So you need a new pickup, you need it to be small, and you need it cheap — and, if at all possible, red. Well, dear reader, I have the deal for you. Deals, in fact, because I found you two compact two-door pickups with five-speed manual gearboxes in your favorite color. With $5,000 sitting in your pocket, though, which one would you rather take?
In the red corner, we have a diesel-powered 1981 Volkswagen Caddy on white mesh wheels. In the other, even redder corner, we have the worst-named vehicle of all time — a 1988 Jeep Comanche Eliminator, with an indestructible inline-6 and some gaudy chrome wheels. The Volkswagen has some rust starting to show, but it costs just $4,000 to the Jeep’s five grand. The Jeep has mismatched paint and missing badges, but looks stunningly clean inside. Both cars have weird aftermarket headlights. Which one would you pick?
Both solid picks
In broad strokes, I like the smaller Caddy over a vehicle that is, I cannot stress this enough, actually officially titled the Comanche Eliminator. But, despite the name and the price difference, I don’t think I could bring myself to pick the rusted Volkswagen over the mint-looking Jeep. The VW’s ad, too, is worse than the Comanche’s — the former has a few ill-rotated photos and only the barest bit of ad copy, while the Jeep was clearly washed and vacuumed before the seller took comprehensive photos and wrote a multi-paragraph description.
For my $5,000, I’d have to pick the 1988 Jeep Comanche over the 1981 Volkswagen Caddy for a cheap, compact, red pickup. It’s just so clean and seemingly well-maintained, if desperately in need of a new name. The Caddy is a strong contender, though, and I can see why you’d pick it over the bigger, less diesel-powered Jeep. Which is your favorite?