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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
 
Location: Oklahoma | Just curious if all of you with duallies use them as your everyday vehicle? We're looking at trading in my 1/2 ton and getting a new 1 ton and I'm a little nervous about what will be in store for my trips to town. Do you have a second car that's for that specific use or just drive the truck and deal with what hassle might come with it? I'm sure that I'm over thinking it, but I just forsee myself having a panic attack. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| My truck stays hooked up to my horse trailer.
I have a ford focus I use for daily driving, much easier on fuel, tires, and parking |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
 
| My sister's everyday vehicle is a dually. She drives it in town and parks just fine with it. It is a bit of an adjustment but totally doable. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2457
| a 1997 Honda civic .... It's a deer killer and happens to be cheap as heck to drive. When diesel fuel was much higher, I couldn't afford to drive the dually as a daily driver ... the car was bought for $1800 and has saved me tripple that just in fuel and upkeep/miles that would have been on the truck.
It is worth it to drive a little run around car! |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| We have a car for trips to town. Several years ago a girl pulled out in front of us and totaled our car. We decided to just drive the truck for awhile until we found a car. I didn't have any trouble driving back and forth, but the cost of fuel was getting ridiculous. We are 50 miles round trip. So we found a '99 Altima for the trips to town. It wasn't that expensive and I'm sure has more than paid for itself in fuel savings. We also got a small truck for my husband to keep the miles off of his truck and save on fuel. |
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  Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | My daily driver is my F150. Hubby has his mustang convertible. We use the F350 for hauling, and for picking up hay (roundbales won't fit in my shortbed...).
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 411
Location: Smack in the middle of WA! | Mine is a 1997 4 runner! Absolutely love it! It's 4 wheel drive and has plenty of room. Easy on the fuel and a heck of a lot easier than parking my big truck  |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
| Anybody with a new diesel dually needs to take a serious look at what it is costing you a mile to operate. A half ton truck will cost you about .45 to .50 a mile to operate. It'd be a safe guess that a dually is close to being double that number. |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | When I drive..I drive our dually. When he drives..he drives our Cadillac SRX. |
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 Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | Car unless both of us are going to work and near each other. The one driving the least distance drives the truck unless the truck is need for hauling hay or other contraptions. Spending over 300 a week for fuel gets prohibited. |
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I Am a Snake Killer
Posts: 1927
Location: Golden Gulf Coast of Texas | I used to drive my dually everyday to work 74 miles round trip. Finally put pencil to paper and figured I could save by purchasing a small car. Bought a honda crv and get 32 mpg! My truck gets used weekends only! |
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 The Famous Hot Wing Chicken Girl
Posts: 2964
| I drive mine every day. The only downside is that I work in a busy shopping center and we have a tight parking lot, so I get blocked in occasionally. |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Over all, it wouldn't be cost effective. The cost of the dually, plus the extra fuel, plus the extra pair of tires, it would be cheaper to have a car as a daily driver. Not to mention, if you live in a cold, snowy climate, dually's don't get around as well in the snow (extra wheels take extra power to push through the snow...has been our experience any ways).
But if you got a cheap little daily driver (our's is a Cavalier...we actually have two of them, but our main one has over 300,000 miles on it now) that is efficient and cheap to maintain and use, it would in the long run be more efficient.  |
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 Certified Snake Wrangler
Posts: 1672
Location: North MS | We have a 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer as the hubby's daily driver to work. I could fill that car up for around $25 when the gas was higher a month ago. Before it we had a Volkswagon Passat that got passed on to the stepdaughter as a first car. Nothing glamorous but my truck is pretty enough and special enough to me to be our "go out" vehicle even though I prefer to take the cheaper car and leave the truck hooked up. It mostly hauls to shows or hauls hay. Has a western hauler bed I LOVE. The hubby has his "dream" truck as well-1988 GMC Sierra 4x4. That truck hates me and something will always go wrong when I drive it. He only uses it around the house or on weekends. |
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Industrial Srength Barrel Racer
Posts: 7268
| I used to drive my dually as a daily driver - it SUCKED. Cost a fortune in fuel and I actually had to RENT a car if it was snowy or icy as my dually isn't a 4 wheel drive and is like driving an ice skate. I never took it through a drive thru - bank or fast food and it had to be hand washed since it won't fit in an automatic car was - major pain in the winter. I now have a Cadillac SRX for my daily driver and LOVE it - bought it used with low milage. I use it to drive to work, get groceries, get feed - etc - VERY handy to load and unload and my truck stays hooked to the trailer except when I use it to get hay. |
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 More bootie than waist!
Posts: 18425
Location: Riding Crackhead. | I was brought up having a dually as a daily driver and I've had one for daily use for years. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | I drive a 2000 pontiac grand prix, love it and i don't have to fill up but maybe once a week |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 762
Location: NC | My dually is my daily driver. We do have a subaru forester that is my moms, that i can use. But she hates to drive my truck so i try to not use it unless i now she wont be going out. |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | I drive into Chicago daily. I have a 2014 Honda Accord. We only have an F250, but it gets poor mileage compared to the car and doesn't fit well in parking garages. The car is much less expensive to drive! |
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | Our dually is a daily driver. It gets about 17-18 mpg. Our other truck is an F-150. Hubby is a diesel mechanic, so he drives the dually to work. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 729
Location: south central usa | mreklaw - 2015-01-04 7:25 PM
I used to drive my dually everyday to work 74 miles round trip. Finally put pencil to paper and figured I could save by purchasing a small car. Bought a honda crv and get 32 mpg! My truck gets used weekends only!
