Pickup truck opinions
Discussion
Hilux is a tractor on the road.
I had one for work for a couple of years. A brand new Invincible. I rarely took it home, it stayed at work the whole time and I'd suck up the 80 miles a day in my V6 car rather than drive that for free. I've never driven anything so guaranteed to make an 18 month old puke, reliably, every time she got in it. Great off road, an absolute tractor on road. A Ranger is the most car-like I've ever driven, transit engine aside. No experience of the Amarok.
But if you need it for a lot of on-road stuff, avoiding the Hilux can only be positive IMO.
I had one for work for a couple of years. A brand new Invincible. I rarely took it home, it stayed at work the whole time and I'd suck up the 80 miles a day in my V6 car rather than drive that for free. I've never driven anything so guaranteed to make an 18 month old puke, reliably, every time she got in it. Great off road, an absolute tractor on road. A Ranger is the most car-like I've ever driven, transit engine aside. No experience of the Amarok.
But if you need it for a lot of on-road stuff, avoiding the Hilux can only be positive IMO.
jamieduff1981 said:
How does the Hilux compare to the Ranger and Amarok? Which is the most comfortable and most "car like" to drive?
I have a 2013 hilux nothing has gone wrong and it doesn't get an easy life ,comfort is OK but won't suit someone who likes a spongy wallowing ride , nicely weighted hydraulic steering and a little bit tail happy can be fun and controllable for an experienced driver !! Its a proper pick up not a car trying to be tough, Looked at the others hated the VW ,quite liked the ranger but not its dredfull transit engine, Nissan OK but unreliable, nearly bought the Isuzu good warranty and tow capacity but seemed a little lightly built. Edited by powerstroke on Tuesday 23 December 08:21
I went through a short phase a while ago of thinking I wanted a bad ass pickup to drive around on the roads in. I googled around a bit and mainly came up with Pistonheads threads of people warning other people that they are not good substitutes for cars and don't get one unless you work on a building site at the top of a mountain.
I had a Hilux as a company car a while ago, used it for a 104 mile round trip commute every day. Perfectly comfortable and would sit at 70 no bother, anything above that however it got a bit noisy and the ride quality rather ran out of ideas around 80. Handful in the wet but the later models with traction and stability control do a reasonable job of gathering it up unless you've really over cooked it. Felt like it would just run forever. Change the tyres from the shockingly bad Bridgestone Duelers to something with grip!
I looked at all the others as well as I was planning on changing jobs. Amarok is nice but very expensive, watch if it's a company car as not all models qualify for the lower BIK tax. Navara is the most potent and probably the best specced but the t'internet is full of stories of woe regarding the reliability issues and the crap Nissan dealers. Ranger is nicely put together (I thought), and the 5 cyl Diesel seems a decent enough engine. D-Max would probably be my choice however, it's the cheapest of the lot, will do everything you need and it's quite a nice looking truck. L200 is another option but I never looked at them.
I looked at all the others as well as I was planning on changing jobs. Amarok is nice but very expensive, watch if it's a company car as not all models qualify for the lower BIK tax. Navara is the most potent and probably the best specced but the t'internet is full of stories of woe regarding the reliability issues and the crap Nissan dealers. Ranger is nicely put together (I thought), and the 5 cyl Diesel seems a decent enough engine. D-Max would probably be my choice however, it's the cheapest of the lot, will do everything you need and it's quite a nice looking truck. L200 is another option but I never looked at them.
jamieduff1981 said:
Thanks for that. It'll be mostly on-road driving, snow driving and occassionally dragging a boulder up my field now and again. On-road driving is most important to me
There is a 4x4 rental place near me. Renting one near you for the occasional (hypothetical?) boulder dragging session might make sense. Winter tyres on a 2wd car or a Subaru Legacy might do the rest. OpulentBob said:
Hilux is a tractor on the road.
I had one for work for a couple of years. A brand new Invincible. I rarely took it home, it stayed at work the whole time and I'd suck up the 80 miles a day in my V6 car rather than drive that for free. I've never driven anything so guaranteed to make an 18 month old puke, reliably, every time she got in it. Great off road, an absolute tractor on road.
