Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How many have looked at smaller trucks?

Traction system and weight displacement of tires is very important. I dis off road tires fer sure, but a good winter tire does make the AWD's better.

I have both.

Big pickups [a 94 2500 4x4 Silverado, and now a 2013 Tundra, both bought new].They are for family trips, pulling the camp trailer, etc. Why do I still have the 94? Well it is still reliable and I use it for some hauling and so forth. Insurance is $45more per month. I suppose I will sell it if it gets unreliable or give it to a son-in-law.

I also have a Tacoma V-6 crew cab for most uses. I bought it used for $8500 with 85K on it seven years ago. I use it for most of my scouting and so forth and weekend trips. It gets 5-10 mpg better than the bigger pickups. I don't think the mileage savings is that much. It helps on long trips of the right type. I like it because it is easier to get around town, on trails and off road. I don't try to bang it up but if it gets a scratch or two it doesn't bother me much. I had a 94 and an 81 prior to that. I would still have the 94 but it went to the youngest boy. I'd get one if it was me but not a new one.

1999 Dodge Cummins 5 speed w/ oversized tires gets 14 mpg towing. Not a real practical woods truck.

I had a customer offer to sell me his deceased mothers Toyota 2wd and I accepted. 59,000 miles on it when I got it, 76K now. 25 mpg with a weber carb, 1978 baby! First year of the 5 speed.

I'd love to get a Hilux. We drove a Hilux Raider 4x4 in RSA all last week and it was a killer rig!

Eric

Each person has to decide for himself what best fits his needs. I have a 2006 Colorado which serves as a second vehicle for our family. It is used for my personal transportation around town and for my fall hunting trips.

As a second vehicle it doesn't run up as much mileage as our first vehicle which the wife and I use when together.

I have gas mileage records on mine since new. It gets (figures in Imperial gallons) 16 to 18 mpg in winter mixed driving, with some use of 4WD. Around town in the summer it does 21-22 mpg. On the highway it get 27 to 28 mpg, depending on how hard I push it.

Great to drive around town, easy to park in the malls, comfortable ride. My youngest daughter lusts after it, wants to know when I am going to replace it so she can get it.

When we go on a trip in the fall 2 people and all the gear we can load and it rides like a Caddy on the highway.

For the last year or two I've thought about replacing it (just because I can afford to and think something new would be nice) but after doing the math I just had a minor brake job done and added some new tires. Can't buy one of these smaller sized trucks now unless they are used and at my age (late 70's) I am not about to gamble on travelling in something used. There are some stretches on Northern Ontario that are pretty desolate.

When the new smaller trucks come on the market and have been around for a year (to see if there are any bugs) I'll be around 80 so maybe will no longer want a truck. My s-i-l, who I hunt with, bought a new GM diesel truck a few months ago so the pressure is now off me to have a reliable set of wheels of my own for hunting trips.

Lots of choices out there and the OP will have to decide what fits his needs.

Jim

I bought the CRV first, it is a 5 speed AWD with a timing chain, not a belt. The car has 110K and I expect it to last another 10 years. There hasn't been a snow it can't handle with road tires, admittedly its seen limited trail. I get 23mpg with a 4 cylinder which isn't great but I can live with it.

After the CRV was paid for, a few years later I bought a used Ford F150 4X4. It sits idle in the driveway most days, but when I need a truck, its there for me.

Since I've bought the Ford 2 years ago - new radiator, new water pump, new heater core, hoses and belts, new ball joints, new calipers (probably due to me letting it sit idle for so long) , $700 tires, new seal around the window, new coils, new towing wiring and replaced the emergency brake cable.

I've owned the Honda 11 years - put a new alternator on it , a power steering hose, rotors, brake pads and a 2 sets of tires.

But I own an American car dammit!

And comfort. I ride in too many of them and they just don't have the room inside that the F series have. Unless you can find the smaller motor in the old body style, don't expect a taco to get you better mileage than a Dodge or Ford 1/2 ton either. 20 on the highway is about all we can get in the two tacos I regularly ride in as well as a 4-runner.

My 2003 Tahoe gets 21 on the highway and is way more comfortable and powerful than the Toyota.

I've driven smaller trucks and Jeeps my whole life other than about a 2 month stint with an F250.

The downfall for me for all full size trucks is lack of a manual transmission. That's a "must". I tried to compromise and it was an abject failure. The second problem was a total lack of in-cab storage. I bought the F250 for bed space. By the time I added a tool box to make of for the lack of cab space, I had less bed space than the Nissan I'd traded away.

Towing ... depends on what you tow. With their trailer packages the Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma are both rated over 6000 pounds. That's more than enough for my needs.

The balance for me is clearly in favor of the smaller trucks.

However, if you have a fullsize of reasonably recent manufacture, you are not going to pay for changing to a small truck in gas savings. You're money ahead to drive what you've got 'til the repairs or reliability make it time to change, THEN buy what makes sense next.

Tom

You would be surprised how versatile a CRV can be. This 2002 was my wife's everyday car for a decade and then got demoted to my hunting and fishing car. Gets low to mid 20s mpg, and currently has 173k on it.

I recently had to take my 2011 F250 4WD Crew Cab diesel in for some bodywork. Just out of curiosity, I rented a Toyota Tacoma 4WD for the week my regular truck was in the shop.

On 700 mile round trip for work, the Toyota averaged 17.8 mpg. My F250 diesel - with 4WD - averaged 19.1 mpg on the exact same drive weeks earlier. My wife has a F250 2WD with gas engine that drinks gas like it has a hole in the tank, averaging 14 - 15 on the highway.

Comfort, handling, load capacity, hauling, passenger comfort, and safety is lopsidedly in favor of the larger truck.

The Tacoma was one of the most uncomfortable vehicles I have driven in a very long time, and I was very happy to turn it back in.

So, bottom line, I'd suggest taking a look at a full-sized truck with diesel. Dodge is supposed to come out with diesel in a 1/2 ton p/u in the foreseeable future, which could be an interesting option for those that want a "smaller" truck with the fuel efficiency of diesel.

If you want to rationalize buying a new vehicle, for its mileage, at least buy one that gets 40-50 mpg. Otherwise your excuse for buying just doesn't wash.

I couldn't bring myself to put a deer on top of my car and drive on public roads. Not worth the drama.

Fuel mileage aside but would someone please build crew cab with the turning radius of a regular cab.


Width is easy, full size all the way for a hunting/work truck.

Length is were you lose mobility.

90% of the big super long 4 door F350's(think King Ranch edition) pickups never leave the gravel road.

My F250 crew cab long bed has the turning radius of a greyhound coach! That's why I put the Ranchhand style bumpers front and rear- back up until I hit, pull forward until I hit; repeat