We have a truck! This has been agonizing. Everything we do seems to require a ton of study, thought and debate; I’ve reversed my own well thought out ideas many times in this process. When I first envisioned a truck it was a Tacoma 4×4 or maybe the Tacoma 4×2 with the locking rear differential. Then we started talking to people-ugh. Everyone had ideas and all of them were different, often contradictory.

I was hesitant to move up to a larger truck, but the more we looked at our needs the more it made sense. I hope to get big stuff delivered, but clearly there are going to be many trips for building supplies and I don’t know what they will be. In the end we boiled it down to two trucks, the Dodge 2500 Diesel and the Toyota Tundra.

One thing I found amazing was that the trucks cost about the same amount. Our decision might have been easier if the Dodge had been cheaper. In the end though, the Dodge drove like a giant truck (I think the 4×4 model is really high and very rough) and the Tundra seemed pretty easy to drive. The reliability history from Consumer Reports heavily favored the Tundra too. Also, I hope not to be towing too much. I do believe the Dodge is an awesome truck for towing, but I don’t really want to be in the towing business. (This is something I might be wrong about, but I hope not.)

A surprise was that we ended up with a quad cab. Having driven a truck in the past, I knew I wanted some storage room in the cab and I thought the extended cab was enough. It just happened that the truck, with the lowest mileage and the lowest price and the newest model was a quad cab. For the most part, I’ve been looking at 2000-2002 trucks, just because of our target price. We ended up with a 2005. I think the newness matters almost as much as the miles. (Plus the Toyota added a power rear window in 2005 which I think it very cool. :)

The 4×4 decision: Someone I respect said that we don’t need it. However, a bunch of people said 4×4 is a must. Since we just don’t know what we are getting into, it seems much better to have four-wheel drive and never turn it on than to need it and be stuck. There is some personal experience here too. When Karen and I were looking for property in Portal, we once turned a corner to see a stream where only a road should be. That was an eye opener. We were driving a RAV4 with four-wheel drive, but just parked it and walked the rest of the way. (We had to build a rock bridge just to get where we were going.) I will say that getting a 4×4 complicated the purchase process. There are distinctly fewer 4×4 trucks to pick from.

Details:

2005 Toyota Tundra SR5 Crew Cab
V8 4.7 liter i-Force
5 Speed Automatic with Electronic Overdrive
four wheel drive
four wheel ABS
limited slip differential
towing package

Weights:
gross vehicle weight rating 6,600 lb
curb weight 4,965 lb
gross trailer weight braked 6,500 lb
max payload 1,635 lb

Cargo area dimensions:
length 74.3″
width 63.3″
height 20.7″

More specifications