Looking to get an economical pickup/suggestions

[PantherFan88]

Hey all, looking to get some sound advice from a forum where users actually have a basic mechanical knowledge and aren't 17 year old 'experts' who gained their expertise from YouTube.

I recently inherited a '14 Yaris with 5k on it. While it's a nice car and I am greatly appreciative that it was given to me, it is plainly impractical for my intended usage, and very uncomfortable to drive for over an hour due to it's size.

My situation: I am a college student currently, commuting. I also have a mildly modified 05 Crown Vic in impeccable shape with 56k I consider my 'garage toy.' Living at home, space is not an issue.

Looking to sell the Yaris, which from what I have seen for my local private sale market, can sell for 8-10k with it's current 8,000 miles. Thinking of getting a smaller pickup truck, toying with the idea of a early-mid 2000's Toyota Tundra or Tacoma in the lower 100,000 mi range. 4WD is of great usefulness living in northern MA with long winters + heavy snowfall.

Any tips, advice or suggestions are welcome.

Thank you,
PF88

 

[clinebarger]

Can't really go wrong with a 4.7L V8 or a 3.4L V6 powered Toyota pickup.....Tough as nails!

Your location may be a serious issue with rust & a 20 year old truck!

Don't overlook the Toyota T100, Especially if you find one in good shape vs a rust bucket Tundra/Tacoma.

I personally don't care for the 2.7L 4 cylinder.....They are underpowered in the lightest of Tacomas.

 

[maxdustington]

Selling a 5 year old super fuel efficient car with 5K as a student who commutes presumably more than an hour away, yikes! Stay in school bud.

 

[joemo]

If you sell yaris you will be sorry.

 

[Skippy722]

Originally Posted by maxdustington
Selling a 5 year old super fuel efficient car with 5K as a student who commutes presumably more than an hour away, yikes! Stay in school bud.


There is absolutely no sense in keeping a vehicle you'll grow to hate and makes you uncomfortable if you can afford something that fits you better.

That being said... do you "need" a truck or simply want one? I certainly wouldn't buy anything with 100k on the clock already. Could probably get a newer crossover (find one with a decent AWD system) for a similar price.

Originally Posted by joemo
If you sell yaris you will be sorry.

Why? It is literally just an appliance. Doesn't get much more spartan than that. I thought a Dodge Caliber was more comfortable.

 

[Rolla07]

Nothing wrong with a front drive Yaris with good snows on it. Ive never had AWD here in Montreal and Ive been all over, mountains etc. I been driving around in a front drive Corolla the past 10 yrs, a Ford Escort and Protege before that. Good Tires make a huge difference. Personally, trading for an older truck means you will have more maintenance/costs than if you keep what you have. If money aint an issue, Id go for an Impreza or Crosstrek for the superb AWD. Your gas mileage will be not great with a truck. Focus on school and worry about getting a truck or bigger vehicle later. No need for a truck if all your doing is driving to school. The decision is your tho.

 

[JLTD]

Good luck in your search -- a Tacoma with the 2.7, though not fast, is extremely durable but as mentioned, watch for rust.

 

[Fawteen]

Give all of the class action lawsuits over Toyota frame rust, I'd personally stay away from them. Even outside the rustbelt there are instances where the frame is rotting-the most recent lawsuit was initiated by a guy in South Carolina who's frame came apart while he was driving down the road.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Gas prices aren't going down. A low mileage fuel efficient car is well worth the penalty. There may be other seats you can swap in.

A tacoma isn't going to be comfortable on the drive either. If you need to haul something, you can get a cheap 4x8 trailer from Harbor freight. There's your pickup.

 

[wag123]

If you want an "economical" pickup you are going to want to stay with a 4-cyl engine. I recommend a Nissan Frontier. They are reliable, durable, and reasonably economical when equipped with the 4-cyl engine, and they can be had for a much lower price than a Tacoma. They will run nearly forever if you take care of them, I still see MANY old Nissan Hard Body Pickups (what the Frontier used to be called) in daily use around here and they haven't been made since the middle 90's, no telling how many miles they have on them.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Our 2001 V8 Tundra has almost 200K on the clock and is perfect.
It gets MAYBE 17 MPG.
And to buy one you gotta pay the Toyota tax....
Good luck.

 

[meep]

I owned a gen 1 tundra 2wd. Awesome truck, but very thirsty. Toyota trucks are debated in terms of comfort. The seats sit low and the legs stretch out, which bothers some. They also tend to ride very intentionally, as trucks. Good suggestion on a T100 above, also. Great, classic, overlooked truck. A little harder to find, but a great sized vehicle.

My son got a civic before starting college and after 6 months wishes he'd gotten a truck because so many of his friends have them. But, what his friends don't have is a stickshift that brings in 35+ mpg, allowing him to drive wherever he wants at half the cost of his peers. He's figured that out now and is enjoying the freedom.

Play the long game - there's more to be had if you focus on the long game.

 

[E150GT]

My wife had a Yaris when I married her. Yuck. If you're not on a tight budget sell it.

 

[LoneRanger]

2nd vote here for a Nissan Frontier, should be even money or less than what you'd sell the Yaris for. Frontier will be less money but same durability and performance as a Tacoma of the same approximate age and mileage.

 

[SeaJay]

I would suggest the base Ford XL pickup, the single cab, two wheel drive, smallest engine version with a bare minimum of features, These are made for commercial businesses that need a vehicle to get 1-3 workers plus a bunch of equipment in the bed to and from a job economically.

