Trucks.

[Dantheman]

This glorious Brodozer sp. specimen lives on my bike commute route. The wheel spacer discussion motivated me to finally get pics. The vanity plate (STUNNIN) is the icing on the cake. And just in case it's not obvious, yes, it's diesel with coal rolling mods.

[El Chupacabra]

^^^ Good example of useless wheels and tires, destroying the intended purpose of a 3/4-ton pickup.

[ghosthop]

It's impressive how many dumb trucks there are in SLC. Too much money sloshing around the valley without enough work.

[XXX-er]

IMO if you are such a dumbass you can't get your wheels under the fenders with all the options available now days you deserve any kind of Fine the po-lice thro at you

[Supermoon]

The new thing is “squatting” your truck so the front end in way higher than the rear which turns out makes it hard not to run over little kids and dogs when you can’t see over your nose. So they made it illegal and the douche truck people are losing their shit.

[Hood26]

I hate the bro truck trend. I am on a FB group for First Gen Cummins and every time I see another beauty lost to offsets, hoodstack, and squat I have to bite my thumbs because the mods say to play nice.

[BCMtnHound]

Form follows function. Amazing how many useless people sucking oxygen are out there, and wearing it like a badge of honour.

[oldnew_guy]

This glorious Brodozer sp. specimen lives on my bike commute route. The wheel spacer discussion motivated me to finally get pics. The vanity plate (STUNNIN) is the icing on the cake. And just in case it's not obvious, yes, it's diesel with coal rolling mods.

The oversize rim and tiny sidewall combo hasn't made it here largely. I mostly see people running a lift, wheel spacers and oversize tires on "normal" rims.

I guess people have to spend their money on something, but they sure as shit are annoying to be around when it's raining and they are throwing spray everywhere.

[Danno]

I'm not sure if I am in the market yet, but my 2006 Sequoia is in the shop with what *might* be an expensive/problematic repair. Hopefully not, in which case I will keep running it till it croaks. But if signs point to replacing, I want to start thinking about where to go, could be a truck or a full size SUV. This will be a daily driver.

Requirements are

• Must have at least 6000# tow capacity (occasional camper towing)
• Must have a semi-usable back seat and 4 doors (suicide doors ok), a small to medium adult or 2 and/or 60# dog must fit back there.
• Must have either a 6' bed (if truck) or a back that folds completely down to a flat 6' area (if SUV). 5.5' beds are absolutely out.
• I'm no mechanic so models that require lots of regular work or fiddling are not for me

Budget: max $25k

I used to have a 4 door 6' bed Frontier and hated the length and turn radius; the Sequoia was much better. I hate the Sequoia gas mileage but like everything else. Would love better mileage but not an absolute requirement.

Thoughts?

[El Chupacabra]

How often towing? Long distances?
Are you willing to do your own repairs and maintenance, or will it go to a shop for everything?
How important is mpg? IOW, do you put on a lot of miles per year, or is it more like 7500/year?
I assume this is going to be a single vehicle, daily driver use too. Will that be the case going forward? Does this need to last a long time (10 years?) as a single vehicle, or will there be a second vehicle or a replacement new truck/SUV in 3 years?

[Danno]

How often towing? Long distances?
Are you willing to do your own repairs and maintenance, or will it go to a shop for everything?
How important is mpg? IOW, do you put on a lot of miles per year, or is it more like 7500/year?
I assume this is going to be a single vehicle, daily driver use too. Will that be the case going forward? Does this need to last a long time (10 years?) as a single vehicle, or will there be a second vehicle or a replacement new truck/SUV in 3 years?

• Medium amount of towing, maybe 6-8 weekends a year. Not super long miles (each trip would probably be 300-600 RT) but Colorado high country miles. FWIW, the camper is only 3500#, but the 6000# figure for tow capacity is to create a really solid cushion for safety and wear/tear.
• Not willing to do any maintenance, will go to shop for everything
• I'm in the 12k-14k miles/year range. I would love to get better MPG than the Sequoia, but reliability and hitting my non-negotiables are more important
• Daily driver (so, eg, a crew cab long bed would be tough) and will be the DD for the foreseeable future. I don't know if expect 10 years given my budget, but it needs to last as a daily driver for a good bit longer than 3.

[El Chupacabra]

Would you consider another midsize pickup, like the former Frontier you had?

Several of them have been recently updated, or are about to be updated, so there may be deals to be had on new or minimally used (ie still in factory bumper to bumper warranty). The new Frontier is much more powerful than the old. There's a new Canyon and Colorado, and a new Tacoma is coming.

The half ton turbo motor trucks seem to produce good mpg and good power, though mpg suffers a lot when towing (on boost), and longevity may be a crap shoot, especially if worked hard under load. These probably blow way past the $25K budget if new(ish).

Maybe something powerful but unpopular - say, a Nissan Armada? Kinda like a Sequoia, should tow with ease, similarly thirsty.

[carlh]

Hardside or popup camper?
I’m towing a 3000lb popup with a Honda Pilot and it can pull over the wa passes just fine at highway speed but would struggle with a hardside.
Previously had a q7 tdi (6600 towing)and a 4500lb hardside that towed great. It would get 30mpg unloaded or 17-20 towing. If you can find one they might fit your use case well but you will pay for some of the gas savings with maintenance. Newer q7s can tow 7700 but only gas so worse mileage and probably still more like $35k.

