rideold Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 I used to feel like I drove a full size when I got my Sequoia....now it seems dwarfed by what passes for full sized these days! Not sayin' I wouldn't be happy with a few year old truck Link to post Share on other sites
jeff88 Posted August 21, 2018 Author Share Posted August 21, 2018 ^ Our '04 Expy seemed big at the time, it seems smaller than this Ram 1500 overall. Even this 1500 is not the biggest ride out there, was next to a jacked up Raptor on Sunday which dwarfed me. And that isn't even a 250/350 size. That Ford also had a very small turning radius for it's size and maneuvered in and out of spots pretty well. The Expy ride was good as it had 4 wheel indy suspension but I am not complaining about the Ram on the highway. On I-45 it has been a pleasure. Tomorrow night it goes to downtown HOU, we're seeing Lyle Lovett at the Hobby Ctr. The parking garage should be a blast. Didn't mention this but the reason for the rental is our g37 is in the body shop - hit and run on 45 heading south while exiting to Beltway 8. A white van with an older male driver whacked me from behind. Got the Lic plate and also noticed a handicapped tag on the mirror. He didn't even try to stop, just kept going like nothing happened. Can't wait for the insurance company battle; damage is over my deductible. The only hope I have is that he is insured, it would work best if it's the same insurance company. Thankfully I reported it to the police and they have all the info and my insurance company has the police report too. Not easy to blame me when the damage is all on the bumper. No way I was backing down an interstate! Link to post Share on other sites
kgb Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 I've driven Dakotas since 1999, don't need anything bigger. The '04 has a 4.7L V8 which apparently compared favorably with the old 318 but seems a bit light for towing. Rating is 6100lbs and the car/trailer comes to about that, took 10 hours to tow 450 miles to Brainerd which would have likely been shortened with a bigger truck at higher speeds. For daily driving it's about as big a vehicle as I'd like, if a Hemi with MDS would get better mileage it'd be a perfect truck. A friend with an '11 Durango/Hemi got worse mileage so maybe it wouldn't be a solution after all. He just traded his in on a new Colorado, will see how he likes that one. It's a pretty truck if nothing else. Link to post Share on other sites
paul frey Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 I moved up to a full sized Chevy Silverado a couple of years ago. I needed the larger bed capacity to move the dogs around with. I don't think I will ever go back to a smaller vehicle. Link to post Share on other sites
Lars Posted August 22, 2018 Share Posted August 22, 2018 On 8/18/2018 at 2:09 PM, jeff88 said: This will not easily fit in our garage bays, mirrors have to be folded in, this particular truck doesn't have power folding mirrors like our former Expedition. We're starting to shop around for a new home and this is something we have to be careful about. I want to continue parking my Silverado which is about 19 ft long in the garage and the average garage seems to be 20 or shorter and in this part of the country they put water heaters and furnaces in the garage which takes away from space. Seems like they build 1 1/2 car garages but call them 2 car garages. Link to post Share on other sites
WyomingArt Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 Daily driver of full size GMC 1500's and/or Suburbans for decades, though lived in a place with high elevations, long winters and job required driving a high pass a couple times per week, also pulled boat trailers in the summer, hauled big loads of firewood, etc. After retiring down sized to a 4 door Tacoma TRD, it checks off most boxes except tow load. Probably will buy one more PU truck before I'm "fully depreciated." Link to post Share on other sites
Speaks Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 I switched to driving full size PU Trucks about 15 years ago. Parking in downtown Minneapolis is pretty much a non issue, give up a few spaces but not many. My garage is another problem, it will fit but barely, decided to say F it and park outside and make that half of the garage a wood working shop. Link to post Share on other sites
apachecadillac Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 Depends on what you do for a living and where you live. For 20 years I lived in Houston, spent a lot of time on freeways and drove 'near-luxury' Japanese and German sports sedans once I had a little money. That was a sweet spot, the air conditioning was an important as the acceleration and the sound system was, honestly, probably more important than cornering and suspension. I thought my buddies in their 'ranch rigs' were posing, and our bosses (some of whom owned ranches) tended to keep those vehicles at the ranch. Now, out here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, my daily driver is a Nissan Xterra Pro-4X, and you see a lot of FJ Cruisers, 4Runners, Xterras and, for that matter, Range Rovers (especially in the Whole Foods parking lot). Somebody in this thread made the comment that if the Taliban could go to war in a Toyota 4Runner, it was good enough for him. I think I understand that observation and all I can say is, I have the other dog in that fight, so I'm happy with the Nissan. Link to post Share on other sites
