Truck advice for a car guy...

Hey all!

Well, the wife has brought down the ban hammer and declared that she is done with me scrapping out of her minivan, and that it is time to get myself a truck. Problem is, I've never owned a truck (I'm more a sporty-foreign-car kind of guy), so I have pretty much no idea where to start.

I'm hoping you guys can help me with some ideas, or at least help me figure out what questions I should be asking. I've got a budget of a couple grand.

Some stuff I like about the minivan:

• Decent gas mileage. I get about 18mpg right now (but that includes a lot of running kids around to school activities and such). Not sure if that's achievable in a truck.
• Reliability. I love my mechanic, he's a great guy, but I hate having to give him money. I really, really don't like playing the "will it start today" roulette in the mornings.

So I'm open to any suggestions. Mostly I just shop CurbCo, with some light dumpster diving and the occasional pick up from a few regulars, and I've had to pass on some items because they were just too big to fit in the van (although it's amazing with what I can cram in there when I set my mind to it).

I worry, too, about stuff blowing out of the back of a truck-- a lot of the steel I end up with is light, flat appliance steel. Has anybody had problems keeping their goodies in the bed while going down the highway?

One thing I know I'll miss: total stealth scrapper mode. Nobody expects to see a scrapper in a minivan.

Thanks, all!