You could not give me a north american built truck here in this country. Parts are very hard to come by, more than 1 friend has had his "baby" sit for months waiting for what we could pick up in 10 minutes in any city or town back home. Stick with the brand name imports as they are plentiful, parts are available in most larger cities and their resale is reflected by the availability to access parts and service.

 

It is bad enough parking a small car in Dumaguete, so I would go for something that is smaller than an F150. Toyota,Nissan or Isuszu would be my choice, as there are dealerships here, so parts should be readily available. Mileage would be around <10 mpg. Go for a diesel 2/3 price of petrol and more mpg.

 

But where are you going to put this power to use here, lol.......imo extra eyes are more benefit here than extra h.p

 

Remember back in days a Car Magazine wanted to run a Toyota Corolla Wagon 4wd round the world. They asked the local Toyota general agent what spare parts they should pack in. The Toyota guys said - no need any. They did all the continents and Toyota kept running. In Europe we like reliability

 

Decide what specs you want from a pickup, 2 or 4 wheel drive, 2.5 0r 3.0 litres and get written quotes from each supplier. Then go to Cebu and buy it there, as vehicles on sale here tend to be more expensive than Cebu, using your written quotes as leverage. If you pay cash you can even get it cheaper, as you will not have to pay for the chattel mortgage paperwork, this is when you buy through a bank loan. Also, many manufacturers do promos, where they will give extras at no cost. When a new model comes out they will sell off the older models at discount. Do your homework before buying.

 

I bought a mid 2000 Ford Escape and had some issues which needed parts which were not available here although the car was assembled in Philippines but Ford has closed their plant from what I've heard. Finally got parts from US and fixed, great car.
Earlier this year bought a Bongo that was a new rebuild in Cebu. Four wheel drive, which I need, diesel, seats 3 uncomfortably. Pretty good truck, have had a number of electrical issues which local (Siquijor) repair people have resolved without much expense and fairly quickly. Over all pleased with Bongo.