Quick Truck / Buell question

[BurningExample]

Hello everyone, need some advice here.

I have a buell.... of course, and I own a sports car. not the best to haul a bike with. Im looking at buying a truck and selling my car so i can haul our bikes around to different locations, and to just have a nice truck overall. My question is first of all what would you reccomend. Now take in mind i dont need a diesal, heavy duty nothing like that. just something V8 preferable, but not a monster something similiar to an F-150, Chevy 1500 stuff like that class. I have been looking at a Chevy Avalanche, anyone have any experience with one of these hauling a buell or two? Thank you for any advice, for price im looking around 16-17K top end, so obviously not a super new truck but used would be fine.

P.S anyone looking to buy a 06 eclipse GT manual 6 speed? im currently selling its fast and fully laoded leather heated seat, moon roof stock subwoofer rockford fosgate all the bells and whistles

thanks everyone

 

[snrusnak]

Dodge ram will get you the most for the money. Other trucks are good as well, but I've seen more issues with the other brands in the late model years than the rams. I have a 1500 with the small v8 and get great gas mileage for a quad cab full size truck. I hauled the bike(and a bunch of other stuff) up to AR two years ago and averaged 20mpg on the entire trip even through mountains, etc at ~75mph. And I have as much power as most of the other brands big v8's. I bought mine just above the price range you are looking at, it's a 2010 and I bought it in 2011. You can get a mid 2000's or even later for under your mark very easily. My buddy bought an 07 quad cab hemi in great shape a few months back for $12k.

 

[Cooter]

Dodge 1500 will get you the most "bang for the buck"
Chevy 1500 will be the most comfortable by FAR, but won't take a beating.
The F-150 is the king though, it does everything well.

Any of their v-6's will be cheaper and get the job done for you if your only hauling bikes.

 

[ztied]

I have a 2004 f150 and am happy with it,i have the 4.6 v8. The small one. Hauls good speedlimiter at 96 i dont like. I have hauled 3 street bikes in the back and pulled double jet ski trailer, no problems. Took a minute to pass people but i havent had no issues about 187,xxx miles

 

[XLXB]

I have a Dodge and it does get 20 mpg +- if I drive a 92 year woman. It's a four wheel drive and in the real world as a work truck I get like 8-12 mpg of course it does have over 235K on it. I work with a lot of guys with different truck and we talk about our trucks all the time. From what I hear from our conversation it you want a 2wd a Chevy with a V6 or small V8 would be your best bet. If you want a 4wd it would be a Ford. You will pay less for a Dodge but if you sell it, it doesn't hold it's value as well either. By the way I love my Dodge but I don't have to pay for gas or maintenance.

 

[XLXB]

Oh and I forgot we had a bunch of guys got the Chevy Avalanche a few years back and they are all gone now. They hated them for a truck. More of a SUV with the roof cut off. But as a side note a couple of them got the Honda Ridgeline and love them, but I don't get that???

 

[Restlessrustler]

For that price around NJ you can get a decent early to mid 2000 1500/ f150. Personally I have a 2001 4x4 Dakota 4.7 6.5 ft bed, with 135k on it, great truck....gas mileage is 13mpg, but some of the bigger trucks get a bit better. I dont care about gas mileage, just a v8 4x4 thats comfotable for picking up "new" bikes for any of my friends....haha

 

[GAXB9R]

Toyota Tundra. you cant break em.

 

[Enemy Zero]

I know this won't be a popular opinion but I had a Honda Ridgeline and loved it to death. It was designed for motorcycles to be hauled in the bed. It has wheel chocks built in to the front of the bed and the tailgate has deep recesses to fit the rear tire. It is comfortable and spacious and always got decent gas mileage. It could use a bit more motor but it was never a problem for me. I never hauled anything crazy in the bed so I never worried about payload numbers. I wanted something strictly for hauling bikes and it fit the bill wonderfully. The trunk in the bed is one of the greatest inventions ever as well as the dual tailgate. I never liked them because I thought they were ugly but the utility and design won me over in the end. The look eventually grew on me and it started to remind me of the Warthog from Halo so it became a vehicle I truly loved. Unfortunately my department got shut down at work and my wife lost her job around 2009 and it got repo'd. I actually got really sad to see it go, but once I get back in a good financial place, I'll definitely be looking at another one.

