What crew cab pickup for MPG's?

This is just an info gathering thread that will likely go nowhere. For reasons that make no sense whatsoever, I want a pickup. It would need to be a crew cab. 

So I'm wondering, what options with a crew cab give the best MPG's? Figure a $10k max budget. Some guidelines here: 

-I'd like to be able to tow my Dads boat, which is about 4,500 lbs fully loaded

-I think the only options that I'm ruling out off the bat are the S10/Sonoma, the Explorer truck thing, and the Subaru Baja

-I don't like Dakotas. If they're the answer here, convince me

-4WD is nice. I really would like to have it. It is NOT necessary. 

-Diesel is ok. A chip/reflash is also ok, assuming that it maintains reliability (Still not convinced about this point just from a clean-air perspective, but I'd like to hear about the options regardless if they're still a thing)

EDIT: By Crew Cab, what I really mean is "fits a baby seat in the back, safely". If the Tundra half-crew cab or the Ram half crew cab thingys do that, they're in play.

Really depends what you want.

Mid-size truck, The new Rangers are rated at 26 mpg highway and will tow up to 7500 lbs

1/2 ton, Ecoboost F150.  My father has one and it gets around 23 mpg highway, much less towing my car however.

3/4 ton, 06/07 Duramax with all the junk deleted will get over 20 mpg on the highway and pull anything you want.

Edit, Just saw your $10k max budget.

In that case I'd say a late 2000's Chevy with a 5.3.  Probably get around 17-18mpg unloaded and 13-14mpg towing.

I don't think you're going to find a decent diesel under your budget.  I'm not a fan of the Ford 4.6/5.4, they are ok but the never ending coilpack replacements and fear of shooting a spark plug through the hood at any time would deter me.  I don't think you'll find a 5.0 or Ecoboost in your budget.  I had a Ram with the 4.7, it would get 21mpg on the highway but it had transmission issues like they all do.  I also don't believe Dodge trucks are on the same playing field as Chevy/Ford for build quality.  I don't know anything about the Toyota's but people swear by them.  Maybe worth a shot.

Man, looking at Craigslist and Fuelly, the best I can do is a Honda Ridgeline at 17mpg.  Not sure that can tow 4500, but everything else dips to 14s or below. A nice Chevy Avalanche 2500 is 9.5mpg!  Good luck. 

I'd tend to say F-150 with turbos if you can find one at your price.  If you keep your foot out of it, the mpg is almost the same as the underpowered N/A V6 trucks or the older small trucks (newer small trucks will do a bit better).  Power is there when you need it, but when towing or if you're driving it hard, it'll burn just as much gas as any of the V8 trucks.  And if you like diesels, the powerband feels like a diesel that learned how to rev.  

If you know where one of these are hiding unloved please let me know :)

pinchvalve said:

Man, looking at Craigslist and Fuelly, the best I can do is a Honda Ridgeline at 17mpg.  Not sure that can tow 4500, but everything else dips to 14s or below. A nice Chevy Avalanche 2500 is 9.5mpg!  Good luck. 

This makes the most sense to me. The early ones dip down to $10k and can scrape 20mpg unloaded on the highway.

A midsize/compact truck will tow that much if you shop carefully.  I have a 94 Mazda B4000 which would be rated for that much if it weren't a manual.  But, at 160 hp, things can be slow.  It is 4x4 and I pretty consistently got 18mpg before the ladder rack, now 17 with the rack.

$10k doesn't buy much of a diesel these days, but in that range if you want diesel, find the nicest 05-07 Duramax you can.  Those are the best years IMO... after the LB7 injector problems, first of the VNT Garrett, and before DPF.  With a tune that bumps timing and fueling, you can likely expect 22mpg or better

Another possibility... find the nicest 6.5TD you can.  22mpg out of the box, and don't let the 180 hp fool you.  The torque is fantastic.  I had a crew cab long bed and I towed 10k with it a lot.  Even in the rockies, it never dipped below the speed limit going up the mountains.