Agree with this completely - a friend of mine used one as his daily for about 18 months and hated it. Every time I road in it I was amazed at how unrefined and uncomfortable it was.I had one for work for a couple of years. A brand new Invincible. I rarely took it home, it stayed at work the whole time and I'd suck up the 80 miles a day in my V6 car rather than drive that for free. I've never driven anything so guaranteed to make an 18 month old puke, reliably, every time she got in it. Great off road, an absolute tractor on road.
MC Bodge said:
jamieduff1981 said:
Thanks for that. It'll be mostly on-road driving, snow driving and occassionally dragging a boulder up my field now and again. On-road driving is most important to me
There is a 4x4 rental place near me. Renting one near you for the occasional (hypothetical?) boulder dragging session might make sense. Winter tyres on a 2wd car or a Subaru Legacy might do the rest. I also do a lot of milage (i.e. 60 miles per day) in my own cars in relation to my business, the smallest which is currently on the road is a 3.0 petrol so the fuel and maintenance adds up. Those costs really should be borne by my company but so far they haven't been.
A commercial vehicle, such as a twincab pickup therefore makes a lot of sense.
If it really is just going to be used for a month or 2 a year I would buy something old battered and modded for off road and not worry too much about the drive. Then have a nice car for the rest of the time.
If you really want a pickup and are going to be using it as a daily then I would seriously advise looking at something american. I ran a Dodge Ram for 18 months, bloody loved it.
I had come from a Trooper and the extra space, smooth and quiet ride, equipment and mostly the pace were great. Fuel economy obviously is less than a derv.
A few months after I sold it I wanted another pickup so went trying the usual suspects and they were all so bloody cramped, slow and clunky that I couldnt even make myself buy one and have ended up with an Audi Allroad instead.
The size and being LHD really are not as big a problem as people like to think.
If you really want a pickup and are going to be using it as a daily then I would seriously advise looking at something american. I ran a Dodge Ram for 18 months, bloody loved it.
I had come from a Trooper and the extra space, smooth and quiet ride, equipment and mostly the pace were great. Fuel economy obviously is less than a derv.
A few months after I sold it I wanted another pickup so went trying the usual suspects and they were all so bloody cramped, slow and clunky that I couldnt even make myself buy one and have ended up with an Audi Allroad instead.
The size and being LHD really are not as big a problem as people like to think.
jamieduff1981 said:
I have 2 cars on winter tyres already. Neither have much ground clearance though and I live 4 miles from the nearest village in the middle of nowhere, relatively far north in Scotland. Something with ground clearance will be useful. Also, all 5 of my own cars are either saloons or sports cars. Currently I have to get anything remotely large (such as a decent sized TV, or a fridge) delivered. All are in good condition and thus are either cars you couldn't put anything destined for the skip in, or just wouldn't want to to save ruining the interior.
I also do a lot of milage (i.e. 60 miles per day) in my own cars in relation to my business, the smallest which is currently on the road is a 3.0 petrol so the fuel and maintenance adds up. Those costs really should be borne by my company but so far they haven't been.
A commercial vehicle, such as a twincab pickup therefore makes a lot of sense.
Ok, you live somewhere unusual, but people I know who Have had both preferred a van (or estate car) for carrying things to a pickup. I also do a lot of milage (i.e. 60 miles per day) in my own cars in relation to my business, the smallest which is currently on the road is a 3.0 petrol so the fuel and maintenance adds up. Those costs really should be borne by my company but so far they haven't been.
A commercial vehicle, such as a twincab pickup therefore makes a lot of sense.
The family I know in the Mid-west US have an old, battered Ford F150 to use for snow plough and other winter duties.
Ps.as above, an Audi All-road or Octavia Scout would be what I would be looking for.
Edited by MC Bodge on Tuesday 23 December 10:00
All good info.
It really is a "commercial vehicle" I'm looking at. A high 4x4 twincab pickup will be more useful than a van. I have 2 children. On snow days it will let us get to the shops. It will be for regular business use rather than only when it snows though. If it can bear 60% of my business milage costs and I drive the rest in my own nicer cars I'll be happy and a bit better off.
