i am 17 and don't have much money and with gass prices going through the roof i was wondering what type of truck would have the power to tow a boat without putting a huge dint in my wallet with gass?
any help would be appriciated i am a ypung'n with a fish'n addictin

An old body style chevy with a 305tbi motor (tbi's ran from 88-95 i beleive). It's a smaller v8 and gets very acceptable mileage. Strong enough to pull a boat but not a monster by any means. Poke around the internet for a few mods. People get 20+ mpg (unloaded) and you could probably pick up a fairly low mileage nice truck for around 5k.

I don't know if I would go the truck route again. I have a 1986 Chevrolet Silverado with the 305 v-8 (5.0 liter). I inherited it from my grandmother (my mom and her brothers had bought it for my granny new back in June of '86). It's been a great truck, but the gas mileage is a killer (15 unloaded as low as 8 when pulling one of my boats).

If I were you, I'd find myself a 1994-1996 Cadillac Brougham (needs to be the really big car, sometimes called the Fleetwood Brougham). Or I'd look at the 1994 - 1996 Buick Roadmaster sedan or Roadmaster wagon. These two cars and the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Wagon (1992 model) can tow up to 7000 pounds when properly equipped and thats more than my truck.

They get better gas mileage and usually since older people bought and drove them, they are generally in better mechanical shape. I would look on Autotrader's website and see what's out there...You can usually find one with 100,000 miles for around $2000 (buick) and most are 1 or 2 owner (always try to buy from a senior citizen when possible.

Good thing about a wagon is you can haul as much as the trucks and not worried about it getting wet...but if you're set on a truck, look at the Chevy's and GMC's.

^^Unless the truck was a 1987 (i cant tell from you're description) its not even the same motor. And even if it was it would have been in an older body style truck which was a brick so i'm not really sure that you can compare the two. Go with the truck imo.

Btw what school do you go to.

get a chevy s10 with the 4.3L v6. its what i got and it pulls my 19 ft boat. throw some sand bags in the bed for traction.

I have an 85 Chevy K10 with the carbed 305 and yes the gas mileage sucks, but wacky was talking about the tbi injected 305's which do get better gas mileage..Whatever you do, dont get and old carbed truck, make sure its fuel injected and as new as possible, a chevy with a 305 will do just fine(tbi), or a ford with a 302. S10's and Ford rangers with v6's would also be great picks..

Stay away from any older Chevy truck with an R-700 transmission!

They'll leak and finally take a dump on you, if they haven't already done so on the first owner.

A 1-2 owner crown vic would be good too. Those things get 25+hwy
unloaded. Just make sure it's not an ex cop car. Well a regular
cruiser anyway, a detective car might be okay.

A Chevy truck with the 4.3 V6. I had this truck, a 1997 K1500 and even with 4x4, 265/75/16 tires, I'd get 20-22 mpg on the hwy. I decided to switch to BFG AllTerrains from the goodyears it came with and wow, did my mileage go down to something like 16-17 hwy. Still, it was a terrific tow truck and did the job more than fine with a full size bass boat. I think that if you got this truck with 2wd and just put in a limited slip, this would be a really good choice for you.

I got a chevy with the R-700 and its been going strong for 14 years and 234000 miles. I have always heard that they are great transmisions as long as you dont pull things you shouldnt in overdrive.

matt

Glad to hear your R-700 tranny has held up.

They are basically a passenger car tranny and many, many were seal leak prone.

I had my seals replaced twice, and when I sold it, was starting to 'weep' again!

Never towed anyhting with it, as I didn't acquire my first boat until '89, one year after I sold it.

http://austin.craigslist.org/car/663807724.html

this will tow your boat

my dad had a 97 chevy 350 8Cyl. it would pull a boat or basically anything that was not huge with no problem at all. not sure what tranny was in it but it was re-built several times. finally they put in a bigger tranny and it could pull anything at all. it was a lower geared tranny that could pull. now the only problem it did drink gas. got only but about 14 MPG. but that was when gas was still only around $2 a gallon.

but that was when gas was still only around $2 a gallon, LMAO man I must be getting old!!! cause I can remember when gas was 68 cents a gallon! man i miss them days!!

I was at 23 cents a gallon. Back in the 60's. Smokes 25 cents a pack, Six Pack $1.25. Were did the good old days go. Be 62 in July, Hope S.S. is there for me.