Quote:
Originally Posted by cgbjake
So after thinking about things more, I'm wondering if anyone has had any good luck with a 2 wheel drive 4 door manual gas engine? That way I can stay with a lighter 1/2 ton, keep it cheaper for the initial purchase, and have enough towing capacity for what I need. Anyone have good milage results from a 5 speed gasser with good FE technique?
|
I drive a 2008 Frontier- crew cab, long bed, 4wd. Mine has the 4.0L V6 and the 6 speed manual. Running around town and commuting to work, if I shift between 1500 and 2000rpm, I can get 18mpg. On the highway with the cruise set to 80mph I'll get 20-21mpg, running the speed limit at 65-70 I'll regularly get 22-23mpg, and have gone as high as 24mpg on a tank on one trip. No aero mods yet, no pulse and glide, no EOC.
If you get a lighter version (2wd, short bed) and the manual, you could do a bit better. Towing capacity is 6500lbs. It's been really stable towing with a minivan on top of a car carrier driving across Texas.
Looking around at the fuel economy stats on an automatic truck for my in-laws to use for towing their boat, the Tacoma looked like it had the best mix of capability and gas mileage.
If your truck needs are pretty modest and you're willing to go with a "use it when you need it" pickup truck, I'd recommend looking up some of the older Nissan Hardbody (90-97) pickups. The 4-banger manuals did ok on gas mileage (rated 22/27, I got 20mpg beating on mine all the time), but the real kicker for me was that they were rated to tow 3500 pounds (towed a lot of cars with mine) and could still carry 1000 pounds in the bed. You can find them for around $2k.