Private cars are no use - I don't want another private car. Well, I do, but only additional sports cars but that's purely want. I have zero interest in owning an estate car, an SUV or anything diesel engined personally or through my business and paying BIK at private car rates. A commercial vehicle is financially very different and the gain is worth the pain of it being a bit crap to drive.
Hence - which is the best pickup truck to drive? I do like the idea of a V10 Dodge Ram but parking it where I usually have to park when working would be a nightmare and having seen the size of them, I'm actually not sure I'd be compatible with other road users on the single track roads between my house and the nearest village. E.g. it's possible to both squeeze over on to the verge to allow one another past (there are no passing places) but I think a Ram would straddle both verges at best.
It really is a "commercial vehicle" I'm looking at. A high 4x4 twincab pickup will be more useful than a van. I have 2 children. On snow days it will let us get to the shops. It will be for regular business use rather than only when it snows though. If it can bear 60% of my business milage costs and I drive the rest in my own nicer cars I'll be happy and a bit better off.
Private cars are no use - I don't want another private car. Well, I do, but only additional sports cars but that's purely want. I have zero interest in owning an estate car, an SUV or anything diesel engined personally or through my business and paying BIK at private car rates. A commercial vehicle is financially very different and the gain is worth the pain of it being a bit crap to drive.
Hence - which is the best pickup truck to drive? I do like the idea of a V10 Dodge Ram but parking it where I usually have to park when working would be a nightmare and having seen the size of them, I'm actually not sure I'd be compatible with other road users on the single track roads between my house and the nearest village. E.g. it's possible to both squeeze over on to the verge to allow one another past (there are no passing places) but I think a Ram would straddle both verges at best.
as I said dont be put off by the size of the ram. I had no trouble parking mine, they fit in a standard width parking space so should fit down any road you want to go down. I never got stuck on a country lane in mine, even went green laning.
If you want load lugging and off road/ snow ability you will want a hemi or diesel, the SRT has big wide road tyres and much less ground clearance so wont get you very far.
If you want load lugging and off road/ snow ability you will want a hemi or diesel, the SRT has big wide road tyres and much less ground clearance so wont get you very far.
jamieduff1981 said:
All good info.
It really is a "commercial vehicle" I'm looking at. A high 4x4 twincab pickup will be more useful than a van. I have 2 children. On snow days it will let us get to the shops. It will be for regular business use rather than only when it snows though. If it can bear 60% of my business milage costs and I drive the rest in my own nicer cars I'll be happy and a bit better off.
Private cars are no use - I don't want another private car. Well, I do, but only additional sports cars but that's purely want. I have zero interest in owning an estate car, an SUV or anything diesel engined personally or through my business and paying BIK at private car rates. A commercial vehicle is financially very different and the gain is worth the pain of it being a bit crap to drive.
Hence - which is the best pickup truck to drive? I do like the idea of a V10 Dodge Ram but parking it where I usually have to park when working would be a nightmare and having seen the size of them, I'm actually not sure I'd be compatible with other road users on the single track roads between my house and the nearest village. E.g. it's possible to both squeeze over on to the verge to allow one another past (there are no passing places) but I think a Ram would straddle both verges at best.
A Dodge Ram isn't classed as a commercial vehicle by HMRC, BIK is as if it's a normal car.It really is a "commercial vehicle" I'm looking at. A high 4x4 twincab pickup will be more useful than a van. I have 2 children. On snow days it will let us get to the shops. It will be for regular business use rather than only when it snows though. If it can bear 60% of my business milage costs and I drive the rest in my own nicer cars I'll be happy and a bit better off.
Private cars are no use - I don't want another private car. Well, I do, but only additional sports cars but that's purely want. I have zero interest in owning an estate car, an SUV or anything diesel engined personally or through my business and paying BIK at private car rates. A commercial vehicle is financially very different and the gain is worth the pain of it being a bit crap to drive.
