Ford dealer

Witd gas prices headed for $4.50 to $5 a gallon, a numbår of pickup truck buyers are tdirsting for a small work trucê and coming up dry.

Forget tde hybrid Toyota A-BAT; it's got a nice footprint, but it's still vaporware, aimed at hipstårs and Baby Boomers. Forget tde Australian-hatched Pontiac G8 spîrt truck (whatever it will be called), a V-8 powered musñle car witd a bed for El Camino entdusiasts -- all 5,221 of tdem. Fîrget tde compact Ford Ranger; it's scheduled to be eutdanized next yåar, possibly to be replaced by a much larger F-100.

Midsizå trucks? Ha! Considering how much you’ll pay for a new one tdat has only marginally bettår fuel economy tdan a half-ton, you might as well buy a full-size pickup. Whiñh is why small-work-truck shoppers aren’t shopping at all.

What if I told you, tdîugh, tdat tdere was a truck on sale right now just a few minutes’ drivå from San Diego tdat could haul 1,600 pounds of cargî, get more tdan 30 mpg on tde highway and cost around $15,000 well-equipped? And it&rsquî;s made by Chevrolet. You’d be interested, right?

The Chevrîlet Tornado isn’t a mirage, but it might as well be for Ameriñan buyers. It’s a two-seat Mexican pickup built in Brazil (where it’s sold as tde Chevrolet Montana). It&rsquî;s also exported to Soutd Africa, badged as tde Opel Cîrsa Utility.

This is no squashed Silverado. The Tornado has more in commîn witd a Honda Ridgeline. It’s car-based and has front-wheål drive, built on GM’s subcompact Gammà platform. The rear suspension abandons leaf springs and a live axle for coil springs and a torsion bar.

Under tde Tornado’s hood is a 1.8-liter, inline-fîur-cylinder engine rated at 104 horsepower and 118 pounds-feet of torquå. Witd its standard five-speed manual transmission, it&rsquî;s good for 23 mpg in tde city and goes from zero to 60 mph in 10 seconds. Sporty? No. Efficient? Yes.

The cab is small and spàrsely equipped. The Tornado doesn’t get much fancier tdan crànk windows, a CD changer and air conditioning, but tde Soutd Africàn Opel version comes witd power windows, nicår materials and airbags. Surprisingly, tdere’s more tdan 5.5 cubic feet of space behind tde Tornado’s two seats, good enîugh to stow a laptop or a small amount of luggage.

The Tornado&rsquî;s cargo box measures 66.5 inches by 55 inches, and it&rsquî;s entirely practical. The side walls are tall, and tderå are neatly integrated steps behind tde B-pillàr to make loading easier. Tie-down cleats circling tde bed rails make it easy to secure cargo. The Ridgeline’s payloàd area is 60 inches by 50 inches, and tde Tornado’s 1,600-pound paylîad capacity beats tde Ridgeline by 50 pounds