Been thinking about a new car

B2 said:
I have a 2008 F150 which I purchased in 2011.
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Similar story, We have a '06 Toyota Tacoma, 5 spd, with a bit of space behind the seats, still only a 6 foot bed, with over 200k miles that I'd like to replace, but you can only find 4 door trucks with 4-5' beds and automatic transmissions. Manual transmission, less cab, more bed would be my inclination. Hard to justify paying current price for something that far off the mark. Our other vehicles are a Chevy duallie diesel pickup and a Ford Fusion, but the Toyota has been the daily driver.
 
B2 said:
As long as you have started this thread, let me ask ....

I have a 2008 F150 which I purchased in 2011. It has an 8 foot bed and has two doors plus the little ~10-12" rear doors for putting a few things behind the drivers and passenger seats. The second doors only opens after the main door is opened. Not enough room for a person so it does not qualify as an extended cab, but I can put a lot of my hand tools in there and they are out of sight. this area probably only adds about 6" to the overall length of the truck. It has only ~45K miles on it, but starting to get some rust, mostly from sitting around and from the previous owner. I like this truck style and I would actually like to buy a new similar truck. I want an 8 foot bed without one of those big fancy extended cabs. However, I cannot find any model from any brand that looks like my truck. They seem to have quit making them long ago as they could make more money on the fancy "sort of a truck". What good is a 4 or 5 foot bed anyway. -- I know you can get an 8 foot bed with an extended cab but the vehicle is so long you can hardly park it anywhere. There are also bottom end 8 foot bed work trucks without this extra storage space.

Does any body know of a brand/model that looks sort of like my 2008? It looks like this...


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One of my friends has just such a truck, made by Toyota.
 
Let me preface what I'm going to say with admitting that I am a car snob.

Everyone has their opinion on cars, and at times, it can get quite contentious when it comes to brand loyalty. I have very little brand loyalty but instead, look for the best value but still fulfill specific requirements. Those requirements are...
Reliability.
Roominess.
Ride quality (a biggie for us)
Cabin noise (also a biggie for us)
High-quality materials.
High-end fit and finish.
Second row comfort for traveling to wineries or shows with friends.
AWD
MGP - meh, not a huge motivator.

We recently (Dec. 2023) purchased a new Hyundai Santa Fe Limited. We also own a 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport that has 183,000 miles on it and still going. The ride, fit, finish and cabin noise are a magnitude better in the new Santa Fe compared to our 2013. Also, the tech in it is quite amazing, especially the self-driving mode. The 2023 Santa Fe has more second-row leg and headroom than nearly anyone else, along with heated seats.
Hyundai is rolling out their completely redesigned Santa Fe in March of 2024. It is going to be larger than the current one but slightly smaller than the Palisade. We are going to take a serious look at it when it shows up.
Keep in mind that Kia has a number of sister ships, although they are slightly more money.

Some of the vehicles that I test-drove (or rented) included...
Ford Edge (old and outdated)
Kia Telluride.
Mazda CX-50 (too small, whiny engine)
Lexus RX-350 (slightly cramped front knee room).
Honda Pilot (terrible electronics interface and the middle row comfort sucked. Literally, it sucked.)
Volkswagen Atlas (too expensive, big and bulky)
Volkswagen Tiguan (Too small)
BMW X5 (too small. It just felt cramped up front.)
Jaguar F-Pace (wife didn't like it. I thought it was fine but still underwhelmed).

@Janderson. Glenda (sp?) will not like some of the suggestions from the other members, especially if she is used to a Lincoln. The ride and comfort of a Subaru are even going to be a step down. The RAV 4, although nice enough, is probably going to be too small. Same for the CRV. The 4-Runner is built on a truck frame. It rides like a truck. Same for the Tacoma.
My friend has a Tesla X. I have driven it and rode in it a number of times. Sure, it accelerates like mad. But the ride is mediocre at best. It also has two different-sized tires on it, so tire rotations are not an option. Expect 25K on a set of tires. The rear seat doesn't even have a middle armrest, for crying out loud. One of his gullwing doors wasn't adjusted correctly, and it rubbed some of the paint off. When it is raining out, and you open up the gull-wing doors, you get a bunch of water in the car. All for $100k. I will admit that I am biased, though, because I hate Musk, but still, I would have expected a LOT more.

