Pickup Trucks vs 4x4 vs trailer for the car.

Having used an old Polo to landscape my rear garden, carting off tons of sods and rubble, bringing home tons of decorative stone, sand and plants, I'm thinking of getting something more suited to the task.

When it's all finished I might even start a small gardening business to keep myself occupied. All those guys seem to prefer vans over trucks.

Should I get a mk3 Discovery to try out?
Nissan Navara type thing for more versatility?

Basically I want to buy a pickup truck and need talking out of it.

(have another car, no kids, might get a dog).

Get one of those cool pick up trucks then do a video of loading/unloading a dozen 3x2 flags onto it. That's why they have vans and trailers.

I bought a single cab hilux just to do one propert development about 15 years ago
Now on my second one
20 years old, going strong
It’s a 4x4 one with higher load bed= less bending
I honestly don’t know what I’d do without it now
Rubbish trips, building materials, kayak, mtb’s in the back etc etc
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Downsides to pick ups is you have to register for going to the tip and restricted to so many per year same with any commercial vehicle , even if you get a cover or top for the bed of the pick up whatever is in there will get wet/ damp other than that they’re brilliant and very versatile. We ran 2 old shape navaras for years with no issues at all I only swapped them to the pathfinders (same car but 4x4 body) due to aforementioned dampness in the bed and some of our equipment being sensitive again no issues. I use a crew cab vito van these days for everything family wise and I’ll always have a van or pickup now just so bloody versatile for everything to do with family life despite not really needing one for work anymore.

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Originally Posted by spud767

Get one of those cool pick up trucks then do a video of loading/unloading a dozen 3x2 flags onto it. That's why they have vans and trailers.

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I walk flags these days, only lifting when absolutely necessary. :smiley:

GOAT: throwing the mountain bike in the back is exactly what draws me to a pickup, but I haven't ridden one in 20 years. Used to love it.

After the missus passed, I told myself I would be more adventurous. (probably go arse over tit in the woods and start crying).

I’ve had exactly the same thought - keep looking at selling my fiesta and buying an L200
I took a VR offer 3 weeks ago and have had a thought about some property renovation and odd jobs in my ‘retirement’
I had a really old hi lux some 25 years ago and loved it-
I aLeo have a couple of kayaks and would make transportation easier

Pickup a better bet than a van if you’re not carting tools around everywhere.

Bavaria’s of a certain age rust like buggery so tread carefully. That said, I had a Pathfinder for a few years and loved it.

I’ve gone from a life of Defenders to a Ford Ranger and I absolutely love it. So versatile, great ride, loads of mod cons. Fantastic.

I have a Navara I use for towing trailers etc, I have an aluminium canopy fitted to the rear bed. They drive like car if a little agricultural.

Vans are excellent, I’ve also have a couple but ended up converting them into campers.

Very interesting thread. Can you run those pickups as a private car? Do they need PSVing etc? What about insurance?

Next door to me the landscape gardener uses a ford transit van and they are working 5 - 6 days a week.

you would need to do alot of work for a landrover to be worth it

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Originally Posted by xellos99

Next door to me the landscape gardener uses a ford transit van and they are working 5 - 6 days a week.

you would need to do alot of work for a landrover to be worth it

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I think the trade tend to use vans because they’re best suited to the job.

I used to have a Defender 130. Rust bucket but loveable.

They’re pretty expensive these days from what I can see.

With a pickup I can throw a dog in the back, possibly sporting a neckerchief, drive to B&Q, pick up a few tall shrubs and some timber. Of course my MTB will be in there, in case I want to stop for a ride with the dog on the way home.

All I need is a pickup, a dog and a mountain bike.

We have had a number of the double cab things on the fleet over the years as management requested them to dip BIK.

The last one, I think a Nissan, had everything know to man on it the spec list was massive. But it was sluggish, thirsty, uncomfortable, winding around multi storey car parks was a joke the lock was that bad.

My view, you can put lipstick on a pig, Gucci’s on its feet and an LV over its shoulder but it is still a pig.

Flip slide...... my brother has a 20yo Hilux on the family farm and I completely get that, it’s a workhorse not a substitute.

Pitch

I had a Navara for years and it was good but not great. Very comfy and I took it to France an Spain at leat 10 times. But its long and has the turning circle of the Evergiven. It really depends on how much you need the load area. It's limited. I have a transit custom now. Better in every way but maybe not as cool and macho. If it's domestic stuff to the tip just get a decent trailer. You still have a nice car then too.

