Atlantic Xpat

I think that question answers itself......! A cheaper midsize / small truck could be the GM Canyon / Chevy Colorado. IIRC you can lease a quadcab version for 350 a month or so. V6 3.5l engine, cheaper to run than the fullmealdeal V8 jobs?

Also avoid Dodge Dakota's, they have a poor rep as well.

Stuarty

Don't know how our credit rating will work out on the lease front although we have fixed up a bank account and credit cards already with decent enough credit on the card. If I can get a lease then we will buy a used SUV and lease a midsize truck for me. I will trawl the sites to spot good deals but appreciate the pointers about good/bad etc.
Stuarty

Bleech

Stuarty,
Have you seen the new FJ Cruiser (2007) from Toyota?

http://www.toyota.ca/cgi-bin/WebObje...2fintro%2ehtml

It can cope with some serious off roading (If Mrs Stuarty lets you play ) and works well as an everyday car as well.
There are quite a few around here, they look the part.

Hudman

The Canyon/ Colorado aint a bad truck, and although the 3.5L engine is a bit rough it does the job.
The double cab with canopy/ tonneau gives as many options as a car.
Avoid the extended cabs on trucks as the rear in the midsize ranges is too small.
You will pay a heap more for a similar age/spec Tacoma, plus Toyota do not negotiate on price.
Dodge do not know how to make a fuel effiecient truck so to be avoided if that is a serious concern.
As for the bigger muvvers the blokes driving them have compensation issues.
Waste of Gas

Stuarty

Thanks guys I will probably go for an access cab truck as it will be a 2nd vehicle the seating, although needing to seat 4 it will only be used when the SUV is unavailable. Saw the unbelievable deals on the Ford site Are they for real or is there a catch. Or are the vehicles now so crap that they can't give them away

Rich_007

Ford/GM = double crap, super size portion.
$'s speak louder than blingy advertising gimmicks.

Rich.

Stuarty

Short and to the point Rich, thanks for the heads up as always

rae

picked up a consumer mag featuring all available cars on last trip. we're looking at small suv, usual suspects nominated for reliability and best snow traction, toyota rav4, honda crv, subaru forester, nissan x-trail. running costs seam cheapest on nissan, and certainly cheaper to buy at around $20k 2yr old, others $22-23K.
ones to avoid, ford escape, buick rendevous and other derivitives as failed 'elk' test and rolled. also reliability, poor relsale and traction. jeep fared poorly as well, competant off road, and relatively cheap to buy, but the worst for going pete tong and expensive when they do.

Bleech

Oi! You didn't say that as we were tailing it through 6 foot puddles in my 'GM' the otherday!!

Stuarty, don't know if this is any use to you mate, but just looking through the local paper and here are a couple of prices that they're advertising. These are to own, not lease :-

New 06 Dodge Ram 3500 quad cab 4x4 slt (deisel) - $0 down $599 a month for 24 months 0% finance
New 06 Dodge Ram 1500 quad cab 4x4 slt - $1299 down $399 a month for 24 months 0 % finance
2002 Jeep Liberty - $2000 down $153 bi weekly
2006 Jeep Liberty - Biweeky payments of $199. It doesnt say how long for, but the deal weekend includes free balloons and hot dogs!!

Stuarty

Thanks Bleech, the way house prices are going in Alberta I had better find either a home built vehicle or a much older Import as the cash pot is dwindling and we haven't even landed yet.
Stop paying big bucks for houses Albertans and give us a chance
Rae, have you checked out used prices on the Mitsubishi Endeavor (Shogun Sport) and the Nissan Xterra (Nissan Terrano) they prices seem great and you seem to get lots of SUV for your bucks. The Mitsubishi has a 5 year warranty so there should be lots left on it.
Truck wise the GM Canyon looks like a good bet used.
Who knows, the exchange rate might rocket back up to $2.45 again and we can get lots more
Stuarty

Atlantic Xpat

Ram3500 Diesel for $599 a month on finance? Stroll on. Thats a $50k vehicle so with zero down and zero interest payments would still be in the order of $2000 a month! Must be a lease or a typo. ($599 a month x 24 is $14376)

Bleech

Umm yeah, doesn't make sense does it.
The ad says:-
"Was $54,270 less employee discount $47,720. $0 Down only 24 months $599/mo (4)" I look at the bottom of the page and it says "(4)Total Price = $14,376" WTF?!? Unless you've got some sort of balloon payment at the end of the 24 months? Or like you say it's a lease

dbd33

FWIW I lease Escapes for the "ex". She does about 20,000 miles a year of suburban pottering and nothing goes wrong with them within the three years of the lease. I think a 4x4 is a bit excessive for Ontario but her lawyer wanted her to have "an SUV not more than three years old with leather seats" and the Escapes are cheap.

Atlantic Xpat

Having a play with the Dodge website, which doesn't have the employee pricing built into the 'build and price' function, I can get the monthly payment down to somewhere around $600 assuming a $5k price reduction and 0% over 48mths. $599 x 24mths even on a lease would be a good deal if you wanted that much metal!

rae

like both of these, but, shogun only 1 star in 5, in the mags over here, think the leaf springs from truck set up let it down, terrano getting on a bit and slated for this and cost of ownership. can't comment on either as no first hand or friends experience, but certainly remember when the nissan first came out no one rated it, especially the god that is clarkson. no further on eh