Recommendations for a 4 door truck?

[Unregistered]

We are in the market for a used extended cab truck (4 door) to use as our second family vehicle. We have 3 children, ages 9, 6, and 2 who would need to fit in the backseat. The 2 oldest are in boosters and the youngest is in a Graco Cargo. Our budget is around $15,000. Can anyone give recommendations for a good truck that would fit all of us, taking into consideration our changing carseat needs as the kids grow. (We plan on keeping it a good while!) I'd LOVE 3 shoulder belts in the back, but don't know if that's possible with our budget. Help, please, and thank you in advance!

[CPSDarren]

It is difficult to recommend pickup trucks, since so few have complete crash test ratings and most also lack important features like side curtain airbags and stability control. Carseat installation can also be hit or miss, depending on the side of the extended cab and the seating configuration.

For a full size pickup, I would start with a 2004 Nissan Titan with the optional side curtain airbags and stability control. It's probably the least expensive model with those features. The crew cab version is listed as having a rear center shoulder belt.

For smaller pickups, the 2004 Chevy Colorado is probably the least expensive with decent crash test results and with side curtain airbags optional, but I'm not sure it enough room for 3 kids. It does appear the crew cab version has a shoulder belt in the rear center.

Another possibility is the 2002 and later Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab. I believe these also had side curtain airbags option on some years, though it may have started in 2003. Should also have 3 shoulder belts in back.

Without the optional side curtain airbags, there are other models that are probably similar in overall safety.

[sirrahn]

My dad has a Ram Quad Cab ('04 I think) and my kids always want to ride in it when he's around. It's fine for 3 car seats in back...nice and wide and flat bench, LATCH in the outboard spots, 3 tether anchors (although it's kind of fussy to hook them up) and the shoulder belts (there are 3) have lightweight locking latchplates that have always worked well for car seat installation.

We've had 2 boosters outboard and a convertible seat in the middle and there was even plenty of room for the kids to buckle their seatbelts without having to scrape knuckles.

I checked crash tests on it once and I recall that at least the ones I was able to find were pretty decent for a truck.

I have no idea about price on them though, but I see a lot on the road so I'd think there are a lot of used ones around. GL!

[menfusse]

I would look into the Dodge's too. We tried an 03 out and the asking price before negotiations was 13,000. Probably could have gotten them down, but it was more of DH's deal. I let him drive it before we ended up getting our van...lol. But we had the kids with us and I put the seats in the back with not trouble, rock solid and plenty of room for another. I have also installed seats with no trouble in the chevy silverado's. I don't know about there crash test ratings, 3 seats would fit nicely in the back of those too.

[CPSDarren]

Silverados have pretty mediocre crash test results, plus side curtain airbags and stability control are not even available unless that changed recently.

[jen_nah]

We have a '02 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Crewcab Duramax (diesel) truck. We currently have installed passenger outboard a Britax Regent & center a Britax Roundabout. We could easily get another Regent in the driver outboard if we needed too.

Not sure which year model they started doing the l/s belt in the center position with a headrest. I want to say '03 or '04 models. Our year model only has a lapbelt in the center & no headrest. That is why we have a carseat in that position. We wanted to leave a l/s belt free for a booster child or an adult if needed.

We have been extremely happy with our truck. We bought it brand new (actually ordered it) in '01. It is almost 5yrs old with a little less then 80k on it and its still going strong. No real issues with it besides the horn breaking on it this past week. But, That is an easy fix dh can do himself.