Third Vehicle?

[displacedtexan]

The wife and I are kicking around the idea of buying a third vehicle...

I run a detail carpentry/construction managing business out of my highly modified F-250 (p-pump 24v Cummins with a fair bit of aftermarket stuff, a ton of sound deadening and stereo equipment, etc), and she drives a Subaru Outback with an upgraded radio back and forth to work.

We do car camp out of the Subaru (I camp out of the truck a lot as well) and own a 19' (3500# single axle) travel trailer.

Wanting something that would be a commuter for either of us, haul a few tools and/or the travel trailer, and probably could sleep in the back of... What would you be looking at?

Not wanting to add debt, so ideally $15k ish, but open to a small loan.

 

[Mountainrancher]

I bought an older Nissan Xterra for cheap last summer. I’ve used it as a beater hunting/calving rig and absolutely love it. If you could find a newer model with lower miles it would probably be around 10k

 

[Forestryguy]

Always useful to have one if a vehicle goes down or is in for maintenance. Being in the Upper Midwest in the land of excessive road salting, we are going to buy a fourth. It is not worth driving a better vehicle and rusting it out in 3 yrs.

 

[PineBrook413]

We always keep three vehicles as well. Wife has a ford explorer, I have my work truck (f350) and we also have a 4 door jeep wrangler. Nice to have a spare vehicle when you have one down for repairs and also I drive the jeep as much as possible to avoid spending $$$ on fuel for a 9,000lb truck.

 

[CorbLand]

3rd gen 4Runner.

 

[BRTreedogs]

03-06 Tundra or Sequoia Hands down.

 

[Billy Goat]

3rd??

Those are rookie numbers, need to bring that up a bit.

 

[trevvamos]

100 series landcruiser, just sold a nice one for 15k.

 

[displacedtexan]

3rd??

Those are rookie numbers, need to bring that up a bit.

My wife is trying to control me hemmoraging money on things with wheels.

And I'm distracted putting a fuel injected v6 in a Ford 8n.

 

[roosiebull]

3rd??

Those are rookie numbers, need to bring that up a bit.

It’s acceptable if they all run if not, you need about 10… and it’s easier to maintain a yard covered by broken down vehicles

DisplacedTexan, if it were me, I would make that 3rd vehicle something that’s capable of pulling that trailer since you guys have a good economy vehicle already.

We just did the same, but we were lacking an economy driver, we had 2 pickups… my wife drives the tundra (which is what I use to pull my big boat) and I drive a Colorado zr2, the tundra sucks for economy, my pickup is decent, so we got a Subaru crosstrek

I think a 4Runner or taco with a shell or soft topper would be a good option if you can find one that’s not crazy expensive

 

[gonhunting247]

Nissan Frontier with a V6 or a Titan for me. I have both, the Frontier now has over 360,000 miles on it. My wife drives her Outlook mostly. We have a fourth car also just to drive back and forth to work etc. It's a little Versa; good fuel mileage and cheap to keep miles off of the other rigs.

 

[Billy Goat]

It’s acceptable if they all run if not, you need about 10… and it’s easier to maintain a yard covered by broken down vehicles

By run do you mean ran in the past 6 months?

I have a rotation that involves fixing whichever is easiest to fix when the next one breaks....

 

[wyosteve]

I'm currently in a similar debate. We have 3 trucks and are going to be in a position where we only need 2. Daily driver is a Ram Power Wagon. I did a little research on the new Broncos and was shocked at the poor fuel mileage they seem to be getting. Around 17 mpg with that 2.7 engine. My Power Wagon gets that on the highway if I don't run over 75! Anyway, thinking of a Subaru Forester. In your case, maybe an older Suburban would meet your needs.

 

[roosiebull]

By run do you mean ran in the past 6 months?

I have a rotation that involves fixing whichever is easiest to fix when the next one breaks....

If it ran at some point during your ownership… that’s how it’s determined around these parts

 

[WRO]

100 series landcruiser, just sold a nice one for 15k.

That's a solid choice for your needs..

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[Bucky]

We always keep three vehicles as well. Wife has a ford explorer, I have my work truck (f350) and we also have a 4 door jeep wrangler. Nice to have a spare vehicle when you have one down for repairs and also I drive the jeep as much as possible to avoid spending $$$ on fuel for a 9,000lb truck.

Same here. we have a ford explorer, ram truck 1500 and a mazda 6 for commuting for work. same a little on gas

 

[displacedtexan]

It’s acceptable if they all run if not, you need about 10… and it’s easier to maintain a yard covered by broken down vehicles

DisplacedTexan, if it were me, I would make that 3rd vehicle something that’s capable of pulling that trailer since you guys have a good economy vehicle already.

We just did the same, but we were lacking an economy driver, we had 2 pickups… my wife drives the tundra (which is what I use to pull my big boat) and I drive a Colorado zr2, the tundra sucks for economy, my pickup is decent, so we got a Subaru crosstrek

I think a 4Runner or taco with a shell or soft topper would be a good option if you can find one that’s not crazy expensive

Yeah, it being able to pull the camper is a requirement.

There were several other 4runner reccomendations, don't know how those didn't occur to me. The wife loves them.

 

[CorbLand]

Yeah, it being able to pull the camper is a requirement.

There were several other 4runner reccomendations, don't know how those didn't occur to me. The wife loves them.

I wish I would have bought a 4Runner over my Tundra. The only thing that I dont like about 4Runners is that they are horrible on gas. My next vehicle will most likely be a 4Runner.

Look it up on Google, people have built some pretty cool setups to sleep in the back of them. Might be a little more cramped with two people but one would be perfect.

I know a guy that has a camper about the same size as yours. He tows his with his 4Runner. It struggles on the hills and he only tows it about 1.5 hours but it does a good job at it.

 

[yfarm]

Have had multiple 4 runners, new bronco on order for a year as does my son, he needed a new car for work and ordered a new 4 runner, thinking about selling the bronco if it ever comes in. Got the 4runner 4 months after ordering. Had a 2004 v8 4runner, v8s were optional from 2003-2008. Got solid 16 mpg on the interstate at75, 11 pulling a 3k boat motor trailer. Lots of Tacos and 4 runners pulling Casitas which are around 3500lbs. Live in south Texas, nice having air conditioned cargo space, temps under my bed cover on my truck could cook meat in the summer.

 

[Sapcut]

100 series landcruiser, just sold a nice one for 15k.

Dang. I'm looking for one.