JB Rock Warrior
Member
I bought a 2012 Toyota Tundra DC TRD Rock Warrior with 52k under 30k. I love it, plenty of room, power and ground clearance plus it comes stock with P285/70/R17 tires.
Looking for an expedition TRUCK
- Thread starter phsycle
- Start date
OutOfBounds
Adventurer
Stay away from Ford. I have a 2013 F150 and it's a steaming pile of crap. I traded in a 2011 GMC Sierra for it, and that was the worst mistake of my life. The GM was the best truck I've ever had. The Ford has been in and out of the dealer constantly for warranty work. Never mind the fact they're uncomfortable as hell and a 2 hour trip means my back hurts for days afterwards. The handling is garbage as well and the power of the 5.0L isn't all it's cracked up to be, especially with the idiotic transmission in the truck. I'm always yelling at it to friggen shift. It wastes so much power because it doesn't shift when it should. The 5.3L in my GM had way more jam, especially because the transmission actually shifted properly. Don't get me started on Ford's so called traction control either, which has almost caused me a couple accidents when it kicked in when it never should have.
I can't wait to get rid of this piece of crap and back into a GM. I'll never even remotely consider driving a Ford again, forget about buying one. My entire family has actually sworn off Fords after they've proven time and time again to be turds. All the farmers and ranchers in the family run GM/Chev trucks, so do the construction guys. Toyota is the other popular one in the family.
As for Dodge, my wife's 09 Ram 1500 and the newer 1500, 3500, and 5500 Dodge trucks we used at work told me all I need to know about Dodge. Terrible build quality, terrible fuel economy, terrible comfort...you'd think they were built by Ford.
I can't wait to get rid of this piece of crap and back into a GM. I'll never even remotely consider driving a Ford again, forget about buying one. My entire family has actually sworn off Fords after they've proven time and time again to be turds. All the farmers and ranchers in the family run GM/Chev trucks, so do the construction guys. Toyota is the other popular one in the family.
As for Dodge, my wife's 09 Ram 1500 and the newer 1500, 3500, and 5500 Dodge trucks we used at work told me all I need to know about Dodge. Terrible build quality, terrible fuel economy, terrible comfort...you'd think they were built by Ford.
east_tn_81
Adventurer
I have had 3 F150s and the have all been great. Every one has pros and cons. You need to decide what you can live with or what will not work for you. I have had GMs that I thought about blowing up. I had a ranger that was ok. My parents had a old power wagon that was a tank. Just pick your poison.
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Mundo4x4Casa
West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
Hmm? Lots of opinion here, based on each driver's experience. After owning 14 4WD's and driving about 1.5M miles in them, I have lots of experience; maybe too much. I just sold my '82 CJ-8 to-the-max. When it had the hardtop and hard doors it was great with a family of 4. Wait, we loved our chevy powered, lifted, power locked 1970 FJ-55 Gland Bruiser with matching ConFerr jeep trailer. No, no, the 1980 International Scout Traveler (118" w.b.), with the factory Nissan T33, 6 cyl turbo diesel with T-19 close ratio trans was absolutely the ticket with 5 people in the car. Springs over axle job did the Rubicon several times. There was six feet BEHIND the 2nd bench seat and it got 22 mpg. And, the top came off. We drove to Canada, loaded to the gills and still got great mpg.
My advice is to let form follow function.
Lots of questions. How much clearance do you need? Approach angle? breakover angle? departure angle?
Are you going to make long trips? If you are not going to drive it into the ground, a gas engine should be fine. How stout a drivetrain do you really need? Towing?
I like my '01.5 Ram, but everyone likes their truck the best, whatever it happens to be. With the quad cab it has plenty of room for 6 people for short trips. I wouldn't want to drive to N.Y. that way. I bought it new. Why did i buy this one? It was the first year of the Dana 80/35 spline rr axle. 31 spline was previous. The first year with the H.O. Cummins with the NV5600 manual trans (cast iron/ bullet proof/360 pounds) and NV241HD t. case (the one for snow plowing as the chain is twice as wide to resist shock loading). No smog device, or pee canister so it works in Mexico. Yes, I knew about the lift pump problem but rectified that very woe soon after we took possession. After 15 years and 165k Miles of occasional abuse and hauling a Lance Camper most of the time, no part of the drive train has gone south. Original clutch. Untouched engine, transmission, t. case, axles (add free spin and Power Lok), driveshafts, u joints. I"ve only worked on the suspension to take the rigors of 7K pounds on the rr. axle.
jefe
My advice is to let form follow function.
Lots of questions. How much clearance do you need? Approach angle? breakover angle? departure angle?
Are you going to make long trips? If you are not going to drive it into the ground, a gas engine should be fine. How stout a drivetrain do you really need? Towing?
