[disclaimer - i'm a bit long-winded, so bear w/ me on the length here...
]
i'm looking into perhaps getting a truck - i'm about to get married, w/ lots of furniture to move and soon to be two mtn. bikes to cart around instead of just one, among other miscellaneous home ownership needs, and a truck would certainly be a nice thing to have around. i'm going in circles trying to settle on something, though.
first, i'm not willing to pay for pickup truck gas mileage and not get 4wd, so it must be be off-road capable. second, i'm a car guy at heart (but who likes to play in the mud occasionally), so a slow, ponderous, ill-handling truck is not going to be at the top of my list. a lightning would meet the second criteria but gets crossed off the list b/c of the former - d'oh!
so, what i've considered and my thoughts on them:
1. F150 - would likely be an FX4 flareside (though i wish some of the lariat options were available with the FX4 pkg -heated seats, homelink, white-face gauges, etc.). let's assume FX4 supercab flareside w/ a smattering of options. MSRP would be around $36k; real-world pricing at a local no-haggle dealer knocks about $7k off that, bringing the tab to $29k. cons: full-size truck gas mileage, ridiculously huge for a non-HD truck, and persistent driveline vibration troubles w/ '04's (f150online.com). big size = big weight = slightly underpowered for my tastes, though the ride quality is nice.
2. '05 tacoma - i like the styling, the drivetrain, and the reliability precedent; i don't like the price. TRD off-road double-cab V6 4x4 runs around $30k - "internet" price at my local dealer knocks off only $1500, but production hasn't fully ramped up and getting one to invoice ($3k off MSRP) will be near impossible right now. i also don't really like that you can't get heated seats if leather is installed, and no moonroof is available. no sat radio, either. i do prefer the midsize maneuverability and better gas mileage over the full-sizes, though.
3. '05 nissan frontier - styling is a bit "narrow" from the front imho, but the NISMO crew cab manages to be a good-looking truck. interior seems to be a bit below-par compared to the toyota, and my G35 has enough squeaks and rattles to fill an entire lot of kia's - so my faith in nissan build quality is shaky at best. however, you can get a moonroof and sat. radio w/ the frontier, and option-for-option the truck will be a grand or two cheaper than the toyota. also mid-size, which is a plus.
also-rans:
- chevy colorado/gmc canyon - would have to be black to hide the gargantuan misshapen wheelwells, and i did like the extended cab 2wd z71 that i drove - but upgrade to a 4wd crew cab and that poor 5-banger is just overcome by the added weight at highway speeds. if only they'd transpant the straight-6 from the trailblazer....
- chevy silverado/gmc sierra Z71 - GM-squishy brakes, and better option choices than ford, but kind of dated by now and only looks really nice in certain colors (imho). not a fan of any area GM dealerships, though...
- nissan titan - i've heard of too many 'problems' with the '04's to put a lot of faith in this one...plus it's HUGE, just like the F150. nice truck overall, though.
- ford ranger - looks good in FX4 trim, but the platform is rivaling methuseleh in age. 'nuff said.
- dodge dakota - i *hate* the new front-end styling, and the last-gen version doesn't do much for me either. the mitsubishi version to come isn't much better.
- dodge ram - eh, just not a fan of dodge trucks in general.
and that's about it. part of my problem is the budget - i'd rather not go above $25k, but in this day and age of escalating MSRP's that's not really all that viable for a 4wd truck w/ decent options. i tried to pick up a leftover '04 FX4 a couple weeks ago but the dealer wouldn't come down more than $8k off MSRP - even w/ $5k in rebates. i'd rather spend an extra grand and get an '05 elsewhere. it's looking like a tacoma or frontier would run me about $28k, which is more than i'd like to spend....but....i just don't know.
any thoughts or recommendations given the above? i'd look at used, but the vibe problems w/ so many '04 F150's scares me about those, and the '05 tacomas and frontiers are vastly improved over the last-gen models. full-size Z71's would be much the same year-to-year, though it seems hard to find one w/ relatively low mileage.
