Price of used trucks, has me thinking new?

I'm looking for something very specifc (4x4, crew cab, mid-sized) so that basically gets me a Tacoma/Frontier.

I know MPG is similar to the V8 trucks, and the V8s have more towing power, but in reality, I would only tow rarely and I don't want to drive a full-size truck (shouldn't be called Extra big or something, way too big).

Here in OK, trucks seem to hold their value well, so it's either $10k for one that's got 200k miles, which I'm not interested in. Or 40-50k miles for only a few grand cheaper than new (and of course less attractive financing terms). This will also become the new DD, so warranty/reliability/etc would be great, since I'm in the process of building a turbo E30.

Could this be one of those times that buying new actually makes sense?

Sure, used cars suck right now. No one could afford a new car for the past few years, so there are not many used cars on the market and they are all high-mileage. Toyota is still suffering from its recent troubles and is still making deals. Strike now.

Fly and drive.

The full sized width of the bed is highly addictive. I've no wish to go back to not dropping sheets of drywall and such down flat in between the fender wells.

Gas mileage improvements in the past 10 years have been phenominal. It can easily offset the increased purchase price. But, be realistic and honest about your driving.

Due in no small part to the price of fuel, my truck sits most of the time.

In my 8+ years of owning a truck, I never once needed to haul something 8'x4'. If you aren't playing with drywall or plywood all of the time, there's no need.

Fly and drive on a used Frontier. I'll pick you up in Portland if you find one out here.

^Thanks for the offer! But I'll go ahead and just come clean on my laziness, I'll also be ditching the Speed 3, and letting the dealer have it removes another headache from the process.

An imported mid size truck costs as much as a full size domestic. It gets the same or worse fuel mileage. It is smaller inside . A 4wd Chevy will hold value as well as an import (try and buy one used) and will have about the same amount of problems, like none. With the import you can tow a jet ski. Domestic you tow a steel car trailer with a 59 Caddy and three spare iron blocks. With the purchase of an import you support the families of folks in like the Szechuan Province. On top of all that,all of the Japanese Mfrs are short on supply of new vehicles so are not discounting. 1 strong vote for buy American.

Four door canyon/colorado?

In reply to LS1Fiero:

Except a lot of import vehicles are manufactured in the US and a lot of domestics are manufactured in Mexico. So if you really want to buy American then buy an import. Also, it may be different where you live but around here import pickups seem to hold their value way better than domestics.

ls1fiero wrote: An imported mid size truck costs as much as a full size domestic. It gets the same or worse fuel mileage. It is smaller inside . A 4wd Chevy will hold value as well as an import (try and buy one used) and will have about the same amount of problems, like none. With the import you can tow a jet ski. Domestic you tow a steel car trailer with a 59 Caddy and three spare iron blocks. With the purchase of an import you support the families of folks in like the Szechuan Province. On top of all that,all of the Japanese Mfrs are short on supply of new vehicles so are not discounting. 1 strong vote for buy American.

Towed an E36 on a 2000lb metal trailer just fine with my buddy's Frontier. And I would never tow anything more than 5000lb. Towing is not a big consideration.

I also pointed out the mpg thing.

However, you must have missed in the first post where I said, I don't want to drive a full size truck. They are too big. I've driven my buddy's 2008 Z71 with leather and stuff, it's a super nice truck and we had a blast basically doing with it as we wished in the snow/ice in Feb.

But on an everyday basis, I don't want to drive something that large.

It's not just 4x8 sheets of plywood Javelin. I can drop a Spitfire body tub into my truck, and close the tailgate. The snowmobile drives right up into it. I can carry more motorcycles.

Do I absolutely need that full sized width bed? No. But it sure is nice.

A few years ago, I'd have crowed about getting a Toyota mini-truck. That 4 cylinder engine has enough power to get many jobs done. And compared to the V8's of its time, it was a gas sipper.

Today, The full sized Tundra gets better gas mileage than that old 22RE Toyota mini truck got.

You may have better luck looking into areas where there isn't a big demand for 4wd. Down here in FL for instance, 4wd trucks are a lot less expensive than they were in CO, or IL.

Of course cars without working A/C are unsellable in FL, but still worth $$ up North.

I'd look around a bit. Saving a few thousand dollars is worth a fly-in, drive-back roadtrip.

Factories are giving big incentives on trucks to help move them due to gas prices. Time to do some comparison shopping.

You can pick up a new 2011 Nissan Frontier crew cab with tow package for 22k new (21K if you want a manual). I’m getting 20-21 mpg highway in mine with the V6 and can tow over 6000 lbs.

PubBurgers wrote: In reply to LS1Fiero: Except a lot of import vehicles are manufactured in the US and a lot of domestics are manufactured in Mexico. So if you really want to buy American then buy an import. Also, it may be different where you live but around here import pickups seem to hold their value way better than domestics.

