Just bought a new truck

[Ekinchheng]

This is my first truck and from test driving this compare to tacoma, frontier, and ranger, this is the one I feel that is right for me. It is a 2005 colorado regular cab with z71 package, 3.5 L engine with 160,000 miles. I bought it for $6300 the dealer wanted $6900. It comes with 3 month warranty engine,transmission etc. There's no oil leak but has little bit of rust. What do you guys think?

[MinisterofDOOM]

Not terribly fond of the 5 cylinder in the Colorado. The 4.2 liter 6 it's derived from is excellent, but the 5 has balance/refinement issues and lacks torque, especially down low.

That wheel and tire package looks pretty good.

What are you planning to use it for? Offroading, towing, haulin' stuff? Or just DD with a bed?

[Jesda]

Looks good to me. I tend to prefer the S-10 not because it was a better truck (Colorado is MUCH stiffer, better built, and more reliable), but because it had the 6.

[Ekinchheng]

Not terribly fond of the 5 cylinder in the Colorado. The 4.2 liter 6 it's derived from is excellent, but the 5 has balance/refinement issues and lacks torque, especially down low.

That wheel and tire package looks pretty good.

What are you planning to use it for? Offroading, towing, haulin' stuff? Or just DD with a bed?

Mainly just a daily but I hardly won't be putting to much miles and I needed a truck so I can track my car

[Bubba1]

Mainly just a daily but I hardly won't be putting to much miles and I needed a truck so I can track my car

Nice looking truck and I see no issue with it as a daily driver, but I fear you might encounter problems towing a car safely with that truck, as I think the Colorado's towing capacity is only 4000lbs.

[Jesda]

You should be fine towing a small car. I do it with a V6 F150 hauling classic cars back and forth across the country. Just keep the speed below 65mph, check your tire inflation, and make sure you have trans cooler and maybe get a trans temp gauge.

I have 205hp. I think you have 220hp. Just be careful and make sure you don't allow the automatic to hunt for gears too frequently.

[Bubba1]

You should be fine towing a small car. I do it with a V6 F150 hauling classic cars back and forth across the country. Just keep the speed below 65mph, check your tire inflation, and make sure you have trans cooler and maybe get a trans temp gauge.

I have 205hp. I think you have 220hp. Just be careful and make sure you don't allow the automatic to hunt for gears too frequently.

Despite the close hp #'s, the F150 is a full sized pickup designed to tow significantly more than a midsized Colorado. An older F150 4.2 V6 pickup automatic with 3.55 rear, has what, a 5200 lb towing capacity? The Colorado's capacity is just 4000' . So towing a car with a steel trailer should be a non-issue for a V6 F150, but dangerous for a Colorado as you're operating at or above it's designed limits. I recommend driving your car to/from the track instead of towing it with a Colorado.

[flohtingPoint]

You should be fine towing a small car. I do it with a V6 F150 hauling classic cars back and forth across the country. Just keep the speed below 65mph, check your tire inflation, and make sure you have trans cooler and maybe get a trans temp gauge.

I have 205hp. I think you have 220hp. Just be careful and make sure you don't allow the automatic to hunt for gears too frequently.

As someone who tows regularly to/from tracks/sites, towing with a midsize truck is A BAD IDEA. Can you get away with it? Yes. Is it a terrible idea? Absolutely.

Towing is something you want to go overkill on, ALWAYS. We tow light cars with 10,000 lbs rated trucks, and ones with less mileage than 160k! When you start going uphill/downhill and your trans is going bonkers banging between gears, it will only take so much of that abuse before it craps the bed (petrol trans are not exactly the best, petrol trans on mid size trucks are going to be even worse).


With your truck you're lacking two very important things:
-Wheelbase: You want the longer the better. Longer wheelbase = more stable tow (less sway)

-Brakes: Your stopping distance is going to double, and with those tiny little brakes on a midsize, it's going to be worse.

[Ekinchheng]

You should be fine towing a small car. I do it with a V6 F150 hauling classic cars back and forth across the country. Just keep the speed below 65mph, check your tire inflation, and make sure you have trans cooler and maybe get a trans temp gauge.

I have 205hp. I think you have 220hp. Just be careful and make sure you don't allow the automatic to hunt for gears too frequently.