This just popped in my head, too.  Many of the truck magazines did reviews on all the compacts when the Ranger came out last year.  Pretty much across the board, their pick was the Colorado/Canyon... some of them even picked it above the Tacoma.  Available as a crew cab, plenty out there in your price range, but probably not the highest MPG.

MINIzguy said:

pinchvalve said:

Man, looking at Craigslist and Fuelly, the best I can do is a Honda Ridgeline at 17mpg.  Not sure that can tow 4500, but everything else dips to 14s or below. A nice Chevy Avalanche 2500 is 9.5mpg!  Good luck. 

This makes the most sense to me. The early ones dip down to $10k and can scrape 20mpg unloaded on the highway.

I keep thinking the Ridgeline is the easy answer, and I also keep thinking "that has to pull at least 24 highway, right?"

How does it get such poor MPG's? I suppose the answer to that is the fact that, despite the naysayers, it is a real truck and does real truck things with real truck performance.

pinchvalve said:

Man, looking at Craigslist and Fuelly, the best I can do is a Honda Ridgeline at 17mpg.  Not sure that can tow 4500, but everything else dips to 14s or below. A nice Chevy Avalanche 2500 is 9.5mpg!  Good luck. 

Keep in mind that a Ridgeline is a unibody car with a bed.  It's basically an Accord.  It might be rated for that much, but it would depend on how much you tow.  If you will use it as a truck a lot, buy a truck.  If you just tow once a year and then haul a little lumber and mulch, Ridgeline might be an option.

Curtis said:

pinchvalve said:

Man, looking at Craigslist and Fuelly, the best I can do is a Honda Ridgeline at 17mpg.  Not sure that can tow 4500, but everything else dips to 14s or below. A nice Chevy Avalanche 2500 is 9.5mpg!  Good luck. 

Keep in mind that a Ridgeline is a unibody car with a bed.  It's basically an Accord.  It might be rated for that much, but it would depend on how much you tow.  If you will use it as a truck a lot, buy a truck.  If you just tow once a year and then haul a little lumber and mulch, Ridgeline might be an option.

Ridgeline is definitely an option.

rslifkin said:

I'd tend to say F-150 with turbos if you can find one at your price.  If you keep your foot out of it, the mpg is almost the same as the underpowered N/A V6 trucks or the older small trucks (newer small trucks will do a bit better).  Power is there when you need it, but when towing or if you're driving it hard, it'll burn just as much gas as any of the V8 trucks.  And if you like diesels, the powerband feels like a diesel that learned how to rev.  

Are Ecoboosts getting down to the $10k range?  I have towed with one and was very impressed.  Not sure about MPGs

mtn said:

MINIzguy said:

pinchvalve said:

Man, looking at Craigslist and Fuelly, the best I can do is a Honda Ridgeline at 17mpg.  Not sure that can tow 4500, but everything else dips to 14s or below. A nice Chevy Avalanche 2500 is 9.5mpg!  Good luck. 

This makes the most sense to me. The early ones dip down to $10k and can scrape 20mpg unloaded on the highway.

I keep thinking the Ridgeline is the easy answer, and I also keep thinking "that has to pull at least 24 highway, right?"

How does it get such poor MPG's? I suppose the answer to that is the fact that, despite the naysayers, it is a real truck and does real truck things with real truck performance.

So the facelifted ones (2010+ I think?) have different gearing that allows them better highway MPG. I think I did 22mpg when I drove the parent's one mostly highway, and I'm sure more could be had at 65mph vs 75mph. I estimated lower for the pre-facelift ones just to not disappoint anybody.

According to fueleconomy.gov, the Chevy Colorado w 3.5 i5 and auto beats the Ridgeline by 1 mpg.

In reply to Curtis :

I'm not seeing any locally for $10k right now, but the 100k mile and up examples are getting pretty darn close it appears.  Even a couple from dealers for around $13k.  

