I’m looking to purchase a smallish used truck (slight preference for an SUV over a pickup truck) and would love some advice. I generally do all routine/basic maintenance work (e.g., I’ve done fluids, brakes, replacing easy-to-replace parts like the alternator or radiator fans, valve adjustment, etc.) on my car, and aspire to being able to do more-than-basic stuff in the future. So my main criterion is a vehicle that is relatively easy to work on. Others include: 4WD and decent clearance–gotta be good in the snow and on rough roads (but no need for true off-roading capability). Some towing capacity would be nice, but I would sacrifice serious towing capacity for better gas mileage. Any trucks I should be on the lookout for? Thanks for any help, y’all!
This question almost does not have an answer . A small rear wheel drive pickup is not going anywhere in snow . All wheel drive or four wheel drive might have problems that a DIY person can’t solve . Smallish pickup types ended with the Chevrolet S-10 and Ford Ranger years ago.
Looks more like AWD to me. That expands your list. Do you have a good OBD2 scanner? If you are going to work on anything from this century you will need one to go beyond what you told us you do already.
Honda ridge line.
How about a Tahoe/Yukon WITHOUT AFM
I repeat . . .
WITHOUT AFM
Back in the last century, Toyota advertised that their engineering department keep the DIYers in mind and designed their vehicles to be easy to work on. I don’t know how much of that prevails.
I don’t know what @VOLVO-V70 has against driving a small RWD pickup in snow. I never had a problem driving my 97 Nissan Hardbody in snow or ice. Just need reasonably good tires. 4WD is ok in snow but I have more trouble with AWD in snow than any 2WD except limited slip 2WD. LSD will get you going but becomes unstable above certain speeds and they will swap ends quicker than the end of a whip.
In my experience, Nissan and GM must have difficulty enhancement engineers on staff because many simple jobs are made unnecessarily difficult for no reason.
There is no 4WD truck or SUV that is “easy to work on”. Even routine maintenance and minor repairs such as changing the transmission fluid and filter, replacing a leaking oil pan gasket, etc. are much more difficult with 4WD than on a similar model with 2WD. Other disadvantages of 4WD include worse fuel economy and having to replace all four tires if one is ruined. On a 2WD vehicle, you can replace tires in sets of two.
It sounds like you would enjoy a 4-cylinder compact pickup such as a 1990s Tacoma, Ranger, or S10, or maybe a 4-cylinder Dodge Caravan or Chrysler/Plymouth Voyager.
Driving dads town and country. 280hp but has 3.12 final drive. Kids pilot has 250hp but 4.25 final drive. Pilot accelerates much better. Pilot/ridge line/odyssey all have same motor/trans. T&C really lugs at 25-40 mph.
Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by apathy
I have owned numerous manufacturer’s vehicles and find this almost a universal truth. At some point in a repair process, you find yourself asking- did they purposely make this difficult? When the real answer is- they just didn’t care…
If it’s not expected to break during the warranty period, the priority for ease of repair goes way down the list…
The tire replacement issue is more of a concern for AWD than 4WD. I’ve never had issues replacing just one tire on 4WD- the concerns regarding significant mismatch in design or age notwithstanding.
The engine is fully assembled before it is mated to the body. Placement of components that are difficult for us to reach is probably because they are easy to reach if the engine is out of the car.
I’ve had those problems too. The alternator on my Corsica was on top of the engine. It was easy to reach but one of the bolts was recessed. I didn’t have an offset wrench and it was very hard to get to. The socket didn’t fit either, otherwise I would have used a socket extension.
I heard blah blah blah Toyota Tacoma or 4Runner… 
Pre-smog, in-line six, a 1946 Chevy panel truck comes to mind.
The 1963 Suburban V-6 my father had was pretty easy to work on even with 4WD.
So easy that you could stand with your feet in the ground in the engine bay.
If you must have 4WD or AWD and you want an SUV, choose one whose base model is FWD. There are lots of SUVs, big and small, with transverse engines. That alone makes servicing the engine more difficult. This leads you to truck-based SUVs or trucks.
As others have said, 4WD or AWD makes servicing them harder than a 2WD. 2WD with winter tires and maybe a few sandbags in the bed can be pretty good in the snow. I know GM s with limited slip axles only work from a stop. Once you hit about 25 or 30 mph the diff opens. This allows you to get moving with BOTH wheels but not chuck the rear around if you hit an icy patch. Not sure if other trucks use this diff.
Expand your service tools to more than just an ODB2 reader. Live scanners using your tablet or phone as data collection can really help you diagnose your problems. Working on any car built in the last 20 years requires tools to work with the vehicle. A single-car OBD2 reader from Autel is less than $100 and you can buy year-long subscriptions for $20 (?) for other models.
Mine has a button on the dash for auto LSD, once you get moving just hit the button again to turn it off…
Years ago I was talking with someone from GM and asked why they didn’t provide access panels for fuel pump service.
The answer was it will cost X dollars to retool and manufacture a floor panel with an access cover. It will save Y dollars on warranty labor claims if the pump is easier to access. Until Y exceeds X, no change will be made.
Good question… and good answer.
My first fuel pump started leaking from corrosion (not pump failure) in my GM SUV at about 130K miles. I saw a site on the internet showing exactly where to cut under the rear drivers side seat to access the pump. 10 minutes to cut it out and 30 minutes to fashion a patch panel and an hour to change the pump… rusty bits trouble. I cut the carpet and matting in a flap so I could just fold it back down.
In the end, less painful and less time than dropping the tank.
If I was looking for a truck/SUV, I’d figure out my needs, find a reliable vehicle that met those needs, then learn how to work on it. All recent vehicles are very complicated, I wouldn’t let minor differences in maintenance ease drive the decision.