OH wants a Pickup truck. Recommendations pls

Another vote for the hi lux/ we bought ours over from japan 12 years ago because we wanted the twin cab. It just goes and goes . J reg and the last MOT cost £5 for bulbs !!
It is very dented as used as a real work horseon and off road but in the snow we have to weigh the back down to get a good grip to get round the sheep.
 
We have got a new izuzu d-max. Good for towing and goes anywhere. Fairly easy to drive but parking is tricky as they are long. We have got the double cab as the single cab and space cab had a lower towing capacity than the double. We are getting 30 miles to the gallon out of her.
 
Weve got the L200 - love it - mega cheap to run (well compared to most), cheap to tax - bit of a pain to insure as some dont cover pick ups - dog goes in the back, can tow two big horses ... :D

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Snowdrop said:
We have a Hilux and I much prefer it to the other pickups around. They have longer service intervals than the Nissan and Mitsubishi too. And they are indestructable as proven on Top Gear! :D
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Ah but it was a Navara that they drove across the channel to france! ;)

We have a Navara D40, and we love it.

I think which is best for you depends upon your budget and the age of car you are looking at. With our budget we would have been looking at an old shape Hilux or L200 but could get a new shape Navara and the new navara is worlds away from a L200 of the same age but in the pre-facelift style.

I wouldn't touch an old shape Navara, if you are looking for something pre 2005 then go for a L200, the Hilux is a bit like the defender, old ones hold their value (for good reason) so you would likely end up with something really old.

If you can afford something pretty new then look at the Izuzu and the VW too.
 
Sorry forgot to answer half the questions!

Ours is a double cab D40. With gorgeous electric adjustable, heated leather seats - so no problems for OH's bad back. Do look for the D40 though, the D22 had horrible reliability issues.

Cheap to run as 4x4s go. Good on fuel, we get over 40mpg. Cheap to tax as they are classed as commercial. Lovely and easy to drive, feel like a 4x4 rather than a truck/van, big turning circle compared to a standard 4x4 but then you get so much space and can keep the interior clean.

We bought a snugtop for ours (it came with a tonneau, but we needed more space) and that gives us a big but easy to clean space. We got the snug top second hand for about £100.

Downsides. It isn't easy to insure as a private vehicle, especially not if you also need business use because many of the insurance companies class it as a van not a car. Comparison companies often can't cope with it. It is a bit more to insure than our Kia Sorrento was but then it is a bit newer and worth more......

It hasn't quite got the muscle of something like a disco or a trooper. We tow one horse in it with no problems but we do struggle a bit reversing it up the hill where we park.
 
We recently changed our R reg Disco for a 54 reg Mitsi L200. So far we've been really happy with it, although I prefer to drive an automatic I cope with driving it just fine. I was really surprised with how well it handles on the road compared to the Disco! Yes it has a large turning circle and I have to be very careful where I park it I really like it. I've parked it in our work multi-storey car park on a couple of occasions with no issues, I do always reverse into a space whatever car I'm driving, I imagine it would be a nightmare to get in frontways to a space! It will be having its first towing adventure in a couple of weeks! LOL!
 
We have a L200. We love it. It's fairly cheap to run compared to some 4x4s and *touch wood* apart from this year we've had no issues with it.

Tows brilliantly with two horses and it great for ferrying around big dogs and hay and general horsey rubbish.

It is long so parking can be a problem but I reverse in everywhere and don't find it difficult.

Definitely would get another when it dies eventually.
 
If you want a cheap and cheerful, go for a Tata loadbeta. They come in ordinary and crewcab. 1.9cc engine, so economical (approx 40 mpg on a motorway run). Tows exceptionally well for its engine size, as it has plenty of weight to it. We once towed home a 5.5 ton lorry with it, and still got 30mpg, and had a clutch left at the end! Had ours from new, and a real workhorse, that is also brilliant off road. I'm sure that this is the smallest engine size you can get in a "real" pickup!
 
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