Trucks, SUV's and 4x4's.........what's your fishing vehicle?

Volvos suck.

I have a 210 Honda Pilot that just went over 150k miles. Going to replace it soon, probably with a 2016 even though I don't like the new version as much. It will be my third Pilot. I just think Hondas are great vehicles. I also own a 2002 CRV with 185000 miles that my girls used through high school, college, part-time jobs, etc. Going to trade that in with my old Pilot although it runs like a champ.

I looked at a Wrangler four door recently but decided that type of vehicle wasn't really right for me. Read a lot of bad reviews about them too. Really, unless you are a serious four wheeling enthusiast it seems that type of Jeep is just not a practical vehicle.
 
I looked at a Wrangler four door recently but decided that type of vehicle wasn't really right for me. Read a lot of bad reviews about them too. Really, unless you are a serious four wheeling enthusiast it seems that type of Jeep is just not a practical vehicle.
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I think that goes for all serious off-road designed vehicles. Wranglers, FJ's, etc. Yes, they do great off-road, but are poor on-road vehicles.

If you are into off-roading as a separate hobby, they make sense. Or if you live near the beach and spend a lot of time driving the beaches surf fishing. Or if your job requires that you truly go off roads, not just back fire roads and the like.

But for most people, who as part of hobbies like hunting and fishing, may find themselves doing some light off-roading, as well as travelling plenty of dirt fire roads, they're just overkill. The extent of their capability goes unused, while the owner still gets a terrible ride, poor mileage, lack of space, and often these same vehicles are actually worse in "lighter" off roading situations like snow, rain and ice, gravel roads, regular dirt roads, etc. The heavier duty systems are designed for low speed rock crawling, not 40 mph down a snowy highway or 30 mph on washboard surface.

There are plenty of vehicles out there with enough off-road chops to do what their owners need them to do, without severe trade-offs for other types of use. Subaru's, light trucks, and light truck based SUV's are popular among sportsmen for a reason.
 
A Honda CRV might work.

Towing capacity 1500 pounds. I have no idea what your boat and trailer weigh.

Hondas: "If you'd rather spend time fishing than at the car repair shop."

 
oh and with interest rates so low, don't forget about leasing - my AWD CRV is $360 a month brand new.

I'm on my 3rd one and they have yet to break down or need a repair.

no need to tie up $35,000+ imho. lease and go fish the world :-D
 
CRV is the same 4cyl engine I have now. Pulls a driftboat fine on flat roads. Dies going up hills and is going to grenade tranny (soon) taking a boat out at the most gentle ramps.

6 cylinder is a must and 4wd is a must to get out of some spots and not "kinda 4wd" like the Element has. The nicer the interior,the less llikely I'd be to buy it. Between fishing and the dogs, it will be trashed in under 12 months. Mechanically, I take good care of the vehicles. Fluids checked and changed regularly. Cleaning them isn't my strong suit but I will try washing undercarriage after snow / road salt events.

I'd hope to get nice waterproof seat covers and those trays for the floors to keep my wading boots from leaking all over the place.

When I got the Element in 04, I was just about to fill out loan paperwork for an Xterra. Went with the Element because the Xterra was too nice inside and I knew I'd trash it. LOL
 
I know the Tacoma rust issue first hand, in fact I juuuuuuust picked up my 05 this morning at the dealer from being away for 6 months while they received a new frame and parts. they spent 14K replacing the frame and a ton of other stuff. (cost me only $1500 out of pocket for some items that needed to be corrected and charged almost nothing in labor since the truck was all apart) Now its rust proof for the rest of its life.

No other company would even think of doing that to a 10yr old truck. So they stand behind what they sell.

140K miles on it, and still love it. Mine is a 4cyl 4 speed access cab and the 4x4 is no joke (4 low is nuts.), but rides nice at 75mph.

Now that I have this thing almost back to new I need to sell it. Moving up to bigger (Tundra most likely)
 
08 Honda Ridgeline. Drives like a car, 4WD, 5000 pound towing capacity, strong 3.5 liter 6 cylinder, IT HAS A LARGE HIDDEN TRUNK IN THE BED, back seats fold up for added storage, air, leather, gate opens two ways (like the old station wagons). Only downside is short bed and 18mpg. I've put 120,000 on it in 5 years of driving. Truck is at 160k. Love it!
 
6 cylinder is a must and 4wd is a must to get out of some spots and not "kinda 4wd" like the Element has. The nicer the interior,the less llikely I'd be to buy it.
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I would get a used (2012 or newer, no rust frames) Tacoma.
 
Gotta be careful regarding towing on the CUV's. Often the limitation isn't engine or tranny or hitch rating. It's the stiffness of the frame. Car frames simply weren't designed to tow a lot of weight.

