Pickups For Sale: Tips For Buying The Right Truck For Your Needs |
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Mack Goodwin
13 September 2012
Buying a pickup truck has its advantages. You can use it for your business. You can use it to carry loads you can't fit into your four-door sedan. You can also use it for your adventure weekend trips, whether you're headed for the beach with your surfboards or the country with your mountain bikes. A pickup truck is ideal both for fun and for business. But how do you choose from among the many pickups for sale? Here are a few recommendations to consider so you can drive out of the dealership with the right kind of pickup.
If you're going to load a lot of items onto your pickup truck, you'll want to pay special attention to the bed. The larger the bed, the more items you can carry. Most regular pickups provide 6 feet of bed. You might want to go for models with bed extenders, which will allow you to transport larger items like a kayak or motorcycles. If you intend to transport heavy loads, you'll also want to check the pickup truck's payload capacity, which is the maximum number of kilograms of passengers and cargo the truck can carry. There are models that can carry as little as 700 kilograms and then there are models that can increase capacity with heavy-duty suspension.
So if you're looking at a nice deal, make sure to ask your car dealership about payload capacity and if you can get stiffer rear springs with your package. Increasing payload without stiffer rear springs can make for a bumpy ride particularly when the bed is carrying a light load or is empty and lateral skipping when you turn a nasty corner.
Trucks will come in rear-and four-wheel drive systems. Rear-drive is great for traction control (provided the bed isn't empty), which limits speeding up on slippery roads. Four-wheel drives are considered better for traction; however, there are different systems. Some models with the standard system require the four-wheel drive to be switched off when using on dry pavement. If the system isn't switched off, it will result in increased wear and driveline binding because the system isn't engineered to let the wheels spin at different speeds, which is necessary for turning a corner. The other system (also known as all wheel drive) can be left on even when the pickup truck is being driven on dry pavement because it is designed for different wheel speeds.
Finally, look for the little luxuries that come with today's pickup trucks. Because these road machines aren't your daddy's old pickup trucks, you'll find great features like heated front seats, a sunroof, and an exquisite sound system.
Whether you're considering a big or standard pickup truck deal, don't forget to give each model the once over. By scrutinising the vehicles well, you can guarantee spectacularly smooth rides no matter what load you're transporting and which roads you take.