All the talk on the other thread about rigs thought I'd start a new thread. Start of by saying my Stepfather works for ADT and has a transit. He hates it, it's broke down all the time and even though it gets good mileage, his only has a 12 gallon tank, he has to fill it up almost every day and sometimes during the day. He covers almost the entire state doing specialty stuff so logs a lot of miles. I've got a Nissan Frontier and love the thing, get 20-22 MPG depending on the hills. Will have 150,000 miles by the end of the week, with nothing but normal maintenance, just getting to replace the original brakes. This summer I thought I need a bigger truck and was going to sell the Nissan and switch to my 03 f350. Did a little figuring. Nissan Vs. Ford- tires $120 a piece vs. $230 for the same tires, oil changes $35 vs. $120, Insurance is a third of the price, and I get about 5 MPG better which comes out to 100 miles more per tank of the Nissan. I'm still driving my Nissan and have everything I need in it. Also I never can understand why people buy brand new vehicles. I bought the Nissan for $11,700 and it was a year and a half old, same truck new was almost $20,000. Sure it had a few miles on it but was well cared for. I'm not sure how much weight I'm carrying but it weighs 6,000 lb with me in the seat. My shoeing body is all steel so it put the lbs on.
My thoughts are the same as yours Justin. The need to have "mine is bigger than yours" can be expensive. I've only bought 2 new vehicles in my life. A Toyota Corolla back in ght 70's and a Mazda b 2000 pickup in the late 80's. And I've been driving over 45 years. My current "rigs" are a 2002 GMC 1500 bought in 2005, and a 2007 Prius bought in 2009. Regards
over here most leases are 12k to the max 15k, the overage on the miles is .40 per mile and better not put any scratches on the bed. for me the mileage deduction beats the actual expenses hands down. IRS allows $ .55 1/2 per mile, my Nissans average $ .39 per mile so in fact I'm paid $ .16 per mile to drive. WOOO WEEEE. I got my first Datsun shoeing rig in 1973 been with them ever since. I have been buying used 2004s 2wds desert runners/frontiers, best truck they ever made; don't care for they later ones.
That must be a transit connect like Brian is talking about. Do you get the bigger ones over there? I'm not a particular fan of the transit, but they are very popular in Britain. I bought mine off a friend about 2 years ago for 1.000 pounds with about 120k on the clock. It now has 160k on it and all I have had to do to it is replace a failed alternator and put new tyres on it. I haven't even changed the oil... It has a 17 gallon tank which at average of 30 mpg gives a range of over 500 miles. Brian, you're probably right, my kit may not weigh 700 pounds, but I have regularly had 2 motocross bikes (210 pounds each), 4o gallons of water (over 300 lbs) and assorted kit, fuel, tools. generator and pressure washer takes it to well over 700 pounds and, if anything, feels more 'planted' with the extra weight (if a bit sluggish... _) That said, the VW Transporter and Nissan Primastar are very similar and just as good, if not better
We'll see how I feel about having to go bigger in the next few weeks. My shoeing rig is the 05 Ranger we've had for a little over two years now, and when I put the topper on and started working out of it it had just at 100k on it. Hit a calf with it in the open range country west of us a few months ago and just took it in to get repaired yesterday. It's been averaging between 18 and 19 most of the time, which is exactly the same as it was before I loaded my gear in it. While it's being repaired I had to move everything over to the 04 F250 diesel I've had for years. It will typically do 19+ on long road trips but the kind of driving I do shoeing is more like 17 to 18, the killer is the current $.70 more right now for diesel fuel. Trying to be foreword thinking the tough part will be deciding what to get when I wear the Ranger out, and I hope by then I can actually set it up more user friendly than what I've got now. Being on the low buck plan sucks.
I have a 2004 1500 Hemi Dodge Ram and it's great. will have another one next time. gas is problem; but the engine can't be beat. so it's a trade off.
Petrol is $2.20 per liter in Outer Godzone (Nearly $9.00 a US gallon), so a nice big thumping V8 is out of the question... as appealing as they are. (Plater. have a look at what a Ram costs down here :-0 ) http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Cat...Search_keypresses=3&sidebarSearch_suggested=0 Most guys use Rangers, Colorados, Navaras or similar, but they are exy, even 2nd hand. For about $10,000 less than a ute of similar age and milage, I bought a 2003 Toyota Estima (similar tp Dodge Voyager) 2.4l petrol, gutted the back seats and added racks, swing out forge etc. I get about 10l per 100km, it has comfy seats and never misses a beat.
Are they nuts? my truck cost around $15,000 and is paid off only had 38K miles on it when I bought it. have had it 4 yrs, and now has over 131K miles on it now. no problems....just gas hog.....but gas is about $3.19 a gal. right now. was $4.25 in '08 in July when I bought it.
3.09 and 3.80 at my local Co-Op. There is an early 2000s Dodge sitting in town with a Cummins in it. If I had the right funding and it had the right mileage, I'd swap my Ranger for an oil burner any day. I love my Powerstroke, but the 5.9s can get tremendous mileage, and it'd be more generally useful at my house.
I wish I paid what you all pay. Here it is about 11dkr per liter, so that makes it around $2.00 a liter, then X 3.75 will give the gallon price.
Exchange rate is $0.80, not a massive difference these days. NZ although a fairly rich country on the world scale, is relatively poorer compared to the US, Aust, England etc. But everything is freakin' expensive here. Kegs at about $16 - $23 per set +, GMs over $400, rasps nearly $50 etc. Median weekly full time salary is $806 and in a country that is based on farming, even food is outrageously expensive. The Dodge Ram is something like a sign of success and would never be used by a tradesman... but here's wgat we're paying for new utes like Colarado and Ranger etc if your interested http://www.trademe.co.nz/browse/mot...eLow=0&priceHigh=0&search=1&sidebar=1&cid=268 My 2003 Estima I paid $14000 for in 2009 with 85k km on the clock. Equivalent mileage and condition ute was about $24000 at the time.
I'm a bigger better ..if I can't sleep in it and live in it I don't want it.. but hey to each is own ...I been homeless sleeping on sofas so I keep a back up plan... And I'm the type to get tired Shoeing at night I plug in and stay till I finish in place of drive the many miles back so for me it kinda works out the same ..I'm not one to go home every night ..I rather just do two long days a hunt a day..so the bigger trade off fits my needs as long as I can sleep comfy.. cook..and stay cool and warm ..
I use the Ford F-150. I am on my fourth one since I started 23 years ago. Infact I still have my 3rd one that I use for a back up and farm truck. They average 16mpg around town and 18 on the highway. These trucks are reliable and ecomonical to purchase and repair. This is my first rig in 1990. This truck is an '80 model
