Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

I'm looking for recommendations for buying a new truck. My girl and I both have two aging sedans with a ton of miles on them nearing the end of their lives, and we both want a bigger vehicle. We're also moving into a house soon and something that can actually carry furniture and other goodies would be extremely convenient. Relying on her parents' SUV wouldn't be too terribly fun.

We're both pretty set against American cars, and it looks to me like the Tacoma, Tundra, or Ridgeline are my first choices. I've always had a Honda ('97 C-RV and '99 Civic), but I've also always preferred how the Toyotas drive. My only concern with a Toyota right now is it seems like they're running into some quality control issues? Maybe not, but I've been hearing a lot of negative things about them recently.

This would replace one of our vehicles so it'd get a lot of driving beyond just when a bigger vehicle is needed.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm less set against an American truck than my gf is, but it's not out of the question. Thanks in advance.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

Tacoma, Tundra if you need the half ton. I've never heard a single good thing about the Ridgeline. Nissan Frontiers are supposed to be pretty good too, but they ride rougher than the Toyota. You could always buy a 2005 or something and avoid any quality control they might have in 06 or 07 if that is the case, and save a ton of money. My brother drives a Tacoma and beats the hell out of it and loves it.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

From what I understand the Honda is sort of a car based truck-unibody chassis. Its supposed to drive very nice and has a good ride, etc. but its not very heavy duty. The Toyota 's have V8's, full frame, 4wd with hi-lo range, and I think they look better. The Honda probably gets better gas mileage, but I'm not sure about that.

If you want a real truck go with Toyota, if you want a car-like truck with some truck capabilities, go with the Honda.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

Good lord, please don't classify the Ridgeline in with these real trucks. They are garbage, it's a unibody car chassis with truck looking body panels.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

tacoma if you want smaller and tow less than 20 foot boats and trailers. tundra for v8 and larger cab. tacoma 20mpg tundra 15. both are great trucks and the way to go unless you really need big.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

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Good lord, please don't classify the Ridgeline in with these real trucks. They are garbage, it's a unibody car chassis with truck looking body panels.

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I'm not convinced we need a "real truck." Thanks for the responses so far, anything else? I'm not sure that I can get myself to buy a new car, so perhaps an 05 or so Tacoma is what we'll end up with.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

Get the Tacoma crew cab 4x4 with the longer bed(you can get a longer bed, theyre hard to find though...) They are great trucks, and the newer ones are extremely nice inside. Lexus actually designed the interior of the newer Tacomas, and it shows. If you want a truck to beat the hell out of and go mudding and [censored], get the Nissan frontier, its an unbelievably well built truck, great engine, etc. Tacoma if you want something semi luxurious yet still a truck, nissan frontier if you want a truck youre really gonna "drive"

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

Avalanche >>> Ridgeline, why so against buying American?

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

Are you going to be buying the house you are moving to or renting it? If you are buying, I would advise against buying any vehicles until after the purchase of the house. People run into trouble when buying a house. They go out and buy new vehicles to go with their new drive way before they buy the house. Their debt-to-credit ratio skyrockets and then the financing on the house comes through at a higher rate which ends up costing a fortune.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

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If you want a [b] real truck go American

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Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

I'd be interested in hearing about Toyota's quality issues. Quality is a big reason they just passed GM. Is this just with their trucks?

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

I bought a used Tacoma about 4 years ago and love it. I have never had a single problem out of it, Im at 105K miles and it still runs super smooth and quiet.
Aside from changing the oil all I have done is put new tires on it. I plan on it easily reaching 250K miles.

(FWIW my wife drives a camry and it too has been a great car, not a single problem out of it either)

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Are you going to be buying the house you are moving to or renting it? If you are buying, I would advise against buying any vehicles until after the purchase of the house. People run into trouble when buying a house. They go out and buy new vehicles to go with their new drive way before they buy the house. Their debt-to-credit ratio skyrockets and then the financing on the house comes through at a higher rate which ends up costing a fortune.

[/ QUOTE ]
We're buying, and the vehicle would be purchased well after the house has been purchased. Thanks though.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Avalanche >>> Ridgeline, why so against buying American?

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Not entirely rational. Both her and I have grown up with exclusively Japanese cars, and very few American cars appeal to either of us.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Avalanche >>> Ridgeline, why so against buying American?

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Not entirely rational. Both her and I have grown up with exclusively Japanese cars, and very few American cars appeal to either of us.

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Also, American car quality for the most part sucks. Here's the most recent JD Power results, for Initial Quality (least problems in the first 90 days):

1) Porsche
2) Lexus
3) Lincoln
4) Honda
5) Mercedes
6) Jaguar
7) Toyota
8) Mercury
9) Infiniti
10) Ford
11) Scion
12) Kia
13) Hyundai
14) Buick
15) Chevy
...
30) Dodge

For Midsize Pickups, the top 3 are:
1) Toyota Tacoma
2) Honda Ridgeline
3) Dodge Dakota

Large pickup is where the US is good though, but mostly because they are the only real participants in this category (I believe this study doesn't take into account the redesign of the Tundra to compete)...
1) Chevy Silverado
2) Ford F150
3) GMC Sierra


I have all other sorts of quality studies around here somewhere, but they all pretty much have the Big 3 American companies a step below the foreign autos.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

I wouldn't go ruling out domestic trucks just yet -

GM makes some really tough trucks for relatively cheap compared to the other guys.

The newer big trucks use the duramax engine & allison transmission, which are almost indestructible. I think those are only available on their bigger HD vehicles though - anyone know for sure?

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I wouldn't go ruling out domestic trucks just yet -

GM makes some really tough trucks for relatively cheap compared to the other guys.

The newer big trucks use the duramax engine & allison transmission, which are almost indestructible. I think those are only available on their bigger HD vehicles though - anyone know for sure?

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Big trucks (big tow capacity kind) are the only place I see the US leading, mostly because nobody was making them but the US prior to the redesigned Tundra. It'll give them a run for their money if it even remotely approaches the quality of Totota's other vehicles.

However, it'll take a lot to change the opinions of many of the blue collar boys that are driving those things.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I wouldn't go ruling out domestic trucks just yet -

GM makes some really tough trucks for relatively cheap compared to the other guys.

The newer big trucks use the duramax engine & allison transmission, which are almost indestructible. I think those are only available on their bigger HD vehicles though - anyone know for sure?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, the GMC Sierra/ Chevy Silverado 2500 have this setup as an option. Its pretty much a real truck though, beyond what it sounds like OP need.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I wouldn't go ruling out domestic trucks just yet -

GM makes some really tough trucks for relatively cheap compared to the other guys.

The newer big trucks use the duramax engine & allison transmission, which are almost indestructible. I think those are only available on their bigger HD vehicles though - anyone know for sure?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, the GMC Sierra/ Chevy Silverado 2500 have this setup as an option. Its pretty much a real truck though, beyond what it sounds like OP need.

[/ QUOTE ]
Good to know, and you're correct. I definitely don't need or want something that heavy duty.

To hijack this a little, what are people's thoughts on the Subaru Outback these days? My family had one almost ten years ago or so and have no real idea yet whether it'd suit us better. My girlfriend drove one for a few years and fell in love with the car, and I think it's still her first choice. I'm mostly worried that it'd be too small, though I think it might suit our other purposes better.

Again, any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Ridgeline, Tacoma, Tundra?
 

What are suburbs of Seattle?