Buddy of mine has a Chevy truck that has had known issues for over a decade with the drive by wire system turning the CEL on. He uses his cruise control for most of the throttle usage, otherwise he risks tripping the CEL and having to pull over, stop the truck, let it sit a few minutes before restarting it and going. He’s tried several of the suggestions that internet forums say will fix the problem, but he had yet to find one that works.
Sadly, he’s a die-hard Chevy fan, and, even though he’s worried he’ll get another problem child truck, he’s got his heart set on a duramax diesel truck to replace his current V8 gas. Though I don’t think he realizes that he’ll still have to fix a $50~70k vehicle should a problem arise when something goes wrong with the diesel truck he gets.
He was with me at the dealership when I bought my Mustang and he made the comment that he might have to look at a Powerstroke, then joked about feeling sick saying it.
Im here. I was out of town and too busy to get on here. This is the drum brake rick. I am on facebook now so thats where I signed on from because my old computer got stolen and I dont know my passwords.
I was just trying to bring up points about our glory days. The best times are today. I truly believe that.
However I will say some things have taken a step backwards. Modern disc brakes are junk, they rotors warp and get rusty and rot.
I still maintain drum brakes are a better design and work better that an equivalent sized disk. Just got a 2018 freightliner in and guess what, all drums. Economical, reliable and they work better. When your stopping a 40k lbs vehicle, you need good brakes.
Ill try to be better. I talk like this all the time and I am an old soul. I offend alot of people, I say what I think. I live in backwoods Indiana so my perspective is skewed.
Oh another one from Indiana? Where the trucks go 65 and everyone else goes faster so its in and out, in and out, if you want to stay out of the left lane except for passing. Maybe you can explain what the heck happened to the hotel rates in Indianapolis last week. The place we usually stay at is around $100 a night. But they boosted the price to about $250. We stayed outside of town instead but still the rates were boosted. Only thing I can tell is there was an FDIC convention or something in town.
As often happens us pickup driving red necks can insult each other and laugh but take offense at outsiders doing so but that’s true for many groups. And no one was ever as successful at insulting rednecks as Charlie Daniels
Ha ha. I vaguely remember that one. Willie’s Poncho and Lefty has been going around in my head all day so thanks for replacing it with something else. The problem with Indiana is that you can’t hardly get from here to there without going through it. Strategic location. On the other hand anyone that hasn’t been to the Stude museum in South Bend is really missing something, and you can’t hardly talk car history without Indiana being in there.
I live in Indiana and I hope I qualify as a red neck. Unfortunately, I don’t presently own a pickup. A friend of mine owns a big red Dodge pickup, but when I ride with him we behave as good old boys rather than rednecks. We toss our beer cans so they land in the bed of the truck rather than littering the roadway.
Shucks, I thought them Indiana boys all wore wide brimmed fedora hats and carried bullwhips.
And now I probably got John William’s “Raiders March” stuck in your head.
Yeah he told the story that he was stopped in Mexico by a couple of police and he told them he wrote that song. They said they were called Poncho and Lefty. Must be popular names down there.
You are not wrong, my stepdad went to Toyota after a litany ( four in row) of Volvo wagons, the escalating repair costs go to the point where he could tolerate it no more, he bought a Highlander which was bulletproof, and then traded that in for a Sequoia last year. My father and stepmom also went to Toyota last year when their 2011 Taurus suffered a catastrophic water pump/timing chain failure. They bought a new Avalon. This was particularly surprising because my dad was a Ford man for as long as I can remember.
My sister-in-laws husband was a Ford man and his father was a Ford man for decades. Wife’s sister had a 2 Taurus’s and nothing but problems. During that period my wife owned ONE Accord and had more then double the miles those two Taurus’s had COMBINDED. Wife’s sister told her husband she’s buying a Toyota. Bought a Corolla. When he saw how trouble free it was…he bought a Honda. They wished they had done that decades ago. She owned the Corolla twice as long as any of the Taurus’s and triple the miles…and almost zero repairs. Now owns a Honda CRV.
I guess I’ve been lucky. I have owned GM products, Ford products, American Motors products and Toyota products. Except for a 1955 Pontiac, none have been lemons. I have driven minivans since 1991. I have had 2 Ford’s, an Aerostar and a Windstar, a Chevrolet Uplander, a 2011 and a 2017 Toyota Sienna. The biggest out of pocket expense was a new water pump on the 2011 Sienna --$975. The Aerostar did have the engine replaced, but it was under warranty. My son has the Uplander and it has gone over 200,000 miles with no major repairs. For my first 100,000 miles, the Uplander was cheaper to maintain than the Sienna. Besides the water pump expense, the tires wore out faster on the Sienna than the Uplander. I got 60,000 miles out of the original tires on the Uplander. The original tires on the Sienna only were good for 35,000 miles and the second set, which were Michelin tires were worn out after 40,000 miles. I check the tire pressure weekly and have an air pump. The original battery in the Sienna was outgassing so badly I replaced it after three years. The Sienna battery was going strong after 6 years.
Now if I thought Toyotas weren’t good products,. I wouldn’t have bought a 2017 after I sold the 2011 to my son. I need a minivan. I didn’t buy another Ford minivan after the Windstar because Ford abandoned the minivan market. I didn’t buy another Uplander because GM quit making minivans. If a manufacturer does not manufacture a vehicle that fits my needs, I will shop elsewhere.
Did you read past the headline?
The full story I read is that people have been preferring higher stance vehicles in the US. In addition, the “crossovers” being produced today get better mileage than the sedans built previously and are on par enough that the vast majority of people do not consider that difference meaningful in a purchasing decision. Just looking around at the cars on the road around here, it seems to be correct.
We’ll have to see if the first one to sample the pool water is right and the others follow suit shortly afterward. Personally, I’m not totally convinced that another gas crisis won’t have the herd stampeding in the other direction again…
The fuel mileage issue is quite a puzzle. Detroit wants us to believe that bloated pickups are inherently more fuel efficient than the compact pickups and crossovers inherently get better mileage than sedans and the gullible public never looks behind the curtain. If a Dodge Ram 1500 can get 25 mpg a similarly developed Hilux sized truck should exceed 30 mpg.
Not sure how you got to comparing pickup trucks to sedans but it’s more a question of crossovers vs sedans. Pickup trucks seem to do fine regardless of the climate, economic or otherwise…
My comparison is relative to CAFE standards and the success of lobbyists to placate the standards by redefining what a truck is. The SUVs and crossovers have been considered trucks due to the influence of industry lobbyist$. Why build and market station wagons requiring fuel mileage at xxxxx per gallon when you can build and market a much more profitable model that can burn xx miles per gallon by calling it a truck?
Kinda like booze and smokes. Around here people may not have money to clothe their children, pay their electric bill or water bill, but they always seem to have money for alcohol, cigs and gas for their pickup trucks.
