Opinions Welcome: Making a Move From a BMW 3 Series Saloon to a Pickup

artemis789

artemis789

artemis789

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Joined
29 Oct 2024
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23
Location
Glasgow
Afternoon folks.

Just thought I'd post what I feel might be sacrilege to the loyal BMW owners in the Motors sub-forum.

TLDR: As a long-term BMW 3 Series saloon driver, I'm seriously considering a Pickup vehicle (second-hand/used, but not ancient) for my next vehicle.

I am not a farmer or a rural-based person, but I am still very interested in such a vehicle.

The vehicles I am contemplating choosing from, in broad order of preference, are:
  • Ford Ranger.
  • Volkswagen Amarok.
  • Toyota Hilux.
  • Nissan Navara.
I feel they are all strong vehicles in different ways.

The things I like about modern-day Pickup vehicles are:
  • Large storage capacity in the back.
  • As standard, 4-wheel-drive ("4x4") across all major brands.
  • Many (most?) come with "proper" manual handbrakes.
  • Raised height.
  • Ruggedness.
  • Utilitarian.
The only things that are holding me back are the following factors:
  • Diesel fuelled. i.e., on AutoTrader, all the best ones I find are diesel fuelled. I understand that they are mostly diesel fuelled to serve a utilitarian orientated market, but personally, I prefer petrol fuelled vehicles. Sadly, I have only been able to find very old models in petrol.
  • DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) issues. i.e., given that all the best pickups seem to be diesel fuelled, I feel they will, at least for me, present some DPF issues along-side that. I do mainly short trips, so sadly, this may be a deal breaker for my Pickup plans.

Further context

There are three additional reasons I'm interested in a Pickup.
  • I live on a hill, which can get very icy in the winter. Indeed, a number of my neighbour’s (German) rear-wheel drive cars in my street have difficulty on this hill, and I have found myself (along with a few other folks) being "roped in" to give a fair number of them a manual push, when "needs must". The 4x4 nature of a Pickup is an appealing solution here.
  • I also park in an area with a ridiculously high kerb. Sadly, I have already scraped the underside of the front-bodywork of my current car on this kerb. A raised-height vehicle presents a good solution to this problem.
  • Somewhat insanely (some of you might think), I occasionally "litter pick" massive amounts of litter from my local area, early on a Saturday or Sunday morning (or sometimes both). I do it from circa 0600 hrs up to 1200 hrs, when no-one is around. Over a "6 hour litter pick", I can easily collect 6-8 bags of litter. I live in an increasingly bad area, and the litter drives me insane. This is my small way of making a difference, while my utterly useless local authority council ("the council") does nothing but the absolute bare minimum to clean and maintain the area, which is going downhill fast. Sometimes it really is a sick joke walking around my local streets and the park (which is adjacent to me), and seeing litter, in addition to burned-out bins and bits of furniture, everywhere. Bunging all the bags in the back of Pickup and taking them to the dump on a Sunday sounds ideal. This would save me multiple trips in a car, which is what I currently do.

My Current Car

In my own case, in response to the "icy hill" problem, and to "treat myself" (somewhat) to a "reasonably refined" vehicle of "above average" build quality, I selected, as my one and only vehicle, a 4-wheel drive ("XDRIVE") BMW 3 (F30) Series M Sport saloon, in petrol guise (as a 320i).

The (F30) 3 Series petrol saloon has been a great car for me. As a slightly older (2015) model, it has offered me the following:
  • Total reliability. I have seen plenty of online reporting of a reduction of reliability of the German marques. That has not been my experience with this car. It has been rock-solid for me.
  • Discretion. It predates some of the newer, and in my view, quite garishly styled modern-day BMWs, particularly in regards to the grill area.
  • A good looking car generally. I think the (F30) 3 Series saloon is a good looking, conservatively styled car. I like it. That's the long and short of it.
  • A nice cabin to be in.
  • A nice steering wheel.
  • A "proper" manual handbrake.
  • A "sober looking" cockpit, which includes mechanical dials on the dash.
  • A nice "iDrive unit" (both the "tactile" dial, which is married to the output screen) that "just works".
  • Smooth motorway cruising.
  • A solid and stable transporter of me, family members, and family friends.
  • Back when I bought it (second-hand) in 2018, a fairly reasonable price point. This was before the pricing of cars moved in an increasingly unreasonable direction.
Despite being happy with my 3 Series, I'm prepared to make the move to a Pickup if I can get over my DPF fears.

I'd be interested in any views if I can make a Pickup work for me, especially if anyone has any similar experiences of making such a move.

If it looks like potential DPF issues make a diesel fuelled Pickup a non-starter, I might have to consider a 4-wheel-drive SUV, many of which come in petrol guise. Many of these are not to my tastes, but I have managed to spot a few decent options here and there.

Thanks so much for any opinions. Also, sorry for the essay -- got a little bit carried away.
 
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I think you need an estate with some winter tyres, there's even a type of estate which is more rugged/higher sitting, I can't recall what it is though, all terrain?

Edit - Volvo Cross Country is an example
 
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I'll give my opinion on the pickup side when back from work, if your main concern is an icy hill the VW Tiguan with 4Motion or Touareg on decent all-season or if it is really bad ice tyres worth a consideration as they cope really well with those conditions.

