[Jason4]

It's time to retire the Audi and I'm looking for something a little better for shuttling. I'm thinking used truck, preferable 4 door and 4wd. I don't really like trucks though. Can anybody give me some feedback on what's worked well and what hasn't for them?

My typical use will be commuting 25 miles to work 5 days a week with shuttling the local DH trails on logging roads on the weekends. Several weekend trips to Whistler and driving in the snow all winter. It doesn't make sense to buy a new truck so I've been looking at 2-6 year old trucks.

Right now my short list is:
Toyota Tacoma (too expensive maybe)
Chevy 2500hd (way overkill but better fuel economy and same price as the Taco)
Chevy Astro van (cheap and I can sleep in it too!)
Ford Explorer sport trac (meh)
Honda Ridgeline (too expensive still)
Nissan Frontier (seems to fit the needs ok)

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Bicyclist]

+Dodge Dakota

 

[Jason4]

That's what you have and have been happy with? Any particular reason to go with a Dakota over any of the others? They seem to be less expensive. What years would you suggest?

 

[mattmatt86]

What's your budget?

 

[Leppah]

If it were me, i'd want a mid 90's toyota T100 2wd. But i can get away with 2wd in the winters out here most of the time. They're dependable as hell, not very expensive, they're a toyota and they'll last forever, and you'll get great mileage as opposed to the 4wd. But i'm a tight wad. :0)

 

[Bicyclist]

That's what you have and have been happy with? Any particular reason to go with a Dakota over any of the others? They seem to be less expensive. What years would you suggest?

My dad had one a while ago, it was a 4-door with an extended bed and a V-8. I recommended it because it fit lots of bikes, was pretty quick, but wasn't too big for driving around town either. Don't have it anymore though.

 

[fortenndu]

Get an early 2000's 4Runner Limited. Those things can take a beating and last forever.

 

[Leppah]

Oh yeah. My bad. I forgot you wanted 4 doors.

If it was my shuttle rig, i'd just get an extended cab. If people are riding in my truck, getting shuttled, they can ride in the back with the bikes. I have a ford ranger xtra cab. Most people just want to ride up in the back anyway just to make sure the bikes don't shift too much. But the local shuttle road around here is pretty long and bumpy.

 

[rewster]

I have a sport trac for shuttlin'. Does the job. Not the flashiest ride around, but I have no qualms about trashing it on the fire roads

 

[ZenkiGarage]

I havent been impressed with american stuff at all. If your looking to buy new or relatively new, check out a kia sorento. Seriously, check it out. I got one as a rental and was blown away by how much the koreans have stepped up their game. Had really good power, transmission was real crisp, axles a fairly beefy, has a boxed frame, roomy, I cant say enough about it. I took out extra insurance on it so i could flog it in the dunes and it was an absolute blast. handled the whoops pretty good, even jumped pretty well. Only got stuck when trying to pull big dunes. Has really good road manners too. Once my Explorer takes a dump(thinking its coming soon), that what Im buying.

 

[5150dhbiker]

2500HD FTW!!
I currently have a Taco and am totally over that P.O.S.
The 2500 is WAY more comfortable and gets better millage, mostly if you're looking for a diesel.

My next shuttle vehicle is either a Chevy 2500 HD (Duramax Diesel) or a Dodge Ram 2500 Mega Cab (Cummins Diesel).

 

[Bicyclist]

I havent been impressed with american stuff at all. If your looking to buy new or relatively new, check out a kia sorento. Seriously, check it out. I got one as a rental and was blown away by how much the koreans have stepped up their game. Had really good power, transmission was real crisp, axles a fairly beefy, has a boxed frame, roomy, I cant say enough about it. I took out extra insurance on it so i could flog it in the dunes and it was an absolute blast. handled the whoops pretty good, even jumped pretty well. Only got stuck when trying to pull big dunes. Has really good road manners too. Once my Explorer takes a dump(thinking its coming soon), that what Im buying.

But where do the bikes go?

 

[5150dhbiker]

But where do the bikes go?

Can you say "bike rack," haha.
Those are ok.
Honestly...it also depends on how much traveling you ever plan on doing for racing, etc.
Myself, I go to races all across the country every summer so I need something powerful for when I get into the higher altitudes of CO, NM, etc...

