What happened to small trucks?

[bcp]

I moved from a 96 Dakota to a 2012 Tacoma. The Tacoma is about an inch larger each way. Earlier Tacomas were compact trucks. The later ones are mid-sized.

Bruce

 

[Jstpssng]

I had two Dakota's years ago... a '91 that I bought with 28K miles, that nickel and dimes me to death all of the time I owned it. But the original running gear had 197K when I replaced it and still ran strong. I replaced it with the '93 and boy did that dealer see me coming. Apparently the previous owner hadn't heard of scheduled maintenance; plus ran it without water. I paid $7500 cash and dumped that much again into it over the next year. (2 fuel pumps, 2 brand new Dodge trannys, front spyder gears, timing chain/ top end of the motor)It got so that if I had to leave town I would call the garage and make sure they'd have time to come get me if I broke down.

I never got better than 17mpg with either truck, and usually less.

 

[DavHank]

I own a 2003 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 - 4 cyl. I bought it new and, other than regular maintenance, I have $150 in repairs - it has 108k miles - gets about 20mpg (I got 23mpg on a trip once). I live in the mountains of North Carolina and would do without the 4 wheel drive except that it saves me nearly every winter. I've been looking for a new truck for years but they are all gas hogs. Beyond that, I retired from an engineering job in a major company years ago and we were trained on a CAD system that is used by the Ford Motor Company. It costs $100k per seat for the software and would tell you exactly when a part was going to fail - if you wanted it to fail sooner, you told the software what it could change (material, diameter, thickness, etc) and the software would redesign the part for you to your specs. I believe in American laborers, American ingenuity, and American resourcefulness - but I don't believe in the decisions made by some of our major corporations top management and their investors. Short term gain works for a company when you give consumers nothing else to buy. Not sure why Toyota quit selling a vehicle that many of us would buy unless there are some underhanded dealings going on - or maybe Toyota is now in on the make-em-cheaper scam, too. I dunno.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

I still well remember my first truck. In October, 1969, at the State Fair of Texas, I looked at a new 1970 Datsun pickup (that was Nissan's earlier name for you youngsters) and thought I might buy one. But then I saw an ad in the newspaper for a new 1969 Chevrolet pickup that was cheaper than the Datsun and I liked it a lot better; cost me $1,956 plus tax, title, & license. The dealer was trying to get rid of the 1969 inventory because they already had 1970 models on the lot.
Of course that truck was just as you describe the Ford; no cigarette lighter, no power anything, rubber floor mat. It did have a spare tire, rear bumper, (how many remember when those were "options" on pickups) and heavy duty radiator. But I had no complaint with the gear ratios or engine noise.

Bird my first pickup was 71 Datsun, it sucks green. The ad in the newspaper said it was on sale for $1999.00 including a step bumper. I had to sit at the dealer in the cubicle all day to wear them down but they finally sold it to me.
One side mirror, lost a radiator hose at thirty thousand, original tires were terrible, ruined the paint on the exterior of the bed the first time I loaded it with sand down in the creek bed, it was cheap cheap.
When I traded it away it had a large camper shell, bigger tires and wheels, mirrors, radio, looked cool but still would get stuck on flat ground for any reason at all.
I also had one of the first S10's, company gave us trucks and they were Ford Couriers. I threatened to quit before driving one so they bought me the Chevy, V6, auto, ac, ran better than the old Datsun but the tranny went out early. I bought a new Toyota long wheel base 4X4 81 model. It was a great vehicle but those little trucks where probably why my current truck is a C5500.