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?
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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?
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