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Ed,

Thanks for supporting US workers! We all appreciate it. Not!

By the way, I have a neighbor with a Fronteer that has been in the shop
twice in its first 4 months. My 2005 F150 has never been back and
everything is perfect...

Kirt

"C. E. White" <cewhite3@removemindspring.com> wrote in message
news:43f49f26$1@kcnews01...[color=blue]
> After agonizing for over a year over which pick-up to buy, I finally
> picked
> one. I had a 14 year old F150 that I loved, but my 16 year old son managed
> to severely injure it (no reverse) which finally forced me into making a
> decision.
>
> The candidates were -
>
> Toyota Tacoma
> Toyota Tundra
> Ford F150
> Chevrolet Colorado
> Nissan Frontier
>
> The winner was the Nissan Frontier. The Frontier was selected more as the
> last one standing than because it was my initial favorite. Initially, I
> ranked them:
>
> Tacoma
> Colorado
> F150
> Tundra
> Frontier
>
> I wanted a smaller truck, with 4WD, an automatic, and air conditioning. I
> eliminated the Tacoma because it was not price competitive. Of the five
> Toyota dealers closest to me, the lowest quoted price (w/o taxes and tags)
> was over $26K for a truck that met my minimum requirements (it had options
> I
> did not need, but they all did). I really wanted to like the Colorado and
> was close to buying one, but after setting in the truck and looking at the
> construction, I just decided to pass. It didn't help that I just had a
> horrible experience with another GM product (2003 Saturn Vue) and that the
> Colorado was the second most expensive truck I priced. The F150 was a very
> very nice truck. For most "ride around" truck buyers, it would be the
> best.
> But I hate the fact that they jacked the truck up so high and then raised
> the bed sides. For my use on a farm, it is just not suitable. Equipped as
> I
> wanted it, the Ford had the lowest quoted price but in the end I just
> decided it was not suitable for me, despite my long term satisfaction with
> my old F150. I think Ford has decided to copy the Chevrolet Silverado and
> target the F150 to people who buy trucks as alternate cars that can
> intimidate the neighbors and occasionally carry light loads. I wanted to
> like the Tundra. Over the last two years, I have test driven several
> (regular cab, extended cab, double cab), but in the end it is just a third
> rate copy of the old style (pre-2004) F150. It is big on the outside,
> while
> being cramped on the inside (regular cab) and they don't make a short
> wheelbase regular cab model (I wanted a shorter truck than the long bed
> model). Plus, the few I have seen in farm use just don't hold up. The
> Tundra
> was the second cheapest vehicle (almost the same as the Ford). The Tacoma
> is
> a better truck than the Tundra for me. And from what I have seen, Toyota
> is
> about to lay a giant egg with the new even larger Tundra. This left the
> Frontier. Initially I wasn't even going to look at one, since my feeling
> was
> that it was about the same size as the Tacoma and would be priced the
> same.
> This turned out to be wrong. The 4WD extended cab Frontier with the V6 and
> automatic was significantly cheaper than the equivalent Tacoma. The rear
> seats are a joke, but then I don't plan to use them as seats. The bed
> height
> was perfect, and the bed size was good. The V-6 has lots of power (more
> than
> needed). The seats are comfortable. The Frontier was not as cheap as the
> F150 or Tundra, but then it had more options (both the F150 and Tundra
> were
> stripped down "work trucks"). The Frontier had more stuff than I needed
> (power mirrors, power windows, power locks, etc, towing package, bed
> liner,
> CD player), but it was so close to the F150 work truck in price, and a
> better size, that I decided to give it a shot. At over $4000 less than the
> Tacoma, how wrong could I go?
>
> Ed
>
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