New England B.S. Thread

I bought kings over fox and icon because they specifically didn't have the rust issues the other CO do... that being said my experience as a salt water junkie (surfing boating all the stuff that rust on trucks at the beach and boats)the absolute best thing to prevent rust is a thorough coat of wax monthly and rinse weekly. Also all the oil truck drivers coat their frames in diesel fluid in the winter and those suckers never rust. I wouldn't put it on a CO though

 

I hate the full size truck market.
Tundra is awesome, but the option/standard features is severally lacking to the big 3 Americans. They feel kind of out dated and older. And fuel economy sucks in them haha. But they are reliable as all hell.
Chevy/GM, they've been rocking that 5.3/6.0 for to long I feel like. Way under powered compared to everyone else, and the towing shows. Fit and finish is always a little off on the inside. And they always seem to have weird ticks in terms of parts that fail. My brothers Chevy 1500 wheel bearing decided to randomly let go (checked it 1500 miles earlier and all was good). Thing nuked the wheel bearing, caliper bracket and caliper, lower ball joint, CV axle, and rotor.
Dodge, I'll be honest I like them a lot, but again they have some weird ticks, and the value on them tank massively. You can buy a $50k ram or a $32k Tacoma. in 5 years the taco is worth more.
With Ford I think they try to push the envelope on stuff and they refresh everything so much the design never 100% stabilizes. (I used to work at Ford out in Dearborn and its as you are launching the truck you are re-designing it). Fords have always been on the heavy side, even with the new aluminum body its not the lightest truck. But they have a shit ton of options to choose from, but the price range really reflects that.

For me the Tacoma works but there are days I wish I have a full size, next truck for me is either gonna be another Tacoma or the new Ranger I think

 

I'm right at 40 minutes. About 26 miles each way. It's rural roads up over two mountains, so I figure even if I didn't take the Tacoma every day I'd still want an old Subaru or something AWD in the winter, which isn't going to get significantly better mileage anyway. So, I came to the same conclusion. It would actually cost more to have a second vehicle.

 

I'm looking at a full size next year before my Tacoma gets too many miles on it and isn't worth anything. There have been just enough times where I've pushed the limits of the Tacoma to justify it, and with there being almost no price difference at this point it's tough to buy another midsize. Honestly, I'm still leaning toward a Tundra. The tried and true 5.7, super beefy rear diff, Aisin transmission--very good combination. It's as bulletproof as you can get. Plus I really like how the double cab is setup compared to the competition. And, I've lived with a Tacoma (though it's a TRD, we all know that's still a bare-bones truck for the 2nd gen), so I'm not going to miss the fancy stuff. I'd like a double cab limited TRD Off Road.

GM actually puts a 6.2 in the 1500s and uses the 6.0 in the 2500s if you can figure that out. I keep hearing their quality got better after 2008, but I still hear too many horror stories.

Ram I have a hard time with because they've made many of their 1500s less capable than a midsize. Last I looked, payload on some of them was actually lower than my Tacoma.

Ford I really like, but I don't like extended cabs where you need to open one door to open another. A full super crew would be ridiculous for me as a single guy with no kids, and I still want a 6+ foot bed.

 

I do about that everyday - sometimes more depending on traffic. I noticed no difference in gas mileage stepping up in size to my AT's however one thing I didn't take in account was the overall tire size which would give me a bump in what my calculated mileage is. I track how much gas I put into both vehicles, the mileage I fill up and the prices I pay for gas. The evo averages about 19mpg at the moment with a conservative tune (I used to get 15 when I was putting down more power) and the Tacoma is apparently at 17.60 mpg.

Average cost of fuel over the last year was $2.28/gallon.

I went with Kings as well because the Icon's I was looking at looked horrible after a year in the salt - I picked up a pressure washer this year and we have one at the shop now so hopefully I can ease the problems with a weekly rinse or rinse after they salt the shit out of the place. Likely with my luck I won't be in the region for winter again since Fall/Winter/Spring are my travel seasons for work.

