Desert Horses

Welcome to my horse blog, Desert Horses. We live in the desert southwest, near Palm Springs, CA, but board our horses up in our local mountains where it is cooler in the summer. I have 4 horses, all rescues. Here is the ranch up the mountains where the horses stay.

Monday, December 27, 2010

The RAV is kaput! Looking for a new car or TRUCK~


Well, bad news...the Toyota RAV is kaput. It needs a new clutch, new suspension, and we can't get it smogged. No, it isn't the catalytic converter and the mechanic says we need to take it to a dealer so that they could run a $700 test to see what's wrong, since he can't further diagnose it. So, hubby is out looking for a new car. He likes the Nissan XTerra or the Titan. I've been wanting a pickup for a LONG time, so I think we'll go try out a Titan today. There are some incentives now (before January 3rd) and he needs a car or truck to drive to work. His schedule is different from mine. Sometimes he doesn't go into work until 10:00 a.m. and then works until 7:00 p.m. Other days, he goes in a 7:00 a.m. (when I could drop him off) and works until 4:00 p.m. BUT, his schedule is so erratic, it would be hard to coordinate! Believe me, we've done it before and it isn't easy! I LOVE my CRV and she takes me everywhere, BUT, she isn't even three years old yet and has 80,000 miles! ACK! That's a LOT. I figure I put on 1,000 miles a month just to and from school. And, driving up the mountain on weekends, that's another 300 miles x 4x a month= another 1,200 miles. PLUS, driving around town, to and from our kids' houses...another 500 miles. While the Titan doesn't get the gasoline mileage as my CRV, it IS a V-8 engine and I could carry around horse stuff. And, the kids are always wanting to borrow a truck from one of their friends or relatives! So, off we go to check out trucks today...any suggestions? Oh, we are limited to $22,000, so that eliminates some of the Chevys. We like the Crew cab because we need room for all our camera equipment and stuff! We DO want to travel on side roads and forest roads, but don't necessarily need a 4-wheel drive. What are your truck experiences? I've added a poll on the left sidebar.

5 comments:

Mikey said...

I voted for a Ford. If you can find a lil F150, they are good running lil run around trucks. Wade has one as a work truck, I had a 97 a while back, and my mom has one. We have less problems with them than any other vehicle.

Barb said...

Well, Cheryl, it's a bummer about your little Rav4. I know you liked it a lot. I say stick with Toyota. They've had a hammering lately so the attention to detail at the factory will have sharpened up a lot. My Tundra is near 150,000 and has really only required maintenance. It hasn't let me down.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Too bad about the RAV. Vehicle shopping isn't much fun. Kind of stressful.

I always had problems with our Ford: transmission, oil leaks, sensors, but they tend to be less expenesive to fix. lol!

Chevys are great, as are Toyotas.
I've had a GMC Safari van for over 8 years and it has been perfect.....never any problems.
But hubby has a GMC truck nad just recently suffered a 4-wheel drive failure. But the GMC trucks have the best and most powerful engines available, though.

~Lisa

Linda said...

We have a Dodge and love it, but I do think those Toyota Tundras are good vehicles--expensive though and they don't usually deal much on them.

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

I have a Ford F150 Crew Cab and it has lasted me 9 years with just maintenance work. The 4WD Low is broken in that you can't get out of it without turning off the engine, but I haven't bothered to fix it. My neighbor has had a lot more problems with her Chevy truck, yet for some reason she swears by Chevy. Dodge RAMS were very popular around here for a while, but I don't see as many on the road anymore, so I suspect people started getting rid of them. We also have a Toyota T100 that's probably been around for 16 years and my son drives it to school every day. I'd say Ford or Toyota.