Newer used pickups?

This board often offers sounds advice on all types of topics, and I am looking for some here. I currently have a 2013 Ram Outdoorsman Quad Cab (smaller backseat), 6’4″ bed, 3.6L V6 8 Speed. I absolutely love the pickup, however, my wife and I are having our first child in a few months and I would like something that I can fit a car seat into a bit easier. I would like to hear some advice on different pickups that are in the 2012-2015 range that feature some of the things I am looking for.

-Crew Cab (bigger backseat)
-6’4″ bed – I really think I will miss the space if I drop down to a 5’7″.
-V6 or something that can let me get in the 20+ mpg hwy. I don’t anticipate ever pulling anything heavier than my boat, Crestliner Phantom, and the V6 has had no issues doing that.
-4WD

I’m not particular to any one brand, but I have absolutely loved my current Ram and have had zero issues with it.

I really want a Ram with a V6, Crew Cab, and 6.4 bed, however to get the Crew cab and 6.4 bed it only comes in the Hemi. So I may just have to decide if I want to give up a few mpg for a bigger bed, or get a smaller bed to save a few mpg.

Are there any other brands or options out there that can combine a nice backseat, 6.4 box, good gas mileage, and decent used price?

I am a Toyota guy with a 14 month old. I hate to say it Ford has the nicest back seat.

It’s probably not worth buying a truck 1-2 years old. The overall value is the worst at that point. Buy new or 3-4 years old. You’ll find lease returns that are in good supply so the price will be a better value. Or just buy new. You’ll never find 10k off a used truck anywhere.

As far as make/model. I love my ’15 F150 crew cab. The car seat fits better in my truck than my wife’s Ford Edge.

By the way congrats!!!

One thing to keep in mind…

Infants/toddlers are brutal on car interiors. Something your gonna find out soon enough. No amount of interior shampoo could remove the milk/puke/poop/food that was soaked into my wifes car when ours were really young. Looking back, no way I would’ve bought a nice expensive vehicle just to watch it get destroyed on the inside.

rabbit,
I’ve got nearly the same truck you have. Mine’s a ’15 1500 QuadCab V6/8spd 4×4, I’d gladly trade 9″ of box length to get a CrewCab and keep the engine/trans we’ve got now.

HRG

I absolutely love my 2013 F150. Huge back seat area and you could get a 6.5 box with the ecoboost engine in the supercrew. Good luck whatever you decide and early congrats on the little one!

I don’t know about trucks in MN but around here what a used 2 year old pickup sells for you might just as well buy new. I’ve seen 2 year old trucks selling sometimes for more than what a new truck costs with the rebates and discounts that are offered. Check out all your options. JMO

I am a GMC guy myself but sounds like the truck that matches up for you would be a Ford F-150. Crew cab, 3.5L ecoboost, 6.5ft box, and 4WD. Sounds like what you described.

mxskeeter wrote:

I don’t know about trucks in MN but around here what a used 2 year old pickup sells for you might just as well buy new. I’ve seen 2 year old trucks selling sometimes for more than what a new truck costs with the rebates and discounts that are offered. Check out all your options. JMO

Yep. The days when you could save a ton by buying a vehicle a couple years old is now gone. In fact, I have no idea who exactly is buying used vehicles and boats these days. Spend just a little bit more and you have a full warranty and often 0% interest if you choose.

I’m on my second F-150 (this one a 2013) with the crew cab. It’s easier to put a car seat in my 150 than my wife’s Accord or my brother’s Explorer. Tons of room. Highly recommended.

I’m in agreement with mxskeeter in fact I gave that same advice to my brother last weekend. From what I’ve seen, people I’ve talked to, and conversations had while getting my oil changed, there isn’t much difference between buying a 1-2 (maybe 3) year old vehicle and a brand new vehicle. I’ve only bought one new truck in my youngish life (my current one) but it seems like you can get a few more perks that way too.

What others have said about a shift seems right. Every time I’m in for an oil change the dealer who sold me my 2013 Silverado lays it on real think trying to get me to buy a new one so he can resell my current one. The shift seems to be they’re making more money off the “lightly used” than they are brand new.

Congrats and best wishes for the baby!