 

I actually read an article explaining why GM uses a 6.2 in the 1500 and the 6.0 in the 2500. The way they were engineered, it makes sense. It's just odd to because Ford uses a 6.2 in their 250 but whatever.

There are times I wish I had a longer bed. Ford makes a crew cab with a 6.5' bed which would be perfect for me. Next time maybe... If I were to buy a truck today, I'd be between Ford, Toyota and Chevy. I haven't driven the new Tundra but the older model I test drove just felt too boat-ish for me. The new F150's ride really nice, like Chevy nice (always thought the Chevys had the smoothest ride for a half ton). For Chevy, I'd have to drive one and see what the known issues are. It sounds like the tuning is messed up and, if that's the case, it would just piss me off.

 

I vote beater. I know sometimes when you figure out all the expenses it seems you barely break even. But, it saves wear and tear on the taco. And it's awesome having the extra vehicle in the event you have a vehicle down.
I drive 40min to and from work every day. I have an 06 TDI (pre- clean diesel). If I keep it around 70mph I get 45-47mpg. I spend $20 a week compared to $55-$60 in the taco. Given the right beater you can make out really well.

 

I find a lot of times where my 6'2" bed (or whatever the Tacoma has) is just enough. So, I'd definitely want a 6 or 6 1/2 ft bed. But that's not an issue anyway because I don't need a crazy amount of back seat room. It just has to be usable for the occasion that I do have a few people with me, that's all. It's also the reason I don't have an access cab Tacoma--the back seat in those is really only good for storage.

 

Well I drove the T4R last night, din't bring my trailer, it's nice but I wasn't overly impressed. I think I'm back to considering a full size.

 

Morning all!

I've vote for a beater if it were me (and it has been in the past). Buy the right beater and you really can save a lot of money, especially if fuel prices go up at all. And since gas is cheap right now, this is a good time to buy a small fuel-efficient car because the demand isn't as high.

For $40k you can still get a pretty well-spec'd full size, if you go that route. I got mine for $7500 less than that and it's still got a ton of options.

 

Good morning fellow New Englanders!

Happy Friday eve.

I like the Portuguese plate on the Jetta, sir!

 

Ah, thank you It matches the rear plate. (I still have the old green and white single plate). I had that made when we were in Sao Miguel quite a few years ago. People bug out when I point out the matching numbers.

 

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!

 

Mine used to be 30( unless is going to Freeport I'm which case it was about 3 hours). My new commute will be 45 min-1.25 hours depending on route and traffic. I'm thinking about throwing some p-rated tires on for commuting.

I made a spreadsheet to compare the cost of using the FJ with p-rated tires vs getting a beater taking into account initial costs, extra insurance, gas, maintenance, regestration, etc...

Honestly it was a wash, with in a lot of the scenarios I ran the FJ coming slightly-3pm few hundred ahead a year. If your doing alot of miles then a beater might be better, in my case it's only like 35-40 miles each way but a lot of traffic

 

The best thing about a beater car is in ten years your taco will only have like 40 k miles and can be rust free

 

Or you were dumb like me and bought a pre-rusted used tacoma... haha
I'm only trying not to drive it for the winter because of the suspension - otherwise I could care less haha

 

Rust free Tacoma?? That's a good one!

 

Right! Is that a new model or something? Maybe a package they offer? Tacoma DBL cab, TRD Sport RE (rustless edition)

 

Wrap the coils in duct tape before you spin them. I got that tip from a friend who ran into issues with Tein coilovers who had a set of collars lock up on him.

If you had an 80 mile round trip, even a 4 MPG delta would net $462/year savings. By the time you take into consideration mounting and tax, you'd likely not have enough to cover a P set, and then you'd have to drive around on boring looking tires, and what's the fun in that?

 

And when i say beater, I think I figured a $4K max purchase price. Not a nice looking VW TDi...