You might also want to take that into effect

 

[Bicyclist]

Can you say "bike rack," haha.
Those are ok.

But then you might as well just get a nice station wagon and save yourself the embarrassment of driving a Korean SUV.

 

[snowskilz]

older tacoma
dodge 1500

I personally have a 1500 crew cab and have fit 12 people with bikes using a 4 bike thule t2.

 

[illflip]

geo tracker

 

[demo 9]

if u get chevy go GMC, slightly better for the same price. Ive got a gmc sierra 1500 4 door 6.5 bed 4WD from 04. plenty of them going for less than 10,000 on ebay and its been great to me so far. i havent had anything else so its semi biased opinion

 

[Sonic Reducer]

chevy colorados can pull 28mpg, decent power from the inline 5, well built, nice to drive. they are pretty affordable as well.
you could also look for a chevy extracab 1500 with the 4.8. a buddy has one and it does 24mpg on the highway, seats 6 in comfort, and its not even that slow.
or you could get a beater 12 passenger van as a second vehicle and run one or two bench. great for going racing too, get a few folks to pitch on gas and whatnot. you can even pick up a powerstroke van for like 3k these days.

 

[rollertoaster]

Honda Element
2" reciever
Northshore Racks ns4 rack

4 bikes + 4 people
plus if you need more bikes you could use the factory roof rack

 

[BmxConvert]

I'm going to suggest the Dodge Dakota as well. The nice thing is that it's a midsize truck so you can carry more bikes than something like a Colorado/Canyon/Tacoma. I have an '01 Dakota pull 22mpg's out of it consistantly with the 4.7L. I can also carry 7 bikes hanging over the tailgate easy. I've carried as many as 11 bikes at once though as well.

The other vehicle I would pick is a Jeep Comanche, but that's because I'm in love with Jeep trucks and the 4.0L.

 

[jcaramia]

Why not buy a cheap beater shuttle rig for a couple grand and get yourself another Audi?

 

[MobileChernobyl]

Why not buy a cheap beater shuttle rig for a couple grand and get yourself another Audi?

Yeaaaa Mangggg

I second the Turbo'd Honda element suggestion though, look into it, it's off-road capable, and can scale granite curbs 8"-10" high while chasing kids down for their lunch money.

 

[joelsman]

i would say get a truck you can lift if you need to get over big water bars. dakota not so much, chev cmc might not need lifted and toyota 4x4s don't. maybe 2 cars is what you need, get a cheap honda 4 door and a truck for shuttling. I thought about a full size chevy/gmc but got an older xcab toyota, i don't drive it much and it fits in my tight driveway.

 

[ZenkiGarage]

Can you say "bike rack," haha.
Those are ok.
Honestly...it also depends on how much traveling you ever plan on doing for racing, etc.
Myself, I go to races all across the country every summer so I need something powerful for when I get into the higher altitudes of CO, NM, etc...

You might also want to take that into effect

The sorrento or any small v6 SUV will have about the same power to weight as a big ass truck, and more than likely get better gas mileage and definatly have better manners on the road(important if you do travel a lot). For instance the sorento will go 0-60 .2 seconds slower than the 2500hd. I mean if you need a big truck to make up for something then by all means, go for it

 

[ZenkiGarage]

geo tracker

tracker/sidekick or samurai, with a small lift is a very capable rig. unless its a 4dr super cramped for more than 2 people. I wish i still had my sammy.

 

[Jason4]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I don't know how much it's helped though and I can't really decide what I want to do. I don't really want to deal with two cars but I might just keep the Audi since it's almost paid off and get a semi-cheap truck.

The issue I have with the Tacomas is while they are smaller they get the same MPGs as the full size trucks. I don't really care about the speed and would be happy with a v6. If I want to go fast I have a sport bike to ride (but that will get sold as soon as the weather gets a little nicer here). Fast in a car doesn't really do much for me any more. I do think I want a truck or a van that I can fit bikes inside of, I'm pretty much over having a roof rack as that's what's on my wagon now and I can fit 4 bikes up there but I only have maybe 5 inches of clearance under my oil pan and it doesn't make for the best shuttling with 200 pounds of bikes on the roof and 800 pounds of sweaty guys inside. But at least the mud wipes off the leather. I did just see an '05 Silverado 1500 crew cab 4x4 for $10.5 that seems to fit my needs...

