Good gas mileage small pickup.

[Valv]

I am looking to park my full size dually diesel, and use a small pickup for daily traveling.

It will be used, not new. Must be a 4 cylinders and standard transmission, no V6 or automatics.

4x4 would be great, but 4x2 might be ok.

What are the ACTUAL gas mileage I could get.

I want the truth, not a show-off contest (my truck is better than yours), and cannot be a battle on which brand it's best. I am a moderator here and I can zap anybody that crosses the line, so please stick to the topic

What do you get for mpg with your small pickup ?

[Valv]

Well this is the end for me.

I decided if I really want good mileage I have to get a car.

Today I bought a very nice 1997 Saab 900 5 speed manual. It's a 30+mpg vehicle.....

Now my truck will rest for a while.

[richwolf]

I have heard from a freind that has owned both that chevy are a little better on gass in the full size gas trucks also a few posts back mfishinguy said that its because of having more power that we are seeing worse milage this isnt exactly true if you have two motors the same size the one that gets more power is being more efficent and uses less gas to get the amount of power required to move you down the road but you have to have it geared corectlly to take advantage of the better efficency

valv one other thing to consider owning a second vehicle is the cost of insurance and repairs to a second car if you are paying $1000 for insurance you have to beable to svae atleast that mutch in fuel to make the car pay or you would be just a well off driving your truck

[Valv]

Thank you for the warning on insurance. I have a commecial policy and a personal policy.

I have 5 children, believe me you should see my vehicle "fleet" sometimes.....

Now we are down to few "essentials" but it's been wild sometimes....

I know what it means having to insure them all....

[Valv]

Well, I was looking at Saab web site and decided to browse car mfg european sites. WOW, I cannot believe how dumb we are and what we are missing !!!

Check the Ford web site, they have the Ranger (our US truck) with a 2.5 turbodiesel that does 35mpg !!!!! The Focus sedan with a 1.6 t.diesel does 70 mpg, SEVENTY miles per gallon !!!! Check other web sites, Jeep GrandCherokee 3.0 TD 27mpg, Saab 2.5 sedan (large car) 1.9 T.D does 54mpg and so on.

Many other vehicles we have here in the US have different powertrain in europe and have super great mileage.

Why not here ????

[blacksheep]

Quote:

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Why not here ????

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that's easy, too much money to be made.

[Valv]

I was afraid that was the answer...and you got it right too....

[get-the-net]

You see what I was talking about now don't you Val? We are way behind the rest of the world in terms of fuel conservation. Good choice on getting a car to run around in. I LOVE my pickup, but 120 mile per day round trip is too expensive so I drive the focus which gets 35 mpg. Just doing what I can.

[iland99]

Jeep sells the Liberty with a 2.8L diesel engine here in the states that gets 26 hwy. I don't know why D/C doesn't put that engine in the Dakota. It'd be nice to get 26+ mpg out of a mid-size pickup!

[McGurk]

We can thank our friends in California for the lack of diesels. They screwed up their state and are pushing their bans on the country. Volkswagon is almost done selling their TDI (Turbo Diesel) in the Jetta's and Golf's due to the emissions reg's. They stopped selling a wonderful V-10 diesel in their Touareg here. The Jeep will be a short time option, I think. The problem is the NOx emmision and the expensive way to combat it; platinum. I think a front wheel drive diesel pickup would be a big seller for deliveries and the such, but since when does our opinion matter when there is a waiting list for the over priced, under performing Prius's. I've seen real world tests of these "eco-friendly" hybrids getting 40-50% of their stated mileage. Even Ford is offering a "driving course" for the buyers of the Escape hybrids due to complaints of underwhelming mileage. Something to think about. Good Luck! McGurk

[JohnMickish]

I can tell you guys this much, after spending more than my share of time in driving around Europe (US Air Force) thinking as a typical american, we would not be happy driving these vehicles. Yes, they have great MPG's but most are very underpowered for the way we drive our vehicles. Some of these vehicles are designated to drive only in the 100 or 80 KMH lanes. Now ask yourself this, would you drive no faster than 50 MPH to get your MPG's?

[jig n' jerk]

I have a 1995 ford Aspire(for more)that gets a good 41 mpg including: city, highway, and beating the [PoorWordUsage] out of it. I also Have a 1996 Acura SLX (basically a glorified Isuzu Trooper). What I do for insurance is register my Acura as a recreational vehicle and my car is considered my daily driver vehicle. I pay $170 for both vehicles with full coverage on my truck(the best you can get) and liability and $0 dedeuct. glass on my car. I think that that works out great! You have to keep in mind that I have 2 speeding tickets and I am only 24 so I have not gotten my big insurance break yet! Well that is what I did to offset the insurance costs of two vehicles... Oh yeah, When I just had my truck insured it costed me around $140 for full coverage. For just 30 dollars more I have two vehicles insured.