Yea, not so much. True that all of the import pick ups are made in the US. For tax reasons. But all US trucks are also made in, well, the US.

All of the domestics have more plants in the US for the US than outside. Although, I'm sure that GM and Ford have more plants outside of the US than inside- but the world does need supplied.

OTOH, Toyota has supply issues thanks to their problems with plants in Japan.... So.

+1 on a 8' bed. But I do haul that sort of stuff regularly. Actually, for me, 8' is often not enough. There have been many times when I've missed my van and its ability to swallow 12' long boards between the front seats and then close the rear doors.

I'm torn on 4WD... The Georgia-born redneck in me won't allow me to own a 2WD pick-up but I will admit the 3'+ bed-height of my Dodge is a PITA more often than I'll admit to the other half (who hates how tall the truck is). Nevermind the crappy (and currently broken) axle-disconnect 4WD system Dodge uses...

As far as used vs. new... I guess it depends on how you want your truck optioned. If I were to buy a new version of my Dodge Cummins, the MSRP would be well over $40K. I priced new 4WD Tacomas recently and was still somewhat shocked at the prices.

In reply to z31maniac:

I'm with you on the size of the truck, many on this board only consider full size a true truck. I live closer into Atlanta and when downtown I like the fact I can move my Ranger around like a car, park it like a car, fits in my standard sized garage like a car, can tow what I need when I need, gets good enough gas mileage (20/23). I ended up going new. I wouldn't recommend a Ranger on the basis you want a true 4 door crew cab, but a Tacoma, Fontier, or Canyon would be the way to go. I would shy away from the Canyon, I wasn't impressed by it. The Tacoma was freakin expensive, and the Frontier was the only contender for me against the Ranger given price...

^Yeah, both the Tundra/Frontier are rated to tow 6500lbs. Which is more than enough for me.

I wonder how they compare size wise, to full-sized trucks from just a few years ago. I bet it's pretty close.

Yeah, with the options I'd want (admitting not all necessary) both trucks come in at a mind-boggling $32k. But for instance, a similarly optioned Tacoma with 50k miles at a local place is $28,500 with worse financing and no cash back or anything.

The Frontier has $3k cash back which brings it back down under $30k, and I still haven't gone into the dealerships to see how far below MSRP they are willing to go.

I'm wondering if I should wait til the 2012's start to show up and look to pick up a closeout 2011. But then I run the risk of not getting EXACTLY what I want, and at these prices, I'm not sure I'm willing to do that.

GMS?

Dunno if used truck prices are as high as used car prices, since at least a few people are getting out of trucks and into cars.

My neighbor just picked up an '08 F-250 King Ranch quad-cab with the Power Stroke for $31k from a dealership, with less than 60k miles on it.

It's a nice Berkeleying truck.

Raze wrote: ...when downtown I like the fact I can move my Ranger around like a car, park it like a car, fits in my standard sized garage like a car, .

Well... I guess the difference for me is when I'm driving into the city, I drive my... car. I don't need a truck to be as agile or easy to park as my cars. I've been down this road in the past when I had an '80s Toyota 4x4 p/u. It wasn't very good as a car or as a truck.

1988RedT2 wrote: My neighbor just picked up an '08 F-250 King Ranch quad-cab with the Power Stroke for $31k from a dealership, with less than 60k miles on it. It's a nice Berkeleying truck.

May be nice... but $31K for a truck... any truck... still seems expensive to me.

Ian F wrote:

Raze wrote: ...when downtown I like the fact I can move my Ranger around like a car, park it like a car, fits in my standard sized garage like a car, .

Well... I guess the difference for me is when I'm driving into the city, I drive my... car. I don't need a truck to be as agile or easy to park as my cars. I've been down this road in the past when I had an '80s Toyota 4x4 p/u. It wasn't very good as a car or as a truck.

I agree, 80's 4cyl trucks blow by modern standards and would be crappy at being either a truck or a car, luckily my Ranger is good at doing both.

Yeah I'm not sure it's relevant to compare the truck in Back to the Future with modern ones.

Coming from years and years of lowered vehicles with stiff springs, I think modern trucks ride great.

And I will still need to park and such, as the truck will become my new DD.

On financing - I do this every thread on car purchases but only because they rock. Pentagon Federal Credit Union - 2.5% for up to 60 months new or used (6 years/100k miles max on used cars), simple to deal with: penfed.org

I bought a 2002 Ford F250 diesel for under $10k here in CA. That was pure luck for me being in the right place, right time w/ cash.

Had I been looking for an F150, I could have found them much cheaper in the 1998+ body style.

Check craigslist.