No Standard Transmissions

[PhilNH5]

I am in the process of trying to buy a truck. I currently have an extended cab mazda B2300. Small but it servves it's purpose. Only drawback is it is 2WD and winter driving is hairy - even with the bed filled with firewood. So we are looking to get a 4wd 4 door truck but don't need the full size pickup. Explorer Sport trac and Nissan Frontier have a very tiny bed. That leaves us with the Dakota Quad Cab. Mid size PU and still a decent bed for our needs.

Now in looking at all the above models it struck me as odd that we saw hardly any standard transmissions. In fact no Sport trac or Frontier sticks at all. Fro the Dakota we visited 4 dealers each with at least 15 Dakota Quad cabs 4x4. Only 1 of those >60 trucks had a stick. Why is that??

We are trying to buy the one with the stick. Dealer and internet seearches show it to be 1 of 3 in NE area. Amazing. Anyway the dealer feels it has a rare and therefore expensive truck on his lot. I am trying to convince him he has a lemon as obviously no one in NE wants a stick. Therefore he should negotiate more.
We are still haggling.

Current truck inspection expires soon. Thanks to the cat converter (never wore one of those out before) I don't want to pay to pass the inspection. So I am trying to buy off the lot. But I am still puzzled that there are no sticks. Am I that much of a dinosaur?

Phil

 

[Mrwurm]

Phil, you are not a dinosaur. You are simply one of those few people who actually knows what they want and are willing to keep looking till they find it. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[hazmat]

<font color=blue>Am I that much of a dinosaur?</font color=blue>

Yup! Welcome to the world of sport utility trucks. I own an F150 Supercrew & love it. Manual transmission is not an option (I would have liked one too). Seems that most of the optioned out trucks (A/C power windows upgraded this & that etc.) are selling with an AUTO transmission. The truck manufacturers put two & two together and get 4 (that's 4 speed automatic/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif). I am surprised that Dodge even offers the manual in the quad cab.

I found that if a manual tranny is to be found --several dealers didn't have one on the lot-- it is on a bare bones work truck even those were rare. You'd have to order it custom if you wanted any options. I was told by a couple of salemen that the auto is prefered for snowplowing & thus manual trannies are even more scarce in New England.

As far as negotiating with the dealer. Find out what the invoice is online (<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.edmunds.com>Edmunds.com </A>is my favorite) and offer $500 over invoice (the dealer will make a profit of more than $500 because of holdbacks etc.). Be sure to include any applicable rebates to your advantage, IE if there is $1,00 cash back, you should pay $500 UNDER invoice.

I've found that if you go in there and say something like "I will sign the papers right now if you ge me this price".

A trade in sometimes complicates the issue. what you need to do is calculate how much you want to pay + your trade. Ask for the trade in value of your old truck seperate & then calculate the price of the new truck based on that.

IE your target on the new truck is $20,000, you expect $5,000 for your trade (please be reasonable here) thus you give your truck + $15,000. If the dealer offers $4,000 for your trade, you say OK, if the new truck is $19,000. Also, sometimes the dealers inflate the value of your trade say $7,000, then you have to give a little on the new truck price, $22,000.

Remember it isn't a truck, its a SUT/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[RobS]

We can be dinosaurs together Phil. I bought an Explorer several years ago and had to order it to get the stick and manual locking hubs (yes, I'm the brontosaurus of the dinosaur world). Same with my current truck (97 F250HD 4X4 Crew Cab 5 spd manual locking hubs). A couple of years ago we bought a minivan, out of necessity. First automatic either my wife or I have owned. Can't stand it, but there isn't a single minivan available in the US with a stick. Not even the VW! Such a shame. In Europe you can get a Chrylser minivan with a nifty little turbo-diesel engine and a 5 speed manual transmission.

From the manufacturers point of view it just doesn't make financial sense to design, tool and certify a stick where the vast majority of buyers are going for the automatic.

Hang in there, you'll be shifting soon /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[bgott]

It's time for the 2003s to come out. If this is a 2002 he ought to be begging you to take it. Go home and wait for the phone call.

 

[Tractors4u]

Now Nissan offers their crew cab in a long bed. It's a good looking truck too.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

The hot yuppie babe buyers have pretty much eliminated manual transmissions and manual hubs from the inventory, and no studmuffin worth his hairdoo is going to drive a stick cause he can't let his babe dujour drive his truck as the final step in his plan to get her in the bed.
The reality is that most of these so called trucks do not have a driveline sufficient to withstand a manual transmission. In defense of automatics, maintinence costs are lower on a slushbucket driven 4x4 than they are on a stick. Slushbuckets are one he!! of a lot better pushing snow too, even in a 10 wheeler.
As far as 2wd -v- 4x4 is concerned for every day driving, I still favor 2wd. A 1000-20 tire in the bed that has been filled with water gives me all the traction I need, and I can and do usually go places the 4x4 monkeys can't get. Every truckstop in America had a supply of free tires available for filling with water, and that beats the cost of 4x4.

 

[RanchMan]

PhilNH5 -

<font color=blue>So we are looking to get a 4wd 4 door truck but don't need the full size pickup. Explorer Sport trac and Nissan Frontier have a very tiny bed. That leaves us with the Dakota Quad Cab.</font color=blue>

On the Dodge website they have a handy tool to compare their trucks to the stats of others ("Compare Dakota" on the left side of the link I pasted below).

Anyway, I took the liberty of doing a little comparison of the Dakota Quad-cab to both the Nissan and Toyota. If you already have your heart set on a Dodge, then this won't matter much, but thought I'd go ahead and point out a couple of things.

Instead of citing all the numbers, (too lengthy - you can check 'em out if you want the specifics), the Tacoma's bed (double-cab) is about 2" shorter and 1.5" less in total width. Not sure if this still would make it too small for your use, but something to consider I suppose. Also, not sure if you looked in to it, but Nissan apparently makes a crew-cab long-bed that is about 11" longer and almost the same width as the Dodge. The "imports" seem to have less room between the wheel wells though.

Anyway, just thought I'd post this so you could compare a little more if you wanted to. Regardless, it sounds like you may be looking at either driving a bit to get your new ride or doing the special order thing. Ahh - such is life... /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

Oh, BTW, I bet you'll find the 4x4 aspect a VERY helpful feature. I know I do!/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.dodge.com/dakota/power/towing_payload.html?tsrc=dakota&tgrp=promo3&tname=dakota_towing_payload#>Dodge Dakota Comparison - left side of screen under "toolbox"</A>

 

[DAP]

You should have no problem finding a standard shift, 4WD, standard cab and about 250,000 miles if you look at:

1998-2003 Toyota Tacomas.

 

[dmccarty]

Phil,

Part of the problem is supply and demand. I think the dealers
order the autos since THEY can't drive a stick. And since
anyone can drive an auto why bring a stick on the lot? The
stick will have a smaller market.

When I bought my truck I checked all the online inventories for
a couple hundred miles in every direction and could not find
a stick the way I wanted. I DID luck into one though. I think
it was an ordered truck and the deal fall through. I got into
a argument with the Sales Manager about sticks and he said
that nobody wanted them, they could not sell them, yada
yada yada. As I was driving off the lot he ran up to me and
told me it was a good thing that I had bought the truck since
there was another guy overthere that wanted a stick....

Hmmmm....

I think people want the stick, can't find them so they settle
for an auto. Given the auto cost more, the dealer is happier.

I had the same problem when I bought my last truck. Looked
all over the place for six months to find a truck.

I am glad I got the stick. I really prefer telling the tranny
what to do and when.

Good Luck,
Dan McCarty