Truck/suv window shopping.

I will say first off we are still at least a year or more out from buying but i've been trying to narrow down the massive maybe list thats been building so far.

Requirements: Tow an open trailer with the heaviest car we have right now (unsurprisingly its the RX8) at least 700 miles any direction with SWMBO, dog, and stuff for vacation from VA and back with slim to no drama, price point between $10k and $22k, 4wd is nice but not entirely needed, mid/high teens during daily driving (would likely be my new daily)

Likes: Most ford's past 2010 (was a ford tech for over 7 years, most of my work was on 6.0 diesels so I'm not scared of them,) Toyota trucks/suv's (can't hate the reliability factor,) Nissan titans are there too just don't like the MPG's

Dislikes: Cant stand most GM but can possibly be swayed with the right combo (love the new diesel colorado's minus the premium prices,) HELL no to any ford 5.4 triton or 6.4 diesel, not a big fan of RAM trucks due to stupid maintenance issues that ALWAYS pop up especially with used examples.

Other: I really like diesels but I know the costs associated and am willing to deal with most problems but they are super expensive in southern VA, It can't be extended cab with full bed being as I would need SWMBO to drive it every so often and I have to drive through Richmond city fairly often, don't have a garage that will currently fit anything over a 1/2 ton (that would even be close) so projects over that size would be frowned upon.

Long and sort I would really love for ford to come out with these diesel F150's at a reasonable price but we know thats not going to happen and the dodge variants (with the FIAT engines) are still stupid expensive and Toyota for whatever berkeleying dumbass reason will never come out with a diesel here in the USA all has me at a standstill as of now.

Thanks for any help GRM!!

Tahoe/Suburban/Avalanche.

Both Avalanche's, an 04 and 13, and suburban have been trouble free for me outside of the stuff every car will suffer from during its lifetime.

Too bad you can't stand most GM, they seem like the goto option.

You just described a Ridgeline perfectly....

Tom Suddard wrote: You just described a Ridgeline perfectly....

Correct!...because he never said he needed a "real truck"!

You are close in price to a used Transit full size van, which is available with the small diesel but not 4wd.

I was going to say "Tahoe", but no GM's. I got nothin.

Whats your total towing weight? If your looking at Toyotas, look Tundra. The 5.7 V8 is awesome, towing with a smaller truck and v6 is not so awesome. IT will do it, just not be fun (own a v6 toyota...)

6.0 fords are cheap ish, but not past 2010.

Just bought a 7.3 excursion. Its a 2wd and I'm fine with that. So far I have 455 miles on this tank with just over a quarter tank left. Looks like I'm averaging 18mpg mixed.

If you're not afraid of 6.0's then get one that was stock and bullet proof it or not. My 2006 6.0 had 212k miles on it but it was never modded and only had the bulletproof egr done to it. Was very reliable.

In reply to java230:

I know the ones I've been seeing here lately are work truck's with old frail bones or bro dozers that I don't really have the want to un modify and have a bunch of bro kids/dads low balling me with some dumb ass prices, Also 2010 was the last year of them so I guess those would be an acceptation.

If I had to guess with towing and crap to take on vacation weight with everyone we would be at around 5000lbs.

In reply to Ranger50:

This is where I come to a bit of an impasse, I can't stand being in a pre 13 GM for more then an hour (idk why just don't like anything going on with the interior's) and have had more troubles with them over my lifetime then other vehicles (I know its just luck of the draw at that point but hard to go against) but I really do like the Avalanches until my girlfriend showed me pictures of what happens to the body work under all the plastic body work and how much it costs to fix it.

Long and short I guess I don't hate them as much as i've had bad luck with them and would put it as a lower choice.