lawlRedneck

So, of late I have been browsing around looking at new vehicles in hopes of maybe finding one to replace my current ’97 Pickup after I get out from under all these medical bills piling up.

My criteria so far has been pretty simple, or so one would think.

- Manual Transmission

- 4wd but not auto-trac or similar 4wd

- The engine has enough torque to maintain decent fuel efficiency for the weight of the vehicle.

- Must be able to get me up and down the mountains in october in any weather that may pop up, up to and including 3 feet of snow pouring in, with a weeks worth of gear, and 500lbs of elk in a cooler.

Seems pretty simple, right? Well, it would seem that every body that makes a 4 wheel drive is dropping the manual transmission, or doing something supremely stupid like Toyota and coupling the manual with auto-4wd.  GM stopped offering manual transmissions in ’06, the aforementioned Toyota FJ has auto-4wd, Dodge just dropped all manuals in half ton pickups, and ford only has the manual in their 4.8L Triton half ton. So my choices have become pretty damn narrow.

- Dodge 3/4 ton with the Cummins I6 Diesel

- Ford 3/4 ton with either the PowerStroke or the V10 Triton.

- Jeep Wrangler Rubicon or Rubicon Unlimited

- Modify my ’97 to build what I want

So far, the Jeep Wrangler is leading by a narrow margin just due to the fact, I don’t actually use my pickup like a pickup anymore, but we’ll just sit tight and wait for the ’09 stuff to come out, and see what kind of interesting things come forth.

Or maybe, something brand new will come out and spin all my research about, or someone will come up with an option I hadn’t thought of.