jeff88 Posted August 23, 2018 Author Share Posted August 23, 2018 23 hours ago, Lars said: We're starting to shop around for a new home and this is something we have to be careful about. I want to continue parking my Silverado which is about 19 ft long in the garage and the average garage seems to be 20 or shorter and in this part of the country they put water heaters and furnaces in the garage which takes away from space. Seems like they build 1 1/2 car garages but call them 2 car garages. Lars, all 3 of the garage door openings are exactly 96" between the trim/seal strips. Would have preferred a full two car opening with one 1 car opening. On my '04 Expy EB, I added Lincoln Navigator power folding outside mirrors with a fabricated switch before taking delivery, it then slid nicely inside bays 2 or 3, bay 1 is too tight of a turn for it w/o maneuvering a bit. In bay 3, where it lived for 11 years, it had more nose room so I could fully open the tailgate with the door down. Our MDX does not have power folding mirrors and is a little wider than that old Expy with the mirrors folded in for overall width. You'll likely want to do some customizing on at least one bay to avoid adjustments to your vehicle later on. Bay 3 was selected for the larger rides as there is lots of driver side door-opening space, not so much on the passenger side. That Ram does not have power folding mirrors, am not even going to try. Link to post Share on other sites
Brad Eden Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 I built my garage 24 w x 26 deep. Very glad I added that 2' to back. I had standard Bay doors put on my garage. We were able to put a good sized stairway in back up to storage 2nd floor. JoAnns medium sized SUV fits in with room to spare on that side. I did build a work bench against back wall on other side. My truck is long too, but I can just fit it in...but that's history. My Bay is now filled with projects, mowers, treestands and other misc guy stuff. Link to post Share on other sites
jeff88 Posted August 23, 2018 Author Share Posted August 23, 2018 1 hour ago, apachecadillac said: Depends on what you do for a living and where you live. For 20 years I lived in Houston, spent a lot of time on freeways and drove 'near-luxury' Japanese and German sports sedans once I had a little money. That was a sweet spot, the air conditioning was an important as the acceleration and the sound system was, honestly, probably more important than cornering and suspension. I thought my buddies in their 'ranch rigs' were posing, and our bosses (some of whom owned ranches) tended to keep those vehicles at the ranch. Now, out here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, my daily driver is a Nissan Xterra Pro-4X, and you see a lot of FJ Cruisers, 4Runners, Xterras and, for that matter, Range Rovers (especially in the Whole Foods parking lot). Somebody in this thread made the comment that if the Taliban could go to war in a Toyota 4Runner, it was good enough for him. I think I understand that observation and all I can say is, I have the other dog in that fight, so I'm happy with the Nissan. "I thought my buddies in their 'ranch rigs' were posing, and our bosses (some of whom owned ranches) tended to keep those vehicles at the ranch." Pardner, lot's of posers in these parts. One friend who has a decent sized law practice drives a full size F-150 Crew Cab, his wife has the Suburban. He does tow a boat but only with the Suburban so he can get more items and people inside. He's a classic all hat, no horse cowboy. His boot collection must ring up into the 10's of thousands of USD. Drove the Ram downtown last night with my significantly better half to see Lyle Lovett at the Hobby Ctr. Since street parking after 6 pm is legal, I parallel parked it on Milam on the drivers side of the street near the restaurant before we went before the concert. No problems with 45, downtown driving, peak period traffic and parking -- all in all, piece of cake though it did get my attention each step of the way. Maybe a good thing? Anyway, you know the area, it's pretty bad at day's end. Santa Fe is where I'd like to move, my wife not so much. The drive up to Ski Santa Fe had me. It looked like there might be a dusky or two up in the forest and a ton of room to explore. We were out there last Labor Day time frame and as much as I like the Mission architecture, my wife doesn't. Believe you have the perfect ride for that area. Link to post Share on other sites
Lars Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 1 hour ago, jeff88 said: In bay 3, where it lived for 11 years, it had more nose room so I could fully open the tailgate with the door down. The length of our garage here is 24 ft so that gives me a few extra feet even after the tailgate is down and I would miss that. Homes in a subdivision we are looking at have 20 ft depth garages but the builders can lengthen at 1,500 a ft. By the way I saw a Lyle Lovett concert at Red Rocks amphitheater outside of Denver one year and it was great. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 On 8/20/2018 at 9:03 AM, jeff88 said: One of my neighbors asked me on Saturday if this was my new vehicle; I told him it was, that now all I need is a boat, a ranch and a barn to go with it. Then I explained it was a loaner for my wife's car and had chuckle. Next thing was a request from him to haul a bunch of stuff from his garage to the dump/recycling center. Gotta say folks, these things are dangerous! If you're going to own a truck you gotta be good at saying no! Lol Link to post Share on other sites
Lars Posted August 23, 2018 Share Posted August 23, 2018 On 8/20/2018 at 8:03 AM, jeff88 said: One of my neighbors asked me on Saturday if this was my new vehicle; I told him it was, that now all I need is a boat, a ranch and a barn to go with it. Then I explained it was a loaner for my wife's car and had chuckle. Next thing was a request from him to haul a bunch of stuff from his garage to the dump/recycling center. Gotta say folks, these things are dangerous! If you ever buy one put a cap on it. Narrows way down on the hauling requests. Link to post Share on other sites
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