(By Tom Lohnes) – Age is a thing no person or object can escape. With almost all modern cars on the market getting introduced or redesigned in the 2010s, only a few survive from the 00s. There are 3 main culprits: The Toyota Sequoia, Nissan Frontier, and Ram 1500 Classic. Are they still worth buying? Let’s find out.
Starting with the Toyota Sequoia, which looks very promising on paper, with its 5.7-liter iForce V8 making 381 horsepower and 401 lb.-ft of torque, 4WD, and 6-speed automatic, but falls very short of that when you actually look into it. Coming out in 2007, the Sequoia was a very strong competitor in its segment. But, as times change, the Sequoia got very outdated very quick. Starting at $49,355, the big Toyota isn’t even that good of a deal either, with prices going up to $77,000. For $77,000, you can buy a whole 4th gen Dodge Viper, or a 1-year old Range Rover.
Our next contender is the Nissan Frontier, a very rugged little truck that has been out since 2001 and has a 4.0-liter V6 as well as a choice of automatic or manual transmissions. The frontier’s main rival is the Toyota Tacoma, a much newer truck that it really can’t compete with. The Frontier should be seeing a redesign next year, after 20 years of service. The Frontier starts at a very reasonable $19,900, and can be specced up to about $41,000, so still a reasonable price for a reasonably capable truck.
Our last pick today is the Ram 1500 Classic that has been out since 2009 and has been a very strong truck, but the Classic simply cannot compete with the newer Ram 15000. Why? Simply because Ram whittled down the models from 12 to 3, with the last 3 being the tradesman, SXT, and Warlock. The Warlock is a new model for this year, but it is basically just an SXT with a rebel front end grafted onto it. Starting at $27,645 and topping out at about $35,000, the 1500 Classic is a decent buy, but I would save another year and get the newer truck, simply because it is better in every way.
They don’t in the pick up profit wars