2004-2006 Silverado/Sierra 4.8's will still get 22-24mpg highway(depending on rear end ratio. The 3.23 is better for economy while the 3.42 is better for towing). Seats 6 comfortably, 3 rear LATCH stations, rear seats will also fold flat making a nice load floor. Problem at this point is finding one without rust. 

EDIT: ours has towed 4-5k pounds a lot. Still gets 14 towing. It's not fast with that much weight behind it, but it's not struggling either. empty (1800lb) trailer it still gets 17 towing.

bobzilla said:

2004-2006 Silverado/Sierra 4.8's will still get 22-24mpg highway(depending on rear end ratio. The 3.23 is better for economy while the 3.42 is better for towing). Seats 6 comfortably, 3 rear LATCH stations, rear seats will also fold flat making a nice load floor. Problem at this point is finding one without rust. 

How does the 3.23 do for towing? I'm not towing a horse trailer here, just some boats, and mostly short distances. 

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/773630549/overview/

In reply to mtn :

you caught me pre-edit. It's towed to Lincoln a 2000lb Civic on the 1800lb trailer with a weeks worth of supplies and 3 adults with ease. It brought the C4 home on the same trailer from Arkansas without issue. You're not going to win many drag races with a trailer, but it could keep up with a friend's Ram with a hemi and 3.73's towing a 24' enclosed...... and need a helluva lot less fuel. That year I towed the Forte our (2700 lbs car, 1800lb trailer and about 300lbs of beer, food, tools, tires, clothes and misc crap). I averaged 14 round trip towing. Most recently was the Tiburon. that trip we averaged 15.5 because we went out empty.

I will assume that your quest for MPG is for savings, but given that 4 door trucks sell for such a premium might you see better savings buying an overlooked model? 

Ford Explorer Sport Trac. 

The V8 models (4.6L) are rated to tow up to 7,000 lbs (3,500 for V6)

The box bed is small but given that you are in the rust belt, the fact that the bed/box is plastic should be a big bonus.  

Edit: Re reading your intro post, I see you have forbid the Explorer truck thing. Oops. 

In reply to John Welsh :

I didn't realize the bed on those is plastic.  Certainly a plus in the rust belt.  

Mtn eliminated them right off the bat tho, in addition to s10s and Subaru bajas.

For whatever reason, I really despise those Exploder pickup things. 

Curtis said:

rslifkin said:

I'd tend to say F-150 with turbos if you can find one at your price.  If you keep your foot out of it, the mpg is almost the same as the underpowered N/A V6 trucks or the older small trucks (newer small trucks will do a bit better).  Power is there when you need it, but when towing or if you're driving it hard, it'll burn just as much gas as any of the V8 trucks.  And if you like diesels, the powerband feels like a diesel that learned how to rev.  

Are Ecoboosts getting down to the $10k range?  I have towed with one and was very impressed.  Not sure about MPGs

I’ve not seen them that cheap, my 5.0 powered version gets that good also. I’ll turn over 40,000 on it and it’s combined fuel economy is 18.4.

In reply to mtn :

I get it.  It was odd for me to recommend one too.  

But, I did now someone who had one w/ a tall cap on the back.  A cap like this:

The cap door allowed her to see low when hooking up a trailer yet the whole rear end opens like a hatch back too for full bed access.  She keeps Alpacas and for her, the bed was good for hauling her hay/feed needs.  It could tow her horse/alpaca trailer well enough while still being not too big and not too cumbersome in a grocery store parking lot.   For her, it was an explorer that was good at carrying dirty things.  

I bought a '13 Ford F-150 Ecoboost almost 2 years ago and paid 14K all taxes included. It came with 144K miles and it drives like new.

I only had to do a brake job and replace one O2 sensor since purchase. It gets 20+ mpg on the highway and up to 15 mpg towing my open car trailer with about 4K gross weight loaded.

So a sub 10K Ecoboost should be out there, it's just not yet common.

Depending on how much towing you do a regular old Chev/GMC will beat the Ridgeline any day on MPG. The V6's are gas hogs once you hook something up to them.