Midsize Trucks??

[J.Brower]

Is anyone here driving any of the new model mid size trucks? I am working on selling my full size Dodge and buying a midsize, as I don't use my full size for what it is anymore.  We went and drove a 2017 Tacoma, and thought it was alright, but after driving the Chevy I am leaning toward that a lot harder. The Tacoma was nice, but didn't have the "get up and go" that the Colorado had, and the ride was definitely nicer for sure in the Chev. I know the reputation the Taco's have (Toyota's in general) but they don't seem to have the amenities for the price they want for them. Has anyone here downsized recently and not missed the full size? Or on the other hand downsized, and regretted it big time? Unfortunately keeping both isn't an option in this scenario. It will mainly be a daily driver, with some light towing thrown in the mix (17' Alumaweld and our 2 Polaris sportsman ATV's), as well as my main hunting rig. 

[92xj]

What's your dodge you're wanting to get rid of?

[J.Brower]

What's your dodge you're wanting to get rid of?

99 24 valve Cummins

[Special T]

Auto or stick?

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[J.Brower]

Auto or stick?

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Auto.


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[KFhunter]

This is mine, but I kept the Dodge too 

[CementFinisher]

ZR2?

[KFhunter]

no, wish I would have waited another year 

Z71

[biggfish]

I've yet to feel like I need a bigger truck. I drive a Ford Ranger it fits my needs fine even though I just fit in it. My head is inches from the headliner and I can't wear my hat. Only change I would make is 4wd, I've had to cancel late season rabbit hunts due to snow.

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[J.Brower]

KF, how do you like your truck? That is pretty much what I am looking at. Have you towed much with it? That is my main concern with going smaller, I've always towed my boat/quads with a full size. I've had a couple rangers, and loved them, but they were just cheap commuters and 2wd.

[MADMAX]

I dumped my diesel and stayed with my Toyota Tacoma and I tow an RV trailer and boat
Very satisfied

[Miles]

I dumped my diesel and stayed with my Toyota Tacoma and I tow an RV trailer and boat
Very satisfied

How big is the rv and boat?   Weight?

[J.Brower]

I dumped my diesel and stayed with my Toyota Tacoma and I tow an RV trailer and boat
Very satisfied

How big is the rv and boat?   Weight?

 

[MADMAX]

18ft Duckworth with a 115 Yam and kicker
20 ft Jayco Humming bird
I believe the boats at least  3500 pounds loaded
The trailer is around 3800 Lbs
my 4.0 pulls both fine and the brakes are surge on boat and electric with controller and WDH and sway on the trailer
I've pulled the trailer over the rockies and looped out to ND and back

[Miles]

So the diesel was overkill.  I was thinking that might be the case.  It's not very often that a Toyota could be a replacement for any diesel if the diesel was in fact necessary.


Nice boat!

[MADMAX]

When I had the diesel I had this
I sold it and got the little one
no regrets

[Sandberm]

I'm curious how the new Colorado pulls too.

It didnt take much to overheat the transmission in my s-10s with the 4.3v6...and I dont even want to try and pull much with my 10 Colorado with the Inline 5 cylinder even though I believe, like my old s-10s is rated to pull 5k lbs.

I once hooked onto my 20ft Nash travel trailer(I think its around 3400lbs dry) with my Colorado just to park it in a different spot and I thought I was going to bust a leaf spring and burn up the transmission just pulling it around my parking area.

[Curly]

I wonder how the diesel motor in the Colorado would do pulling? The truck with the diesel motor is rated to pull 7,700 lbs.  The gas v6 is rated for 7,000 lbs which isn't far behind the diesel, but I bet the diesel would pull much more comfortably and with better fuel mileage.

[Miles]

Tongue weight will obviously come into play, and should be a consideration for anyone towing.

 Lots of people talk about towing but never consider  tongue weight, rawr, or gvwr.   Without researching the above vehicles and what's being towed, it's all guessing.   I see plenty of people pulling 5th wheels/trailers and it's completely obvious they're pin weight is exceeding the trucks rating.    Sure the towing weight might be within the vehicles rated capacity, but there are huge variances it pin weight or tongue weights.   We researched all before buying our rv and because of this, the truck sits level without the need for air bags or overload Springs. Lots compensate by adding air bags.

[J.Brower]

I've watched this one on the diesel vs V6 colorado's, I am still leaning toward the V6 considering the amount I will be towing, power, 'get up and go' of the V6 as well as the additional cost of the duramax. Factoring fuel costs currently and basing off of EPA MPG, it would take roughly 6-7 years to pay for the price difference. Also factoring in the small added expenses here and there, increased emissions B.S. ETC with the Duramax. 

[Miles]

The exhaust brake is a huge plus in my mind.   That's If your towing a lot in mountain areas when close to max weights.  I can go down 6-8% grades for miles here in Colorado without ever touching the brakes.  That's with 13-15k behind me.

[Miles]

But for those prices, why not go full size?  That GMC costs almost as much as I paid for my full size diesel... 

[J.Brower]

That is another reason the Duramax is out for me, if I wanted to spend 50k on a truck, it would be full size lol. Shopping around I have been finding loaded V6 Colorado's for around 36k. Still a lot of coin, but a little easier to choke down than the 50-60k for a new Silverado/Duramax or Dodge.

[KFhunter]

KF, how do you like your truck? That is pretty much what I am looking at. Have you towed much with it? That is my main concern with going smaller, I've always towed my boat/quads with a full size. I've had a couple rangers, and loved them, but they were just cheap commuters and 2wd.