I have a 2013 f-150 crew cab. And right now my wife uses it until we find her a suburban and I have to say she fits 3 kids in the back seat and you don’t Evan need to move the seat. Tons of room. My 3 yr old daughter is on one side my 6 yr old on the other. And the new born in the car seat in the middle. Fords hands down have the biggest back seat available.
Good luck on your search

Step up to the M E G A CAB !!!! It’s H U G E !!!!

Thanks for the replies! It looks like the F150 may be what I am looking for.

Does Chevy make anything that fits into what I’m looking for? Crew Cab. 6.5′ box. 20+ mpg?

I have a 2015 Silverado with the “standard box” (6.5′) and the all new 5.3. The crew cab is huge. I had a Yukon XL Denali before this and there is more room in the second row than the Denali had. I am 6’3″ and this is honestly the first vehicle I have ever felt SHORT in?
I have averaged on a tank over 22MPG with as high as 23.5 MPG for a tank. It gets impressive mileage I think. I have been cruising on the interstate going 80 MPH and have seen the 30 for long stretches, but as you know, the second you get any headwind or inclines it changes in a hurry.
So far this winter its been averaging 18, but that’s a ton of in town driving and letting it idle. I think my last fillup was 16, but that was a TON of idling because it had been so dang cold.
Here is some advice for the carseat situation regardless of what vehicle you get. Buy a mat that goes under the car seat. You can find them at Walmart, Target, etc. Eddie Bauer makes one (sold at Target) and it will keep much of the debris that your little one seems to demolish and keeps it from getting on the bottom of the seat since you never take the carseat out.
Speaking from experience with 3 boys, GO LEATHER!! Trust me. It would seem like a bad idea but leather cleans up so much easier than cloth ever will.

I just went from an 01 supercab f150 6.5 box to a 2015 F150 3.5 EB, Crew Cab 5.? box and I have not missed the foot I lost. The 15 is slightly wider from what I understand also. I have 2 kids 4 and 6 and they love the extra room. I am glad I did not have new when they were younger. The backseat isn’t bad in the smaller cab for one carseat.

On the new F150 also think about the 6.5 box on a crew is an extra 2,000. The overall length is tougher to park in parking lots also. I looked at the 6.5 box but after thinking about it and looking at the price I choose the shorter. I am getting 17.5-18 mpg this winter but I do a lot of short trips with the kids killing my mileage. When I go over 5 miles my mileage creeps up with longer drives I get 20-22 mpg.

Well, first off congrats!

Whatever vehicle you get, when it comes to kids, 2 things will save your interior from the damage mentioned above.

1. Seatback protectors. The slip over the headrest and secure to prevent little boots from chewing up and getting mud all over the backs of the front seats. Not an issue with babies, but they don’t stay babies for long.

2. Full seat cover for the back seat.

We added both of these to our vehicles when we had our first son and now with 2 boys, both vehicles look great still. Leather interiors are, IMO, much more stain resistant and durable.

Grouse

Congrats on new child. No info on new trucks. But I have a 2 year old that I have used my 2003 1500chevy extended cab with child seat and I feel it worked well. Better then I thought it would.
Child seats for babies are smaller so I do not know if the large one will fit well in my truck but I have not had a problem with this set up so far and he is 2.5 years old .

My wife would not want to lift him in and out on a regular basis but I found it to be easy. He always prefers riding in the truck. So if you haven’t I would try the car seat in your current truck before the baby arives and you maybe nicely surprised. Good luck.
Geoffrey

Thanks for all the replies and congratulatories!

I’m sure I can make it work going down to a 5’7″ box, but I just think about all the times that we’ve taken a trip somewhere, gone camping, etc. that I have the bed of the truck completely packed full. And my Ice Shack (Clam Voyager TCX) is 6’3″, so it fits really nicely in the back of the pickup right now, roll the Tonneau Cover over it and nobody ever knows its back there.

Then when I talk to my wife about the dilemma of cab vs bed size, “what are we going to carry more of? The ice shack or the carseat?”

pass0047 wrote:

So if you haven’t I would try the car seat in your current truck before the baby arives and you maybe nicely surprised.