There a lot of options out there but keep in mind that the AVERAGE vehicle is now $50k. We paid $43k for the new Santa Fe.
 
Toyota fan here. We have a 2015 Highlander that my wife drives. Her foot is either on the floor or on the brake...no in-between. It runs and looks brand new inside and out. The fit and finish is really great. Have not had to lay a wrench on it other than oil, filters, tires, 2 batteries and brakes at around 95,000 miles. I thought about buying new a few months back. Walking into the dealership and looking at prices quickly changed my mind.

Before the Highlander we had good service with 3 Honda accords, 87, 98, and a 2006.
 
GeneT45 said:
I've been a Toyota guy for a long time and still recommend the brand in general. That said, I'm not sure the RAV4 (which is my current daily driver) is the right ticket if you want more seating room than the Lincoln. Also, the RAV4 has a pretty cheap interior (maybe better on newer models, mine is 2016). The Subaru might be a better bet - probably no more than a Highlander, but yeah, everything is stupid expensive right now...

GsT
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I bought my wife a 2017 Rav 4 limited, leather, not a cheap interior.
I don't like the computer system in it. Glitchy. The last update they did is causing us greif on the navigation, we used to get a full screen navigation, when we hit the navigation window. Now after a few seconds it goes back to audio, and Toyota wants to charge us for another service to update the computer again. Nice they cause the problem, then want more to resolve it.
The auto high beams will stop working, the evaporative system was eaten by a mouse they wanted $900 to replace a cheap poly hose. Now the system will tell me there's a problem disable everything, then it will diagnose it again, and go back to normal..

I have been a Toy fan for a while... but I'm getting upset with their money hungry attitude on lots of things. My Camry is approaching 200k and I don't want the new electronics...

For me Subaru is a NOOOOO not again. Great in snow, but way too many problems. Did I say WAY TOO MANY PROBLEMS? I watched a YT where the mechanic explains all the problems with the Subaru, and I had all of them and more. And most were very expensive.
Toyota getting tough to stomach..

Ford, GM, Chrysler.. not in consideration.. I've tried liking American, but they still suck when compared to a Toyota or Honda. 2 brands that usually don't require maint like the American's.
 
Garage Dog said:
Toyota fan here. We have a 2015 Highlander that my wife drives. Her foot is either on the floor or on the brake...no in-between. It runs and looks brand new inside and out. The fit and finish is really great. Have not had to lay a wrench on it other than oil, filters, tires, 2 batteries and brakes at around 95,000 miles. I thought about buying new a few months back. Walking into the dealership and looking at prices quickly changed my mind.

Before the Highlander we had good service with 3 Honda accords, 87, 98, and a 2006.
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man I loved my Honda accord LXI 87.. except the brakes, undersized in the front.
But that was a great car. I wish they built them like that.. they got big, and not as nice. I would get 33mpg at 80-85mph more than the rating.
 
Smithdoor said:
I have Tacoma with ext cab and long bed works great. Will hold 5 plus long bed.
The back seat I use showing bags too. Even last week some one want to buy it
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Thanks for the try..... I just went to the Toyota web site and they do not offer the 8 foot bed. Even when the eliminate the second door but keep a little storage on the Tacoma their longest bed is 6. As you noted it "holds 5" but long seems to mean 6 rather than 8. In the Tundra they offer an 8 foot bed but only with the extended cab with seating for 5. Not for me, I want to haul 8 foot sheets of building materials, not people. Even in my F150 8 foot bed I can put in a 10 foot copper pipe across the bed diagonal by spring bending the pipe a little . I live in the city and there is no place to park an 8 foot bed plus double cab. Even in parking lots you have to use more than one space. Besides, while I could squeeze it in my garage this hardly leaves room on either end to get around.
 
7milesup said:
Honda Pilot (terrible electronics interface and the middle row comfort sucked. Literally, it sucked.)
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That's interesting, I found the electronics interface decent, especially compared to our Volvo S60, I really hate how they did the radio on that. I sat in the middle row when my wife was scaring the crap out of me, I mean driving, on our trip to Florida last year, I didn't think it was that bad, but I'm 5'-6", so practically child size. There is a pilot version that has captain seats for the second row, I'm curious how those are in comparison, but I needed seats that could go down for more storage, so didn't give it a serious look.
 
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