• Medium amount of towing, maybe 6-8 weekends a year. Not super long miles (each trip would probably be 300-600 RT) but Colorado high country miles. FWIW, the camper is only 3500#, but the 6000# figure for tow capacity is to create a really solid cushion for safety and wear/tear.
• Not willing to do any maintenance, will go to shop for everything
• I'm in the 12k-14k miles/year range. I would love to get better MPG than the Sequoia, but reliability and hitting my non-negotiables are more important
• Daily driver (so, eg, a crew cab long bed would be tough) and will be the DD for the foreseeable future. I don't know if expect 10 years given my budget, but it needs to last as a daily driver for a good bit longer than 3.

[Mazderati]

Another Toyota with few miles and problems.

[El Chupacabra]

Another Toyota with few miles and problems.

A used Lexus GX would work well. A fancy 4Runner, with full time 4WD and a V8.

My bias towards reliability says go Japanese. My bias towards cheap parts cost and easy repairs says stay far away from anything European - not that Lexus has cheap parts, but the point there is that you won't need any.

[Danno]

It's a hard side camper.

My fear with anything mid-size (eg Frontier) is that they will be underpowered even if having a tow capacity of 6000#. My 2010 Frontier had around that, and the Sequoia pulled my old camper way more comfortably. But if newer ones are much stronger...

[snowaddict91]

Your fears are reasonable IMO. A mid-size truck just isn't the right tool for towing a travel trailer in the mountains.

I'd probably go for a Tundra from a reliability standpoint. I think the F150 with a 2.7 or 3.5 ecoboost is the best half-ton for towing, but I wouldn't bet on the reliability being better than a Tundra.

[canyonrider]

+1 for the GX460, seems to tick all of the boxes. Any truck that meets your cargo space/passenger requirements will probably be a lousy DD.

[ColMan]

Another Toyota with few miles and problems.

2nd gen Sequoia? Extra 100hp over your '06 with similar (shitty) mpg. Those 5.7L engines are rock solid. I would imagine you can get one under 100k for $25k.

[HappyCamper]

Your fears are reasonable IMO. A mid-size truck just isn't the right tool for towing a travel trailer in the mountains.

I'd probably go for a Tundra from a reliability standpoint. I think the F150 with a 2.7 or 3.5 ecoboost is the best half-ton for towing, but I wouldn't bet on the reliability being better than a Tundra.

Have a double-cab Tundra '07 (smaller back seat than the crew cab) - but the back seat seems plenty big enough for two adults in the back - have also transported a 80lb dog in the back with no issues (from my view, not his). It's a little big for city use, but I still use it as my (mostly) DD.

[skaredshtles]

Have a double-cab Tundra '07 (smaller back seat than the crew cab) - but the back seat seems plenty big enough for two adults in the back - have also transported a 80lb dog in the back with no issues (from my view, not his). It's a little big for city use, but I still use it as my (mostly) DD.

Does it have a 6' bed?

[bodywhomper]

Fix the sequoia

[Foggy_Goggles]

Your non-negotiables are kinda limiting. 6K tow rating rules out the midsize SUV (Forerunner, Explorer type) I think. So you gotta go to the Tundra, F150, Silverado, Tahoe type size. But then you bump up against your fuel economy and maneuverability requirements. Modern trucks have kinda goofy bed/cab configurations in my opinion. Sounds like you would need what used to be called a extended cab, regular bed which can be hard to find.

What's the Sequoia's real world MPG and current miles? Can the tow rating come down to 4.5 to 5K?

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

[Foggy_Goggles]

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

[Danno]

Have a double-cab Tundra '07 (smaller back seat than the crew cab) - but the back seat seems plenty big enough for two adults in the back - have also transported a 80lb dog in the back with no issues (from my view, not his). It's a little big for city use, but I still use it as my (mostly) DD.

Does it have a 6' bed?

Wondering the same.

Fix the sequoia

Definitely option #1. It was overheating pretty badly and has 230k miles on it, but otherwise has been rock solid. So it really just depends on what the cause of the overheating was, and whether the cause of that created other problems.

Your non-negotiables are kinda limiting. 6K tow rating rules out the midsize SUV (Forerunner, Explorer type) I think. So you gotta go to the Tundra, F150, Silverado, Tahoe type size. But then you bump up against your fuel economy and maneuverability requirements. Modern trucks have kinda goofy bed/cab configurations in my opinion. Sounds like you would need what used to be called a extended cab, regular bed which can be hard to find.

What's the Sequoia's real world MPG and current miles? Can the tow rating come down to 4.5 to 5K?

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...ckType=listing

The MPG isn't non-negotiable, but who wouldn't like better MPG? In any event, I get around 15 with the Sequoia. Only get the "highway 17" if going 60 on flat ground with a tailwind. A 4Runner with the V8 would work, but probably even more out of my price range. And yeah, I know the cab thing/bed thing is tricky, but no point getting a truck without a 6' bed, and I have a kid so need a usable back seat. And the tow rating can't come down, that is non-negotiable because the camper exists and needs to be towed.