We drove our niece and nephew (4 years old and 1 year old) from Minnesota to Iowa a few weeks ago. It was a pain in the butt! We had to slide our seats forward so the car seats could fit in behind us. I am 6’5″, so I basically need my seat slid all the way back. Instead it was so far forward that my knees were stuck in the dash and the steering wheel was in my lap. Very uncomfortable 3.5 hour ride for all of us.

I had the same scenario when Hunter was born 2 years ago. Going into the search I was looking for a slightly used vehicle but ended up buying new. After looking around quite a bit it actually would have cost me $2000 more to buy a 2 year old vehicle with 40,000 miles.

Will

Go with the f-150 with the longer box. I got the 5.0 and love it. My busy has the Eco and loves his. Enjoy your new ford. Lol. Welcome to the blue oval family.

mattgroff wrote:

Enjoy your new ford. Lol. Welcome to the blue oval family.

I’ve never been a diehard of any one make like several people are… That said, we currently have a Dodge Ram, Caliber (cheap commuter car), and Avenger (wife’s car). Have had no problems with any of them, which in a way has turned me into a Dodge person. It really is almost pure coincidence that we have 3 Dodges at the moment.

something else you could consider that isn’t mentioned, is the option of buying a trailer for your portable ice house. its certainly not without its disadvantages, but this would allow you to have a crew cab and haul your fish house around. If you ever got an ATV or a sled it would come in handy too and you’d be surprised how often you find a use for one i.e. hauling yard waste away, moving, ext…

Ford – Nice truck but for what they sell for you will have to buy a 10 year old one to get a price as good as you can get on a new Ram.

I also have a 2013 SLT with the 3.6 and have had no problems thus far, love it!
I looked at the Ram site and you should be able to get a crew can with a 6’4″ box.
I was a blue oval guy for a lot of years until I drove the Ram!
The Ecodeisel looks intriguing.

crappie55369 wrote:

something else you could consider that isn’t mentioned, is the option of buying a trailer for your portable ice house. its certainly not without its disadvantages, but this would allow you to have a crew cab and haul your fish house around. If you ever got an ATV or a sled it would come in handy too and you’d be surprised how often you find a use for one i.e. hauling yard waste away, moving, ext…

That is actually something I am considering. I recently picked up an ATV and planed on hauling it in the bed of the pick-up. I realized real quick that I am not comfortable/trusting of driving it up steeper ramps if I can’t utilize some type of bank to decrease the angle.

wildfan wrote:

I looked at the Ram site and you should be able to get a crew can with a 6’4″ box.

They don’t make that option with the V6 though, just the hemi.

I’ve had the same issues with my F-150 extended cab. PITA to get my kids and carseats in and out of. If it were an option, I’d gladly buy another F-150 but the 4 door. Second option would be the Toyota Tacoma 4-dr. Third…Chevy Colorado 4-dr. My father-in-law offered me his used one at the trade-in price they quoted and I passed at the time; have regretted it ever since. That thing fit all the ice equipment in the bed, and the interior had a ton more room than my F-150.
That being said, my old 13 year old F-150 has been bullet proof through 200,000 hard miles and I can’t say enough about it’s dependability.

Back seats are back seats.. From one crew cab to the next they aren’t that much different. I had 3 kids in car seats at the same time in a dodge Dakota. Once they grew I had no choice but to go to a full size crew cab. Personally,, I’d go test out Ford, Dodge and Chevy and see which one you like. I am certain that money is going to be factored into this decision so check out all of them and price them out (new or used it doesn’t matter) and make your decision from there. Because……If I’m not mistaken,,,,,,Isn’t Ford quite a bit higher than the other two? or one for sure??

Agreed that Ford’s back seat is huge compared to the others.

Another thing to think about is garage space. Last year I traded up from a worn out ’03 that I had since new to a ’15 F-150 Super Crew. The 2015 is a few inches longer than my previous ’03 and does not fit in minimum sized garages. I do miss parking inside.

You may notice it driving around town. I see a lot of F-150’s sitting in driveways instead of garages.

The flip side is the XLT with a couple package upgrades does come with factory remote start and the remote works from a long way away. Mine will start from my cube at work which I’d guess is 250 yards away.