best small pickup 2019

Well, that and price ;-)

Try to buy a 4wd (AWD?) Ridgeline with the advanced safety features found on my SR and it will cost you at least $10,000 more for the Ridgeline. Paid $25,536 for my 2019. If the Ridgeline was the same price w/same features I probably would have bought it.

 

i came this " " close to looking at a frontier and considering one. I did not because of the worse mpgs, the front to me is ugly, they are smaller it seems, and the engine/catalytic converters have a bad relationship- i own a 2007 xterra and just replaced the cats proactively to avoid engine damage from the cats dying out of the blue. it has happened where the light comes on, 5 minutes later your engine is toasted by bits of cat being sucked back into the engine. i love my xterra and am used to the maintenance and the frontier would have fit me BUT for the reasons above, i felt the taco is the best thing out there for me.

 

The Ridgeline buyer is NOT the old Hummer buyer. By far.
Hummer buyers drive diesel trucks now. *even the Hispanic contractors
I know a few.
Now if you're talking about the hip hop crowd, I dunno what they drive. I guess Lambos

 

The biggest reason I couldn't own one is the name.

 

I like Gladiator movies

 

Pretty sure the original reference was to the Gladiator.

 

It’s that “in your face” screaming too, where you can smell the coffee breath and feel the humidity of a mundane life.

 

Oh.......well we all know women will drive most of those. They love them some jeep.

 

hmmmmm, isn't that what they call 'vintage'?

 

Who wrote this report, CNN?
WTF?

 

Prob. The whole thing is not relative to anyone buying a truck, much less a non existent 'small truck'.

 

I agree. I’m not sure why she wants one besides she still seems to like Jeep.

 

But thats exactly what was said about the diesel twins, then about the ZR2, then the ranger, now the gladiator.

Yet the Tacoma just keeps crushing all of them.....

Maybe this time will be different, but at least the "taco fans" have history on their side. I personally think the gladiator is going to mostly cannibalize wrangler sales and steal market share from chevy/ford. I don't think Tacoma sales are even going to notice.

 

I mean it can’t break down if it’s not out yet right? So the reliability is 100%

 

When I was in the market for a truck, I test drove everything I could envision purchasing. Honda, Ford, Nissan, Toyota etc. My wife has a pilot, and I love that car. It has so much more pick up with acceleration, an actual transmission dipstick, the oil filter is normal, better infotainment than Toyota, leather is actual leather, better ride on long road trips, has AC vents in the back, Easier to see over the hood....I could go on. I thought that would translate to the Ridgeline, and for the most part it checked all the boxes for me. 37 year old male, sometimes uses the bed for wood working projects and hardware store stuff, off roads sometimes (I will say I use my Tacoma off road at least monthly on trails that would have killed the Ridgeline mostly because I can). I am their target market so much so that I was going to buy one on a Saturday, went to the dealership and met with the internet sales guy and they would not offer enough for my 2wd 4runner with 190,000 miles so I walked. Plus the OTD price was like 8 grand above what my Tacoma cost. That night I emailed the internet sales guy for my Toyota dealership and we played the game for a while and I went in to look at the model he found that checked all my boxes. I specifically wanted a TRD 4x4 Off Road that did not have the BSM and the heated seats/individual climate control (think the buttons/numbers look like they will look dated as hell in 10 years).

When I walked into the garage that held my truck, I literally had to hide my smile so hard I nearly cramped. I was never this excited to buy a vehicle. My wife told me I looked like I was getting a new puppy. She could tell I was in love with this truck right from the start. She was initially pissed at me for wanting the Tacoma, because it was hard for her to drive, and objectively speaking, the Ridgeline is a better vehicle for 90% of what I use the vehicle for. Plus I waffled between these two for like 3 months. But I never had any bit of excitement for the Ridgeline. If I am going to do something as stupid as finance a $32,000 vehicle, I want to feel excited to do it.

I have driven my Tacoma now for about 6 months and can honestly say, I still look at it like it is the hot chick I don't deserve every time I walk up to it. The ridgeline never did that for me, and is more expensive for a comparable model.

If Honda gave it a few more inches of ground clearance, less streety tires and made it look not like a minivan, it would kill it. but unfortunately it is only functional and not pretty. I am very happy with my underpowered, hard to get into (tall torso), shitty radio, poor gas mileage, cloth seated truck. I would do it again in a minute and for more money. That to me is why Toyota keeps winning. Even though the vehicle may not be the best at everything, it is the best at what matters to us.

 

in the words of lord farquaad.... "precious"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc56fUjNb2U

 

I saw the Gladiator on a car show months ago and really looks good! Only time will tell if the looks compares to its reliability etc. Now, for the carusnews post having the Ridgeline #1 makes me want to...

 

Yes. That too.

Whoever calls these things “compact” clearly doesn’t have to park it.

 

Does that mean they predict reliability to be 0% once it comes out...? LOL