Pickup Truck Advice?
 

Anyone here want to spend my money?

I know this is a sports car forum, but there must be a few of you out there with a truck in the driveway.

I'm starting to look at replacing my 2004 Avalanche. Had Mrs. ZCanadian's 370Z in for an oil change yesterday, and being alone and unsupervised at a dealership (always dangerous), I spent some time browsing the inventory at Nissan and the adjacent Toyota dealership. Being tired and vulnerable after a long week, I then went to my local GM store for some more window shopping. Test drove a few full sized pickups from each marque (new/used). Have yet to try a RAM, which I haven't test driven for over a decade despite having bought a dozen or more for the company in that period. I've never been much of a Ford fan.

Given unlimited time, I could search every brand on its own forum, but I barely have time to work and sleep anymore. So I'm going to start my search by asking you for personal experience or opinions with late model full-size 4x4 pickups of any make.

I actually need a vehicle like this. It isn't a driveway trophy used for pulling my toys (unless you consider horses, feed, farm equipment, and laden hay wagons to be toys). Where I live, even the Avalanche can get bogged down in deep snow and I require a vehicle like this for the farm. Baby trucks don't have the clearance, tow capacity, or brakes to cut it. But I also daily it in winter, so it needs to be relatively economical to operate.

Needs:
1/2 ton will work for me.
Tow 8,000lbs +
True 4x4.
Ground clearance.
4 seats.
Reasonable box (6' or bigger, closed).
Reliable, even in cold weather, and not expensive to operate.
Smaller than an aircraft carrier, would be nice!
Not too expensive to buy.

Wants:
Nice place to be (pleasant, practical interior).
Everything else is usually avalable as an option anyway.

I found some used Tundra 1794 Edition crew cabs that are pretty good. But I don't need a full crew cab. My second favourite model, but not cheap! Regular Tundra with some upgrades might be a good option as it comes with a double cab (vs crew). Fuel economy isn't stellar.

My favourite is the Titan XD but it would have to be with the Cummins engine as the gas mill sucks fuel like air. But it's also only full cab (big truck!). Would have to be used to make my budget. How's this engine in the cold? Don't like regular Titan much (smaller box, kind of cheesy interior and exteriors).

The Sierra SLE double cab with some upgrades is not horrible, with present discounts the new 2017 is 20% off list and comes in lower priced than used examples of the same truck (= minimual initial depreciation). There is a very good local dealership for service whereas the Nissan and Toyota are 45 minutes away. The best on gas, too. I've had pretty good luck with reliability on my Avalanche (13 years old). Yes, the interior surfaces are a bit cheap, and things will start falling off at 60,000 km.

RAM is perennially the low-cost, best-pulling option. Not a fan of the now-dated exterior and the interior is pretty nasty compared to the others. Again, there is a local dealer and they are pretty economical to run. Also available with a Cummins diesel or Hemi with MDS. Has a double cab option.

I might be better to keep my Avalanche for another year (it's not going down in value much anymore, and winters are hard on trucks here). There will always be sales and good used trucks on the market. But I've got a bee in my bonnet, and as my wife will attest, that's usually dangerous.

So, suggestions? Advice? Cautions?
Your chance to try to spend my money!

Thanks in advance.

My wife has a 2009 titan and a 2016 xd cummins. Like both of them for what they are. Gas mileage sucks on both xd models cause they weight 7500 to 7800 lbs. Acceleration is sluggish compared to the king cab titan we have. But it does tow almost as much as the f250 and 2500s. Ground clearance on her xd I don't believe is as good as the titan either (she has the platinum). However the platinum is a great ride with fantastic interior finish compared to our plasticity titan. The box size on our king cab is the same as the xd. Haven't had it for a winter yet so we don't know about cold tolerance. Will also have more maintenance with the egr crap, 10qt oil pan, etc with the xd

Thanks for your detailed thoughts on this. Very much appreciated!

Yeah, I love the interior of the Platinum XD (and the exterior is no slouch either). Anything on the road bigger than it will have "Freightliner" written on the grille! But I recognize that truck would cost more to own. Your comments in that regard are appreciated. Definitely the downside of owning such a capable truck. Oddly, insurance quote is coming in lower than the other trucks on my list, and considerably lower than my '04 Avalanche! But brakes, tires, oil, transmission will all be more expensive to maintain and to fix. And I keep my vehicles for a long time so I will feel that pain!