As far as needing the 2500hd to make up for things, not really. It just gets the same fuel economy or better than a Tacoma and is less expensive and has a larger payload. Besides, I get to drive Kenworths and Peterbilts daily for work.

 

[Sghost]

The sorrento or any small v6 SUV will have about the same power to weight as a big ass truck, and more than likely get better gas mileage and definatly have better manners on the road(important if you do travel a lot). For instance the sorento will go 0-60 .2 seconds slower than the 2500hd. I mean if you need a big truck to make up for something then by all means, go for it

You guys must not have read about the new roof impact roll over tests small suvs (among others) must now go through...

Here's a hint on how the Kia did:

Lets go bomb up some mountains!

 

[DirtyMike]

Two great vehicles that fit what your asking for shuttle rigs, that dont really feel like trucks.

Nissan Frontier 4x4 four door

Honda ridgeline 4x4 four door.

The nissans ride good, while the ridgeline isnt really a truck int eh first place, just kinda looks like one. Bseides the truck in the bed is pretty cool to have.

 

[DirtMcGirk]

I love my 05 Tacoma. I put a 2" lift on it, but other than that I've changed the oil and bought new tires over 59,000. I think I am about due for some new rear springs and shock, but other than that, its been a champ. About 22 on the freeway, pulled a full UHaul all over the world, I got one of the Dakine pads for the tail, can haul 12 bikes total.

 

[Kanye West]

'05 or '06 Tundra extended cab, 4.0 V6 (no 4WD option with that though), 5 spd automatic tranny - works awesome for shuttles. Big enough bed for motos and/or DH bikes, and can hold 6 people if necessary. It's the smaller backseat, but its a full bench. I always put the freeloaders/people without shuttle cars/those who don't pitch in gas money back there.

Otherwise, the new Tundras are coming in a V6 model for the 1.5 cab (whatever it's called now).

Good luck getting more than 2 DH bikes in the bed of a 4 door Tacoma without putting them over the tailgate ghetto style...

How often do you see yourself using the 4wd or off-roading? A logging road is still a road. On modern vehicles they aren't a complete disengage, so they are ALWAYS dragging, even when you're in 2wd. Pretty much if you expect to commute in it, the 4wd becomes real impractical.

 

[Jason4]

The 4wd is mostly for the winter since I'd just as soon have just one car to deal with and from Thanksgiving to Easter I'm driving into the mountains to get my snow fix and then the rest of the year it's for the bikes. We also ended up with 2-3 weeks of bad weather up here in our corner of the country and with as much snow as I see it doesn't make sense to get a truck in 2wd unless it really is just a beater and just for shuttling in the summer. A lot of our trail maintenance happens in the late fall/winter/early spring and it really helps to have some extra clearance and 4wd to get to the trails to work.

I have no problem putting bikes over the tailgate but I realize that it causes a lot of minor damage (scratches and dings) so I really don't think a new truck is the best idea. The Ridgeline seems to be too expensive still to justify for the kind of use I want. The logging roads that we are on are passable in my Audi but very slowly and with lots of stress about hitting a large rock or stick. That's why I'd like to get something with more clearance. Subaru Outbacks seem to be just fine but I still end up overloading a roof rack or with lots of overhang on a hitch rack.

The Nissan Frontier is also on my short list since they seem to do what the Tacomas do but lose their value faster and so they are cheaper to buy used. I don't really know much about there reliability though.

 

[rigidhack]

Honda Element
2" reciever
Northshore Racks ns4 rack

4 bikes + 4 people
plus if you need more bikes you could use the factory roof rack

My next rig for sure.

 

[ChrisKring]

a ridgeline is going to be pricy. I don't think they are selling well so you might find a deal.

stay away from the AWD astro vans. The front end was never meant to be running full time AWD. The rear drive versions are cheap and reliable. You could probably pick up a cargo van (white candyman special) for $4k. I have seen tons of them for sale around here with companies trying to downside their fleets.

Full size van: thumbs up. You can haul a lot of crap with some level of security. You just look like a dork. By I have been looking at them anyway.

