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NEED HELP Choosing a RELIABLE mini pickup. Any ideas?
crazygrrrl
Member Posts: 85
in General
A co-worker of mine is thinking of buying a mini pickup and he asked me what I thought. I love sports cars, but know nothing about pickups, so I need all the help and advice I can get.
First off, he wants a 2-seater. No king cab, no bench seat, no fold up child seats in the back. 2 seater only, so he can use the truck to commute to San Francisco in the carpool lane with only 2 people (trucks are cheaper than 2 seater sports cars).
Second, body configuration doesn't matter (long bed, short bed). He doesn't expect to haul anything large. This will mainly be a commuter vehicle.
Third, towing capacity does not matter, a 4 cylinder or V6, or inline 6 will be fine. Just needs to have enough pep to pass and merge.
Fourth, he doesn't need 4 wheel drive. Gas prices are high enough here, and he never goes off road and we don't have to worry about snow.
Fifth, the truck has to be reliable. (Don't want to get stuck on the Bay Bridge. No shoulder!)
Finally, he's looking for an "economical" truck. One that doesn't chug too much gas. I'm guessing this means above 15 mpg for city, maybe 25 for highway?
Any suggestions or advice on what to get or what not to get?
Thanks for your help!
First off, he wants a 2-seater. No king cab, no bench seat, no fold up child seats in the back. 2 seater only, so he can use the truck to commute to San Francisco in the carpool lane with only 2 people (trucks are cheaper than 2 seater sports cars).
Second, body configuration doesn't matter (long bed, short bed). He doesn't expect to haul anything large. This will mainly be a commuter vehicle.
Third, towing capacity does not matter, a 4 cylinder or V6, or inline 6 will be fine. Just needs to have enough pep to pass and merge.
Fourth, he doesn't need 4 wheel drive. Gas prices are high enough here, and he never goes off road and we don't have to worry about snow.
Fifth, the truck has to be reliable. (Don't want to get stuck on the Bay Bridge. No shoulder!)
Finally, he's looking for an "economical" truck. One that doesn't chug too much gas. I'm guessing this means above 15 mpg for city, maybe 25 for highway?
Any suggestions or advice on what to get or what not to get?
Thanks for your help!
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Comments
Did Nissan have a name for its trucks in the 80's? Were they called Nissan Hardbody pickup?
Does anyone have any suggestions on a new truck?
Thanks for the help!
I'd consider Toyotas also.
Did you do the maintenance on it to make it last that long under abuse?
Thanks.
OK back on subject, I know you asked Raybear....
I still drive my 86.5 hardbody V6 (3.0L) every day. I have always changed to oil every third month since new reguardless of milage. Air cleaner is changed when dirty. new fuel filter every year. I have 284,600 actuall miles on four sets of tires (Firestone). I have replaced the shocks once. My wife & son (13) replaced the fan belts and timing belt while I was in Korea on temp duty. The rear drum brakes wore/ware out at twice the rate of the front disk pads, I get about three years service out of pep boys cheap shoes. I have a rather expensive ham radio that draws 22amps then I'm talking, the alternator has stood up to this abuse for the last ten years.
I keep pretty anal records as this was my very first NEW vehicle and I was a poor soldier. For the record I also have a 2001 Ford F250 4X4 V10 crewcab belchfire gas guzzler with all the bells etc.. still drive my little red Nissan every day. This truck has been over every bridge in the bay area and beggs me to take it back to Germany where it can be bigger than all the other cars.
Fred /KD5NCO
The front end of you truck has a turning STOP that contacts the lower controll arm to limit the total steering travel. When you have the wheel turned all the way to the stop and move the vehicle frorward or rearward the lower control arm moves up or down as part of the suspension and rubs on the stop. Makes a terrible sounding noise some times, at other times you don't notice it. Really bugged me at first until I got under the front while wife backed up so I could see what the frill was making all the noise.
Enjoy your truck.
my family has an 83 ranger, since new, replacements timing belt and ignition module, 175,000 or so, no other belts or hoses, and it was used hard. original clutch.
2wd with 5 sp I got 22-25 in town and up to 29 on the road. I tried to replace my nissan with a Chevy or Toyota but could not justify pay so much more (as much as $6000) for a vehicle listed by Edmunds TMV for $100 more in value. So, I bought another Nissan and it is super....so far.
