Trying to not follow the curvature?

Quit being a troll, this thread has nothing to do with that.

 buybuybuy

Yeah, I totally would if I were in the market. That plow would be a God-send in winter for my driveway 

Dreaming aside, what I should start shopping around for is something that can fit 3 kids for less than 10k to replace our Wrangler.

There are 90s Camrys that are AWD. A Tercel in decent shape will work forever too and those are 4x4 as well (which is why they are hard to find in decent shape ). Both of those have dirt cheap parts too that aren't drying up for some reason either.

I always see Subys recommended but increasingly I think the head gasket issue is just a no-go because of the mileage on the things, when one is being sold they almost always need a new gasket (which requires machining, not just a simple swap).

Chevy Astros are absolutely amazing family vans AND are 4x4, they are super reliable to boot. You can find companies dumping multiples of these sometimes but they are getting rarer as they stopped getting produced in the mid 2000s. They are g2g but you will probably have to do some work on them as the ones out there are HIGH mileage. If I didn't have a 6 seater vehicle I would have bought one.

Which trucks are these?

Daihatsu Hijets, Suzuki Carries, Mitsubishi Minicabs etc all can get 40+ (30+ is easy even if you aren't driving for economy) if you aren't going too fast, which is why I say they are better in town, on slower roads or off road. You have to remember that mini/kei trucks have tiny engines. If you are driving on freeways they are not ideal, these are designed for Japanese highways and cities which have slower speed limits. This is also assuming you are actually taking care of the carbs in particular, as a lot of these are not injected and your mpg tanks like CRAZY if you get jetting etc. Grab some kits .

Worth noting also besides the folding beds a lot of these trucks have dump beds as well. I just really can't universally recommend these unless you can tolerate right hand drive, can deal with not going on freeways, or you live rurally. I can think of too many situations where I would want a pickup at least, when I retire though it's on!

Any thoughts about the Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon diesels?

I can't recommend the post 2015 ones at all because of the steering issues and electrical issues. The power steering NHTSAs are scary lol. The steering system leaks cause crashes https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2015/CHEVROLET/COLORADO/PU%25252FEC/4WD#complaints

Yikes! Thanks for that heads up!

NP! It's unfortunate it's a universal component between models so it's not like an engine where there are some good and bad, the entire well is poisoned by one part. I just don't understand how they stopped making a perfectly good vehicle.

Nissan Frontiers are nice after 2008 EXCEPT FOR THE CLUTCH PLASTIC, this component wears out all of the time and you will do multiple replacements. I think a Tacoma is a better investment because the fuel economy makes it a cheaper vehicle after a few years. The "Tacoma tax" is real though and is only getting worse.

I don't know if you've looked at www.carcomplaints.com but they aggregate NHTSA complaints and visually tabulate the data and break it down. Unfortunately they don't have a lot of detail on certain years and cars but overall it's decent. The big thing about this site is that NHTSA complaints themselves never tell the full story and you have to dig deeper. It's a decent starting point for research though. It's also worth noting that the comments that are on the site aren't NHTSA complaints but rather user reported so while some are useful they need to be taken with a grain of salt. When I'm curious about a vehicle I always jump into forums after reviewing basic data to understand what people "on the ground" are saying about the vehicles. This is actually what scared me from Suzuki Grand Vitaras, NHTSA seemed to check out great but there are crazy timing chain problems around 115k miles that aren't reflected at all in NHTSAs or on carcomplaints but everyone on Suzuki forums complains. Buying a car is a nightmare and I dodged a bullet because I saw one locally with around 105k and it visually etc had 0 problems.

Just my 2c.

If I don't get a truck, my fall back is a 2014 VW TDI (the last year of the "no pee" diesels).

"no pee" diesel?

In 2015 VW went to the urea exhaust catalyst.  Urea—as in pee. The urea has to be maintained or the engine won't start.

Mind boggling why changes like this happen other than to get you into a shop and charge you. That in short is the electric scam but if you do your own conversion you get the last laugh.