Trying to make the move to Alaska (Anchorage, Fairbanks: buyer, movies)

[riceme]

I forgot about the Tacomas... I still consider them to be small trucks, but my uncle just bought one and he loves it.

I am nowhere near 6-ft tall... I am little (well I'm 5'7" so I guess I'm not that little for a girl), so I can't reach any of the windows except the one I'm sitting at. My thing with the manual crank windows is exactly what you said... THEY ALWAYS WORK. Hell, even if one of the mechanisms broke they are super easy to fix and the parts are really cheap, unlike automatic windows.

I read that two new Nissan pickups are going to have Cummins motors in them

The Titan will offer a 5L V8

Cummins Engines

And Frontier a 2.8L 4-cyl

Nissan Frontier Diesel Runner Truck | Nissan USA

I am not a Nissan fan... if I'm going in that direction it will be another Toyota or if I ever buy a car it would likely be a Subaru, but I will enjoy seeing where this goes.

[Dakster]

Toyota is coming out with a diesel truck and the chevy colorado is too.

I had a Toyo Tundra for a bit and it was OK. Rode great, hauled and pulled not so great. I test drove Nissan Titan then and I didn't like it, which was too bad because the truck I test drove was $15k less than the Tundra I bought. But I guess there is a reason for that.

It is going to be tough to sell a diesel "small" or "medium" sized pickup at a premium over the gas motors, when diesel costs so much more than gas.

BTW - I have been waiting and waitng for the other companies to come out with diesel offerings. At least make the big three continue to innovate.

I had a Subaru WRX Wagon (auto though) and the wife and I both liked it. Problem was that it was too small for the four of us so I had to sell it. She had a Volvo XC-70 at the time so the smaller car had to go. I ended up with a diesel excursion... We like the subbies too. When the volt lease is up we will be looking at them again.

5-7 is not short for a girl at all...

Nice chatting - kinda got off topic here for the OP.... Gotta get some sleep now.

[riceme]

OH, good to hear Toyota is coming out with a diesel! I hope it's in the Tacoma and not that dog the Tundra. I knew about the diesel Colorado and that didn't surprise me much. I managed a fleet of Tundras in one of my past lives and I think they are grossly oversold as full sized pickups. I had to haul a backhoe into the mountains with one and it scared the **** out of me. That was the deciding factor for the business to get Ford 3/4-ton gasoline and Dodge 1-ton diesels when we bought new trucks.

WRXs are pretty sweet cars, as are Volvos... when I lived in the South my husband (no longer) was going to buy a 60R but we didn't have a dealership anywhere near us and he was afraid parts & warranty might be an issue. He ended up with a 2005 Honda Accord Coupe V6 6-speed manual and LOVED IT. The Volvo seemed sluggish and lumbering after driving the Honda... that car ran like a squashed cat.

I expect that after this fall in crude settles the price of diesel will come down, but it's more difficult to predict the price of diesel than it is gasoline... hard to tell what will happen with it. Still, the fact remains that properly cared for a diesel engine will outlast a gasoline engine two to one, and that is their primary selling point, not the price of fuel (although that is hard to remember at times like these!). So... drop a little diesel into a Tacoma and marry it up with a 6-speed manual and you'd have a marriage made in heaven. So yeah... it will be interesting to see if Nissan can sell the Cummins.

Sweet baby jebus, why oh why didn't Toyota and Cummins get together???

Yeah, I need to hit the rack too... and we should get back on topic. Wait, what's the topic??

[Dakster]

Hino makes some nice diesels.. lets see if toyota uses those here.

[Super10]

Me trying to get to Alaska... Hahahahaha

[Super10]

Man, If I get up there I wanna meet up with you guys for a coffee and chit chat... Hahahahaha

[Dakster]

I am sure you will do fine and good luck on getting up here. Coffee sounds great.

[6.7traveler]

I've owned 3 cummins now and they are great trucks. 2 5.9's and a 6.7. I have always had good luck with the cummins and think dodge gets a bad rap from back in the day. I am curious to see how the new smaller versions of the cummins hold up. I did eat up two trannys in my 5.9 but in my 2012 manual 6.7 I had 150k trouble free towing miles on it and my only compliant was the dismal gas mileage compared to the 5.9. I will buy another cummins here in the next year or so. I like a solid front axle and can't afford the new ford diesels and also have trust issues after owning a few 6.0 liters. To each his own.

[riceme]

What happened to your 6L V8? Obviously I'm interested because our family seems to be amassing a small fleet of them, lol.

True that most of my distaste for Dodge pickups comes from the late 80s into the 90s model years. For a small truck the Dakota was not terrible back then but if I have to drive a small truck I'm getting a Tacoma every single time. Actually I lied earlier... another Dodge I would drive and rely on is an old Powerwagon. Those were pretty awesome trucks. Not sure about the new ones. I'd probably take any model year Cummins, but as with all, some were better than others. There's a guy in Fairbanks who has a beautifully restored classic... I'm not quite sure of the exact model year, but I think it's late 60s early 70s. I've only seen him a couple times and I was behind him both times.

[6.7traveler]

I have always been intrigued by the newer 4 door 4x4 tacomas. With all of this truck talk it makes me want to go truck shopping Anyways, I am getting all set up out here off mile 9 on the Elliot highway in a dry cabin. Have only a wood stove for heat so I have been busy splitting wood. Have a few dogs to take care of as well for the full experience. Loving it and glad I am not living in downtown Fairbanks in an apartment, too many people for my tastes I just ate breakfast at the hilltop gas station out that way and it was really good food. My new favorite stop. One of these days I plan on driving down the entire haul road but will probably wait till spring/summer.

If the OP is working 92 miles from tok would he be working at the border or some sort of mine? I loved that stretch between Tok and Delta and may look at property out there someday.

About gas and diesel prices, I read that people in the bush are still paying $6-$7 a gallon for fuel because it was all bought last year when prices were high. Does that mean if they buy their next shipment of fuel now when prices are low, and then prices go up across the board, could they theoretically have cheaper fuel prices for a while than the road system, or would the owners adjust their prices to the current price?