Envelope, Role, Niche. It ain't just for weapons.

[DogDoc]

I'm with LawDog on this. Once a fellow has owned a pickup, even a small one, there's no living without one. They are astoundingly useful tools.
I have an F-150 and a Silverado but could be very nearly as happy with one of the small Toyotas or Nissans (I've had both of those as well).
Talk about niche, role etc... the things can do vastly more than any other vehicle type. Get an extended cab/4 door.

I've owned Broncos, suburbans, minivans, regular vans, sedans & hatchbacks... none of them compare to the flexibility and utility of a truck.

The Pickup is your Glock, AR and AK47 combined, a fellow should get that first and then feel free to buy whatever other niche vehicles he wants.

Pocket pistol - Compact car for scooting around town.
Long range precision rifle - Hybrid that gets 50 mpg
AR10 - Muscle car
Barbecue 1911 - BMW

By the way, if you get a small pickup, get a Toyota, Nissan or Mazda (I've had all three) the American compact pickups aren't nearly as long lived or reliable and don't hold their value. Also, I own a Ford F-150 and a Chevy Silverado. Prior to those two, I had a Dodge Ram. All three are good quality vehicles but the Ford has a ride/suspension that is much nicer.

[LawDog]

Land Rover is always the wrong answer.

Ha, ha. Yep.

I put a lot of miles on an '83 Bronco, and I've had friends with old K5/K10 Blazers. I loved my Bronco, but I'd tend to give the nod to the Chevy in that competition. The only way I would have one again is if I had some seriously difficult trails to ride nearby, a trailer to tow it around on when it wasn't working, enough time to work on it myself, and enough space that it wasn't in the way while it sat awaiting repairs (which would likely be half of the time). Either of these vehicles would make a superb toy, but a terrible daily driver.

[BillyOblivion]

Mid size SUV Nissan Pathfinder, possibly Xterra, Toyota Fourrunner, or Lexus GX LX series

Surprisingly, on the used market, the Lexus is usually the more reasonable of the three. I purchased a LX 470 (the Lexus take on a toyota land cruiser 100 series) for half of what I could get a comperable land cruiser for. All the same capability, same reliability in main systems, though more electronic creature comforts to go wrong (though they never did)

GX series is built on the land cruiser prado platform and comes with a very reliable V8 , providing decent towing, and lots of offroad capability as well.

I have a GX 470, and it's the same engine as in the LX. Other than the adjustable suspension--which is no good in the thin, dry air of Colorado, at least in my experience, it's been freaken awesome.

The GX was Four Wheeler Magazines 4X4 of the year in 2003 and IIRC 2004. Yeah, a soccer mom grocery getter.

If you're not a hard core 4 wheeler type, it's a luxury vehicle that can go more places than it should. If you Barbie it up a bit--replace the running boards, bigger wheels and tires, maybe a lift kit--it can pretty much run with anything else.

Mine is getting ready to go over 250k miles, and it looks like s*t because hail damage, but if I had 4 weeks of vacation and a brazillion dollars to pay for the gas, I'd drive it to Prudhoe Bay tomorrow.

[BillyOblivion]

Land Rover LR4 HSE LUX, that is set up like an executive protection wet dream

If you want to go Out Bush you buy a Land Rover.

If you want to come home you buy a Land Cruiser.

[jesselp]

I love my 2015 Tacoma. Double cab with the long bed. Super useful, super comfortable on long road trips. You don’t realize how often you need a truck until you own a truck. (As an aside, I hit a white tail deer at 70 MPH two weeks ago with my whole family in the truck. The truck handled it like a champ but the radiator was destroyed so I would not have gotten far if I was ramming through something more nefarious than venison on the hoof!) Gas mileage is worse than I would have expected 16 around town, 20 on highway. I bought it after driving a Hilux around Nicaragua for two weeks and loving it. I also have time behind the wheel, of a Land Cruiser Prado in developing country conditions and it was awesome - would not hesitate to try a Lexus on the same platform.

if only I could get one of the small Toyota diesels stateside I’d be even happier!

[Greg Nichols]

Ok, I'm down to tacoma/forerunner RTD OFF ROAD. And jeep. It seems I can find the right package in jeep far less than with toyota.

[coastalcop]

Ok, I'm down to tacoma/forerunner RTD OFF ROAD. And jeep. It seems I can find the right package in jeep far less than with toyota.

I have several friends/coworkers that had jeeps (they belonged to an off road club). All complained of having to regear to drive highway or tech terrain. All had some form of issue. Reliability is near bottom compared to toyota/lexus I would even add nissan to that list.

Aftermarket options are insane for jeep/toyota not as much for nissan/lexus.

Build quality is FAR higher in Toyota than jeep. I had a TJ Rubicon, that 4.0 inline six was the engine jeep should have stayed with (until they said they would put a v8 in them) the "modern" v6 jeeps use leaves a lot to be desired.

Gas mileage will be worse in the jeep, if that matters.

A lexus gx 470 (prado) or Lx 470 (land cruiser) Surprisingly can be found used for less than the toyota counterparts if purchased used.

The GX series are basically land cruiser prados built for the american market, will have most of the offroad bells and whistles of the 4runner, but carry a bulletproof v8 engine instead of the v6.

A quick autotrader search shows about a 20% cost difference between lexus gx and toyota 4runner in similar year/mileage.


BUT if I narrowed it down to jeep or toyota, I would get the toyota hands down. Build quality and reliability would be worth the extra scratch

I had a 75 Celica Gt, sold at 300k miles, 89 toyota 4x4 sold at 275k, supercharged FJ sold at 125k, Lexus lx sold at 200k. All of them required the regular maint schedule (oils, brakes, grease fittings, etc) and all ran like tops when I sold them. So I would say Im biased, however I just picked up a Nissan Frontier (Ive owned several nissans as well) as a get around, mild build. Drivetrain quality on par with toyota, but Im going to pick up more squeaks and rattles than I would with a tacoma.

[LawDog]

I love my 2015 Tacoma. Gas mileage is worse than I would have expected 16 around town, 20 on highway.

I put a K&N air filter into mine, and it increased my mileage by about 1 mpg. Definitely worth it.

[psalms23dad]

Jeep isn't long term reliable. If you buy one don't own it out of warranty.

K&N airfilter are notorious for damaging Mass Air flow sensors. Not all cars use a Mass Air sensors, some use a Map sensor instead. I've fixed a lot of cars by throwing the K&N in the trash and replacing a $500+ Mass Air flow sensor. If you logically think about it and realize the car's PC controls the air fuel ratio and that the throttle body is a mechanical object that is designed to limit the air flow into the engine you would see there is no way a high flow air filter could do anything to improve fuel mileage. In fact the only thing it could do is allow air to flow into the engine faster which would require more fuel which would increase HP. And that could only happen at or near wide open throttle in a higher RPM range.

[Greg Nichols]

My 4dr wrangler was very reliable and 2 cherokees were very good. A thermostat each and the 89 received a transmission transplant from a junk yard for a couple hundred bucks and me doing the work. I kinda wish I'd have kept the hummer and fixed all the issues at this point. I miss ole' black violence. It looks like a Toyota is in my future.