I have a 2001 F150 supercrew. Anyone that says that the american quality needs to look again. I have 215k on mine with very few problems. Really, the key to getting a ton of miles out of a vehicle is proper maintance.

As part of my job, I benchmark and tear apart vehicles and review warrenty data on a regular basis. Every car company has good models and bad ones. Some of the worst are the cars you would think were good.

Your best bet is probably to keep the current car for everything except riding and get a second vehicle for shuttling. Go and dry some of the 4 door trucks you have listed. I am sure you will find one that you prefer. Make sure to get enough seat time to make sure you fit in it. If the armrest suck, you will be uncomfortable riding in it and hate it.

But don't let me stop you. Buy something now and help me keep a job. Really, anything new is fine since we put parts into pretty much everything. Plus you will never again have the incentives that you can get now on a new car.

 

[DirtyMike]

The 4wd is mostly for the winter since I'd just as soon have just one car to deal with and from Thanksgiving to Easter I'm driving into the mountains to get my snow fix and then the rest of the year it's for the bikes. We also ended up with 2-3 weeks of bad weather up here in our corner of the country and with as much snow as I see it doesn't make sense to get a truck in 2wd unless it really is just a beater and just for shuttling in the summer. A lot of our trail maintenance happens in the late fall/winter/early spring and it really helps to have some extra clearance and 4wd to get to the trails to work.

I have no problem putting bikes over the tailgate but I realize that it causes a lot of minor damage (scratches and dings) so I really don't think a new truck is the best idea. The Ridgeline seems to be too expensive still to justify for the kind of use I want. The logging roads that we are on are passable in my Audi but very slowly and with lots of stress about hitting a large rock or stick. That's why I'd like to get something with more clearance. Subaru Outbacks seem to be just fine but I still end up overloading a roof rack or with lots of overhang on a hitch rack.

The Nissan Frontier is also on my short list since they seem to do what the Tacomas do but lose their value faster and so they are cheaper to buy used. I don't really know much about there reliability though.

The frontier is actually quite reliable, The front ends wear out like any other 4x4 you see out there, havent had any coming in with overly repetative issues like I have seen with Dodge and havign ALL of there ball joints being bad after 10K miles.

 

[SinatorJ]

I love my 06 Frontier, 22+ mpg, but for shuttlin' we use a 67 Ford. Our road really sux and nice trucks just get the S$#T beat out of them. No idea how bad the gas mileage is after all it is a big block, but who cares. 7 bikes and 7 people easy.

 

[Leppah]

If you want something for road trippin and not so much for shuttlin, i'd also suggest the minivan. You can take a few seats out of those bad boys, put a few bikes inside, and cruise out to wherever you want to go. I don't know if they'd make a great shuttle rig. I have a minivan that i use primarily for road trips. It rocks. Two bikes on the rack out back, two inside, cargo box on top, four people, cheap gas, cheap insurance, and you can sleep in it.
But they probably wouldn't be that great as a shuttle rig.

I did see somewhere on the internet many years ago a GMC Safari with a twin turbo cyclone engine in it. Pretty dope. You could do all wheel drive burnouts. :0)

 

[Jason4]

This is the advise that I'm looking for.

CK-I test heavy duty trucks for work and appreciate the advise. I'm sure you have a good handle on how the current cars/trucks compare.

DM-Thanks for the info about the Dodges. Between that and other things that I've heard I think I'll avoid them.

It's good to know that the Safari/Astro front ends don't hold up on the AWD versions. I can work on my own cars but really don't have any interest or time to take on a project right now.

Thanks for the info.

 

[vinny4130]

if you think you want a summer only shuttle rig. the best truck in the dh crew here is a '73 chevy single cab long bed (no rack). lucky for us our shuttle roads are paved. but the most people up at one time was 15 with bikes 90% or more dh rigs (i think it was 16 but i will error on the side of caution). more than a '07 dodge 2500 crew cab with a four bike rack. i dont want to hear i get practice loading a truck full of people because i live in a boarder state.

 

[jcook90]

mmmm shuttling.

Why a Chevy 2500 instead of the 1500?

 

[drkenan]

Why not just shuttle in the Audi???