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Best small pickup truck?

DVad3r

DVad3r

Diamond Member
I wanted to see if there are any opinion here on a good small pickup. I'm geared towards the GMC Canyon, but there are a lot of them out there and wanted to see the general consensus of opinions/advice here.


Edit:

Sorry forgot to mention that it must have a crew cab. Ford Ranger doesn't. I also had a friend who had a Ranger and was not the least bit impressed with it.
 
One of the companies I used to work for only used Tacomas and they were treated like absolute shit but kept on running strong. Mine in particular had over 100K and had a crapload of dirt all up in it. Ran fine. I liked them.
 
I liek the GMC Canyon/Chevy Colo. as well. The ride better and are newwer the then Ranger/mazda B's.

But the Ranger/M-B's are older so the parts can be easy to come by and easy to fix.


I rather have the GMC/Chevy but my Mazda B4000 was to good a deal to pass up.
 
Originally posted by: angry hampster
Either those ^ or a Toyota Tacoma. Watch out for frame rust though.
Click to expand...

IIRC, the frame rust thing (again IIRC, resulting from some 'bad' steel) has been fixed.

Fern
 
I'm a huge GM fanboy but I'd take a Tacoma over a Canyon any day. And yes, I owned one for 1.5 years!
 
Originally posted by: DVad3r


Edit:

Sorry forgot to mention that it must have a crew cab. Ford Ranger doesn't. I also had a friend who had a Ranger and was not the least bit impressed with it.
Click to expand...

Ah. Then the Ford Ranger anyway and deal with jumpseats for the passengers.
 
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: DVad3r


Edit:

Sorry forgot to mention that it must have a crew cab. Ford Ranger doesn't. I also had a friend who had a Ranger and was not the least bit impressed with it.
Click to expand...

Ah. Then the Ford Ranger anyway and deal with jumpseats for the passengers.
Click to expand...

Rangers always have felt sluggish and who in their right mind wants to sit it those pathetic jump seats?

Canyons/Colorados usually pretty expensive for the weak i5 engine and the interiors are horrid.

My pick would be a newer Taco over the others.
 
I see no mention of price so I'm assuming this new/sort of new.

My vote is for the updated Nissan Frontier. It is the perfect blend of brawn, performance, comfort, and utility.
 
Originally posted by: JJ650

Canyons/Colorados usually pretty expensive for the weak i5 engine and the interiors are horrid.

.
Click to expand...

I drove my grandfather's I5 Canyon once and I thought it felt really stout with the I5. Shouldn't need any more power than that in a small pickup.
 
Originally posted by: JJ650
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: DVad3r


Edit:

Sorry forgot to mention that it must have a crew cab. Ford Ranger doesn't. I also had a friend who had a Ranger and was not the least bit impressed with it.
Click to expand...

Ah. Then the Ford Ranger anyway and deal with jumpseats for the passengers.
Click to expand...

Rangers always have felt sluggish and who in their right mind wants to sit it those pathetic jump seats?

Canyons/Colorados usually pretty expensive for the weak i5 engine and the interiors are horrid.

My pick would be a newer Taco over the others.
Click to expand...


The new duratec engines don't feel sluggish

My brother and I used to ride in them for 4-5 hours to go visit relatives when we were teenagers.
 
Tacoma FTW. My '98 had almost 200k on it before Toyota bought it back. I have a Tundra now, but wouldn't hesitate to buy a Tacoma again.
 
Originally posted by: JJ650
Originally posted by: Turin39789
Originally posted by: DVad3r


Edit:

Sorry forgot to mention that it must have a crew cab. Ford Ranger doesn't. I also had a friend who had a Ranger and was not the least bit impressed with it.
Click to expand...

Ah. Then the Ford Ranger anyway and deal with jumpseats for the passengers.
Click to expand...

Rangers always have felt sluggish and who in their right mind wants to sit it those pathetic jump seats?

Canyons/Colorados usually pretty expensive for the weak i5 engine and the interiors are horrid.

My pick would be a newer Taco over the others.
Click to expand...


I wouldn't say that i5 engine is weak, but for $ 1800 Canadian more you can get the V8 in there. Really you don't like the interior? I thought it actually looks pretty good...
 
I've been shopping around for a compact pickup lately and I've driven the following:

2006 Frontier extended cab V6 100k miles.

2005 Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab V6 85k miles.

2006 Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab I4 25k miles.

2005 Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab I5 4x4 Z71 30k miles.

2009 Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab I4.

