How To Choose The Right Pickup Truck

Many factors play into the choice of the right pickup. Chances are, there are several makes and models that can fit your needs. Once you have narrowed down your desired functional features, you can start taking into account the luxury and aesthetic factors.

Function

If you have decided to purchase a pickup truck, you probably have one or more purposes in mind for it. Whether you need a farm truck or a nice off-road truck for hauling camping gear to remote campsites, these purposes play a big role in choosing your truck. The foremost decision you have to make is size. How much hauling and towing are you going to do? If your hauling needs are limited to things like taking the trash to the dump or moving items like furniture, a half ton truck is fine. The next step is to determine engine size. Obviously, if you are getting a larger truck for greater hauling capacity, you are looking at larger engine sizes. But if you decided to get a light duty truck, you have another decision to make. Light duty trucks come with engines as small as four cylinders, which is great if your hauling needs are really light duty and you want to take advantage of good gas mileage. If you want to haul or tow a bit more, or want a more powerful engine for off-road adventures, get the more moderate six or eight cylinder truck.

Preference

Once you have narrowed down your functional needs, you should have a short list of several makes and models. Now you can start considering price, manufacturer and aesthetics. Price versus manufacturer is a big one; you can pay a lot more for a Toyota than you might for a Ford of similar stature. If your budget is tight, you have to weigh the pros and cons of each. Once you have narrowed your choices down to a few, test drive them. It is surprising how quickly you can make a decision based on comfort, driveability and minor features, which is why you should save this step for last!

Choosing the right pickup truck probably seems overwhelming at first, but a step by step process of narrowing down your choices makes the decision much easier. Once you have a list of trucks that fit your needs, you can enjoy the fun part of the process, checking out luxury features and taking test drives.

Come up with a short list of several makes and models

by Cindy Bolo, Auto writer