 

[07Bolt]

dodge ram HFE- 25 mpg, 1/2 ton, $$$
dodge ram ST- v6, tow/haul option, 20 mpg
Canyon/Colorado- one has v5? mid-sized, 20-25, mpg
Tacoma/tundra- 20 mpg, v8,v6, 1/2 ton

 

[snrusnak]

Toyota Tundra. you cant break em.

I used to like you...

There's some inaccurate info here. Tundras absolutely do not get 20mpg with the bigger engine.

Personally, I'd never buy a tundra, and most likely not an F150. But any truck out there will be at least decent/good. I've known a lot of people that have ram 1500s and f150s (I work construction) and I see a ton of issues with the f150s with the 5.4L engine. That's what engine you'll get in your price range. They get horrific mpg too. I'm a huge GM fan but when I was truck shopping I just didn't care for their full size trucks, that's why I went to ram. I would never buy a full size with a v6(the very new ones are the exception as they have decent torque/hp and more gears so actually do get decent mpg and have a little power). The v6 full size trucks get the same or worse mpg than the v8's, have no power, and aren't really any cheaper buying used. v6 also won't run as long as a v8, typically.

 

[chevy42083]

No real input on price-wise, but my brothers 4dr Sierra was really nice. Not a powerhouse, but sat 4 comfy and fit a bike... Or two comfy with room to pack inside.

Keep in mind that MILDLY dropping the back will help quite a bit in loading low motorcycles. Otherwise you'll be looking for sidewalks and ditches to back up to.

 

[nightfire180]

maybe Crimson04 will chime in? The pictures are of his truck. Only about three to four inches to spare, It could fit two side by side which is great though.

 

[djs2k2]

Hauled a fully loaded bed and a trailer with 2 harleys and my buell all the way from GA to WI. I love the 5.3 its powerful and gets good mpg. I also hauled a full pallet of quickcrete loaded by a forklift with no problems.

 

[snrusnak]

Gotta love being able to shut the tail gate on a short bed truck with the buell [up] I have about .5" to spare:

 

[BurningExample]

Thanks everyone, all the info and pictures are great to ease my mind.

Something about the avalanches always made me look, I thought about a ridgeline at one point in time but was worried it wouldnt hold a bike well. I guess I should just buy a truck. I had a 96 dodge 2500 that had about 4 trannys put in in under 90XXX miles. Now i know its only one truck and it could have been a lemon, but still kinda turned me off of dodges. Not saying they couldnt of made improvements like everyone else.

 

[snrusnak]

I had a 96 dodge 2500 that had about 4 trannys put in in under 90XXX miles. Now i know its only one truck and it could have been a lemon, but still kinda turned me off of dodges. Not saying they couldnt of made improvements like everyone else.

The trans in that truck is not the same as the 3rd and 4th gen rams. The 1500s with v8 now use a 45rfe/545rfe/65rfe trans which is very good. The 2500 v8 rams use a 66rfe even better. The latest model rams are getting the 8 speed trans which is supposed to be great as well. Dodge rams got a bad rep for transmissions in the 2nd gens but it's no longer an issue don't let that hold you back.

 

[ztied]

Yes keep in mind being able to shut the tail gate, you never know when you gotta pull a trailer.
Worse to worse go to a rental car place and rent a truck for a day or 2. Try them out. Test drive at dealer dont give you enough time to get to know the truck

 

[08herobolt]

I have a Sierra and I love it. Brought my Bolt home in it. Just normal maintenance for me. I love GMC trucks. Never had an issue and I've beat the **** out of all of them at times.

 

[GAXB9R]

its all good. im just partial to toyotas and ford. my 4runner has 244,XXX miles and runs strong and quiet. i do like the dodge ram also, but i would have a cummins in it and thats the only way. and they are supposed to be putting one in the 1500 ram.

if i were to go f150 i would wait till the neq 97% all aluminum one came out. its supposed to be 800 pounds lighter and i would have the 5.0.

chevy well cant say much here. i was born a chevy guy and they have always found a way to let me down. the trucks look all right, but i guess i just have a bad taste in my mouth from all the past cars/trucks.