looking to buy a truck

[NYGiants]

so im looking to buy a tow vehicle this summer to replace the minivan (tired ole girl) and im between a cherokee and a 4wd dodge dakota. any opinions on which is better as an overall vehicle. it will be my daily driver. its goi g to be a late 90's early 2000 vehicle either way. i have around $4500-5000 to spend. i would be lookling for an extended cab dakota 3.9l v6

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: looking to buy a truck

Yup, whats ya towing, how many pounds, Bubba has one of the vehicles you asked about and I have the other...let us know...

 

[NYGiants]

Re: looking to buy a truck

nothing much at all currently i have a 14' aluminum boat 1000lbs aprox for everything.. im thinking of upgrading to maybe a 16' boat in the near future

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: looking to buy a truck

I have owned several Grands, both with the 6 and the V-8, currently I drive a Grand with a 5.2 liter in it and it has been a great vehicle and would easily tow just about anything I would want to own..but you do give up carry capacity due to the fact it it is a SUV over a truck..

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: looking to buy a truck

What you really need is a 1 ton 4wd crew cab dually with the biggest diesel engine available. Don't fart around .....buy brand new!!! I will caution you if you finance that it will be similar to a small home loan but with a shorter term!!

I like the Grand as an all around SUV and myself I have a 4runner which serves it's purpose and a 3/4 T chev as a back up

 

[NYGiants]

Re: looking to buy a truck

well my dad (whose contributing around 2500) says he wants me to get more of a fuel efficent vehicle. im going off toschool next fall and being a full time student he thinks i cant afford gas. im thinking more of a dakota and s10. all i really want is a 4wd truck, thats decent on mileage.

 

[puddle jumper]

Re: looking to buy a truck

If you are looking for gas mileage you should be looking at a 4 cylinder p/u. Lots of them out there. In my opinion (and I am sure to get flamed here) the v6 engine in just about every thing has poor power with the same mileage as a the small v8. So why would you want to own one. For what you want to tow, a 4 cylinder 4x4 would do it with no problem. I used my 2003 Toyota 22re to tow my 17 footer were ever I wanted to go. I am not saying to get a Toyota as all manufactures make them I think.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: looking to buy a truck

I have a Nissan V-6 pickup and I have to tell you, that is the worse gas mileage vehicle I have ever owned, it has plenty of power, the 4 wheel drive works great, but the mileage is horrible with that vehicle. My V-8 Grand beats it hands down for gas mileage..

 

[bigdee]

Re: looking to buy a truck

I certainly understand your dad's concern about fuel mileage and being a full time student but it will be difficult to find a 4x4 in that price range that is in decent shape. Is there any reason for NOT buying a 2wd truck? Older chevy 4 cylinder 2wd s-10s are plentiful and cheap and get VERY good mileage. Unless you plan to pull a much larger boat a little s-10 can be bought in that price range and give you 24-28 mpg.

 

[2000silvers2k]

Re: looking to buy a truck

If you want gas milage just dont buy a truck, a 4cylinder s-10 will get great Decent gas mileage, but it also wont get out of its own way or pull a fricken load of mulch. biggest POS i ever owned. my old man and a good buddy of mine also owned grand Cherokees with never ending hassles and trouble. My fathers actually caught on fire because of electrical issue pulling a camper. If you want great gas milage out of a truck, your best bet is to find an older toyota tacoma, their 4cylinders had way more power then the s-10's with comparable gas milage. It will be hard to find one though.

 

[bigdee]

Re: looking to buy a truck

If you want gas milage just dont buy a truck, a 4cylinder s-10 will get great Decent gas mileage, but it also wont get out of its own way or pull a fricken load of mulch. biggest POS i ever owned. my old man and a good buddy of mine also owned grand Cherokees with never ending hassles and trouble. My fathers actually caught on fire because of electrical issue pulling a camper. If you want great gas milage out of a truck, your best bet is to find an older toyota tacoma, their 4cylinders had way more power then the s-10's with comparable gas milage. It will be hard to find one though.

