[mannydantyla]

Anyone know if a tonnaeu covered pickup truck bed is better then a flatbed for fuel economy? How about a campershell?

[the rest of this post is irrelevant and, I'll warn you, just me rambling on about my situation in life. Typing it all out and explaining my problem to strangers helps me see the big picture and make better decisions.]

I just inherited a '09 GMC Sierra 2wd v6 reg cab long bed. Thing is supposed to get 17 mpg city and 20 highway. I'm measuring its first tank right now so I don't know how it compares exactly, but it only has 30k miles on it and already has a nice tonnaeu cover on it. Basic no-frills work truck but very low milage and good quality.

If I decided to keep it, maybe I could put an aluminum flat bed on it! Would be a fun project to build myself maybe. But only if it helps MPG.

Full size trucks really aren't my thing though, so I was thinking about replacing it with a smaller Toyota Tacoma or something. I'm about to go look at one right now that is an '03 4-cylinder manual that gets 20 mpg highway and 25 highway. Besides the all new turbo-diesel Chevy Colorados (30mpg highway), I think thats the most fuel efficient truck ever made.

It's a small, basic pickup. Really basic. Regular cab, manual everything. And she's asking $6,500 for it. And the GMC might be worth $11k. So I could sell the GMC and have lots of money leftover for upgrades and a truck that suits me better...

But the Tacoma does have a nice camper shell.

The other vehicle I'm thinking about getting is a Subaru Forester. They fetch about the same amount of money, and get 2 or 3 more MPG. But it's not a truck. But it fits twice the number of passengers...

I'll still have my motorcycle that I'll drive to work every day that it doesn't rain, and get 50 mpg. And I'll still have my Jeep which can now be relieved of it's daily driving duties. Or I can keep using the Jeep+motorcycle, sell the GMC and invest the money. In jeep parts mhahahaha