Exactly this. I saw a maverick the other day and that thing looked like a scaled up Walmart rc truck you'd buy a kid for Xmas. It's not a truck. It's a shallow bed on a toy platform
Modern trucks aren’t designed for people who need trucks. They’re for people who need cars but want to feel like they have the utility of a truck despite them never needing said utility.
It's weird growing up with a 70's pickup that you just drive through washes, over curbs, been in multiple accidents with basically zero damage, you park by hitting walls/dumpsters, and toss literal tons of concrete and debris in the back and then seeing people in newer trucks with their giant $3000 rims and rubber band tires freaking out about fingerprints or dirty shoes. Trucks should be hammers, not Ferraris.
I feel like we’ll argue over the “who needs a truck.” I mean I don’t need one for work but I haul my fourwheeler and help buddies move with it. It just comes in handy. Trucks are for everyone. Can’t gate keep a pickup
"if You actually want to impress the neighbor, go get an early 90s F-150" Man that is so true. I bought a Ranger 86 and I've been having offers up and down. Old Cars had personality, something we lack today.
i have 2 classic trucks a 93 Yukon 2 door and a 1990 suburban (they're trucks i will argue till i die, just not pickup trucks) the number of old guys I've had come up to me and tell me about how they had one back in the day or how they used to beat the piss out of their old squarebody shocks me. Guys offering me money that's more than what i make in 4 months for a truck that was made 35 years ago is crazy. They ask me a price and i always tellem "ask my kids when i die, they'll still be running"
I have a retired friend who lives in the northeast. A few times a year, he flies to Arizona, buys a rust-free '90s pick-up and drives it back. They always sell within days for enough to cover the cost of the trip and a tidy profit.
My wife spotted a '95 F250 on Craigslist 8 years ago this month. We bought it with 160K miles, ext cab, long bed, 4x4, 7.3 liter Powerstroke, very clean PLUS Wing windows. It's now been valued at 3-4x what we've got into it, pulls our 31ft travel trailer, and gets all kinds of praise. At the gas station last year, i overheard 2 different owners of brand new trucks commisserating on the MULTIPLE Recalls they each were dealing with. I like the pre-2010 for another reason...no DEF.
YES to NO DEF! 2005 Silverado 3500 D-max 375k, just rebuilt and bulletproofed Allison trans MYSELF for $1,200 TOTAL parts! I remember vividly when we'd punk new younger guys to "check the EXHAUST FLUID"...AS A JOKE because it was so RIDICULOUS !
I love the 90s F250s. That being said, having owned a 2000 F250 PSD that I drove to 265k miles, I would never trade my 2016 F250 for it. Drives better, pulls better, turns better, quieter. In fact, other than putting DEF in, there are 0 things liked better about my 2000 model. The 90s trucks are a novelty, but functionally its not even close to the newer trucks.
Well most people yes and that I believe is the problem with the trucks today see even back in the late 70s early 80s to car companies had a cash pile of research that they conduct their research was largely based on SUVs but it did actually cover some trucks and they found that as City people started to buy pickup trucks they bought them largely because back then they were a cheap alternative to nobody really wanted a truck but the sales mysteriously picked up and they found out the reason people were buying them was because they were cheap alternative to cars and you know through the years they have compiled data that basically suggests well it outright says that the vast majority of those trucks will never really pull or haul anything of any real significance they will never really see any off-road use or very little much like the SUV like the Jeep people in the city were buying Jeeps left and right but most of the time those jeeps and never saw off road use they've come to the same conclusion about pickup trucks. So the moral of my story here is simply it was only a matter of time before the manufacturers would build these things to the scale of that economy in other words yes it technically has four wheel drive but there's limitation because it's not exactly built to the specifications of having the shit beat out of it on a farm like it's predecessors. It's literally a van with a truck bed. And you can think City people for ruining pickup trucks the minute the soccer moms got a hold of the damn things and the $100,000 man got a hold of a pickup truck and decided he didn't want to scratch the truck bed but he's going to pull everything behind it in a trailer and he only really wants the truck is some sort of status symbol then well welcome to high price that are built to a scale of economy from the manufacturer's standpoint and then of course this means the performance goes down the tubes that's exactly what happened. And of course to still razzle and dazzle everybody into buying the damn thing well they put a cell phone in the dash and talked about how you can monitor all this useless shit that you probably don't care about.
I live on a dirt road in the mountains at 5000’ elevation. My 1980 bronco with a 10.2:1 stroked 331/302 with forged mahle pistons, scat rotating assembly, brand new everything-driveline-strange 9” rear LSD front/back, carpet, paint, 4 speed granny low top loader, manual t case, new 32 gallon tanks, hei dizzy, aluminum heads, 1-5/8 mid length ceramic coated headers, does some over landing but it was built to take my wife and I (now also my baby girl) to Alaska and back . Bucket list 6 week adventure. Hoping to go in 6-7 years when our baby is old enough to remember, core memories…
All the safety features like lane departure assist, automatic stop, and seatbelt beeping are things we have to pay for, but things we never asked for, but they come standard so you have to pay for them. You have no choice. This is what I hate about new vehicles.
