50mpg truck

[Soichiro]

If you have the time/money to spare, go ahead and do it for the sake of science. It would certainly be a great project to try. But I agree when other members say it would be more practical to just attach a trailer to a fuel efficient 4cyl car.

[kach22i]

Rabbit diesel pickup truck - Trovit Cars

1980 Volkswagen Rabbit Caddy Pickup Truck LX, Diesel, 5 Speed Manual, 150,000 Miles - Get 50 mpg - Needs Dash Wired and Starts & Runs, but running a bit rich.
$2,750 FIRM

Read more: VW Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel Pickup Truck Caddy 5 Speed | Cleveland | eBay Classifieds (Kijiji) | 17906230

[chrisgerman1983]

Instead of turning a truck into a fuel efficient car you could always turn a fuel efficient car into a truck The bodyman I use is working on a metro that he has extended, added tandem axles and turned the hatch into a pickup box! I cant wait to see it done but he has been too busy to get it finished...

[jamesqf]

If you're only going to haul small loads, why do you want a truck?

If you're going to haul heavy loads (or pull a substantial trailer weight), then you will not be able to maintain road speeds going up hills. (Of course this may not matter in most of Texas.) Even my 4-cyl Toyota has trouble maintaining highway speeds up a 6% or better grade when heavily loaded.

All told, I think the optimum solution is to have a high-mpg car for most driving, and a reasonable mpg truck that you use only for hauling, or when you're going on roads where you need ground clearance and/or 4WD. '80s Toyotas are reasonably priced, get halfway decent mpg, will haul about as much as you can put in them, and last pretty much forever.

[Sven7]

Perhaps "small loads" means things that are large but not especially heavy, such as a rototiller or similar equipment. As Kach said, a diesel Rabbit Pickup is your best bet. Put an aero cap on it and get 50's mpg right off the bat. You won't be winning stop light races, but you won't be spending over $2000 for a good example either. Pick up a GTI air dam and some Cabriolet "teardrop" wheels and it's OEM aero.

Unless you like tinkering, in which case you may want more of a "challenge".

[Stan]

Originally Posted by Sven7

...but you won't be spending over $2000 for a good example either.

Where can one find those prices? I've been looking for years here in Northern California (where car prices are generally very reasonable), and haven't seen a road-worthy example for below about $3000 since well below the 2008 oil price inflation.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Sven7

Look at aerohead's Toyota T100 for inspiration.

That can be used for inspiration, but what work can still be done with it in its modded condition ?

A station wagon will do most of what trucks are used for.
If one still needs more volume of weight capacity : use a trailer.


Get a European style trailer, with less weight (usually only 50 kg / 110 lbs) on the hitch when you have a European car.
Americans somehow seem to like more weight on the hitch, which then limits the load of the trailer.
We more or less try to balance our trailers - with a slight front bias so it still rests on its front wheel or skid when unhooked.

[mcrews]

Kach is right ......a rabbit pickup dodge also had one off of the Omni.

But it really is about gearing. you need a gear to pull the load, and a gear to coast at cruising speed. Then 3-4 gears in the middle.

somebody did a boattail storage box on a triler hitch.....just recently...it was very cool

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by euromodder

A station wagon will do most of what trucks are used for.
If one still needs more volume of weight capacity : use a trailer.

I think you've got that backwards: a lot of truck owners are just using them as station wagons.

There are a lot of things that a truck will do that station wagons can't, because they lack the ground clearance to handle rough roads. If you get a station wagon that will pull a trailer hauling significant weight, such as a load of logs for firewood, a two-horse trailer, or even a good-sized load of hay, then that station wagon is going to be almost as large & thirsty as a truck (in fact, it'll probably be a fairly large SUV), and you will be driving it all the time and getting lousy mpg.

[Frank Lee]

I think you've got that backwards: a lot of truck owners are just using them as station wagons.

Nah, many truck owners are using them as bicycles and feet- joyrides, commuting, and driving 2 blocks for smokes.