Despite the close hp #'s, the F150 is a full sized pickup designed to tow significantly more than a midsized Colorado. An older F150 4.2 V6 pickup automatic with 3.55 rear, has what, a 5200 lb towing capacity? The Colorado's capacity is just 4000' . So towing a car with a steel trailer should be a non-issue for a V6 F150, but dangerous for a Colorado as you're operating at or above it's designed limits. I recommend driving your car to/from the track instead of towing it with a Colorado.

Bubba1 it does make more sense to just drive my car to the track since the track is only about 40 mins away. For insurance, in case my car breaks at the track, I don't want to wait hours for a tow truck when I have a truck and a trailer. For the most part my truck will be a daily just on the weekends.

[Jesda]

[quote="flohtingPoint"
As someone who tows regularly to/from tracks/sites, towing with a midsize truck is A BAD IDEA. Can you get away with it? Yes. Is it a terrible idea? Absolutely.[/quote]

This is something Americans always go bonkers on. In other countries, compact and midsize pickups (and sometimes small hatchbacks!) are used for towing trailers, campers, and small cars on a routine basis. No pretzeling, no mass casualties.

Assuming you're towing a small lightweight car (to/from racing events) and you stay below GM's specified limits, you'll be just fine.

Quality advice:
http://www.355nation.net/forum/how-chas ... orado.html

The general rule of thumb is that if you are towing a load of over 2,000 lbs. on a regular basis, you need to invest in trailer brakes and a brake controller. This will allow you to stop the load on something approaching a normal distance as well as reducing the load on your front brakes. Don't hold me too it, but I read somewhere that on pickup trucks because of the way they are loaded 70% of your braking power comes from the front and 30% from the rear. Don't skimp on this guys.....the one time you wish you hadn't could possibly be your last.

[Bubba1]

[
Bubba1 it does make more sense to just drive my car to the track since the track is only about 40 mins away. For insurance, in case my car breaks at the track, I don't want to wait hours for a tow truck when I have a truck and a trailer. For the most part my truck will be a daily just on the weekends.

I understand. I have a tow vehicle too as cheap insurance (mine is fullsized). I agree both the convenience and peace-of-mind-if something-breaks benefits are huge. Be prepared, when you have a tow setup, you will become very popular in the paddock when someone else breaks down, and they look to find a way to get their car home. Enjoy.

[flohtingPoint]

As someone who tows regularly to/from tracks/sites, towing with a midsize truck is A BAD IDEA. Can you get away with it? Yes. Is it a terrible idea? Absolutely.

This is something Americans always go bonkers on. In other countries, compact and midsize pickups (and sometimes small hatchbacks!) are used for towing trailers, campers, and small cars on a routine basis. No pretzeling, no mass casualties.

Assuming you're towing a small lightweight car (to/from racing events) and you stay below GM's specified limits, you'll be just fine.

Quality advice:
http://www.355nation.net/forum/how-chas ... orado.html

The general rule of thumb is that if you are towing a load of over 2,000 lbs. on a regular basis, you need to invest in trailer brakes and a brake controller. This will allow you to stop the load on something approaching a normal distance as well as reducing the load on your front brakes. Don't hold me too it, but I read somewhere that on pickup trucks because of the way they are loaded 70% of your braking power comes from the front and 30% from the rear. Don't skimp on this guys.....the one time you wish you hadn't could possibly be your last.

Um, you're the American here... I'm from Italy, and I'm telling you that towing with a mid-size truck is very unwise.

People in Europe tow with foolish vehicles but you see this in America also. There are uninformed people all over the planet... The biggest difference is that people in Europe that tow with stupid vehicles, they're not towing very far. You speak to a lot of folks, and a good number have not even left their own country (which was shocking cause France was a 1.5 hr drive west of where I lived in Germany, 1.5 hrs is my round trip commute to work sometimes). Americans traverse states like it's nothing.

Look, you may tow once, twice, perhaps even three times a year. I towed 15,000 - 20,000 miles a year. I also compete with 1,200 other national folk who, a good 65-75% also tow around that number. What do you think we all talk about when we're sitting around? Cars, how we did that day in competition, and the tow out to [insert random state here]. It's possible that I might have a much better idea about towing than you do. I'm sure you know a lot about other things, but on this subject, the advise your giving is not good.