Help on used Mid Sized Truck

I like those ridgelines a lot. Of course its also a Honda so they should be fantastic, just wouldnt work for me.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
IF Subaru made a truck?!

They still make those? News to me thought they stopped.

I’m still living in the good old days The Baja wasn’t just a truck, it was a lifestyle

My wife drives a 10 year old Honda Pilot. And I’m not saying it’s basically a Ridgeline, but it’s basically a Ridgeline with a 3rd row instead of a box and a slightly shorter wheelbase. It’s been a fantastic vehicle, and I use it to tow my boat often.

Pilots are dang nice too! I kinda want my wife to get one, but she is thinking something Toyota and my son is trying to talk her into a Mazda SUV.

My inlaws have a Colorado with the diesel as well and love it. They pull a 16 foot yeti behind it and it does fantastic. They also pull a 17.5 lund all over. They pulled the yeti out to the black hills last summer and average a touch under 20 mpg at 80 miles an hour. It has been a really good truck for them.

picklerick wrote:

It’s similar in size to the Fish Hawk and I don’t think I would have wanted it behind my Tacoma.

That’s interesting. I have people telling me they pull their 21 Ft bass boat with a 225 with their Tacoma and have no problems. I think the towing capacity of the Tacoma is about 2X the weight of of my boat, motor, and trailer weight. I’d guess the total package weight on my setup is no more than 3300 Lbs

CaptainMusky wrote:

Pilots are dang nice too! I kinda want my wife to get one, but she is thinking something Toyota and my son is trying to talk her into a Mazda SUV.

We test drove 2 Mazda suvs not long ago. We both hated them.

michael keehr wrote:

My inlaws have a Colorado with the diesel as well and love it. They pull a 16 foot yeti behind it and it does fantastic. They also pull a 17.5 lund all over. They pulled the yeti out to the black hills last summer and average a touch under 20 mpg at 80 miles an hour. It has been a really good truck for them.

Those numbers are tough to believe. That’s crazy

Michael Best wrote:

I am a Toyota guy but my work truck is a Chevy Colorado ZR2 with a diesel engine and I love it

I’m not sure I’m ready to make the Jump to a diesel. I have no experience with them. Isn’t most the savings on better mileage about offset in the difference in the fuel cost?

Bearcat89 wrote:

Those numbers are tough to believe. That’s crazy

My buddy averages 32 in his silverado with his baby duramax not pulling anything. I believe he pulled his warrior out to SD and I think he said he got like 26. The one in the Colorado is the smaller version however.

Turbo bad.Toyota,Honda good.

That’s interesting. I have people telling me they pull their 21 Ft bass boat with a 225 with their Tacoma and have no problems. I think the towing capacity of the Tacoma is about 2X the weight of of my boat, motor, and trailer weight. I’d guess the total package weight on my setup is no more than 3300 Lbs
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Thinking back on it, my last trailer didn’t have surge brakes and I bet that would make a difference.

Of your list I would pick the Tacoma. I drove the same Tundra for 20 trouble free years. My sons both drive Tacomas.

I’m curious why Honda is not on your list. I recently purchased a Honda Ridgeline. Does everything I need, pulls my boat just fine and I love the way it rides.

I wanted a mid sized and test drove several Colorado’s. They were nice, I was looking used and was reading reports of transmission shutter issues. some fixed it with a flush and reprogram, others never got a shutter. The crew cab with a 6′ bed was my preference but a little hard to find- fyi easy to ID the 6′ bed quick looking at the gas cap placement and the wheel well. Some dealers had the bed lengths mixed up on their websites.

Rear space became the issue if we wanted to use it for trips instead of the wife’s mid size suv.. if the seats folded up it would have been better.

chuck100 wrote:

Turbo bad.Toyota,Honda good.

New Tacos come with a 2.4L i4 turbo

tswoboda wrote:

New Tacos come with a 2.4L i4 turbo

Hopefully Toyota will be the ones to figure out a way to make them last. If anyone is running something with a turbo use only synthetic oil even if the factory says you don’t need to. Also don’t push your intervals or let it get low. That is the most common way to kill a turbo.

tswoboda wrote:

New Tacos come with a 2.4L i4 turbo

So do the new Colorados though its a 2.7.

Ya this whole trend towards smaller L engines with Turbo’s is just scary to me. I know they produce just as much or more HP but at what cost to life and service of the engine. Some of these new engine options just have not been in use that long yet.

100% True FT.

I am a GM guy, own full sized trucks, but have several friends with Colorado’s and Canyon’s, they all like them.

That said, my in-laws all drive Jeep, and one has the Jeep Gladiator, if you consider that a mid-sized truck, and it is really nice. He uses it for everything I use my 1/2 ton truck to do, and has never complained.