I agree that the s-10 is a POS but it is an economical POS that is within reach to someone on a college budget. I have owned 2 Toyota SR5 PUs that pulled like a John Deere but sucked on gas mileage. You have to sacrifice something,you can't have it both ways. While my 16 year old s-10 would have trouble pulling a greased string out of a gnats fanny it has been the least expensive vehicle to operate that I have ever owned.

 

[lncoop]

Re: looking to buy a truck

Taco. It will take a while, but you'll find one. Use a method I like to call aggressively watching. If time becomes your enemy you might consider a Ranger.

 

[mxfever]

Re: looking to buy a truck

What you really need is a 1 ton 4wd crew cab dually with the biggest diesel engine available. Don't fart around .....buy brand new!!! I will caution you if you finance that it will be similar to a small home loan but with a shorter term!!

I like the Grand as an all around SUV and myself I have a 4runner which serves it's purpose and a 3/4 T chev as a back up

Our family mover is a 2003 F-250 with a 7.3l diesel. We pull every weekend and get 17 mpg. Can't beat the power to mpg ratio!

If you want gas milage just dont buy a truck, a 4cylinder s-10 will get great Decent gas mileage, but it also wont get out of its own way or pull a fricken load of mulch. biggest POS i ever owned. my old man and a good buddy of mine also owned grand Cherokees with never ending hassles and trouble. My fathers actually caught on fire because of electrical issue pulling a camper. If you want great gas milage out of a truck, your best bet is to find an older toyota tacoma, their 4cylinders had way more power then the s-10's with comparable gas milage. It will be hard to find one though.

Maybe the Cherokees were built on Friday? I've owned a 98 Grand Cherokee for 6 years and it's primary use is 4-wheeling. It's got 202,000+ miles on the clock and have had almost no issues with it. And it gets abused! The inline 6 is fairly fuel efficient getting around 16 (it has a lift and 31" tires) but it falls on its face when you have a trailer behind it on the highway.

What about a Dakota with a V8?

 

[lncoop]

Re: looking to buy a truck

In case it's unclear, and it does appear to be at least to some, Bob was joking about the dually. He was winking affectionately at iboaters' common proclivity to overdo it when it comes to tow vehicles. More than one argument has commenced as a result of said proclivity. Maybe you should ask your old man for clarification of what he considers a fuel efficient vehicle. 16 MPG out of a V6 kinda sucks IMHO. I get that (15.5 approximately) out of my Expedition with a 5.4 V8. Hardly seems worth the loss of space and horses to gain a few more miles per tank.

 

[fishinandbeer]

Re: looking to buy a truck

Well as far as a Jeep. I had a Grand cherookee and it got 14 city and 17 highway. It pulled my boat fine but stopping it was another thing. The baot man handled the jeep. I decided if I'm going to have such low fuel economy I should just get a 03 Surburban that can atleast haul and be comforable in. Which it gets 14 city and 16 highway. My main vehicle I drive though is a 94 chevy with 296000 miles on it and it get 16 city 23 highway and 14 towing the boat.

 

[mxfever]

Re: looking to buy a truck

I understood the sarcasm in Bob?s statement. It came out the wrong way but I was trying to clear the air and state that an 8000 lb. truck isn?t all bad and can actually get good mileage. Even better than most V6 mid sized and V8 half ton trucks.

Now back to the original question I would go with a Cherokee.

Pros would be

4.0 inline six, very common engine known for its dependability and longevity
Dana 30/35 axles ? again very common and parts are cheap and readily available (brakes, u-joints, seals, etc)
Comfortably carry 4 ? 5 adults plus gear and all stay dry
Back seats fold down when you need to carry larger cargo and even makes a great tent
The Cherokee has a large fan following and there are many forums and aftermarket part manufacturers that focus on the Cherokee.
MPG ranges from 14-18 depending on driving.