That's the case with the Subies. Tow rating of 2700 lbs with the 4 banger, 3000 lbs with the 6 cyclinder. Yet, by HP and torque, the latter has nearly twice as much oomph. The increase in tow rating is modest because you hit the limits of what the frame can handle. I'd assume the CRV to be a similar situation in larger engine versions.

That compares with 5000-7000 lbs for most trucks and truck based SUV's.

This is, effectively, one of the main differentiators between a real truck or body on frame SUV, vs. a unibody built around a car frame. For those that don't need to tow, the CUV crowd has a large range, from pure grocery getters to fairly capable off-roaders, and there's one out there to meet your needs. If you have something sizable to tow, though, you should get a truck.

Not saying Kray's small boats or whatever are too much for a CUV. Just stating that in most categories, small trucks and CUV's have been converging on one another in terms of size and capability to the point where there's considerable overlap. But towing is not one of those categories, there's still quite a difference here.
 
I’m about ready to part with my longtime commuter vehicle (an 07 Focus – with 187k on it) since my commute is now only 23 miles each way…down from 67 each way at its peak. I’ve owned it since new and it’s been a good car…other than routine stuff it needed one alternator at about 110k. If you figure it was time for the serp belt change anyway at the time (it was), $400ish for an alternator is pretty darn good for non-routine expenses on a 4 banger, American car. Original clutch still, and I did only one brake job on it…and that was only because I warped the rotors pretty bad after a panic stop from 70 mph on the TPike. I’d venture to say the original front pads (maybe not the rears) would still be good to this point still, but I changed them out when I did the rotors.

Anyway, it’s a good car, but no longer serves much of a useful purpose for me since gas mileage is much less of a concern for me now. Been looking for about 6 months now for another 96-02 4Runner, with a budget of 5-6k total including the anticipated trade/private sale value of the Focus. It’s a tough market for them…they hold their value incredibly well. There’s a cluster of lower mileage (about 100k), good condition ones out there, but they run 8-10k and many need the 100k mile, $1,000 timing belt/water pump replacement. You see another cluster of them at about 200k miles and closer to my budget, but again many need the second timing belt/water pump done, and expectedly are in general worse condition than the 100k mile ones. You can get a much lower mile Explorer/Xterra/Pathfinder for the money, but I still think a higher mileage 4Runner will hold up better long term. I’ll keep looking for a 4Runner I guess.
 
This thread doesn't bode too well for American vehicles. I used to have a 95 Chevy Blazer. Had 205,000 on it and put her to rest in 2013. That SUV was awesome. I went with Chevy again and now have an 07 Trailblazer. Has 101,000 on it and it has been wonderful so far. I also used to have a Chevy Chevette that took me to Montana and it stayed in Montana. Overall, Chevy has been great to me.
 
08 Honda Ridgeline. Drives like a car, 4WD, 5000 pound towing capacity, strong 3.5 liter 6 cylinder, IT HAS A LARGE HIDDEN TRUNK IN THE BED, back seats fold up for added storage, air, leather, gate opens two ways (like the old station wagons). Only downside is short bed and 18mpg. I've put 120,000 on it in 5 years of driving. Truck is at 160k. Love it!
 
This thread doesn't bode too well for American vehicles.
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Oh, I dunno. I have a pretty low opinion of Chrysler/Dodge, though they could turn it around. Note that Chrysler is NOT American owned. They are owned by Fiat, headquartered in the Netherlands!

But Ford and Chevy are fine quality vehicles overall.

In the light truck category, I think they take a back seat to the Tacoma. But in full size category I think the F150 and Silverado are clearly the top 2, beating out Tundra, Nissan Titan, etc.

And frankly, I see Honda and Yota as every bit, if not more, American than Ford or Chevy. Even Subaru, Nissan, VW, etc., while not to the degree of Honda or Toyota, have a lot of America in them.

The Toyota Camry is often considered to be the "most American" car made, tracking where the design, raw materials and parts come from as well as assembly and even where the profit goes. Toyota trades on the NY stock exchange, after all. #2 most American in 2015 was the Toyota Tundra, and #3 was the Honda Odyssey (#'s 4-7 are all GM vehicles). Ford doesn't have one in the top 10.

Note that about half the Camry's are actually assembled by Subaru in Indiana, lol.

While I value made-in America, people have to realize that in the car industry, the brand name is not a good indicator of how "American" a car is.
 
I'm not sure about the on/off road issue on some 4x4 vehicles. I've been a jeep driver most of my life. Love them. Went to an Xterra for 4 years and liked it a lot. But this FJ cruises great on the highway, and is unbelievable offroad.
 
The guy who sold us our Forester on Wednesday said that Subaru is booting Toyota and the dedicated Camry assy. line out of the Lafayette facility. The plan is evidently to move either Forester or Outback assy. ( I forget which..) from Japan to Indiana. Evidently, the Impreza and Legacy are currently built in Lafayette and the rest of the line in Japan. He also told us that Toyota owns approx. 30% of Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru's parent. Given this, its hard to really say who is "booting" who.