I haven't towed very big stuff with it, 5 people in the truck and a 19 foot cuddy cabin with a 3.0l mercruiser inboard and it did great with that. 

My only gripe is that it will upshift too far and drop the RPM too low even with the tow button pushed, on cruise it will fall on it's face on an uphill then try to catch up by giving a ton of throttle and downshift 3 times, the RPM goes way up and it's just silly.

It was a lot better if I "drove" it by using the manual gear selector, down shift before the hills and that was a lot better.   Cruise while towing sucks, but other than that it would handle a bigger tow load just fine.   I use the engine braking a lot too with the manual gear selector.

[ghosthunter]

I run a Nissan Frontier 2012. My 2nd frontier.

I bought a 10 x 5 Iron Panther trailer . Loaded with our entire hunting camp, it sail over any pass in this state with power to spare.

[ghosthunter]

That is another reason the Duramax is out for me, if I wanted to spend 50k on a truck, it would be full size lol. Shopping around I have been finding loaded V6 Colorado's for around 36k. Still a lot of coin, but a little easier to choke down than the 50-60k for a new Silverado/Duramax or Dodge.

If you can wait till January or Feb you could find some good deals on new 2017s.

[Bigshooter]

If you want a midsize truck I would go with the Tacoma.  Just because of the resale value.  Back in 2013 I bought a brand new Tacoma base model for $30,000.  I traded it in a couple of weeks ago (on a brand new Tacoma) and got $22,500 with 76,000 miles on it, it was absolutely scratched to hell from hunting, I hadn't washed it in 2 years, I never cleaned out the interior a single time in the 4 years I owned it, it had a huge dent on top of the cab from where my girlfriends daughter sat on it right after I got it, and it made noise when it was in 4 wheel drive. 

[Miles]

If you want a midsize truck I would go with the Tacoma.  Just because of the resale value.  Back in 2013 I bought a brand new Tacoma base model for $30,000.  I traded it in a couple of weeks ago (on a brand new Tacoma) and got $22,500 with 76,000 miles on it, it was absolutely scratched to hell from hunting, I hadn't washed it in 2 years, I never cleaned out the interior a single time in the 4 years I owned it, it had a huge dent on top of the cab from where my girlfriends daughter sat on it right after I got it, and it made noise when it was in 4 wheel drive. 

Sounds like a real quality truck.  So they gave you 22k, but probably made 10k on the new one.

[Bigshooter]

If you want a midsize truck I would go with the Tacoma.  Just because of the resale value.  Back in 2013 I bought a brand new Tacoma base model for $30,000.  I traded it in a couple of weeks ago (on a brand new Tacoma) and got $22,500 with 76,000 miles on it, it was absolutely scratched to hell from hunting, I hadn't washed it in 2 years, I never cleaned out the interior a single time in the 4 years I owned it, it had a huge dent on top of the cab from where my girlfriends daughter sat on it right after I got it, and it made noise when it was in 4 wheel drive. 

Sounds like a real quality truck.  So they gave you 22k, but probably made 10k on the new one.

I have no idea what they made.  I have a buddy that works for the dealership that I bought it from and I didn't pay anywhere close to the sticker price. 

[J.Brower]

The resale is great on toyota's but the ride is not very good in the new trucks imo compared to the colorado's. my wife has a messed up back which comfort is kind of a necessity especially for long drives and mountain roads. KF I had read that they did some transmission re-tuning on the 17' model year trucks because people were having issues like you had stated with the 16' and 15' trucks, not sure what year yours is??  The problem with waiting until the beginning of next year is I miss out on all of the fall fisheries this year, which isn't an much of an option for me lol


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[KFhunter]

They went to an 8 speed, I have a 6 speed 2016 Colorado.  They also have programmers that will cure the transmission too, I've been reading about them on coloradofans forum and they're getting great reviews, really cleaned up the shifting.   I didn't want to risk my warranty so I'll wait until that expires before I worry about a programmer. 
They programmed it for fuel savings, so it's always trying to go super low RPM and sip fuel which is fine most of the time.

As for the ride I love it. I drove it from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and back with 4 passengers, spent a week in S. California and it was great.  Kids LOVED the unlimited wifi (and so did I)  We went down the 101.

Oh and another complaint, you cannot fully turn off traction control.   I got stuck in the hayfield (6 inches of mud on top of a frost layer) because I couldn't get the tires to spin enough to clear the tread even after holding the button for 10 seconds and all the traction aid lights come on in the dash.  Have to pull a fuse to get it to turn fully off.

[J.Brower]

Oh and another complaint, you cannot fully turn off traction control.   I got stuck in the hayfield (6 inches of mud on top of a frost layer) because I couldn't get the tires to spin enough to clear the tread even after holding the button for 10 seconds and all the traction aid lights come on in the dash.  Have to pull a fuse to get it to turn fully off.

Have you tried putting the e-brake on one click? I know in the earlier (03ish) trucks one click on the ebrake disabled traction control completely.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to pull the trigger on one as soon as I can get rid of my dodge which seems to be harder than I ever imagined.



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[biggfish]

Since quad cabs seem too be the main topic, figured I'd just say the Nissan Frontier seems, to me at least, to have the biggest bed.

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[Jimmybelltown]

 I am on my third Toyota Tacoma. I have had excellent luck-put 100k each on the first two never been left on the side of the road. Minimal maintenance costs and have sold the two previous after 10 yrs for at least 1/2 of what i paid.