Truck with best parts availability.

[tims53777]

My first thought is what are you mainly going to use it for? Your thoughts went from 7 person hauler to a truck... but what do you need that truck to do?

Being in HI, I would think you are more limited than the rest of us on the mainland for used trucks, ie. You may not find the perfect old square body. That said, I would start with what is readily available on the island. (I could be completely off base with this though)

Or pick up one of those gov planet humvees for 4k. Last I looked there were like 10 of them in HI. Probably will haul 7 too!

 

[Dysan]

At first was looking at 7 seaters cuz when family is in town visiting my wife can’t always get a 7 seats SUV(works for rental car with car privileges but around Christmas when family visits they are restricted to sedans) but realized that realistically only my parents would come and they would just rent a car. But the one vehicle that most fleets don’t have a lot of so hard to bring home is a truck, except Texas.

Plus getting a trailer here isn’t the easiest and no place to put it where I live, btw I am on Kauai and almost all the military surplus is the on O’ahu.

After some research when I get my Hyundai Sonata inspected at the local Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, Chevy, Mazda, and Cadillac dealer going to look at a manual Pro4x and see how I like the feel of how I sit in it with the clutch and shifter. I know I love the autos, drove them all the time in Houston when I was in the car rental industry with car privileges just never got anything manual and do miss a manual transmission. Plus want to be able to teach my kids how to drive a manual, oldest is only 5 years away. A tradition my family has had and I plan on keeping.

Sorry for the long post but I think I just answered my own question, will probably end up getting a Nissan Frontier, and if I can’t find the one I want used will just have to save up to buy new.

Again thanks for all the input and replies, and apologies for my rambling on.

 

[tims53777]

At first was looking at 7 seaters cuz when family is in town visiting my wife can’t always get a 7 seats SUV(works for rental car with car privileges but around Christmas when family visits they are restricted to sedans) but realized that realistically only my parents would come and they would just rent a car. But the one vehicle that most fleets don’t have a lot of so hard to bring home is a truck, except Texas.

Plus getting a trailer here isn’t the easiest and no place to put it where I live, btw I am on Kauai and almost all the military surplus is the on O’ahu.

After some research when I get my Hyundai Sonata inspected at the local Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, Chevy, Mazda, and Cadillac dealer going to look at a manual Pro4x and see how I like the feel of how I sit in it with the clutch and shifter. I know I love the autos, drove them all the time in Houston when I was in the car rental industry with car privileges just never got anything manual and do miss a manual transmission. Plus want to be able to teach my kids how to drive a manual, oldest is only 5 years away. A tradition my family has had and I plan on keeping.

Sorry for the long post but I think I just answered my own question, will probably end up getting a Nissan Frontier, and if I can’t find the one I want used will just have to save up to buy new.

Again thanks for all the input and replies, and apologies for my rambling on.

Good deal.

When I was on the big island and it was absolutely crawling with lifted Tacomas. Are they super easy to come by or just popular over there? I remember going on an hour drive and we passed over 20 of them (not exaggerating at all)

 

[Dysan]

I think more popular because to get a Toyota on any island they all come in through the same company/dealership, Servco, same with Subaru’s. And even on this small island you can go 5 miles without passing 10 Toyota trucks, mostly Tacos.

Unfortunately on this island there are no “competing” dealerships, only on O’ahu and Big Island do you see say two Nissan dealers. But have learned if you go into the dealership with all the knowledge, you can get a good deal.

I would buy a used rental because of my discount but they only really have the Titans and I don’t like how I sit in them, manual or power seats.

It is sad that you can get a manual Crew Cab Pro4x for just $90 more than a base DoubleCab 4x4. Started building and pricing different options between the two. Will have to keep my eye on the used market for a good deal because there is a manual Wrangler Unlimited that has been to at least two dealerships in the past 4 months, so may get lucky with a slightly used manual Pro4x if I can find one. If I can’t find one in the time frame I am looking will just save up a little more and get new.