ditto
drove a dually 50-60 miles round trip for 10+ years. i didnt want a compact car and the mid-size ones back then got almost the same as the truck. now they get 30+ mpg - so with that and the price difference between gas/diesel - im now spending less in total with a car payment and gas than i was with $600+ month in diesel |
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Nut Case Expert
Posts: 9305
Location: Tulsa, Ok | Real PIA in a parking garage!! |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| lindseylou2290 - 2015-01-04 4:43 PM
a 1997 Honda civic .... It's a deer killer and happens to be cheap as heck to drive. When diesel fuel was much higher, I couldn't afford to drive the dually as a daily driver ... the car was bought for $1800 and has saved me tripple that just in fuel and upkeep/miles that would have been on the truck.
It is worth it to drive a little run around car!
same here, went a bought the cheapest car I could find. Ugly & old but I'll take the 31mpg over 16 any day! Plus putting over 90 miles a day on a vehicle, it becomes much cheaper to buy tires for the car, oil changes, and to fix when things break. Paid $1500 for her! |
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 Veteran
Posts: 164
| I have a new 2015 Chevy dually and it's my daily driver and I love it. Gets 19 MPG and my commute is less than 10 miles one way, so it's not so bad. And I love driving it, so it's worth it to me. Since I love driving it, I don't mind parking far away, or not going through drive throughs. It's a trade off, that you have to consider. |
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 Morale Booster!!
Posts: 1459
| I have had a dually since 1995. Different ones of course, but that has always been my everyday car. You dont just whip into any spot to park, but you learn how to park and its not a big deal. I feel so small when I am in a little car.. |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | 3turns - 2015-01-05 11:12 AM I have had a dually since 1995. Different ones of course, but that has always been my everyday car. You dont just whip into any spot to park, but you learn how to park and its not a big deal. I feel so small when I am in a little car..
Thanks, everyone. I don't really have a commute to work (about .1 mile from my house to the office. I could just walk, but I like for there to be a vehicle there to show that someone is there.), so it's mostly the going to town things that I'm worried about. I could probably talk my husband into letting me use his 3/4ton when I want to go to the mall or big places where I can't easily predict the parking. I've just never drove a car.... always been in a truck..even if it was just a 1/2 ton 80% of the time! lol I don't live in a big city by any means, but I still manage to put about 30-35k miles a year of just driving. That's where I don't want to waste my money on diesel and tires when I'm just running around. Now I kinda wish I wouldn't have sold little '05 Chevy 1/2 ton a year and a half ago!  |
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | I currently drive a '95 F350 5 speed single cab short flat bed as my everyday driver. It's also a 1 ton dually. It currently runs both on propane and on gas. I never have a problem parking but I've found it's a heck of a lot easier to squeeze into tight spots if I back in. Main street is really narrow for me but if I swerve slighly people tend to back off me and give me a bit of room if I feel they're getting too close and pushing me onto the sidewalk. Especially when I see people walking. It makes me nervous to be that close to them. But for the most part you have nothing to worry about, you're one of the biggest things on the road:)
Never had a problem with parking yet and I work at an office with designated parking. And of course they're small. Like smart car small. LOL
I used to drive a 96 crew cab F250 long bed single axle... That thing was a bus trying to park!! But again, back in. It gives you better turning radius. |
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Go Get Em!
Posts: 13503
Location: OH. IO | My 2011 GMC dually crew cab 3500 longbed is my 88 mile per day go to work truck! |
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 The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | I drive at least 200 miles a week for my work. I drive a 2008 Honda CR-V. We have a GMC Duramax diesel truck and a Ford F-250 diesel as our towing vehicles. I love my little CR-V -- it's zippy and sporty and gets great gas mileage. |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | IRunOnFaith - 2015-01-05 6:01 PM
I currently drive a '95 F350 5 speed single cab short flat bed as my everyday driver. It's also a 1 ton dually. It currently runs both on propane and on gas. I never have a problem parking but I've found it's a heck of a lot easier to squeeze into tight spots if I back in. Main street is really narrow for me but if I swerve slighly people tend to back off me and give me a bit of room if I feel they're getting too close and pushing me onto the sidewalk. Especially when I see people walking. It makes me nervous to be that close to them. But for the most part you have nothing to worry about, you're one of the biggest things on the road:)
Never had a problem with parking yet and I work at an office with designated parking. And of course they're small. Like smart car small. LOL
I used to drive a 96 crew cab F250 long bed single axle... That thing was a bus trying to park!! But again, back in. It gives you better turning radius.
That's what my husband always tells me.... Naturally, I didn't listen closely.... But I've found that it does actually help quite a bit!! |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | HannahRodeoCowgirl - 2015-01-05 11:10 AM
I have a new 2015 Chevy dually and it's my daily driver and I love it. Gets 19 MPG and my commute is less than 10 miles one way, so it's not so bad. And I love driving it, so it's worth it to me. Since I love driving it, I don't mind parking far away, or not going through drive throughs. It's a trade off, that you have to consider.
I'm really excited to see if I can get 19mpg! My 2014 Silverado 1500 was getting about 18, but then I leveled it and did bigger tires with rims.... Bye, bye 18 mpg. I don't think I'm concerned as much now about the tires and whatnot so that should help me out at the pump!!! How big is your fuel tank? My husbands '15 3/4ton has about a 35 gallon tank. It's marvelous! |
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Daily drivers