4x4 Truck Opinions
 

My friend Holly wants to follow her brother cross country as he drives his motorcycle this winter. He's new to motorcycles but won't listen to his family when they tell him riding across the US on a motorcycle in the winter when you have no experience is a foolish idea.

So Holly wants to buy a 4WD vehicle capable of towing/carrying a motorcycle in case they hit bad weather. Good gas milage is a plus. Any suggestions? I assume she should just tow a rental trailer or somthing? Will that limit her speed limit?

She wants to drive cross country with a trailer that will be empty 90% of the time? I wouldn't recommend that.

But, a good truck for this would probably be a compact Toyota Tacoma 4x4. If she didn't want to drag along a trailer, I'd suggest a full size vehicle that would fit the bike in it, with ramps, so that she doesn't need to drag a trailer along.

+1 for a truck big enough to hold the bike, so that there's not an empty trailer flailing around behind the whole drive...

What's her budget?

She has $10k in the bank, good credit, but makes very little on a monthly basis. She says she can drop the whole wad, but personally I think she should keep some money in the bank and finance it. She won't buy anything that costs over $20K.

Oh, and the reason I was thinking of her towing a trailor is that I don't imagine it's possible for her and her bro to get a motorcycle into the back of a pickup. Am I wrong?

A lighter bike would roll up easily w/ the correct ramp and two people to push it.

Also, it's much easier to load a bike when it in 7 or 8 parts after wrecking because a n00b is attempting to ride cross country it in the winter!

In other news... I can feel most of my nose again.

truck with good gas milage... that's funny.

i would recomend any toyota. they are better on fuel, but my tundra(4wd) is really tall for loading a bike, and it drinks a lot of gas so i wouldn't recomend that.

a diesel truck doesn't fail anything except the initial cost.

I vote she drives whatever she currently has, and when he breaks the bike and/or body parts, she just loads him up and takes him home (via the hospital). :lol:

Is the Xterra a good vehicle in general?

They're supposed to be decent, but there's no way you'd get a bike in one, nor would I recommend towing anything long distance in it, especially if there's a chance of bad weather.

They don't offer a 4X4 version?

Truck + trailer + ice on the road = doesn't matter if it's 4x4 or not.

gotcha

Does 4x2 mean its just 2 wheel drive and it's a dumb way of telling you?

She should just rent a big 4X4 and a ramp then I guess because she really wants somthing good on gas milage to take snowboarding and it's sounding like she won't find somthing that will be both things.

Xterras are pretty nice trucks, they just get shit mileage, even for a V6 midsize SUV. (Yes, that's a somewhat positive review of an SUV coming from me.)

Sounds like you got it right, she needs to rent something to follow her brother around with, and pick up a Subaru Forester or 2.5i afterwards.

Pick up a '94+ Toyota compact pickup 4x4 in decent condition for <$10,000. That should get you at least a driver's side airbag, and fuel injection.

Most any bike should fit with the tailgate down, and tailgate up if in pieces as previously mentioned.

Pick up some 1 - 2" tie downs from Walmart or Harbor Freight. HF also has cheap loading ramps, as well as aluminum pieces you can stick on the end of normal 2x6s.

Figure out how to load it and practice it before you need to.

Upgrade life insurance, and medical coverage.

X-terras are decent, and that's REALLY saying something coming from a guy who works on them...

Just tow the crashed bike with a rope around the swingarm part.

:lol: Thanks guys.