2008 Ford Ranger 3.0L V6.

2009 Ford Ranger 2.3L I4.

2009 Ford Ranger 4.0L V6 (All Rangers had the 5 speed automatic and were Extended Cab).

Of all those, I liked the Colorado I4 the best. The I4 is butter smooth with a lot of ooph to it for a 4 cylinder. The interior was awesome and much better than the Rangers. The Frontier was almost *too* gutsy, its steering was way too stiff, and its gas mileage was obviously atrocious. The Tacoma just felt "meh" inside and out. There wasn't really anything that made it worthwhile. The Rangers were in 2nd, their prices are much better than the Colorados. Their interior wasn't really that great to me but it was still very comfortable. The I4 I tested unfortunately had a 4.10 rear end, making it a gutless, slow object that I could hardly appreciate. The 3.0L was alright but its pointless now as the 4.0L has *more* power *and* *better* gas mileage. The 4.0L has no trouble getting up to speed, but the 3.0L V6 and the I5 in the Chevy have horrid vibrations that run thoughout the vehicle at idle.

My nod still goes to the I4 Chevy.


 
Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I've been shopping around for a compact pickup lately and I've driven the following:

2006 Frontier extended cab V6 100k miles.

2005 Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab V6 85k miles.

2006 Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab I4 25k miles.

2005 Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab I5 4x4 Z71 30k miles.

2009 Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab I4.

2008 Ford Ranger 3.0L V6.

2009 Ford Ranger 2.3L I4.

2009 Ford Ranger 4.0L V6 (All Rangers had the 5 speed automatic and were Extended Cab).

Of all those, I liked the Colorado I4 the best. The I4 is butter smooth with a lot of ooph to it for a 4 cylinder. The interior was awesome and much better than the Rangers. The Frontier was almost *too* gutsy, its steering was way too stiff, and its gas mileage was obviously atrocious. The Tacoma just felt "meh" inside and out. There wasn't really anything that made it worthwhile. The Rangers were in 2nd, their prices are much better than the Colorados. Their interior wasn't really that great to me but it was still very comfortable. The I4 I tested unfortunately had a 4.10 rear end, making it a gutless, slow object that I could hardly appreciate. The 3.0L was alright but its pointless now as the 4.0L has *more* power *and* *better* gas mileage. The 4.0L has no trouble getting up to speed, but the 3.0L V6 and the I5 in the Chevy have horrid vibrations that run thoughout the vehicle at idle.

My nod still goes to the I4 Chevy.
Click to expand...

Nice man thanks for the advice, that I4 has awesome gas mileage too!

 
Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I've been shopping around for a compact pickup lately and I've driven the following:

2006 Frontier extended cab V6 100k miles.

2005 Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab V6 85k miles.

2006 Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab I4 25k miles.

2005 Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab I5 4x4 Z71 30k miles.

2009 Chevrolet Colorado Extended Cab I4.

2008 Ford Ranger 3.0L V6.

2009 Ford Ranger 2.3L I4.

2009 Ford Ranger 4.0L V6 (All Rangers had the 5 speed automatic and were Extended Cab).

Of all those, I liked the Colorado I4 the best. The I4 is butter smooth with a lot of ooph to it for a 4 cylinder. The interior was awesome and much better than the Rangers. The Frontier was almost *too* gutsy, its steering was way too stiff, and its gas mileage was obviously atrocious. The Tacoma just felt "meh" inside and out. There wasn't really anything that made it worthwhile. The Rangers were in 2nd, their prices are much better than the Colorados. Their interior wasn't really that great to me but it was still very comfortable. The I4 I tested unfortunately had a 4.10 rear end, making it a gutless, slow object that I could hardly appreciate. The 3.0L was alright but its pointless now as the 4.0L has *more* power *and* *better* gas mileage. The 4.0L has no trouble getting up to speed, but the 3.0L V6 and the I5 in the Chevy have horrid vibrations that run thoughout the vehicle at idle.

My nod still goes to the I4 Chevy.
Click to expand...

Kind of apples to oranges, wouldn't you say? Sure the i4 is butter smooth compared to 80k-100k cars (Tacoma, Frontier).

I owned an 06 Canyon, drove it 5k before becoming absolutely fed up with it and upgrading to a Sierra. My neighbor has an 07 Tacoma and he took my truck out of state to pick up a few cruisers and left me with his Tacoma for a week. In terms of build quality, engine power, and just plain interior the Tacoma is leagues ahead of the Canyon/Colorado.

