New Truck Shopping

OK, not really new truck, just 'new' to us truck, and not really truck so to speak either...I guess that was a bit of a misleading title lol. DH is thinking about making his 99Ford 150 a dedicated work truck, and buying another vehicle, something different than a pick-up for use at home. He is wanting something cool and sporty, and not really another truck, but something 'manly' if you will. He has mentioned the Jeep Liberty and the Toyota? Avalanche. Any thoughts or other ideas for something that is going to fit the cool sporty bill and still be safe and good for value? We are looking to keep it very cheap since we are not trading in anything, just adding to the fleet (under $15,000, hopefully under 10?), and need to fit 3 kids safely in the back (10,7,4) and 4w drive is on the must have list of features.

I don't know how much they sell for, but my brother in law has a Ford F150 (I think it's a 2001 or 02 but might be a bit newer) that is the kind with 4 doors. This thing has a huge back seat!! We've had 2 marathons and a decent sized adult back there! We looked at the Liberty when we were shopping for cars in 03 and found it to be kind of small in the back seat. Not sure if they've changed the width of the seat since then but if they haven't I would say that it's a little small for 3 kids, but then again it would depend on what seats you have them in. We had 2 marathons at the time and there wasn't a lot of room left.

If you're interested in the newer F150's, go for at least a 2004 (or newer). You'll pay a little more, but they tweeked the computer to get a lot better fuel economy. If your looking for a cheaper model the older ones are great. I really like my 95, and the newer old era are really nice too. As for fuel my friend with a 04 F150 (2wd) with the 5.4L gets 25mpg, and my 95 F150 (2wd) wtih the 5.0 L gets 15mpg. If your driving a lot of miles keep that in mind.

Thanks for the replies, but maybe I made my first post a bit confusing...am interested in anything BUT the 150, that is what DS is getting rid of...looking for a small suv, or one of those sport type trucks with short bed and huge cab...

canadianmom2three said:

Thanks for the replies, but maybe I made my first post a bit confusing...am interested in anything BUT the 150, that is what DS is getting rid of...looking for a small suv, or one of those sport type trucks with short bed and huge cab...

Click to expand...

I drive a Honda CR-V and DH drives a Ford Explorer SporTrac. We like both of our vehicles very much! Both are 4 wheel drive vehicles (well, mine is Real-time AWD, actually) and both have plenty of room in the backseat for carseats. Now, I am not sure about 3 (or 2 seats and a booster, or whatever), but it'll probably work. You'll just have to check the width of the seats you're installing. Be sure to also check the safety ratings for the vehicles. . I'm not sure about the Avalanche, but I know the Liberty's is terrible.

Look into these vehicles:

Toyota Highlander-Midsize SUV
Toyota Rav4-Compact SUV
Honda Element-I dont' know if this comes in 4WD or AWD?
Honda CRV-compact SUV
Honda Pilot-Midsize SUV
Toyota 4-Runner-Full-size SUV, going to be a bit more pricey..

none of those cars can be had for under $15000 unless they have really high mileage and are more or less beat on.

since you mention 4WD, fitting 3 across in the rear, cool, sporty, safe, yet under $15k and preferably $10k, it sounds like the impossible combination of features... you will have to give up something to begin to find something in that price range. do you want a pickup truck or an SUV?

ETA: oh, and are we talking american or canadian dollars? if canadian, then your pickings are going to be even slimmer.

since you mention 4WD, fitting 3 across in the rear, cool, sporty, safe, yet under $15k and preferably $10k, it sounds like the impossible combination of features...
when you put it like that, it really does sound like an impossible dream....hmmmmm back to the drawing board.

southpawboston said:

none of those cars can be had for under $15000 unless they have really high mileage and are more or less beat on.

since you mention 4WD, fitting 3 across in the rear, cool, sporty, safe, yet under $15k and preferably $10k, it sounds like the impossible combination of features... you will have to give up something to begin to find something in that price range. do you want a pickup truck or an SUV?

ETA: oh, and are we talking american or canadian dollars? if canadian, then your pickings are going to be even slimmer.

Click to expand...

The OP said nothing about how old the vehicle had to be, or about mileage. There are perfectly good used vehicles in that price range. They may be older, yes, but the OP said "Cheap".

Yes, definately wasn't looking at new DH is the type that drives them into the ground - his current truck has about 250k on it and still going strong (just starting to really stink inside from 3 sweaty landscape guys riding in it all summer he just thinks maybe it is time it becomes a dedicated work truck. We will still use our van as the primary vehicle, so not critical that it be a really roomy fit for the 3 kids. I have looked and found that the Saturn Vue, Buick Rendevouz, and Hyundai Santa Fe seem to be pretty cheaply available used. I've driven the others, but does anyone have experience with the Saturn Vue??

Former Vue owner here, and you can see what happened to it in a crash in the photobucket album in my siggy. It protected us well, nobody was hurt other than some seatbelt rug burns, and it wasn't totaled. Ours was a fully loaded '03 AWD V6 model. We traded our Vue for a minivan after it was repaired when we found out baby #2 was on the way. If baby #2 wasn't part of our family, then we would likely have replaced it with another Vue. Grandparents ride with us often and we all wouldn't fit in a 5-passenger vehicle with 2 kids, so we became a minivan family, lol.

I really liked our Vue and it was fairly carseat friendly with three top tether anchors and three full sets of lower LATCH anchors. With the right combo of seats, you could fit 3 carseats across. The seatbelt anchors are ahead of the seat bight, so seatbelt installs might be trickier for some seats like the Radian. My only real complaint was it never got the fuel economy it was rated for, even when I drove it like a little old lady. I get better mileage driving our Sienna now than I did in the Vue.

That being said, the Vue doesn't have the greatest side impact crash test or overall safety rating at www.informedforlife.org. Ideally you would get one with optional side curtain airbags for added protection. Used '03-'04 Vues with 4-cylinder engines and CVT (continuously variable transmission) are best avoided altogether at any price because the CVT has a horrible reputation for totally failing and stranding owners. www.saturnfans.com has a Vue forum with posts about bad CVT experiences as well as other useful Vue info. '04 and newer Vues with V6 engines actually have a Honda engine under the hood, a nice perk IMHO.

Happy truck shopping.

Another VUE owner here. We have really liked it. We bought it new in Dec 02, and are going to be selling it in the next few months. It's a 6 cyl AWD and we havn't have any major problem other than some bearings going bad in the front, which wasn't THAT big of a deal. DH just said it was odd for the mileage.

I have had tons of three-across combination in it, and if the new Jeep wasn't coming out (four door) we would keep it. I still really like it a lot. It's SO nice to have the three sets of LATCH in it and it's sporty and comfortable without being fancy. Our dealership has also been excellent to us. They know us by name, take care of any problems, and go above and beyond EVERY time we are it.

Oh, and we love Jeeps, but I don't think the three-across in a Liberty would be fun. My sister has one and there's not as much room back there...

Oh, and as far as price. DH thinks we should be able to get around $13K for ours. It is loaded and has leather and is a limited Edition color- yellow- with running boards, roof rack, front bar etc. I think the only thing that it doesn't have is the heated seats pkg. I'm sure a more base model one could be found for closer to $10K in the US anyway.