Something to consider with pickups is the double cab variants usually have a shorter cargo area which often is just shorter than ideal i.e. it is a struggle to fit a decent size bike in the back, and you will miss having a proper boot - some have storage areas beneath and behind the rear bench seat but it is fairly limited.
 
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With a modern diesel its not just the DPF, factor in Injectors, Turbo, EGR, diesel pump etc etc. Unless you do the mileage or need the pulling power, then look at something other than an agricultural vehicle. Estate or soft roader SUV would be a better bet.
 
Tinders said:
With a modern diesel its not just the DPF, factor in Injectors, Turbo, EGR, diesel pump etc etc. Unless you do the mileage or need the pulling power, then look at something other than an agricultural vehicle. Estate or soft roader SUV would be a better bet.
Click to expand...

Personally I've rarely seen DPF issues - amongst other things we run a fleet of diesel vans at work which do anything from spending their life doing lots of short journeys through to ones which do 100s of miles a day - EGR issues are far more common and once you get to high mileage potentially the turbo.

Sort of relevant to this thread there are some exceptions to that - 20/21 plate (and possibly some older) D23 Navaras have a DPF fault which is causing them to go into limp mode every ~7000 miles - the Nissan dealer I use reckons somewhere between 10 and 20% of the ones they've sold are having that problem - one day I was up there they had 13 back in one go :s supposedly Nissan was rolling out a final fix, after multiple attempts, for it over the summer but I don't know how that went.

artemis789 said:
The things I like about modern-day Pickup vehicles are:
  • Large storage capacity in the back.
  • As standard, 4-wheel-drive ("4x4") across all major brands.
  • Many (most?) come with "proper" manual handbrakes.
Click to expand...

As I touched on briefly above while the single cab have a pretty useful cargo space the double cab generally eats into that space leaving you about 1.5m length which sometimes is just short of ideal, depends a bit on what you want to use the space for though.

Most UK pickups aren't full time 4 wheel drive but nominally rear wheel drive with selectable 4 wheel hi and low ranges intended for off-road use, or use on road in inclement conditions - trying to use 4 wheel drive permanently with regular driving can cause what is called transmission wind up which can be damaging. There are some exceptions - the Amarok has a 4Motion setting for permanent 4x4 driving on road.

Many still have a proper handbrake and something I appreciate personally - but electronic parking brake buttons are starting to appear - I believe the new Ford and Amarok on the shared platform doesn't have a proper handbrake IIRC.

artemis789 said:
The vehicles I am contemplating choosing from, in broad order of preference, are:
  • Ford Ranger.
  • Volkswagen Amarok.
  • Toyota Hilux.
  • Nissan Navara.
Click to expand...

Ford Ranger I find a bit toy like personally, it is one of the better options if towing as it (depending on model and trim) actually has towing specific features which most of the others lack, but personally I'd place it 3rd for spending a lot of time in on the road - there are some areas it does better than the Navara but also some areas it does worse.

Amarok is the best if you are spending quite a lot of time on the road with handling and ride much more car like than the others, though the steering is heavier than the Navara and especially low speeds around town isn't ideal. The 2L engine versions is a touch underpowered though not hideously so, the 3L is much more suited to it.

(There is the new shared platform VW Amarok/Ford Ranger but I've not enough experience of that to really give an opinion)

Navara wise the D23 is fairly like an SUV to drive, any decent trim level has 360 cameras and parking sensors so makes manoeuvring a breeze, the steering is quite light, surprisingly so actually compared to many cars even, but a bit vague, for a pickup it is also fairly "chuckable". I'd avoid the D40 Navaras, especially 2010 and older pre-facelift, unless you 110% know the previous owner(s) properly treated them to avoid the known chassis issues or you'll likely find the chassis is rotted out and/or weakened, the D40 only has leaf springs on the rear so the ride is quite agricultural - personally doesn't bother me. The 2.3L diesel in the D23 is OK - quite good for a 2.3L but it is no V6 - there is the Mercedes X Class which is a rebadged D23 Navara with a 3L engine option.

Hilux personally I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time in one on the road, they are great workhorses and ideal for chucking around the farm, etc. though the newer versions aren't quite as bulletproof as the older versions.

artemis789 said:
Somewhat insanely (some of you might think), I occasionally "litter pick" massive amounts of litter from my local area, early on a Saturday or Sunday morning (or sometimes both). I do it from circa 0600 hrs up to 1200 hrs, when no-one is around. Over a "6 hour litter pick", I can easily collect 6-8 bags of litter. I live in an increasingly bad area, and the litter drives me insane. This is my small way of making a difference, while my utterly useless local authority council ("the council") does nothing but the absolute bare minimum to clean and maintain the area, which is going downhill fast. Sometimes it really is a sick joke walking around my local streets and the park (which is adjacent to me), and seeing litter, in addition to burned-out bins and bits of furniture, everywhere. Bunging all the bags in the back of Pickup and taking them to the dump on a Sunday sounds ideal. This would save me multiple trips in a car, which is what I currently do.
Click to expand...

Something to consider here is that most recycling centres and rubbish dumps have restrictions on vans and pickups (N1 classification) - you will probably have to apply for a (free) permit before the first time you visit. A small number of these sites have rigid restrictions and might consider your usage commercial waste and either turn you away or expect you to pay as per commercial disposal (which also has a bunch of other restrictions in terms of containers or bags used, etc.).
 
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