Unfortunately, the COVID years has quality in the tank for MOST manufacturers, buyer beware.

chuck100 wrote:

Turbo bad.Toyota,Honda good.

Dont 3/4 ton diesel trucks have turbos?

bigstorm wrote:

Dont 3/4 ton diesel trucks have turbos?

yes but that’s comparing gas vs diesel. The diesel engine runs are a very low rpm. The main issue with these gas turbos is they typically get terrible mileage nowhere near what they claim.

fishthumper wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Michael Best wrote:</div>
I am a Toyota guy but my work truck is a Chevy Colorado ZR2 with a diesel engine and I love it

I’m not sure I’m ready to make the Jump to a diesel. I have no experience with them. Isn’t most the savings on better mileage about offset in the difference in the fuel cost?

I am not sure what fuel economy the gas versions get. But let’s say they get 20 mpg. If gas is $3.29 a gallon. (That is what it is in the town I live in). You are spending 16.5 cents per gallon. Diesel in the town I live in is at $3.86 a gallon. If you get 30 mpg which I did on my SD trip on Monday. You’re spending 12.8 cents per gallon. Sure those numbers can fluctuate some.
But that diesel engine will have more power.

tswoboda i would’nt buy a new Toyota with a turbo either.I do believe thumper said he was looking at used so a turbo in a Tacoma would’nt be an issue.
Musky tell your wife to listen to you for a change and not the boy.

chuck100 wrote:

Musky tell your wife to listen to you for a change and not the boy.

It will be totally her decision. I honestly dont care but my son really researches his stuff and sees probably 100 vehicles a week due to his work so I trust him. I think she should get a hybrid Highlander he says that’s a great choice but they are hard to find and spendy.

I see no one has really chimed in with a Ranger yet. I will.

I’ve got a 2019 XLT crew cab. Had it for about 2 years now and have put about 17k miles on it. Used to drive an F150. Went to a smaller truck for the reasons already stated – better mileage, easier parking, takes up less space in my garage. Mine has the tow package so it’s rated to 7500 pounds. I would never tow anything near that heavy though, just to be clear.

It tows my Ranger aluminum boat easily. I get about 22 mpg highway (non towing). That number drops to 20 with my boat behind though.

My only gripe is the fuel tank. It’s 18 gallons. I can go about 400 miles per tank. Wish it had a bigger tank so I could go further on one tank.

gimruis wrote:

I see no one has really chimed in with a Ranger yet. I will.

If it were not for that small turbo engine it would probably #1 on my list as I’ve been a ford guy my whole life. I’m not real sure what is that worries me about the turbo engine. Just something I’m not use to. Hear more than a few stories about blown turbo and the expense to fix. I’m sure most of that is probably due to user error as that is normally the case. I just wish the offered it with larger non turbo engine choice.

Not sure where the $5000 quote came in above for a turbo replacement. But I have a 2015 ecoboost with 96000. Last year at 90,000 I was getting a smell of oil burning so I had them look at it when it was in for a rare oil change that I didn’t so myself. The non-dealer shop said it needed a turbo replacement on drivers side. I gave them the extended warranty info and it was covered. The paper work says $950 part and $450 install. I can live with that. Even if I didn’t have the warranty that’s a couple of payments and it’s been paid off for years. I had also been hesitant to buy the eco for reasons mentioned. I had a 5.0, 6.2, and then drove and eco and loved it and bought one. Then my FIL had a Ranger last 2 years and I’ve driven it many times and pulled my boat and a few trailers and might buy one next actually. More room in the drivers seat than I expected and pulls what I need and the other advantages already listed of a mid size. I would not be afraid of the mini turbo set up. It’s a nice truck and probably more capable than many of the full sized trucks I’ve had in the past. If it doesn’t fit in the little box I use a trailer.

For a turbo to fail at 96k is definitely not a selling point, that’s actually pretty bad. Did they give a reason why it failed so early. And what kind of use did you have with the truck for those 96 thousand miles , I’m just personally curious

So… when do you pickup your ridgeline?

That 3rd gen Tacoma that has the 3.5 liter v6 engine also uses the “Atkinson cycle”. It’s interesting to look into. Had a 2016. The 6 speed auto transmissions in them aren’t bad but they can be super squirrelly and annoying.

Now have a ‘15 4Runner. It’s a solid and *heavy* SUV, very reliable and very capable in bad conditions. But MANNN that thing is a slug. 4.0 liter v6(same as last gen tacos) with an old but tried-and-true 5 speed auto. Problem is you average 14.5 to 16 mpg mixed, if you drive it nicely. My tacomas averaged 16-17. All have been 4×4 vehicles. You can get better mileage with a full sized pickup, depending.

Anyways, both hauled a 16-17’ loaded boat no problem. Both are hard to get stuck. Both will be nice to you for years. Not on gas money though