I’m in the market for a new truck, but I’ve had a gas guzzler before and the constant cost of gas took a lot away from the experience. Sure, a 1985 Chevy K-5 Blazer with 35″ tires is fun, a lot of fun, but only when gas was cheap. I got rid of that truck shortly before I moved out of the area. After moving across the country to Central Oregon, I have much more justification for a 4X4 vehicle than I ever did living in Maryland.
I’ve come to decide I need a mid-size truck for my needs, which include light work, but heavy play and hopefully a few toys to tow in the future. A double cab Tacoma is where I’m at now, but there is another version of the Tacoma I discovered while on vacation in Costa Rica last January.
The Toyota Hilux is a diesel powered Tacoma with an even sturdier suspension than the American version, plus it gets 30+ miles per gallon. Now I have already postponed my dreams of owning a diesel hybrid pick up truck for now, but I hope that someday this will become available. As soon as a more advanced hybrid with newer battery technology is combined with a clean burning diesel engine, I will snatch that thing up and fill it with what should be cheaper biodiesel by then.
Unfortunately, the global recession has stymied Toyota’s plans in this endeavor and they will be playing it safe like most other truck divisions in these strange green times. Now I have to decided between complete defeat or a difficult and possibly unattainable draw in this melee. Complete defeat would mean buying a 2010 Tacoma, this would still be my first new vehicle and totally awesome, but I’d be sucking on that petroleum teat for at least another five years.
A draw would be possible if I could find a way to import a new Toyota Hilux to the US (probably through Mexico) and then I would have a nice new truck that wasn’t a hybrid diesel, but could begin taking biodiesel immediately and then I’d be producing 1/50th the pollution of a gas vehicle. I’ve done some research on this, but if anyone has information on importing new vehicles, especially the Toyota double cab Hilux from Mexico or Canada or the UK, please drop a comment and let me know what you know.
Interesting links http://toyotatruckworld.tenmagazines.com/
http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-602991.html
http://www.dieselpowermag.com/features/toyota/index.html
Toyota truck actually cheaper than US trucks.