Exactly! I wouldn’t mind options if it’s still possible to buy a minimum spec zero option version of the vehicle, as stripped out and barebones as possible. Generally speaking the dealer version of a feature is less useful and worse quality than anything I could install aftermarket, which I’d prefer to be doing.
The US government: “pop-up headlights are dangerous for pedestrians!” Also the US government: “if the hood isn’t 5 ft off the ground you can’t sell it in this country”
I have a 2023 GMC Sierra work truck. I completely ran over one of those huge orange drums at a road construction site, didn't see it AT ALL. Those things are as tall as a 10-year-old. It's a joke. And it's bone stock $45k base model, not even lifted or anything.
Paying $80K for a truck to drive to home depot a few times a year to pick up 2 bags of mulch or drive to an office job BC someone has a small pen!s is ridiculous. No wonder everyone is broke.
Went to a car show, sat on all the trucks, got to the parking lot and got back in my 2002 Silverado. I was SHOCKED by the difference in VISIBILITY! RIDICULOUS!
I agree completely, our 2012 Chevy pickup has HORRIBLE blind spots whenever you try to look behind you...to the point where it's dangerous...compared to our 2002 Chevy that you can see EASILY all the way around...so surprised that more people haven't noticed this and how dangerous it actually is
I have an 03 Sierra 2500 HD. And an 04 F350. SLE and XLT packages. Those trucks are perfect. Modern but basic at the same time. Not too big either just the right size for a truck. Those new trucks the hood comes up to my neck practically and I am 6 foot tall.
I absolutely disagree with this statement. The chicken tax forced manufacturers to build trucks in the United States and not over seas and it protected American manufacturing in jobs. I am old enough to remember the imports coming here and I also remember how they used to skirt around the so-called chicken tax by installing the bed here... The North American Free trade agreement, California Air resource board the national highway traffic safety administration and of course the EPA are the worst things to happen to the American vehicle market as a whole. All of those things started off as good ideas and every one of them have forced the market in unnatural directions.
Might as well do away with the chicken tax, Ford and GM our going broke fast so after they are gone Japan will no longer need to subsidize their trucks and we’ll see the real cost of those foreign brands, plus we’ll probably be forced to buy tiny KEI trucks for the few that have the money to buy them, the current administration has destroyed the economy, don’t mean to get political but it’s true.
Well no it did not actually protect the Auto industry what it was was temporary Band-Aid as a means of trying to slow down imports but of course the loophole was the import company could build a factory here employee Americans and then talk about how it's made in America and they avoided the tariffs. You're basically did the same thing and it didn't work and it didn't work here either then of course you ended up with a situation to where they didn't actually have to build the vehicle fully assembled out of the country what they could do is manufacture literally every part of the vehicle outside of the country and then import those parts back in and then assembled which is basically our Auto industry today and they were doing this even before NAFTA so NAFTA definitely did not help but it was not the end of all that started this. So it was a Band-Aid to basically make people think that always protecting American industry when in reality it did nothing for American industry it basically just forced the competitors to build factories here and oh by the way still take over the market because what we were building sucked. I do agree with you on the EPA the EPA can totally fuck off and die because the EPA has literally screwed up not just the Auto industry but a lot of our industry which of course is provided extra justification for a lot of our manufacturing to scoot out of the nation. Are gutless politicians did nothing to actually look out for American industry if they really wanted to do that then they buy now should have had policies that talks about how in order to be considered an American company to receive tax breaks and senatives and or to receive a certain tax percentage that you have to maintain and have 98% of your manufacturing capacity in this country that you have to have at least 98% of your business here in terms of your parts manufacturing and your assembly and they have never introduced that law yeah the reason being is because well you know there's a lot of ass wipes in the world of politics that yeah they're getting kickbacks if anything they're getting corporate sponsorships for their campaigns. I mean we could fix this in two seconds only we were to clamp down and say no you have to have 98% of your manufacturing base here in order to be considered an American company and basically if you refute then guess what you're going to do you're going to pay 70% more taxes and every one of your cars will be treated as if it's a foreign made vehicle and there will be a domestic tariff on each car. And then basically when the company collapses well so what had a bankruptcy court we'll just find an investor and or a series of investors to take it over and they really will set it up that they'll have 90% of their manufactured base year it's really that simple. That set I will say that something to that effect would have worked a lot better 25 to 30 years ago I will say that today it would be difficult to get that off the ground it can be done but of course there's going to be painful and that's most the reason why the politicians won't touch it they just say it's up to the free market and then they let them do whatever the hell they want to do meanwhile they give them huge amounts of tax incentives as well as basically even money and they fire up a couple of token factories but in reality they don't manufacture shit they assemble things out of foreign manufactured parts.
