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I'm downsizing my business and don't plan to tow heavy trailers any more for work, so.... Hoping to go from full size 350/3500 diesel work truck/s to something like older Chevy Colorado/Canyon, Nissan Frontier, or Toyota/(ranger?) ex cabs (probably not Tacoma 4-door double/crew cabs due to inflated used buy-in cost). Since I know folks will probably ask - We really do need & use a pickup bed, even a wimpy short bed 4.5-6ft is a better option than a van or wagon or car pulling a trailer for my purposes.

I always drive with a soft foot and frequently apply some degree of mild to medium hypermiling techniques when applicable, but half the time I'm trying/have to keep up with suburb freeway traffic at 65mph minimum speed (75mph average speed of most drivers)- so I have to keep my mpg expectations realistic.

I'm mainly looking at the 2000-2007 range, and always prefer older vehicles as I do my own maintenance/repairs, but might be able to stretch the budget for a steal of a deal on trucks upto 2012-2015 if 'newer' really made sense. I can't afford or justify any of the uncommon "1500" size diesel pickups that have shown up in the last 5-7 years.

I know ALL the arguments against 4x4 are solid (weight, extra rolling resistance in some cases, &why not 2wd with locker?/etc) but 4wd is worth the...let's say upto ~2-3mpg hit... for me... living in snow country, plus being able to put it in 4L and crawl out of being stuck is a "comfort" I've gotten used to/ not willing to give up. I've grown accustomed to crew cabs as well, so strongly lean towards 4 full doors for the family, tools, and workers.

I understand diesel has slightly more available btu's per gallon than e10 gas but still.... 4-5000lbs vs 7-8500lbs scale curb weight, for example, should make more of a difference. I really wish there was a convincing argument to downsize to smaller "work" pickups.

The problem is my already optimized 1 ton diesel trucks get just as good "real world" , and "on paper" mpg's as what I'm seeing for anything out there in the small/mid size range. I'm not talking inflated #'s you see all the time online. I've owned all of the pre-emissions "big" diesel truck options over the last 20 years, almost always in crew/4wd, and often push 25mpg mixed tank averages with dodge cummins or 20-22mpg with ford 7.3's .. Examples:
87-03 ford 7.3, crew, 4x4 manual, 3.73 = 17/20mpg (avg real city/highway)
89-93 dodge 5.9 ex cab 4x4 manual 3.54 19/23mpg
94-06 Dodge 5.9 quad/crew, 4x4 manual 18/22mpg
6.2 & 6.5 Chevy 16-24ish (that's been quite a few years)

"On paper" (fueleconomy dot gov & similar resources), below is the list of the most promising "smaller" truck options I can find: *Keep in mind these are ALL 4wd*

2004-~2007 Chevy Colorado/(GMC Canyon), crew, 4cyl, Manual 17/22 **but I find very very few crew w/ 4cyl, and even fewer with manual trans
04-~07 Colorado 4cyl auto crew 16/21 **still rare to find 4cyl 4x4 crew auto
04-~07ish Colorado manual 5cyl 16/21
2015 Chevy Colorado 4cyl auto or manual 19/24

~01-06ish Nissan Frontier crew 6cyl manual 15/19
2015 16/21 6cyl auto

~ 2003ish Toyota Tacoma crew auto 6cyl 15/18 (manual & 4cyl NOT available)
~95-2009ish Toyota Tacoma EX cab, 4cyl, 5spd 17/21
2012 4cyl 5spd ex cab 18/20

pre-1996 Ford Ranger EX cab, 4cyl, 5spd 18/23
1997+ Ranger EX cab, 6cyl, 5spd 16/19

I don't think any dakotas make the list and ~2001-2004 s10 crew cabs are all 6cyl so didn't seem like they would be worth looking into either. Rangers I haven't really checked out much, as, again I want crew cab not extended cab, and you have to go pretty far back to find the 4cyl 4x4.

Just in case... are there any significantly above average mpg OLDER 1500/f150 trucks?

My dream is the Nissan pre 1997 double cab import (from asia, sd25, td27/etc) but that's not what this thread is about. I'm not willing to go transit/sprinter (big fan of old 02-06 Sprinter but this thread is about 4wd options specifically), nor am I looking at mini vans (Another rig I've tried, Astro AWD 1995-2005 gets 16/18mpg, quite hard to even push 20 btw). I do love odballs and would, for fun... look at worldwide import options in Europe, Asia, S. America, etc.. ("utes" are awesome)- anything pre 1998 could perhaps be do-able per the usa 25 year import rules.


I've searched and read all I can here and elsewhere, and started the hunt to see what pops up for sale locally. I'd greatly appreciate ANY thoughts, experiences, or input...especially on what's achievable at highway speed with the 4cyl & 5cyl "older" Colorados, and perhaps 6cyl Frontier of any year..or any others.... thanks in advance!