Toyota is a good vehicle but it costs more for not that much more...nicer inside. Toyota owners love their trucks.
All this talk of Fords and Chevy being unreliable..
Take a look at Toyota pre 1996....
but we used to have a nissan pick up. it was ok. i liked it but there could deff. been things that changed. that may have since we had ours
seeya
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Only dislikes are notchy shifting 5 speed, 4 cyl. not very peppy. Other than that, it is a great looking truck for being 8 years old with 90k.
Jon
7.5 secs. or less
I picked the Mazda for its styling and price, my truck came loaded with the V6, power everything, Bed liner, the works for $13,395.
I looked at the Tacoma but thought the price was a little to high... around 3,000 more for a comparable equipped model, it seemed smaller inside to me, and I wasn't impressed with the side impact crash test results. The Nissan was just too damn ugly to me, and the GM trucks price was to steep also.
just my 2 cents
My MPG's averaged around 25mph with city/highway driving.
BTW, the Mazda is the same truck as the Ranger.
You can get the ranger for around $12k in XL trim and $14k in XLT trim. I think the XLT is a great commuter truck..
And why is the S10 2nd in sales to the Ranger if its so unreliable??
I'm on my 2nd S10 and both have been great. My first one went over 300,000 trouble free miles before I sold it.
The "Big 3" still have a lot to learn about QE, much less QC.
How do I know this? I had the misfortune of owning a 1995 Sonoma for six years, and it was completely astounding how often parts broke or wore out. When I was finally able to get rid of it at 120,000 miles, it was basically ready to go to the scrap yard or spend a couple thousand more dollars on it to keep the POS on the road.
There are a lot of small trucks and sport utities that are 10+ yrs old on the road here in the Toronto area. Toyotas and Nissans are the most common, followed by Fords and the old style Mazdas. I'd say for every 25 of the combined above, you might see one s truck. Ten year old Dakotas? Every single one of them is in the scrap yard.
Here in So. California, my son had an '88 S10 that went 165,000 miles, a '94 that went
200,000 mi and now a '99 Xtreme that has 45,000 trouble free miles, it is a crap shoot,
i had a '87 S10 2.8 4x4 that went 145,000 and a lemon '91 S10 BLAZER 4x4 that self
destructed at 90,000, horrific defects, ABS, engine, electrical, mechanical- even
Consummer's said not recommended. GM has internal publication that had New
York taxis with 4.3 go 500,000 without major repairs. It is a CRAP SHOOT! Maybe
the new S10 and or Chevrolet COLORADO may be good choice. I like Toyotas and
Rangers, only TOYOTAS are expensive, and Rangers were more trouble free than
S10's. That was my experience with them. My 95 Ranger ext cab, purple color and
2.3L went 150,000 mile and 116 mph on level ground before i traded up to real truck.
Never replaced brakes on Ranger, clutch was worn quite thin though.
good luck
Andy
driving pickups since 1961, owned all makes except Dodge. hmmmm may
have to check them out, new ones anyway
Oh yeah the water pump went at @200,000 miles. Cheap American crap eh? That and routine maintenace and I had a very good truck.
Thats why I bought a new S10 in 99 and sorry to break your heart but it has been absolutely perfect. Two years and nothing has needed repairing or replacing.
very very gutless on infamous GRAPEVINE HILL in So. Calif. Along with 2.8L S10
Blazers and 3.0L vulcan Ford OHV V-6 Taurus motors. A '00 S10 Xtreme with manual
and 2.2L VORTEC will climb Grapevine at 90 MPH.......also with the ZQ8 suspension
will out handle all RANGERS, DAKOTAS, MAZDA, etc and get 27mpg too.
love those gutless 2.2L four popper GM motors. You get a chain driven camshaft, no
stinkin Timing belt to replace in Death Valley and 120 hp to play with. cheap too
TUNDRA V8, which my'00 C2500 3/4 ton spanker can spank 100% level road or
steep hills..opps back to topic, reliable mini is THERE IS NO RELIABLE MINI, you
take a chance at whatever you buy. Some get 300,000 mi , some don't, you are at
mercy of auto worker who may be having a bad day at the assembly plant when your
vehicle gets built....
