I sold a pretty built up F350 almost 3 years ago. It was linked front a rear, lockers, 37's, air x2...the list goes on and on and on... The truck was great but uder powered...(I will never understand peoples facination with the 7.3 SD).
Anyways, i had been dreaming of a rover...it just wasnt in my cards financially for a newer one. I found some used ones, pre smog, but the missus just wouldnt let me do it.
So off to look for a Tacoma. Super pricey used, almost new costs for a decent used one, so we started looking at dealers. High prices there too but oh well. Then we came across the Chevy Zr2. There is a canyon v6 in the extended family that we drove around and a buddy has the z71 diesel. After looking around, we found a deepwood (greenish) ccsb zr2 with the V6, with the bose radio. There were a couple accessories that we wanted, but stupid chevy, everything is a "dealer installed accessory" which makes no room for working on the price and you have to pay for the book installation prices which get stupid expensive in our area.
We were debating the light bar and lights as the wife was enticed by it being an OEM bit of kit, and I was looking at the mirror and front cameras. Alas, the lights and light bar would run $2400 and we didnt even look into the cameras pricing. The lights need the BCM programmed to operate and the cameras probably need it too which means we are stuck with the dealer install. 3 dealers said they would only turn the bcm on if they did the install and a 4th wouldnt commit to it... so not real confidnet on the risk of an expensive paperweight.
Anyways, back to the Zr2 vs Tacoma:
-The Zr2 has a bigger back seat space, this is important as we still have a toddler that necessitates a rear facing seat (in the tacoma the seat would have to be in the middle),
- the Zr2 has rear disc brakes (just a plus),
-it has the eaton e lockers front and rear and a real locking transfer case and the ability to turn off all the nanny aids,
-the interior I feel is nicer,
-The shocks are really quite something. A friend of mine always hammered the "you can get better shocks for 'X' dollars and put them on the Tacoma"...And well sure, but that just drives the Tacoma price up even more, and it takes an expensive dampner to match or exceed the zr2 factory pieces. I do wish the zr2 had a little more travel and a could stuff a bigger tire...but maybe the performance catalogue next year will allow rebuilds of the factory pieces with the longer travel stuff.
-I feel like you get a lot more standard options (the tow package stuff for instance) on the Zr2 and the selling price point is about $2k higher than the TRD off road we were looking at. That was a lot of extra stuff for $2k. The lockers alone...
There are some things I am not a fan of:
-The 8 speed trans tuning. I swear they used the same tune they put in the yukon denali except this thing doesnt have the 6.2l v8 low end grunt.
-The v6, although it has more hp and tq than the tacoma and does feel faster, I wish that it had another 50-100 hp. After all its their little special go fast truck. Make it fast.
The v6 for some reason when I first drove it off the lot sounded and felt like a crappy rental car. It was pretty bad and unlike the canyon that I had put a bunch of miles on. After 20 miles it smoothed out and changed and after a 100 it was significantly better. I guess it just needed to break in a bit and maybe go through its learn algorithms....
Anyways, Im exhausted, Ill update this later. I need to look into skid plates and light bars. Im thinking a SPod and rigid bumper mount and a pair of cowl lights if I can find a good quality mount. (much better bang for the buck than the oem stuff)
I want to take this on the mojave road in 2 months, so dont need to change much, just a little safety and a little lighting.
Anyways, i had been dreaming of a rover...it just wasnt in my cards financially for a newer one. I found some used ones, pre smog, but the missus just wouldnt let me do it.
So off to look for a Tacoma. Super pricey used, almost new costs for a decent used one, so we started looking at dealers. High prices there too but oh well. Then we came across the Chevy Zr2. There is a canyon v6 in the extended family that we drove around and a buddy has the z71 diesel. After looking around, we found a deepwood (greenish) ccsb zr2 with the V6, with the bose radio. There were a couple accessories that we wanted, but stupid chevy, everything is a "dealer installed accessory" which makes no room for working on the price and you have to pay for the book installation prices which get stupid expensive in our area.
We were debating the light bar and lights as the wife was enticed by it being an OEM bit of kit, and I was looking at the mirror and front cameras. Alas, the lights and light bar would run $2400 and we didnt even look into the cameras pricing. The lights need the BCM programmed to operate and the cameras probably need it too which means we are stuck with the dealer install. 3 dealers said they would only turn the bcm on if they did the install and a 4th wouldnt commit to it... so not real confidnet on the risk of an expensive paperweight.
Anyways, back to the Zr2 vs Tacoma:
-The Zr2 has a bigger back seat space, this is important as we still have a toddler that necessitates a rear facing seat (in the tacoma the seat would have to be in the middle),
- the Zr2 has rear disc brakes (just a plus),
-it has the eaton e lockers front and rear and a real locking transfer case and the ability to turn off all the nanny aids,
-the interior I feel is nicer,
-The shocks are really quite something. A friend of mine always hammered the "you can get better shocks for 'X' dollars and put them on the Tacoma"...And well sure, but that just drives the Tacoma price up even more, and it takes an expensive dampner to match or exceed the zr2 factory pieces. I do wish the zr2 had a little more travel and a could stuff a bigger tire...but maybe the performance catalogue next year will allow rebuilds of the factory pieces with the longer travel stuff.
-I feel like you get a lot more standard options (the tow package stuff for instance) on the Zr2 and the selling price point is about $2k higher than the TRD off road we were looking at. That was a lot of extra stuff for $2k. The lockers alone...
There are some things I am not a fan of:
-The 8 speed trans tuning. I swear they used the same tune they put in the yukon denali except this thing doesnt have the 6.2l v8 low end grunt.
-The v6, although it has more hp and tq than the tacoma and does feel faster, I wish that it had another 50-100 hp. After all its their little special go fast truck. Make it fast.
The v6 for some reason when I first drove it off the lot sounded and felt like a crappy rental car. It was pretty bad and unlike the canyon that I had put a bunch of miles on. After 20 miles it smoothed out and changed and after a 100 it was significantly better. I guess it just needed to break in a bit and maybe go through its learn algorithms....
Anyways, Im exhausted, Ill update this later. I need to look into skid plates and light bars. Im thinking a SPod and rigid bumper mount and a pair of cowl lights if I can find a good quality mount. (much better bang for the buck than the oem stuff)
I want to take this on the mojave road in 2 months, so dont need to change much, just a little safety and a little lighting.