As for gas mileage, the difference between the two was MAYBE 3-4mpg!
 
To add to it I'll say that when I mean the I4 was smooth, I mean ahead of any other engines in the other vehicles, including the brand new rangers. The I4 in the ranger had horrid vibrations and the 3.0L V6 in the Ranger along with the I5 in the Colorado was in the same boat. This was whether new or used.

Also the 5 speed automatic in the ranger is really worse than the 4 speed. I was expecting it to be pretty good, but I was sorely disappointed. When you put down the pedal it drops one gear, and goes about 3 seconds before dropping 1-2 more gears. This causes two rather unsettling lunges in the vehicle, unless you're doing the I4, in which case it feels like you're hardly speeding up at all.

The Tacoma I tested was alright inside, and I'm sure everyone has a preference, but it wasn't anything special to me. The seats were softer than the competition, that was about it. Everything else was pretty much the same. Oh, and the suspension was a little softer than the Ranger, but not as good as the Colorado.

Plus do to a combination of market and bias the money into a well equipped Ranger barely nets a spartan Tacoma. One ranger was going for 10k and had just 40k miles, the 3.0L V6, Cruise, power windows, locks etc. The Tacoma was $200 shy of 10k but had 72k miles, a V6, no cruise, no power anything. I passed right over it. That's just stupid.

And even at a 3-4 mpg difference, on a tank of gas thats 60 miles you didn't get. *Every* tank of gas. Fuel efficiency is very important especially if most of the time you aren't using the engine to its maximum potential.

Either way my opinion still stands, all things considered, an I4 Colorado felt the best of all the ones I tested. Though I feel a Ranger is still a better deal.
 
Just test drove an 09 Canyon today Crew Cab with the I5 engine.

Great car, I didn't feel any vibrations whatsoever and it has a lot of power, you can feel it in such a small pickup when you step on the gas. I tried out the seats in the back too and while they are not the most comfortable thing in the world, I fit into them with no problems and I'm a big guy, 6 foot and 280 pounds, so I guess I can't complain.

My only complaint is price, it's 37,000 here + taxes in Canada for the model I drove, it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I test drove a 08 Grand Cherokee Diesel with the Mercedes motor a few months ago and the guy was letting it go for 32,000 + taxes brand new.

If this car cost under 30,000, yea it would make sense, but I am thinking it needs to be in a 25 ish range to be viable for me.

Crazy prices.
 
Originally posted by: DVad3r
Just test drove an 09 Canyon today Crew Cab with the I5 engine.

Great car, I didn't feel any vibrations whatsoever and it has a lot of power, you can feel it in such a small pickup when you step on the gas. I tried out the seats in the back too and while they are not the most comfortable thing in the world, I fit into them with no problems and I'm a big guy, 6 foot and 280 pounds, so I guess I can't complain.

My only complaint is price, it's 37,000 here + taxes in Canada for the model I drove, it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I test drove a 08 Grand Cherokee Diesel with the Mercedes motor a few months ago and the guy was letting it go for 32,000 + taxes brand new.

If this car cost under 30,000, yea it would make sense, but I am thinking it needs to be in a 25 ish range to be viable for me.

Crazy prices.
Click to expand...

Shop around. Most GMC/Chevy dealers in the US are offering great deals to move trucks.

 
Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Originally posted by: DVad3r
Just test drove an 09 Canyon today Crew Cab with the I5 engine.

Great car, I didn't feel any vibrations whatsoever and it has a lot of power, you can feel it in such a small pickup when you step on the gas. I tried out the seats in the back too and while they are not the most comfortable thing in the world, I fit into them with no problems and I'm a big guy, 6 foot and 280 pounds, so I guess I can't complain.

My only complaint is price, it's 37,000 here + taxes in Canada for the model I drove, it just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. I test drove a 08 Grand Cherokee Diesel with the Mercedes motor a few months ago and the guy was letting it go for 32,000 + taxes brand new.

If this car cost under 30,000, yea it would make sense, but I am thinking it needs to be in a 25 ish range to be viable for me.

Crazy prices.
Click to expand...

Shop around. Most GMC/Chevy dealers in the US are offering great deals to move trucks.
Click to expand...

Yea I'm not in the US though. For me honestly that truck shouldn't cost more than 25 k Canadian. It's a really simple machines, engine with wheels and plastic inside. There is nothing special abot it other than it being a solid vehicle. I have no clue how they can justify a 40 k + price tag after taxes on it...

Boggles my mind, and then they cry about needing bailouts...hmmm

 
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