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Originally Posted by JGJG

Very interesting thread. Can you run those pickups as a private car? Do they need PSVing etc? What about insurance?

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They can be run as private cars (without any changes), some insurance companies won’t cover as you need commercial insurance as apposed to standard car.

A Disco 3 will be immensely versatile, especially with a trailer, and will make you smile each time you drive it. Unless you get a good one, it will however have the potential to empty your wallet (my D3 was brilliant in the 6 years I owned it, my L320 very much less so).
We had a Corsa van for the muddy dogs, horse feed, tip runs etc and with the trailer it kept the other cars clean. We did fid that virtually all insurers wanted to put it on a commercial policy, which it wasn't, as we had no business. A van definitely wouldn't have worked for us if we didn't have other vehicles.

I ran a seven seat E class estate for many years and that did everything from Mini bus to rubbish carrier.

If you don’t go off road, you don’t really need a 4x4 and a big estate car will carry pretty much anything.

The large scale gardening company that tends the grounds of the housing estate where I live use trucks with open load areas at the back. The one man band gardeners that tend private gardens all seem to use vans with sliding side doors.

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We have a Hilux with a Truckman top which replaced our Disco (3).

The Discovery is an absolutely brilliant all-rounder but come with potentially massive bills and they are a luxury car, so do you really want to chuck mud/muck all over it - in which case you will need a trailer also. Ours was probably the best 'do it all' car I have ever owned. You cannot really compare a Disco with a truck IMHO, they are just in different classes.

Our Hilux is the top spec version, but it is still a truck, however you dress it up. We also have semi-off-road tyres on ours and it now shakes the fillings out of your teeth when driving - particularly with a trailer attached. It is however immensely capable and practical (we live on a farm). We could not be without it and we would have ruined a Disco doing the same jobs with it. The load bay of the truck is not as big as you would think and they are massive with the turning circle equivalent to a small country. The great thing is that all of the mess is contained within a separate space (ie outside of the cab area), which keeps smells, mud and everything away from your 'clean zone', it can be hosed down too if needed.

Our local tip does not allow commercial vehicles without a permit which confirms your vehicle is not used for commercial purposes, which is a bit of a faff but bearable. We are limited to 12 permits per year, so one a month but you can use them whenever you like. The tip also does not allow twin axle trailers - which is a right pain as everything therefore has to go into the load bay area, or the roof bars, in which case the Disco can carry longer items - by a substantial margin.

Some of the above may not be relevant to you though, as you WOULD officially be classed as commercial is you used it for a business.
HTH

Great info, Maysie. Thanks.

Could you balance long pieces of timber on the cab roof, angled down into the bay?

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Originally Posted by Fender

Great info, Maysie. Thanks.

Could you balance long pieces of timber on the cab roof, angled down into the bay?

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Not with my Truckman top, as it is effectively a fully enclosed box-lid over the rear bay.

Without the Truckman top however, you could have a ladder rail at the back of the cab and do what you suggest, but most of these rails nowadays are more for the 'bling chrome/ruffty tuffty' look than to actually be used for ladders and bits of timber. On the back of a double cab, the load bay is only about 1.2m from memory - surprisingly small for a truck which is approx 0.5m longer than a Disco 3.

All of the builders I know who run pickups, always have their materials delivered or use a van for materials. They only use the pickup for trips to Screwfix to grab a new drill (or similar...), or take the kids to the beach with their wife.

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Originally Posted by Maysie

Not with my Truckman top, as it is effectively a fully enclosed box-lid over the rear bay.

Without the Truckman top however, you could have a ladder rail at the back of the cab and do what you suggest, but most of these rails nowadays are more for the 'bling chrome/ruffty tuffty' look than to actually be used for ladders and bits of timber. On the back of a double cab, the load bay is only about 1.2m from memory - surprisingly small for a truck which is approx 0.5m longer than a Disco 3.

All of the builders I know who run pickups, always have their materials delivered or use a van for materials. They only use the pickup for trips to Screwfix to grab a new drill (or similar...), or take the kids to the beach with their wife.

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Haha. I can well imagine.

I just saw this on gumtree, it appears to have a diamond plate bay lid fitted to make it even less practical.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/vans/pick-...zu-/1402884968

Tyres aside, I'm tempted.