which Tundra to buy?

[JTK]

$16K is cheap for an ~8.5yr/old truck? I guess I've been out of the 4x4 light truck market for awhile. Man how things have changed.

The last truck I bought was a used 1998 K1500 4x4 4.3L (short bed, reg cab, auto) in 1999. I paid $14K for it w/ 16Kmi on the ODO.

I can't understand these $40-50K light trucks.. Unless you've got money falling out of your pockets of course.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
None, buy a stripper 2014 ram pentastar.


Yeah - I'd buy a base V6 model American pickup. Lots more discounts to be had.

 

[hattaresguy]

The only complaints I hear about these trucks other than rust is that they get poor mileage.

Expect to get 3/4 ton mileage, a newer domestic half ton will easily beat them in the MPG department.

For $10k more you can buy a brand new domestic truck, IMHO I'd do just that. Your paying a lot for a truck with a fair amount of time and miles on it.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
None, buy a stripper 2014 ram pentastar.


Yeah - I'd buy a base V6 model American pickup. Lots more discounts to be had.


That's true. Preferring basic trucks, I LOVE the look of the new Ram tradesman 1500s. I bet the pentastar and (gasp) 8spd auto moves it along quite nicely, given how well our 2013 Grand Caravan hauls-A.

Tundras are nice. My FIL's facility has been using them and Tacomas as service vehicles for years now due to their reliability. They are more fuel thirsty than the Chevy 1500s they used to use.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
None, buy a stripper 2014 ram pentastar.


Yeah - I'd buy a base V6 model American pickup. Lots more discounts to be had.


That's true. Preferring basic trucks, I LOVE the look of the new Ram tradesman 1500s. I bet the pentastar and (gasp) 8spd auto moves it along quite nicely, given how well our 2013 Grand Caravan hauls-A.

Tundras are nice. My FIL's facility has been using them and Tacomas as service vehicles for years now due to their reliability. They are more fuel thirsty than the Chevy 1500s they used to use.


I never thought I'd say it , but the "RAM" is the best looking (most conservative = best looking in my book) American pickup on the market at the moment.

If I were to buy a truck it would be a toss up between a "RAM" tradesman or a F150XL.

 

[supton]

I disliked Ram styling for a long time, but they are slowly wearing in on me. I'm not shopping for another truck but will say I'd love to go older and get smaller tires next time. Saw an ad for a used Ram where they proudly advertise 20" rims, which is NOT a selling point for me.

*

My Tundra seems to get 18mpg winter and 20mpg summer. Driven extremely lightly, highway only, and it will suck fuel very quickly on a cold start or if provoked in fun.

*

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2013-ram-1500-slt-v6-8at-test-review
[See page 2, where a reviewer is *standing* in the engine bay, feet flat on the ground!]
Car and Driver only mustered 15mpg in the V6/8spd, but I have to wonder if they drove it like they drive a Porsche.

https://www.fuelly.com/car/dodge/ram 1500/2013/gas v6
fuelly really lacks datapoints, but 19ish? That's still a couple better than other models.

Some random link-clinking makes me thing it's a 20-ish mpg truck in typical usage (quad cab 4x4). Maybe higher, maybe less, still impacted by cold and hills.

 

[hattaresguy]

The V6 is really all you need unless you tow. They put out more power than the V8's of 10 years ago.

Another plus side is the shorter motor lightens up the front end a bit.

I think GM's biggest mistake with their new V6 was not coughing up the money for that ZF gearbox. That motor has plenty of power I just think its held back a bit. Especially since the Ram's are a lot more heavy.

Fiat made a brilliant move to get a few more years from an old truck, they put a killer drive line in it.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: supton
I disliked Ram styling for a long time, but they are slowly wearing in on me. I'm not shopping for another truck but will say I'd love to go older and get smaller tires next time. Saw an ad for a used Ram where they proudly advertise 20" rims, which is NOT a selling point for me.


I miss when trucks had 16'' wheels and smaller tires. Better in the snow and cheaper to operate.

I see a lot of "RAM" trucks with 22'' wheels completely immobilized by the snow because the super wide lo-pros are horrible in the snow.

But, most people don't buy a truck to have a truck.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: supton

Some random link-clinking makes me thing it's a 20-ish mpg truck in typical usage (quad cab 4x4). Maybe higher, maybe less, still impacted by cold and hills.

So you would probably get 24-25 mpg out of the V6 RAM with your usage.
You are beating the fuelly Tundra averages of 15 mpg by nearly a 1/3 which is pretty impressive, and the V6 Ram average mileage is 19 mpg.
Doesn't sound like much, by a 20-25% savings on gas over 10 years isn't pocket change.

 

[supton]

Yeah, I know. I think I jumped too fast into my Tundra--had I waited a year or two, perhaps I could have scored with a nicely used domestic. And raked in the savings.

After taking our camper out last summer I think the wife and are ditching the plan for the big travel trailer: we'll never want to spend that much on gas. So a V6 pulling a large popup (say no more than 4k in weight) probably would work out fine for us. Wouldn't have known that until we had gone out once or twice though.

Speaking of fuel, I just tallied up my fuel costs for nearly 10 years of driving my TDi: Just a whisker over $20k for 292kmiles. That includes a lot of time when fuel was much cheaper.

 

[CBR.worm]

Yeah, with over 100k miles towing trailers with two V8 tundras, I went through a lot of gas.

 

[Oldswagon]

Tundra averages 15 MPG on fuelly, but the vast majority are 5.7L trucks. A 4.6L truck is significantly better.

FWIW, Car and Driver got 13 MPG when it tested all three Domestic trucks recently, (5.3 L, 5.7 Hemi, 3.5 Eco Boost). So when they got 15 MPG with the Pentastar it seems to be significantly better under similar driving conditions (C and D's long term Ram V6 is averaging 17 MPG). That said in a recent car and driver test of a 5.7L Tundra they managed 15 MPG in mixed driving.

My '08 5.7 has a lifetime average (including winter usage in the -30 degree range) of 17.4 US MPG. I don't get why people love to hate the Tundra. Even if they aren't cutting edge anymore, they are just as capable as any other truck in the real world and do have significantly better real world reliability.

 

[huntsonora]

I bought the 06 and got 18.7 mpg from TX to CO. Its a [censored] nice truck and I am thrilled to have find one with low miles