Small Pickups Coming Back?

tpi wrote:

timmac wrote:


Not true, Ford and Chevy just gave up, here in Vegas Toyota and Nissan small trucks are everywhere, I even have the 09 Frontier parked in my driveway, gets around 22+ mpg highway and has 4 doors and much easier to park, the Chevy Colorado in 09 when looking to buy a small truck was cheap and gutless, Nissan won out in quality and power, also looks good..

The Frontier is good product for someone wanting a smaller truck. The V6 has a nice sound and it pulls out very nicely. I enjoy driving it. I was driving a new V6 Mustang the other day and thought the engine should sound as good as the Frontier. Mine is an 07 w/ roof rack, 4X4 and I can just get 19.5 MPG at a steady 65 so ...on the older ones fuel economy is not a plus. Newer ones have taller gearing and fewer trucks have the roof rack.

Mine has the 5 speed auto transmission, 4.0 V-6 and is only 2 wheel drive without the roof rack, its the 4 door model but still gets around 22 mpg highway if I can keep it at 65 mph, I was however still able to get 20.5 mpg driving to Cali at 70+ mph and that's through the mountains, still not bad..

I do have to say one thing Nissan sure makes some fast cars/trucks, my Frontier can sure get up and go in a short order, 0 to 100 mph in no time at all..

timmac wrote:


Not true, Ford and Chevy just gave up, here in Vegas Toyota and Nissan small trucks are everywhere, I even have the 09 Frontier parked in my driveway, gets around 22+ mpg highway and has 4 doors and much easier to park, the Chevy Colorado in 09 when looking to buy a small truck was cheap and gutless, Nissan won out in quality and power, also looks good..

The Frontier is good product for someone wanting a smaller truck. The V6 has a nice sound and it pulls out very nicely. I enjoy driving it. I was driving a new V6 Mustang the other day and thought the engine should sound as good as the Frontier. Mine is an 07 w/ roof rack, 4X4 and I can just get 19.5 MPG at a steady 65 so ...on the older ones fuel economy is not a plus. Newer ones have taller gearing and fewer trucks have the roof rack.

It doesn't seem that Chevy has given up on the small truck with the expansion of its Wentzville plant

New Plant

poppin_fresh wrote:
I think the small truck segment has died off because they didn't cost much less, didn't get better fuel mileage, held less cargo and were less capable than the 1/2 tons.

Add it all up and you can see why people passed them over on the dealer lots and therefore, why they have dissapeared.

Not true, Ford and Chevy just gave up, here in Vegas Toyota and Nissan small trucks are everywhere, I even have the 09 Frontier parked in my driveway, gets around 22+ mpg highway and has 4 doors and much easier to park, the Chevy Colorado in 09 when looking to buy a small truck was cheap and gutless, Nissan won out in quality and power, also looks good..

PUCampin wrote:
Still think it is a shame Ford dropped the Ranger. I loved mine.

They were great trucks.

I bought a New 1971 Ford Courier PU, no options, not even a radio which was just a re badged Mazda. I drove it , all three of my kids learned to drive in it. It still ran great with 240,000 miles but I had to junk it because of rust in 1999. Toughest little truck I ever saw.

poppin_fresh wrote:
I think the small truck segment has died off because they didn't cost much less, didn't get better fuel mileage, held less cargo and were less capable than the 1/2 tons.

Add it all up and you can see why people passed them over on the dealer lots and therefore, why they have dissapeared.

For the most part true. At this point though the market is underserved. Also not much effort has been put into maximizing fuel economy from the smaller trucks. This should be changing soon.

I have a nice little Frontier 4x4 pickup. It truly does use as much fuel as all three of the previous full size pickups I owned. But it is a heck of a lot more fun to drive-nimble, narrow and fast. A pleasure to drive-even at high speed cruise. Great on narrow dirt roads. Tow rating 6K lbs if I ever wanted. Lots of room around it in garage. Perfect for someone who doesn't need the capacity of full size truck.

Bring back the Subaru Brat.

I've used several minis, Toyoto, Mitsubushi, and clear back to a Datson. I'm short and loved them as it was easier to get in bed. As a farmer loved to work out of them. Kept a big pickup for towing.

What full size pickup will fit in your garage? That's why we bought our 12 Colorado 4X4 crew cab. Fits 4 comfortably and tows great. We saw the 15 Colorado at the SF auto show in Nov. and it looks good. The dash is the smaller version of the Silverado and they extended the bed. No more V8 but the other options will be adequate. There is definitely a market for a mid size truck. Buy American