Looking to trade in my truck after deployment, but what to get?

[Kid Montana]

I'm currently (well, sort of) driving a 1994 GMC Sierra 2500 2x4 Extended Cab 396ci diesel truck with 230k miles and am looking to trade up a decade or so. I have no brand loyalty though I prefer GMC styling over Chevrolet or Ford and Toyota leaves me feeling "meh". I'm considering dropping down a couple classes into the Ranger/Colorado/Tundra class for the sake of fuel economy and my budget will be around the $15k mark, plus or minus a couple grand. The F150's/1500's /Dodge Rams are also under consideration.

So what do y'all think? What trucks are a great combination of features? I appreciate agility since my other ride is a 2006 BMW M3 coupe which the truck will need to have enough ass to haul on a trailer with stuff in the bed and cab when I move in late 2013. So the 4-banger engines are out. The inline 5 of the Colorado/Canyon are pretty interesting, good combination of fuel efficiency and power. I'm not too terribly interested in a V8 since the fuel economy is crap but its also up for consideration.

Thanks!

 

[louich]

Well from my experience Colorado/canyon's are junk....Stupid 5 cyl wont get you anywhere if you want to haul.

Toyotas are cool but if your looking at the tundra's (wich is considered a full size no ?) take a newer model with the 5.7 I force and not the 4.7liter.
As for the mid size Tacoma's all the way (that what I have as a daily beater) v 6, 4.0 liters I can haul up to 3500 kg with the bumper hitch of 6500 with a added hitch.
Mine a 4 door with the longest bed. I tried to get stuck with it in the last 3 years and I have still to find a way to do so. Snow, mud name it this truck can really can get you anywhere.

My humble opinion but if I were to buy an other pick up in the 2005-2006 range I'd go back to a Tac in a heart beat. It's proabably due the the gas prices (around 5$ a gal here) and what I need it to do but I moved tree times since I got it and never had any problems with it. I hope this helps !

 

[Pipe Smoker]

My father traded in his 2001 Sierra 3500 dualie for a 2012. He loved the old one. The new one has all the bells and whistles, but it's not the old one, so he complains about it. To my eye, the fit and finish of the new one is light years ahead of the old GM trucks, but the MPG isn't quite as good. He's getting about 2-5 mpg less with the new one, both diesel.

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Look at the F-150 with the EcoBoost. You'll likely be able to find a couple of used ones when you get back.

 

[Kid Montana]

Look at the F-150 with the EcoBoost. You'll likely be able to find a couple of used ones when you get back.

Good idea but they'll be out of my price range. I'd expect a used 2011 to hit north of $25k.

 

[kona1000]

How about one with a couple years on it?

 

[kann]

Biggest automotive mistake I've ever made was getting rid of my 2002 Toyota Tacoma with the 6 cylinder and TRD package. I loved that truck. It went anywhere, towed and hauled anything I needed it to, and got decent gas mileage for what it was. If you are only looking to make that tow/trip one time, I'm sure it would be fine. I know of guys who regularly towed off road wheeling rigs with their 6cyl Tacomas with no issues.

 

[Vicster]

You cannot go wrong with the Toyota's. My buddy picked up a very nice 07 Tacoma which was a lease return with 30 somthing on it and is happay as can be. I have an 07 Tundra with the 5.7 to tow with and have been very pleased.

 

[gtadroptop]

If you're not planning on using this as a daily beater heavy duty work truck, check out the Ram 1500. I love my 2009 short bed regular cab with the Hemi. It handles fairly well for a full-size. Plenty of power to pull a trailer, haul loads or light up the tires. Under light use, the MDS will shut off four cylinders. It gets decent mileage on the highway.

 

[louich]

I may be wrong but the dodge dont 'shut off cylinders' but have a variable port opening. The only engines I know that really shut off cylinders are the northstar enginws from GM. I may be wrong tough....

I have a buddy how own a 1500 while it's a great work horse it drinks gas like I chug beer...

 

[kann]

My daily driver is a 2005 Dodge Ram 4x4 quad cab 5.7L with a 3" body lift and 33" Goodyear DuraTracs (hoping the sidewalls hold up...). I get around 12 mpg in the villages and cow roads around here with all the hills. I haven't had it on long stretches of autobahn over here, but back in the States I averaged about 18 mpg on long highway trips (which it did a lot of). Though I love my truck, I would not recommend it as a DD for anyone who doesn't need it.

Dodge fixed the MDS issue with the later 3rd generation trucks. When MDS debuted on the 2006 model, lots of people hated it. In fact, one of the most popular modifications is to disable the MDS with a tuner like Superchips. It's highly documented on different forums that many owners of those eary MDS offerings get better mileage with it disabled. The computer had such a hard time figuring out when to turn the MDS on and off that it was about worthless on such a big, heavy truck. My understanding is that from the '08 model year upgrade and on through the 4th gen trucks, it is much better. Obviously a 2wd regular cab short bed would do much better than a QC 4x4 as far as MDS is concernced.