 

[eavega]

Re: looking to buy a truck

Not to be one to doubt the folks who have posted about how good the Grand Cherokee is but...
I acquired a '97 Cherokee about six months ago. The thing was a beater, but it was cheap and had the inline 6 4.0L engine. Mechanically it was in great shape. It had belonged to a Chrysler/Jeep mechanic's daughter, and she had driven it from age 18 to age 21. As you can well imagine it was physically beat up. Mechanically, though, her dad had made sure she had a reliable vehicle. I've been slowly trying to fix up its cosmetic blemishes where I can. I look to CL to find parts (body panels, doors, etc), and when I do searches it amazes me to find the number of Grand Cherokees that are not so old (2000's and up) that are being sold for parts due to blown engines, bad transmissions, not running right, in need of major mechanical work, etc. This as compared to other brands of SUVs (Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevy, even the Cherokees ). I don't know if that speaks to the quality of the vehicles, but certainly seeing a lot of these trucks with less than 100K miles on them being sold for parts give me cause for alarm.

By the way, if Gas Mileage is what you are looking for, find you a Ranger. I had one and it would do about 24 mpg highway (which was most of my driving). It didn't go very fast, which is a good thing considering what speeding tickets cost nowadays, but it was reliable transportation for 13 years and almost 450K miles.

Rgds

 

[dockwrecker]

Re: looking to buy a truck

I've got a 2000 Cherokee that I've had for 10 years. Prior to that I had a 98 Cherokee, before that an 89 Cherokee. All with the 4.0. So let me tell you a thing or two about Cherokees
They are very reliable, not terriffic on gas milage. 15 in town, 19 highway. They will 4 wheel with the best of anything.
There are some notorious but easy things to deal with about them.
1. Oil adapter O rings. There are two very annoying to get at O rings under the oil filter adapter to the block.
2. Leaky valve cover gasket that is often confused with a rear main seal leak
3. Leaky rear main seal. Fortunately it's two piece and can be changed by dropping the pan.
4. Front track bar and steering stabilizer shock. Common at 100,000 miles. When these wear, they result in the dreaded Jeep "death wobble" that starts violently at about 52 mph. The bar is $120 bucks and about an hour and a half to change. The steering stabilizer needs to be replaced with the heaviest duty one you can find, Heco and Rancho work well at about $80, half hour to change.
5. The radiators tend to be crappy at 100,000 miles. I replaced mine with a heavy duty unit from Ebay for $70, about two hours to change.
6. Electric window regulators like to die. Not cheap at $125 each.
7. Even though it's rated to tow 5000 lbs, 2500 is tops in reality given the short wheel base and average brakes.
8. Expect to change brake pads every 40,000. They also like to warp rotors especially if used for towing. There are two different rotors for some reason. If you do need to change one, have your old one in hand to get the correct back spacing. $36.
9. Heater fan resistor. If the fan is either all on or off, you get to change this out. Located in the passenger side kickpanel, $65 from the dealer.

So as you can see, there's several mostly annoying things to keep an eye on. Nothing horribly expensive parts wise. Fortunately repairs are doable for the average guy as they are pretty simple mechanically. Once they are fixed, no worries for another 100,000. I get offers constantly to buy mine but I won't consider selling it. It's a bit of a beater, but when the snow flies, nothing I'd rather be driving.

 

[mommicked]

Re: looking to buy a truck

Ive got a 98 S10 4.3 tbi, 2wd auto w 3rd door and 150Kmi. and it tows a 2000lb +/- boat well,except for gas milage and no tow package. Ive seen the temp. creep up after towing 20/30 mins. on 90+ degree days w OD off.I think I need a tranny cooler.It gets 20 mpg when not towing even w my heavy foot!!Not bad for 150K on it.I also have a 84 toyo 4x4 22r carb 5 spd w 33s and a 82 engine in it.it gets 22-24 turning the heavy 33 12.50 15s it has a hard time pulling anything heavyer than a few hundred pounds. It pulled alot better w a 5.29 in the rear.but I recently put the 4.11 back in,(I needed 4wd)

 

[NYGiants]

Re: looking to buy a truck

I was also thinking of a 2000ish blazer anyone have experience with them? I also was thinking of getting an suv/pickup with 4wd that gets the best mpg