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Do You Plan To Buy A New Truck In The Next Year?
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<blockquote data-quote="westcliffe01" data-source="post: 529590" data-attributes="member: 35183"><p>So I have been down this road too and am frustrated by the fuel economy of trucks we are allowed to buy in the US.</p><p></p><p>My first truck was a 1986 Toyota motorhome. 6200lb and over 10ft high with a 4 cylinder 22re. You guessed it, performance was not an adjective one could use in the presence of that beast. Having said that, one needs to consider that people drive those things 140k+ miles without working on the engine in most cases. I did a memorable trip west along I80 with a westerly wind that was running 30-40mph. I probably drove 1300 miles, mostly in second gear (it had a 3 speed automatic with an electronic overdrive, but I have no idea why it was even on there, since it could only possibly be used when going downhill). Arriving in the rockys, it felt like it had a lawnmower engine, since the altitude dropped the power another 30%.</p><p></p><p>My second truck was a dodge ram 1500 2004 model with the 3.7 V6. The bottom of the doors and tailgate are already rusted through and it is not a truck I drive every day. In fact, in winter I try to drive anything else, since it is a death trap. No ABS, no LSD and if you touch the throttle in slick conditions the front and rear wants to swap ends with no effort at all. That is while running Bridgestone blizaks. Without the snow tires, it can not even get out of my driveway which has about 8" of rise in 20ft. Fuel economy is about 16mpg average city cycle. On the highway it will go up to 20 if I keep the speed down. Towing a bumper pull trailer 22 ft long, it got 10mpg and could barely do 60mph. The truck itself has never given me a moments trouble except for the rust and gutless performance and crap fuel economy.</p><p></p><p>My third truck is in restoration (will now be cut short since my son in law needs transport) and is a Toyota Pickup 1992 model with the 22re and 5 speed manual (2wd) which I bought as a wreck for $1200. Despite being 12 years older than my Dodge it has less rust, except for the tailgate. It just sat all winter abandoned in a snow bank and last weekend I went to charge the battery and get it running so that work could start on it and it started right up on the first crank. Thats the legendary Toyota reliability for you. Some of the new stuff thought up in Ann Arbor seems to be less successful, although it was proven that the runaway cars was just a hoax. This truck was intended to be my cheap transportation and I was going to deal with the usual midwest issues before they nickled and dimed me (rusted out brake lined, perished flexible hoses, start of chassis rust, getting paint back onto the chassis, treating any rust spots on the body). I will put in new carpet and I got a pair of leather seats from an Audi to have a more comfortable perch. These are small trucks. If I could, I would have gotten an extended cab, so there is at least space to put a briefcase or a rifle when going to the range. Now those things will have to go in the bed.</p><p></p><p>I did get an explorer rear axle with a higher ratio and LSD to provide something more than 1wd in winter conditions. It is amazing to think that a big heavy vehicle like an explorer would have a bolt pattern that matches a much older truck with less than half the GVW. The light weight and relatively low COG should make this truck a lot safer than my Dodge. Fuel consumption should be up in the low 30's due to small engine, light weight and reduced frontal area.</p><p></p><p>The most recent truck I bought is my 2008 Ford F250 superduty with the powerstroke engine. I looked forever for a 2006MY without the emissions equipment, but people expected ridiculous prices for trucks that had 120k+ mileage. The one I bought was a one owner truck which had spent its life on a ranch in Texas half way between Houston and Austin. It had 56k miles and the asking price was about $26k. It is an extended cab with 4wd and the 6ft bed. I personally don't like the double cabs since it is usually only 2 of us in it and the overall length gets to be pretty significant and the margin for payload goes down relative to a single or extended cab. Not to mention that the price goes up several thousand too...</p><p></p><p>I own a Bobcat loader backhoe that weighs 7600lb and I need to be able to trailer it and typically 10k is the limit before things start getting sticky with CDL, DOT etc etc. So having vehicle to tow 10k was the key thing and it is not a commuter vehicle for me. Having 4wd and particularly low range is certainly an asset in winter and on rough trails, provided they don't get too narrow. It is certainly no Jeep substitute. Too big, too heavy and it takes a LOT of space to turn around. What is interesting is that its city cycle fuel consumption is no worse than the Dodge, notwithstanding having double the curb weight and all the emissions crap choking the life out of it.</p><p></p><p>So, based on that, the dodge will eventually go. I will have to figure out what to do to get the emissions equipment on the Ford to work properly, at the very least, the exhaust will get wrapped from the turbo all the way back to the DPF, since the heat loss in winter is so great that it can take an entire week to regenerate the DPF. That is unless I take a detour that pushes my commute up to over an hour, since that seems to be the minimum time it needs when the temperature is 30F or lower. The amount of smoke produced when the regeneration starts is simply ridiculous, I am surprised that no state trooper has pulled me over yet, but it is bad for about 5 minutes until the carbon really gets ignited. I was pretty close to the development of this emissions system and as usual, Ford had to save every buck they possibly could in building the system, yet I have my mileage on every second tank drop to 9mpg for the life of the truck, so what does this cost me as the consumer as opposed to paying perhaps $50 more for insulated downpipes and cones on the oxidation catalyst and DPF ? Penny wise pound foolish and the owners hate the product.