Anyway, it evidently is true based on this:

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140509/OEM/140509812/fuji-heavy-to-stop-making-camry-in-u.s.-for-toyota-in-2016
 
It's all a matter of what you're used to.

Yes, if you go Wrangler-->XTerra-->FJ, you're not exactly comparing the FJ to highly mannered, good handling road vehicles.

FWIW, I'd love any of the above. As a 2nd car. Not a family commuter....
 
RLee,

Currently, Outback and Legacy are built in Indiana. They share a frame and nearly all components, just a different body.

Impreza, Forester, and Crosstrek are built in Japan. They too share a frame and most components, just a different body.

So if what you say is true about the Camry leaving the Indiana plant, I'd say it's probably Impreza/Forester/Crosstrek that are moving in to be built on the line that Camry's are currently built on.

Yes, Toyota owns a stake in Subaru. I had heard 15%, but that was some time ago. There's certainly an increasing amount of cross-pollination regarding the engineering details of both makes. They even have a jointly engineered sports car. The Subaru BRZ/Scion FR-S were co-developed and are twins, coming off the same assembly line.

Much like Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe were twins, both made in the same plant off the same line sharing nearly all components. And Mercedes SLK/Chrysler Crossfire were the exact same cars as well.
 
Trying to keep the payment reasonable, I was thinking a 2 yr old vehicle would be the way to go. Let someone else take the hit for driving it off the lot and replacing the crap tires that come with a new car and seldom last more than 25k miles.


Comparing the years / models.........

2004 Frontier / 70k miles / $12,900
2004 Tacoma / 86k miles / $13,900
2004 4Runner / 53k / $12,100

2008 Frontier / 35k miles / $19,500
2008 Tacoma / 54k miles / $21,000
2008 4Runner / 58k miles / $20,000
2008 Ridgeline / 54k miles / $19,800
2008 FJ Cruiser / 48k miles / $25,000

2013 Frontier / 11k miles / $21,900
2013 Tacoma / 25k miles / $29,000
2013 4Runner / 26k miles / $30,000
2013 Ridgeline / 25k miles / $31,000
2013 FJ Cruiser / 25k miles / $32,000
 
krayfish2 wrote:
Trying to keep the payment reasonable, I was thinking a 2 yr old vehicle would be the way to go. Let someone else take the hit for driving it off the lot and replacing the crap tires that come with a new car and seldom last more than 25k miles.


Comparing the years / models.........

2004 Frontier / 70k miles / $12,900
2004 Tacoma / 86k miles / $13,900
2004 4Runner / 53k / $12,100

2008 Frontier / 35k miles / $19,500
2008 Tacoma / 54k miles / $21,000
2008 4Runner / 58k miles / $20,000
2008 Ridgeline / 54k miles / $19,800
2008 FJ Cruiser / 48k miles / $25,000

2013 Frontier / 11k miles / $21,900
2013 Tacoma / 25k miles / $29,000
2013 4Runner / 26k miles / $30,000
2013 Ridgeline / 25k miles / $31,000
2013 FJ Cruiser / 25k miles / $32,000
Click to expand...

where is this being sold?
2004 4Runner / 53k / $12,100

 
The driving it off the lot penalty is a myth. At least currently. I think it used to be real, but it's just no longer the case with the way the industry has gone recently. Used car prices are inflated and new car prices are down, especially in truck categories with the low gas prices. Because those who recently bought aren't getting rid of theirs, and the makers have ramped production to sell more. And in Tacoma specifically, there's no market for pre 2012 but the demand for post 2012 is very strong without any supply.

For example. Your 2013 Tacoma with 25k miles for $29k. Ok, I don't know the trim and options.

But a KBB value for an 2013 double cab 4x4 with the 6 cyl engine SR5 trim with 25k miles and the 5 ft bed comes in between 28 and 33k, so lets use that, with $30-31k as the midpoint.

Same truck, 2016, new off the lot, double cab 4x4 with 6 cyl engine SR5 trim. MSRP = $32,810.

Would I pay an extra 2 grand to get 3 model years newer and 25k miles less, with the piece of mind that this is not a problem truck that someone dumped? Heck yes! And that's assuming you'd pay MSRP, i.e. before rebates, negotiation, etc. Yota has a $750 rebate for college grads right now, plus some low APR loans as an incentive to buy new.

Had a quick look at Edmunds true car value on buying this new. The average price actually paid for the same outfitted vehicle off the lot? $31,070.

So, same specs:

2013 with 25k miles = $30-31k
2016 with 0 miles = $31k

That is VERY real. That's how it is out there right now.

But the tires, ok, you got a point there. OEM tires suck #censor#. :) But I'm guessing at 25k miles, your used one has worn out OEM tires, or else the dealer replaced them with the cheapest new tires he could find, which aren't gonna be any better.
 
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