Hence - which is the best pickup truck to drive? I do like the idea of a V10 Dodge Ram but parking it where I usually have to park when working would be a nightmare and having seen the size of them, I'm actually not sure I'd be compatible with other road users on the single track roads between my house and the nearest village. E.g. it's possible to both squeeze over on to the verge to allow one another past (there are no passing places) but I think a Ram would straddle both verges at best.
Roo said:
jamieduff1981 said:
All good info.
It really is a "commercial vehicle" I'm looking at. A high 4x4 twincab pickup will be more useful than a van. I have 2 children. On snow days it will let us get to the shops. It will be for regular business use rather than only when it snows though. If it can bear 60% of my business milage costs and I drive the rest in my own nicer cars I'll be happy and a bit better off.
Private cars are no use - I don't want another private car. Well, I do, but only additional sports cars but that's purely want. I have zero interest in owning an estate car, an SUV or anything diesel engined personally or through my business and paying BIK at private car rates. A commercial vehicle is financially very different and the gain is worth the pain of it being a bit crap to drive.
Hence - which is the best pickup truck to drive? I do like the idea of a V10 Dodge Ram but parking it where I usually have to park when working would be a nightmare and having seen the size of them, I'm actually not sure I'd be compatible with other road users on the single track roads between my house and the nearest village. E.g. it's possible to both squeeze over on to the verge to allow one another past (there are no passing places) but I think a Ram would straddle both verges at best.
A Dodge Ram isn't classed as a commercial vehicle by HMRC, BIK is as if it's a normal car.It really is a "commercial vehicle" I'm looking at. A high 4x4 twincab pickup will be more useful than a van. I have 2 children. On snow days it will let us get to the shops. It will be for regular business use rather than only when it snows though. If it can bear 60% of my business milage costs and I drive the rest in my own nicer cars I'll be happy and a bit better off.
Private cars are no use - I don't want another private car. Well, I do, but only additional sports cars but that's purely want. I have zero interest in owning an estate car, an SUV or anything diesel engined personally or through my business and paying BIK at private car rates. A commercial vehicle is financially very different and the gain is worth the pain of it being a bit crap to drive.
Hence - which is the best pickup truck to drive? I do like the idea of a V10 Dodge Ram but parking it where I usually have to park when working would be a nightmare and having seen the size of them, I'm actually not sure I'd be compatible with other road users on the single track roads between my house and the nearest village. E.g. it's possible to both squeeze over on to the verge to allow one another past (there are no passing places) but I think a Ram would straddle both verges at best.
I bought one a few years back now thinking it would be the perfect all rounder........biggest mistake of my life. Honestly.
Big, awkward, car parking is a nightmare, fuel consumption is poor, ride is 'bouncy' unless you have at least 200 kg in the back, cornering is settee like, stopping is QE2 like, performance is slow.........
Had it 4 months and sold it and lost oodles of cash.
Big, awkward, car parking is a nightmare, fuel consumption is poor, ride is 'bouncy' unless you have at least 200 kg in the back, cornering is settee like, stopping is QE2 like, performance is slow.........
Had it 4 months and sold it and lost oodles of cash.
The test drive was fine enough. It'll join my other cars which are more focussed as sporty or comfy as required. For what I need (a commercial vehicle for business use which I can pay the commercial BIK on and use to take junk to the skip, carry paint stock to model shows or wade through snow drifts on really bad days) it'll be fine. It's a lot cheaper than an Amarok and comfier than a Hilux. The L200 is shyte. The 3.2 inline 5 is fractionally less dull than diesels usually are.
Lead times for Wildtracks is 9 months though which is no use. I drove the manual and the gearchange was nothing I'd lament losing so I think I'll go for an automatic they have in stock. It's grey, but although boring it's not offensive. Just need commercial vehicle insurance now which I've had a few pointers on from a friend who runs a pickup too.
Lead times for Wildtracks is 9 months though which is no use. I drove the manual and the gearchange was nothing I'd lament losing so I think I'll go for an automatic they have in stock. It's grey, but although boring it's not offensive. Just need commercial vehicle insurance now which I've had a few pointers on from a friend who runs a pickup too.
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