[bestclimb]

Judging on what you are not willing to compromise on about the best thing you could do is adjust how you drive. One thing that may help is trading the thing in for one with a manual.

One thing I would think about is a cheap car to take care of the light duties, and using the truck for when real work needs to be done. I have always liked handy tools like a truck that can do most any job asked of it but I can definitely appreciate a specialized tool when it is more appropriate for the job at hand. My wife gets around all wenter with a ford escort, if we need to get off the beaten path we use my rig. If I had much of a drive for work I would park the zuki (and start making it more specialized for off road) and buy a miserly car.