Any issues with yours? I read some horror stories about the early Diesel XD's especially. I suspect it has more to do with the way people drive them (those engines are meant to run long and hot, not go to the store for milk and back). Too many people own trucks as driveway trophies these days!

Bought ours used. The only issues so far has been a quality control job on the steering wheel (someone cut the leather wrap too thin nissan replaced free), had to replace windshield due to road debris (insurance covered). The big one was someone tried to fix the hard shifting everyone bitches about, and tinkered with the fuel injectors (timing i guess). Well the didnt tighten them and the truck blew one out while driving. Nissan fixed, no cost, no damage to the engine. Other than that has been a good, comfortable truck that probably gets more compliments than my 2010 nismo. Time will tell if its as dependable as our 2009, which has been awezome overall. Only complaints driving it is the sluggish acceleration compared to the lighter titan, and if you slow down almost to a stop then try to accelerate, that big *** hesitates to move for awhile. It asks are you really sure you want to go cause you just tried to stop.

I've been hearing great things about the cummins titan, so that may be a path you want to look into. Plus they look awesome. I personally drive a tacoma because I don't really "need" a truck but I enjoy the usability of it and it's on the smaller side. For your situation...I wouldn't hesitate on purchasing the tundra when you're ready!! If I actually needed a truck for its intended use it would be a tundra no doubt. Some people think the platform is outdated, but I think that speaks to their proven reliability. Tundras are comfortable, strong, and I personally think they look good inside and out. Then again I'm bias towards toyota. Good luck!

Much appreciated.
Although, you realize that you've just made my decision harder? I had amost written thrpe XD off the list, but I think we can live with these downsides as long as the quality and support are there. My heart wants the Titan. It's my head that keeps whispering GM!

I've had my Ram Power Wagon since new in 2008. I've been to helll and back with it. The Power Wagon is the only truck with true 4 wheel drive. As it has electric lockers front and rear. Some have only a rear locker. But not both. For ground clearance. The Power Wagon and the Raptor have the most. The Raptor is light on towing cap. The Raptor is $$$. The Power Wagon option is about $6,800 over a standard 2500. Chevy is coming out with a Colorado that has lockers front and rear, and some ground clearance. But it's light on towing too. And it's a mid size.

Ok......with that out of the way.
1500 Ram with the V6 diesel. It's coming back. They got the emissions fixed.
The Titan isn't bad with the Cummins.
These would be my first two picks.

Ford has too many recalls. My brother hates his.
Toyota doesn't have too many recalls. What they do is service campaigns. You take your vehicle in for service. Without you knowing. They will fix things under the service campaign. This is how they get around recalls. The frame replacement is still going on. :shakes head:
Chevy just don't thrill me after owning 3 of them. All have been POS.

Our third Tundra. Many competitors have more features but the bulletproofness is hard to argue with

Hell's Gate, Moab, and Rausch Creek. I've been in water over the hood. That's why the snorkel. :eek:

Thanks!
But you should get that rad leak fixed. It's huge! :rofl2:
(Sorry, had to do that).

Cheers, Rusty!
Good info. That's why I like hearing from owners of multiple brands, rather than scrolling through dozens of individual forums. People I know a little by now, too.

You're welcome. Here's a link to the Power Wagon forum that I'm on. It's a small group. Around 1,000 members. We all help each other. We don't like BS, and don't beat around the bush. You will get honest opinions. We kid each other pretty good too. We are all cast offs from Dodge Talk. Most of us have been banned from there for our opinions.

Power Wagon Registry - Index page

So, I did a little more research and found out that the PR is available in the regular Titan for 2017, with the 5-year 160,000km warranty, the interior I love, and the new body style. It's 700+ lbs lighter than the XD, better turning radius, fuel economy and acceleration. Just a shorter box and less payload/tow capacity, with which I will live in order to get a more practical, economical daily driver. Not quite the same BAPUT as the Titan XD, but I get most of what I wanted, and for a pretty good deal.

By the way, Nissan Canada's website has a broken link and some incorrect graphics re the interior, and I would not have thought to dig deep enough to find this information had it not been for help, information, and ideas from other owners.

So, thanks to the information from jubei and a number of other people on this and some other forums I'm on, I should be picking up mine in a few days.

And that's ... the rest of the story. :-)

Good luck and enjoy the new truck when you get it.

Love these pics! And the PW!!!!