Haven't posted anything at all in a good while, but thought I'd have go because I got a new truck and am in the process of outfitting it bit for some adventuring.
Short story made long:
Back in `14, I went from a built `02 supercharged Xterra to a full-size truck (2014 Tundra CC). The family had outgrown the Xterra and loaded down, pulling our Conqueror Compact it was getting worked pretty hard a lot of the time so we thought that we'd sell the Xterra and trailer, build the Tundra and get FWC pop-up.
However, when push came to shove, and we'd taken several serious looks at campers we decided that just wasn't for us. Plus we just couldn't part with the Conqueror trailer. We've had some many great adventures with it that it's become part of the family. And, it's a just a little different, like us! So I put a cap on the Tundra instead and we kept the trailer.
3 years of owning the Tundra netted the realization that it was just too much truck for most of the places we like to go, so I started looking at downsizing to smaller rig that was more in line with our needs. the Tundra was a towing machine and yanked the little Compact around that I was more concerned about hurting the trailer rather than the truck, but it was just overkill. And we missed going places that a smaller rig could have fit, but the Tundra was simply too large to go there.
My initial thought was to get a Tacoma, but one thing led to another and I test drove a couple of standard Colorados with both the gas and diesel engines and discovered that I liked the truck better than the Tacoma. This was about the time info on the ZR2 started trickling out and once some concrete info was available, I decided that based on my impressions of the standard truck and how good the ZR2 looked on paper, the ZR2 was my truck, sold the Tundra and placed an order for a ZR2 Crew Cab, short bed with the gas engine and the contingency that if the truck didn't live up to expectations, that it would be a no-sale and I'd fall back on the Tacoma. My order was placed in March, before the trucks were actually scheduled for production and knew going in that there would be a fairly long wait.
Fast forward about 4 months and here it is! I have about 750 miles on the truck at this point and so far it's been everything I'd hoped for. The truck feels solid and well put together, it's very nice to drive, the power is good, the suspension is fantastic and having lockers at both ends nets a vehicle with capabilities beyond what I'm likely to need and it's sized just right for my needs. It's got more than enough towing capacity to handle the Compact quite nicely, so the towing "challenges" I faced with the Xterra should be non-existent.
Here's the truck as delivered:
Short story made long:
Back in `14, I went from a built `02 supercharged Xterra to a full-size truck (2014 Tundra CC). The family had outgrown the Xterra and loaded down, pulling our Conqueror Compact it was getting worked pretty hard a lot of the time so we thought that we'd sell the Xterra and trailer, build the Tundra and get FWC pop-up.
However, when push came to shove, and we'd taken several serious looks at campers we decided that just wasn't for us. Plus we just couldn't part with the Conqueror trailer. We've had some many great adventures with it that it's become part of the family. And, it's a just a little different, like us! So I put a cap on the Tundra instead and we kept the trailer.
3 years of owning the Tundra netted the realization that it was just too much truck for most of the places we like to go, so I started looking at downsizing to smaller rig that was more in line with our needs. the Tundra was a towing machine and yanked the little Compact around that I was more concerned about hurting the trailer rather than the truck, but it was just overkill. And we missed going places that a smaller rig could have fit, but the Tundra was simply too large to go there.
My initial thought was to get a Tacoma, but one thing led to another and I test drove a couple of standard Colorados with both the gas and diesel engines and discovered that I liked the truck better than the Tacoma. This was about the time info on the ZR2 started trickling out and once some concrete info was available, I decided that based on my impressions of the standard truck and how good the ZR2 looked on paper, the ZR2 was my truck, sold the Tundra and placed an order for a ZR2 Crew Cab, short bed with the gas engine and the contingency that if the truck didn't live up to expectations, that it would be a no-sale and I'd fall back on the Tacoma. My order was placed in March, before the trucks were actually scheduled for production and knew going in that there would be a fairly long wait.
Fast forward about 4 months and here it is! I have about 750 miles on the truck at this point and so far it's been everything I'd hoped for. The truck feels solid and well put together, it's very nice to drive, the power is good, the suspension is fantastic and having lockers at both ends nets a vehicle with capabilities beyond what I'm likely to need and it's sized just right for my needs. It's got more than enough towing capacity to handle the Compact quite nicely, so the towing "challenges" I faced with the Xterra should be non-existent.
Here's the truck as delivered:
