hansolex
New member
I'm about two months away from making a purchase, and after crawling this site until the wee hours of the night and spending weeks obsessively searching thru Craigslist to get a sense of what my budget will allow, I think I need to get out of my own head and let the ExPo community weigh in about vehicle selection.
I keep coming back to the first-generation, non-supercharged Xterra for the combination of purchase price and capabilities, as well as reliability (not Toyota-level, but ok, according to ExPo owners). Also, it's a newer vehicle and so has some of the safety equipment that is important to me. A quad-cab Frontier would be neat, but they seem hard to find. Xterras in nice shape seem to ring in at less than $6k with reasonable (<200k) mileage, and that'd give me some wiggle room for adding stuff and handling maintenance.
Let me try to summarize my limitations and needs:
1. My total initial budget, including any modifications or upgrades, is $8k (US). This will be near Seattle (I'm moving back from Michigan).
2. Use will be mainly camping, fire service roads and other light offroading situations, and occasionally an ORV park. Likely won't tow, likely won't bolt on a lot of heavy equipment like a RTT. Four real seats would be nice.
3. I'm fine putting in elbow grease doing deferred maintenance and cleaning up little things, but I don't want a project. Mechanical skills are decent, don't have fab skills. Basically I'm not comfortable rebuilding an engine myself, but I could swap out a transmission.
4. This won't be a commuter, it'll be a 3rd vehicle. That being said, I'd like to feel comfortable taking kids or my GF along. Dual front airbags and side impact door beams seem like a minimum for me.
5. Definitely want a manual. Not really interested in automatics.
6. Not a power junkie. Used to slow vehicles. Prefer the simplicity and easier engine bay access of a four to a six, in general.
I'm thinking that, in terms of upgrades, I probably won't go much further than skid plates, a mild lift, and slightly larger than stock KO2s or Grabber AT2s. Can't see spending the coin on an air locker until I figure out if it's something I could really use. I do think a winch would be a useful upgrade that I'd save up for after getting the truck.
So, TL;DR, I could spend more on a Toyota (like an early Tacoma or late pickup) and have less coin to play with. Or get a later Nissan and have to deal with their issues, like VG33 timing belts and cracked exhaust manifolds. Anyone able to make a strong case either way?
I keep coming back to the first-generation, non-supercharged Xterra for the combination of purchase price and capabilities, as well as reliability (not Toyota-level, but ok, according to ExPo owners). Also, it's a newer vehicle and so has some of the safety equipment that is important to me. A quad-cab Frontier would be neat, but they seem hard to find. Xterras in nice shape seem to ring in at less than $6k with reasonable (<200k) mileage, and that'd give me some wiggle room for adding stuff and handling maintenance.
Let me try to summarize my limitations and needs:
1. My total initial budget, including any modifications or upgrades, is $8k (US). This will be near Seattle (I'm moving back from Michigan).
2. Use will be mainly camping, fire service roads and other light offroading situations, and occasionally an ORV park. Likely won't tow, likely won't bolt on a lot of heavy equipment like a RTT. Four real seats would be nice.
3. I'm fine putting in elbow grease doing deferred maintenance and cleaning up little things, but I don't want a project. Mechanical skills are decent, don't have fab skills. Basically I'm not comfortable rebuilding an engine myself, but I could swap out a transmission.
4. This won't be a commuter, it'll be a 3rd vehicle. That being said, I'd like to feel comfortable taking kids or my GF along. Dual front airbags and side impact door beams seem like a minimum for me.
5. Definitely want a manual. Not really interested in automatics.
6. Not a power junkie. Used to slow vehicles. Prefer the simplicity and easier engine bay access of a four to a six, in general.
I'm thinking that, in terms of upgrades, I probably won't go much further than skid plates, a mild lift, and slightly larger than stock KO2s or Grabber AT2s. Can't see spending the coin on an air locker until I figure out if it's something I could really use. I do think a winch would be a useful upgrade that I'd save up for after getting the truck.
So, TL;DR, I could spend more on a Toyota (like an early Tacoma or late pickup) and have less coin to play with. Or get a later Nissan and have to deal with their issues, like VG33 timing belts and cracked exhaust manifolds. Anyone able to make a strong case either way?
.)
