I want to sell my 2007 FJ Cruiser and get a pickup truck instead.

I want 4x4, 'king' or crew cab, made in the U.S., with a V8 or strong V6. use will be mixed highway, street, country roads and dirt. No rock-climbing.

Occasional towing of a camper is expected.

The reliability of my Toyotas has been outstanding, but would consider other brands with a GREAT reputation for 100% reliability.

I don't know what I don't know about pickups, so please give some explanation as to why some feature is important.

George

I'll tell you, if I were buying a US truck for hauling anything, I would not even blink and buy a Chevy with a Duramax diesel and Allison transmission.

Here's why: My wife's mom and husband ran a business hauling trailers - they had almost 30. They were 5500 to 7000 lbs dry and pushing 8500 full. They had 3 Chevys with Duramaxes to haul the trailers around. I helped them out and put 10's of thousands of miles on the trucks. The last time I heard, just before they sold the business, they had 500K miles between the 3 trucks. In all the years they ran the business and I helped them out, they never had a single issue with the engines or transmissions - and these things were used HARD! The only issues I can remember were a wheel bearing going out, a column shifter acting funky, and the seats sacking in a bit. They were maintained religiously, and man did they run.

The way I look at it is if they will perform at that high of a level towing constantly, the things will last forever in normal use. By the end of their business, they actually owned 5 total, 2 2007s, a 2011, 2013(dually for their 35ft trailer) and a 2016. It's the only truck he will buy. The newer ones are plush and as comfortable to ride in as most luxury cars.

Good luck.

Hi George,
I've good service from my Dodge Ram 2500 diesel with a 6 speed manual transmission. Other folks I know of have had good service as well. Folks that work in the oil field in this area use them hard, and they seem to hold up well.

Since you say occasional towing of a camper, I'd say have a look at the F150 with the 3.5L ecoboost.

Great day to day mileage when not towing and enough power to tow. Mileage suffers when towing, but, if like me, you do it infrequently, not a real issue. With the tow package, mine is rated at 11,300 lbs.

I was always a Mopar and Chevy guy, but when I bought my F150 I did so because they didn't receive a bailout. After 6 years, I don't regret my choice.

I think if you towed more, I'd look at a diesel and an upgrade from a 1/2 ton to 3/4 ton pickup.

I will chime in on this to add that my youngest son has a fairly heavy bumper pull camper and he thought when he bought his 16 Ram 3500 w/ 6.4L hemi V8 that it would pull like it wasn't even hooked up, but he got a real surprise at how hard that gasser revs pulling on steeper inclines. Me and his older brother both pull campers with Rams with Cummins diesels and don't have any issues with that because of the high torque at low rpm the diesels offer. Will the gas pickups pull campers? Yes, but they don't run up the mountains like the turbo diesels do. I live in Colorado and when I bought my pickup I knew I would be pulling a 5th wheel camper in the Rockies so I opted for the Cummins and the only regret I have is when hunting deer it scares them from a long way off. My old 1/2 ton GMC gas was quiet and you could drive close without them spooking. If you don't need a diesel for pulling you can just take your pick at what you like. If I was buying another 1/2 ton I would opt for the Ford Eco-boost, as my brother sells Fords and owns a F150 Crew with the Eco in it and I love his truck but I wouldn't attempt to pull too heavy a trailer with it.

I have a F-150 Lariat with v6 3.5 ecoboost.

Great driving truck with good gas mileage.

I have not towed with it. But is should be able to tow up too 10k pounds with ease.

I will probably own and Drive this truck into the ground over the next 10-15'yars.

Main issue is for $50k plus truck - service sucks. No free oil change or 24/36/48k service.

Mike

I run a fleet of Chevrolets, 2500 and 3500, they pull great and several have over 200k miles.

Hardly any maintenance issues.


.

The big three spend a tremendous amout of time, research, effort and capital to make full size pick ups.

These vechiles are excellent and tailored for us and Canadian consumers.

The big three know their foundation is full size picks.

My only complains would be these trucks get expensive fast but they provide an excellent bang for the buck.

Mike

Are you looking to buy new or used?

Either way I’d buy a Toyota Tundra. If you can find a new one with a 4.6 L V8 it would probably suit your needs and get better gas mileage then a 5.7 L V-8.

If you were looking for used truck you can’t do any better than a 2003 or 2004 tundra with a 4.7 L V-8. Those model years have the best combination of engine and transmission for 100% trouble free reliability. I had a 2003 with over 450,000 miles on it when I gave it to one of my employees and I had a 2004 with about 300,000 miles on it when it got totaled out by one of my employees.

I’ve had trucks with all of the above engines and have pulled a trailer with a Kubota L3400 tractor and RTV 1100 or a trailer with a Cat 236B skid loader. The 4.6 L was the at the bottom of the three engines when it came to pulling. The 4.7 L pulls as well as the 5.7 L and uses less fuel.

Anyway you slice it, you can’t beat a Toyota for reliability.

Used is preferable. I'll let someone else take the depreciation hit.

I honestly never considered a diesel; I hear them go by and they sound as noisy as a backseat full of four year-olds banging on pots and pans.

My neighbor sold his (gasoline) Ram Eddie Bauer (NICE truck!) to get a Chevy diesel truck because his Ram couldn't tow his 34-ft. trailer over the mountain passes.

I don't expect to get a 34-ft. camper or have to tow it over mountains.

George

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/

enjoy

quote:

Originally posted by TREE 'EM:
Are you looking to buy new or used?

Either way I’d buy a Toyota Tundra. If you can find a new one with a 4.6 L V8 it would probably suit your needs and get better gas mileage then a 5.7 L V-8.

If you were looking for used truck you can’t do any better than a 2003 or 2004 tundra with a 4.7 L V-8. Those model years have the best combination of engine and transmission for 100% trouble free reliability. I had a 2003 with over 450,000 miles on it when I gave it to one of my employees and I had a 2004 with about 300,000 miles on it when it got totaled out by one of my employees.

I’ve had trucks with all of the above engines and have pulled a trailer with a Kubota L3400 tractor and RTV 1100 or a trailer with a Cat 236B skid loader. The 4.6 L was the at the bottom of the three engines when it came to pulling. The 4.7 L pulls as well as the 5.7 L and uses less fuel.

Anyway you slice it, you can’t beat a Toyota for reliability.

I have an 02 tundra with 197K on it. I love the thing.

I replaced my 2013 Tundra with a 2017 F150 3.5 ecoboost. The Ford is light years ahead of the Tundra. It tows and handles our boat (approximately 5,000 pounds) better and uses less gas while doing it. Not towing it has averaged 21 mpg since buying it. Which is about 6 mpg better than the Tundra. Zero issues to date. But I do think the Tundra would be more durable if you plan on keeping it over 100K. The F150 is better in every other category including comfort, quiet, stereo, power, etc.

Owned a diesel in the past. Would not even consider buying another unless I had to tow 7,500 pounds or more on a weekly basis.

I've never owned anything past 68,000 miles.

George

I simply did NOT want to deal with repairs, nor durability concerns, so about two weeks ago I bought the below with the 5.7 liter engine (345.5 CI).
If the truck is in the shop, all it's wiz-bang pluses ain't worth a thing...

Spiffy! How does it ride/drive?

George

Did you ever buy your truck.

No, everything got pushed back six to seven months.

It's killing me to see '0% for 72 months' financing on pickups.

George