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="westcliffe01, post: 529590, member: 35183"] So I have been down this road too and am frustrated by the fuel economy of trucks we are allowed to buy in the US. My first truck was a 1986 Toyota motorhome. 6200lb and over 10ft high with a 4 cylinder 22re. You guessed it, performance was not an adjective one could use in the presence of that beast. Having said that, one needs to consider that people drive those things 140k+ miles without working on the engine in most cases. I did a memorable trip west along I80 with a westerly wind that was running 30-40mph. I probably drove 1300 miles, mostly in second gear (it had a 3 speed automatic with an electronic overdrive, but I have no idea why it was even on there, since it could only possibly be used when going downhill). Arriving in the rockys, it felt like it had a lawnmower engine, since the altitude dropped the power another 30%. My second truck was a dodge ram 1500 2004 model with the 3.7 V6. The bottom of the doors and tailgate are already rusted through and it is not a truck I drive every day. In fact, in winter I try to drive anything else, since it is a death trap. No ABS, no LSD and if you touch the throttle in slick conditions the front and rear wants to swap ends with no effort at all. That is while running Bridgestone blizaks. Without the snow tires, it can not even get out of my driveway which has about 8" of rise in 20ft. Fuel economy is about 16mpg average city cycle. On the highway it will go up to 20 if I keep the speed down. Towing a bumper pull trailer 22 ft long, it got 10mpg and could barely do 60mph. The truck itself has never given me a moments trouble except for the rust and gutless performance and crap fuel economy. My third truck is in restoration (will now be cut short since my son in law needs transport) and is a Toyota Pickup 1992 model with the 22re and 5 speed manual (2wd) which I bought as a wreck for $1200. Despite being 12 years older than my Dodge it has less rust, except for the tailgate. It just sat all winter abandoned in a snow bank and last weekend I went to charge the battery and get it running so that work could start on it and it started right up on the first crank. Thats the legendary Toyota reliability for you. Some of the new stuff thought up in Ann Arbor seems to be less successful, although it was proven that the runaway cars was just a hoax. This truck was intended to be my cheap transportation and I was going to deal with the usual midwest issues before they nickled and dimed me (rusted out brake lined, perished flexible hoses, start of chassis rust, getting paint back onto the chassis, treating any rust spots on the body). I will put in new carpet and I got a pair of leather seats from an Audi to have a more comfortable perch. These are small trucks. If I could, I would have gotten an extended cab, so there is at least space to put a briefcase or a rifle when going to the range. Now those things will have to go in the bed. I did get an explorer rear axle with a higher ratio and LSD to provide something more than 1wd in winter conditions. It is amazing to think that a big heavy vehicle like an explorer would have a bolt pattern that matches a much older truck with less than half the GVW. The light weight and relatively low COG should make this truck a lot safer than my Dodge. Fuel consumption should be up in the low 30's due to small engine, light weight and reduced frontal area. The most recent truck I bought is my 2008 Ford F250 superduty with the powerstroke engine. I looked forever for a 2006MY without the emissions equipment, but people expected ridiculous prices for trucks that had 120k+ mileage. The one I bought was a one owner truck which had spent its life on a ranch in Texas half way between Houston and Austin. It had 56k miles and the asking price was about $26k. It is an extended cab with 4wd and the 6ft bed. I personally don't like the double cabs since it is usually only 2 of us in it and the overall length gets to be pretty significant and the margin for payload goes down relative to a single or extended cab. Not to mention that the price goes up several thousand too... I own a Bobcat loader backhoe that weighs 7600lb and I need to be able to trailer it and typically 10k is the limit before things start getting sticky with CDL, DOT etc etc. So having vehicle to tow 10k was the key thing and it is not a commuter vehicle for me. Having 4wd and particularly low range is certainly an asset in winter and on rough trails, provided they don't get too narrow. It is certainly no Jeep substitute. Too big, too heavy and it takes a LOT of space to turn around. What is interesting is that its city cycle fuel consumption is no worse than the Dodge, notwithstanding having double the curb weight and all the emissions crap choking the life out of it. So, based on that, the dodge will eventually go. I will have to figure out what to do to get the emissions equipment on the Ford to work properly, at the very least, the exhaust will get wrapped from the turbo all the way back to the DPF, since the heat loss in winter is so great that it can take an entire week to regenerate the DPF. That is unless I take a detour that pushes my commute up to over an hour, since that seems to be the minimum time it needs when the temperature is 30F or lower. The amount of smoke produced when the regeneration starts is simply ridiculous, I am surprised that no state trooper has pulled me over yet, but it is bad for about 5 minutes until the carbon really gets ignited. I was pretty close to the development of this emissions system and as usual, Ford had to save every buck they possibly could in building the system, yet I have my mileage on every second tank drop to 9mpg for the life of the truck, so what does this cost me as the consumer as opposed to paying perhaps $50 more for insulated downpipes and cones on the oxidation catalyst and DPF ? Penny wise pound foolish and the owners hate the product. [/QUOTE]
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