Crappy? It started every time. Since it was a 60 degree V6 it was naturally balanced. Very smooth. It was no race car engine by any means but it was no turtle either. And the 23 MPG in mixed city/highway driving was great.
To say toyota would never make a gutless gas sucking crappy motor well you opened a huge can of worms there.
I can start with my friends corrola. It was gutless. I told him he should replace the speedometer with a calender and he did!
Actually he put one of those small ones businesses give out over the speedo. He figured he wasnt going to pass anyone anyway. Drove it like that for a couple years.
You want to talk about sucking some gas? Look at the Tundra. Its supposedly full size (its not its midsize) but the mileage compared to a silverado V8? What does the Tundra get? 17 highway? The Silverado? 21. Whos sucking gas now? The Tundra.
What Camaro and Cavalier parts are in the S10?
Camaro parts I might buy because its RWD, but Cavalier parts? Sure and I have some ocean front property to sell you in Florida.
suspension from Z28. That is reason ZQ8 Xtreme is such a formidible handling mini, cute looking too, too
bad the Ford Ranger Splash and EDGE have no comparable suspension. 2.2L four popper sees duty in
SATURN in form of DOHC chain drive, and maybe cavilier, hmmmm Toyota Tacoma-S has lowered
suspension, very quick and pricey....
'00 Xtreme reg cab with ZQ8 suspension (Z28) , close ratio steering and manual tranny. I managed 0-60
in 11 secs. Could do 93 mph before limiter cut in. I got rid of it in 8 mos. Got tired of it and the
irratic engine computer. Cute lil mini too, gutless?? define gutless....it was fun. I won many stop lite
jackrabbit runs due to superior driving experience with manual trannies. Could beat any vehicle that ran
0-60 in over 11 secs. Millions of cars out there do that...
I ve also driven/owned Toyotas; Carolla and '78 Landcruiser, not 100% bulletproof, maybe 77% and parts very
costly....for info on Z28 ZQ8 sus in Xtreme visit S10xtreme.com There is no reason to LYAO. Wait
until Chevy COLORADO hits the streets, your bumblebee cars, trucks, Fords, German Dodges and
cop cars are in for a spanking in a big way.....
Good luck in choosing a reliable mini......
Oh, BTW the 2.8L 60 deg GM V6 first saw duty in 1970 CITATION-X and later in the Fiero...
Where were you in 1970?? I was street racing my 1964 3/4 ton Chevy step side with 327 and granny
gears in Alhambra, Ca smoking all the muscle cars.....
Oh, adding Gibson exhaust, HYPERTECH, pulling VSS cable
from tranny on 2.2 S10 xtreme and adding K & N will raise top speed to 124 mph verified by optional GPS
system in vehicle. Adding NOX system will add more punch to S10 2.2 push-rod, overhead valve chain
driven roller rocker camshaft. ALSO NO FILTHY TIMING BELT TO REPLACE like most
16 valve 4 popper motors in the rice burners. Forget the movie FAST and FURIOUS, that is Hollywood
special effects....
The 60 degree V6 was used in many GM vehicles.
I dont know about the brakes but even if you are right when it comes time to do brake work I'll get new parts, but you go right ahead and put brake parts from a junkyard on your truck.
First I owned a 95 Chev S10 with the 2.2L and was really unimpressed. Even when getting rid of the thing at 29000 miles the power completely sucked with the manuel transmission. According to a road test it could only manage 12 seconds 0-60, which is not terribly great.
Second I also owned an 82 S10 with the 2.8 V6, and that was very sucky. Made worse by other problems with this truck.
Finally I have no problem with my 2.0 liter DOHC 16 valve engine in my 1999 Tracker 4X4. With the manuel it has lots more power than the previous vehicles I owned, and we are talking a 4WD here with drag coming at the front end. The most that my 95 could manage up a hill was around 80, with a tailwind. This Tracker can rev out hard and go like 95 up the hill, but who really cares about that considering speed limits are 70 on the freeways around here.
Just my thoughts,
matt
By the way, do you know if there is an aftermarket chip yet for these newer Trackers. I think these vehicles benefit from having really low rear ends, which helps off the line starting.
matt
Prices higher for new 2001 models. Our 1999 was approx $16,000, new model with same equip in low 20's
What was meant by that comment about same acceleration as new V6 engine? I was lead to believe that that engine sllightly increased performance but not overwhelmingly so.
matt