I like my '01.5 Ram, but everyone likes their truck the best, whatever it happens to be. With the quad cab it has plenty of room for 6 people for short trips. I wouldn't want to drive to N.Y. that way. I bought it new. Why did i buy this one? It was the first year of the Dana 80/35 spline rr axle. 31 spline was previous. The first year with the H.O. Cummins with the NV5600 manual trans (cast iron/ bullet proof/360 pounds) and NV241HD t. case (the one for snow plowing as the chain is twice as wide to resist shock loading). No smog device, or pee canister so it works in Mexico. Yes, I knew about the lift pump problem but rectified that very woe soon after we took possession. After 15 years and 165k Miles of occasional abuse and hauling a Lance Camper most of the time, no part of the drive train has gone south. Original clutch. Untouched engine, transmission, t. case, axles (add free spin and Power Lok), driveshafts, u joints. I"ve only worked on the suspension to take the rigors of 7K pounds on the rr. axle.
jefe
If you need truck and you need to sit 3 across back then I don't see how you could not go full size pickup. (I'm considering Tundra and Titan as full size...even though they aren't as big as F250/350 Dodge 2500/3500 Chevy/GMC 2500/3500)
If you have cash then go used and spend extra money on the aftermarket mods you want. If you don't want to or don't have the cash then you can finance it into your purchase, in which case you have two capable factory vehicles in the Dodge Power Wagon or the Ford Raptor. Personally, I would go power wagon.
Ford F150 Crew is roomier than the Dodge crew if I remember right. Dodge has the mega cab if you want to go that route, although then the truck can get pretty long.
In my opinion though I'd go diesel engine if I were to go full size (which excludes F150, Tundra, Titan, `500 series unless you go brand new with the new cummins). Any of the HD or SD pickups are super reliable and with diesels they seem to go forever. Some long term reliability numbers here: http://tradeinqualityindex.com/ There is also a cummins high mileage club - https://www.cumminshighmileageclub.com/Home/MillionMileClub. I think Ford has a high mileage club too.
Some other things to think about though...if you go full size crew cab:
I owned a Titan and felt it was much more comfortable than my F250 and F350. F350 Crew was massive inside though, very nice with kids and dog. 2016 Titan comes with Cummins Diesel. Probably not 30k but interesting nonetheless.
My friend owns a Tundra and fits 3 kids across the back, all in car seats. The truck has 160k on it, runs well.
If you have cash then go used and spend extra money on the aftermarket mods you want. If you don't want to or don't have the cash then you can finance it into your purchase, in which case you have two capable factory vehicles in the Dodge Power Wagon or the Ford Raptor. Personally, I would go power wagon.
Ford F150 Crew is roomier than the Dodge crew if I remember right. Dodge has the mega cab if you want to go that route, although then the truck can get pretty long.
In my opinion though I'd go diesel engine if I were to go full size (which excludes F150, Tundra, Titan, `500 series unless you go brand new with the new cummins). Any of the HD or SD pickups are super reliable and with diesels they seem to go forever. Some long term reliability numbers here: http://tradeinqualityindex.com/ There is also a cummins high mileage club - https://www.cumminshighmileageclub.com/Home/MillionMileClub. I think Ford has a high mileage club too.
Some other things to think about though...if you go full size crew cab:
- You may not be able to park it in garage if you get 8ft bed.
- You may have difficulty on narrow trails.
- You are more likely to high center.
- You are heavy.
I owned a Titan and felt it was much more comfortable than my F250 and F350. F350 Crew was massive inside though, very nice with kids and dog. 2016 Titan comes with Cummins Diesel. Probably not 30k but interesting nonetheless.
My friend owns a Tundra and fits 3 kids across the back, all in car seats. The truck has 160k on it, runs well.
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Go look in my driveway, 2005 suburban, rusty bumpers, has 125000 kms on the clock and you can feel everyone of them. just acquired a 2002 F150 supercrew 4x4 and feels brand new. I have owned at least 12 f150s or more since 98, and all of them were great. Far from the steaming pile like was mentioned above. You can feel every km on the ole mans 2010 avalanche too. They don't hold up well at all.
eaneumann
Adventurer
I love the Tacoma's, but they're way too small for a family of 5. Go look at a Tundra Crewmax. The backseat is crazy. Especially since your kids will be MUCH bigger in 5-10 years. I went through a similar decision and ended up with a used Tundra for under 30k. It's a simple, reliable design. Gets terrible gas mileage, but tons of power.
Ducky's Dad
Explorer
I have a 2008 CrewMax as my daily driver. Paid about $19K with 68M, TRD/SR5/4WD, and have put a few thou into it (brakes, battery, bed liner, shell, lights, mats, seat covers, small OBA). Very nice truck for about $25K total. Agree completely about the huge back seat and the crappy mileage (about 13). It's worse than my GMC (about 14) and better than my Dodge (under 10), but it is real comfortable. Does not feel as much like a truck as do the other two. A/C not as good as the other two, but it's cooling a much bigger interior.