I could be wrong, but I think these can be had cheaper than the other suggestions here.

 

[vwmaniaman]

My 2007 Dodge Quad cab 1500 with a 5.7 Hemi got 22 on a trip last week to Minnesota. It has MDS on it. I admit I am a Mopar and VW fan. I have owned Chevy, Honda and many Fords, but have had so little problems with my Mopar and VW's that I just hate to try anything else.

 

[Rand]

your selling price is a pipe dream, 8-10k for a 6 year old yaris is not going to happen even if it had 5 miles on it.

Why would you buy a truck that gets less than half the mpg for a commuter?

get something that is at least in the mid to high twenties, a 4 cylinder fusion or accord can be pretty comfortable.. and twice the gas mileage of an older truck.

When I think of commuter, I think small 4 cylinder car or wagon.. elantra, elantra gt, kia soul, accord, fusion etc


You would be much better off driving your garage toy vs a truck.(well any truck you could afford with the $$$ from selling the yaris)

 

[dareo]

The very best cheap truck, IF you can find one without a lot of rust, is the Toyota T100 3.4 liter. I could get 17/21 mpg in my old one and it could haul very well. Slightly underpowered but hey we are talking cheap trucks here.

 

[01rangerxl]

There aren't really any economical 4WD pickups. Toyota does or did offer the Tacoma with an I4 and 4WD, but with live front axles on later ones (always turning, doesn't free wheel) and big tires, it's not going to get great MPG. You'll probably be lucky to break 20 MPG. You will probably also have a hard time finding one compared to the 4.0L. By the time you factor in the Tacoma price premium, there's nothing economical about them.

Most 4WD small trucks are going to get around 16-17 MPG, maybe a little better with a lot of highway driving, but they aren't economical commuters. They probably aren't the best choice for snow either because of their weight distribution. You will have to carry around hundreds of pounds of ballast in the bed even with 4WD. If it has to be a pickup and you want to commute in it, your best bet is probably any I4 2WD with good tires. If 4WD is really required sometimes, get a beater. If you just want to commute in a 4WD pickup, plenty of people do, but it's not economical.

Keep in mind that 4.7 and 3.4 Toyotas with mileage in the low 100,000s probably need a timing belt, so add that to the price too. 4.0s have a chain, but whatever you get for the Yaris probably won't buy a 4.0 4x4 Tacoma. If you want a Toyota with a t-belt and the owner says it has been changed, I'd want to see some sort of receipt as evidence.

If I had a long commute, I'd get a 2.3L Duratec Ranger Super Cab, preferably a 2011 with rear disc brakes and traction control. I have a short commute now, so my fleet of 3 gas guzzling V6s is fine. Drove my 16 MPG on a good day 4x4 Explorer today.

 

[supton]

YMMV but my idea of an economical truck is to have a Camry in addition to the truck. For me, gas savings did pay for the extra plates and insurance (liability-only) on a beater car. The beater car gets driven 95% of the time for me, as it's usually just me, or me and a couple people at most. That way my truck doesn't have to be economical. MPG between full and mid size isn't that huge, and is easily blown away by an econobox.

I'm partial to Toyota but the Toyota tax is right up there, and so is the rust. A cheap Toyota is probably too bare bones IMO or too rotted. At least Tundra resale value isn't quite like Tacoma.

FWIW part time 4WD simply blows in winter. If you're on a foot of snow then sure, it's great. But you can't use it on bare or wet pavement, and if you have good snow tires on, you will notice binding on tight turns. I run halfway decent snow tires and stay in 2HI as long as I can, as parking has always involved lock to lock steering. Heck, at a friends house he had me driving in his field, and he recommended 4HI so as to not get stuck (pickup truck on grass, you know it'll happen). All sorts of binding while moving a trailer around. Taco might have a locking rear diff, but Tundra sure doesn't, and I've never liked the VSC in mine--as soon as a tire slips, it cuts power. I guess you're supposed to just floor it or something when traction control kicks in? Most of the time, I turn VSC and TC off, but it's a retarded 3 button push in mine to do so. But then w/o TC it's your typical tail-happy 2WD pickup. [Cannot disengage TC while moving--it's a retarded system altogether. And I mean "retarded" in the sense that someone tried really hard to make this as obtuse as possible.]

Personally while I like my truck, everything is big on it. Big tires are heavy to lift, needs a huge jack to lift up. The space is nice, but I liken parking to docking a boat sometimes. Tailgate is pretty high, great for a mobile workbench but darn high for lifting things up and into. Tacoma would be better, but 4WD versions sit higher than 2WD versions, and they have a different seating position too.

Anyhow. Tundra 4.6 gets like 1mpg more than the 5.7 version, but I find my tow package 4.6 has to shift a lot in the hills--so I can't image what a non-tow package 4.6 would be like. I live in the sticks and get 19mpg it seems running up and down the highway at sedate speeds and minor backroads. It'll do 16 all winter long though. But perhaps a used 4.6 is in your price range--it'll be cheaper than the 5.7, it'll avoid the 4.7's timing belt, and if you're not towing, it's good enough. Even if you are towing, it's good for at least 6k (depends on what year).

Ride is decent, although while it'll take the first bump pretty well, it's subsequent ones that causes it to get jittery. It'll bounce you around worse on rough ground than a Camry.