all I can think of are the lightning and the srt10 and at least one of those was useless as an actual truck. Plus a new Ecoboost f150 is probably faster anyway. I've driven a 3.5 f150 and it's certainly not boring when you put your foot to the floor. Even towing a 7k lb trailer the thing isn't slow. Anyway, I'm just not sure what you're looking for. Interesting colors are out there, but with your budget restrictions you're not really in a position to be super picky.

As I noted above, remove the budget restriction and show me something interesting.  I'm saying 30k because Im a cheap SOB, but if there was something that got my interest enough to open the wallet I'd be interested in hearing about it. 

When I say interesting let's look at some of my past vehicles.  

Maruader instead of Crown Vic

Abarth instead of Fiat 500

CTS-V instead of CTS

Basically Im looking for the specialty models, the INTERESTING ones.

JThw8 said:

dps214 said:

JThw8 said:

yupididit said:

In reply to JThw8 :

Or the 5.0 and throw a whipple on it? 

Factory hotrod trucks are still made so there's no need to miss those days. You just don't want to pay the price of admission into the recent factory hotrod trucks lol

Price of admission aside, besides the Raptor what's interesting?  Fast...eh fast is easy, boring trucks can be fast, but I dont know I'm just looking for what stands out a bit and not finding it.  Even interesting colors are few and far between.

What are the old days hot rod trucks you're missing? Basically all I can think of are the lightning and the srt10 and at least one of those was useless as an actual truck. Plus a new Ecoboost f150 is probably faster anyway. I've driven a 3.5 f150 and it's certainly not boring when you put your foot to the floor. Even towing a 7k lb trailer the thing isn't slow. Anyway, I'm just not sure what you're looking for. Interesting colors are out there, but with your budget restrictions you're not really in a position to be super picky.

As I noted above, remove the budget restriction and show me something interesting.  I'm saying 30k because Im a cheap SOB, but if there was something that got my interest enough to open the wallet I'd be interested in hearing about it. 

When I say interesting let's look at some of my past vehicles.  

Maruader instead of Crown Vic

Abarth instead of Fiat 500

CTS-V instead of CTS

Basically Im looking for the specialty models, the INTERESTING ones.

So, faster versions of otherwise uninspiring vehicles. 

If you lift your dodge limit then the Dodge Ram TRX

Raise your budget then Ford F150 Raptor

yupididit said:

 

So, faster versions of otherwise uninspiring vehicles. 

If you lift your dodge limit then the Dodge Ram TRX

Raise your budget then Ford F150 Raptor

 

Raptor is already in the budget range but its not a faster version, An FX2 or FX4 F150 will be just as fast.  Raptor is definitely more interesting but most of the specialty bits are geared to offroad hammering.  My offroad use case is working around the farm.  Still not excluding it because I at least find it to be un-boring, but not sure its worth the premium for features that arent useful.

Well it sounds like a Raptor is what you want then.

yupididit said:

Well it sounds like a Raptor is what you want then.

No doubt they appeal to be because I do consider them to be interesting.  But I also dont see the use in spending extra for features I dont require.  Offroad capability is useful on the farm, that's why I had the H2, it will pull the tractor out of a mud pit when it gets stuck.  The type of offroad capability the Raptor has is a bit overkill for farm use.