Modern trucks are a lot like the current state of county music these days. Fake, plastic, eye-catching city dwelling “outdoors ready” wheels, further driven by useless electronics while having a “try-hard” aesthetic of a vehicle that used to be rugged, reliable tough and powerful.
I had a 2004 Toyota Tundra SR5. Everything you need, nothing you don't. It was built like a tank but only about 80% as big as current full-size trucks. I took it off-road, towed campers and trailers, used it heavily as a truck is to be used. At 155k miles, it ran like new and I never had a single issue but I sold it to buy a new fancy truck. I regret that decision every single day.
I ave an 04 f150, and that really was the sweet spot, where the ride and cab were finally car comfortable, but they didn't have any of the useless electronics and weren't so oversized.
Not even just trucks, every car is massive. New civics are way bigger than my old civic. I want a small car, and I mean small, not the smallest the brand offers.
I love these truck ads that show the truck off-roading in the desert, climbing a mountain, or racing through the woods. When we all know the tire sensors would break, suspension would be ruined, the check engine and transmission lights would come on, and the airbags would probably deploy because the truck can’t handle actual off-roading 😂
I don’t know, I used to off-road my 21 half ton Sierra pretty hard here in the Rockies, while it wasn’t the best ride comfort, it didn’t ever break down on me. I’ve since upgraded the suspension and tires, but in stock form it did just fine.
@@bigfoottamer Do you think when the 80k truck is old that it would ever be used for off roading or do you think that by then there will be so many electrical gremlins that it won't be worth the time to fix anymore
@@Jake-mv7yo maybe, by the time it gets old someone will have figured out how to rip the shitty electronics out and make it more reliable, if not then no
The growth in size is mostly due to how the EPA changed their fuel economy requirements to be based on width and wheelbase of the truck. The formula is broken and hugely incentivizes making trucks as large as legally possible.
The EPA along with all other unelected bureaucracy’s have no more authority due to the recent Supreme Court ruling on Chevron Deference so maybe things will get better.
I hate modern trucks because they're not serviceable in the field. Snap a fan belt? Off the the dealer to disassemble the FRONT END! "That'll be $1,250 sir!"
I hear cars are being written off over minor faults that parts suppliers cannot supply (usually electronic) parts for. I guess this "chip shortage" is gonna be around for a few decades....
Lol .. there's not even reason to carry tools or spares these days .. because they're not going to help on the roadside. Everything is a tow. I've had a '68 Fargo 3-on-the-tree, an '81 F-100, a '78 Chevy. still have a '68 Mercury 3/4 ton, (240, 4 speed) and an '84 GMC (292/TH-400) .. Every one was or still is bomb proof, and although I admit they "broke" more than my daily .. (maybe not a shock with odo's ranging from 300-900,000) But not one ever stranded me. You could always patch or limp them home. Alternator dies in my '84 .. it'll go 35 miles on the battery. My '07 won't make the next offramp. I carry points and a condenser in my '68.I've done some hairy ass shit the last 50 years .. like gravity fed a Rochester monojet with a shat fuel pump, and yup - I carry a spare belt in all my old junk. I can swap it faster than the zombies can swarm. And overall serviceability? Well you sound like an angry old asshole like myself .. so you may recall oil bath filters? Should see the look on peoples faces when I tell them the truck still has the filter installed April 18th, 1968. Oh yes, and my headlamps are $7. The towing hosssy-powah advert hype has me shaking my head as well. I won't claim to be able to out tugl a 7.3 Powerstroke or 5.9 Cummins with 240 cubic inches in a '68 .. but the girl does her job .. and in the last 54 years did (originally concrete and drain, then) farm duty hauling hay and steers. Who the hell needs all that stupid power to go to the carwash and commute? And she'll be around when I'm dead I suspect .. Hopefully to so someone who will love and preserve rather than chop, slam, and put stupid wheels on it. but I digress. Guy I know just bought a Dodge worth twice what I once paid for a two storey house. I made fun of him and asked if there were integrated sex toys in the seats. Of course no one knows the future .. but I wonder how many '22's will still be on the road in 2072?
@@JimTheZombieHunter 2022 - 2024s won't still be on the road after 12 - 15 years after all the electronic doodads and gadgetry fail and wear out. The truck will be inoperable and not run, drive or shift anymore. You don't need to go back to 1968 to have good no frills reliability. The sweet spot and approx "cutoff" is somewhere prior to about 2006 or 2007. That's when they really started piling on the electronic junk and unnecessary gadgets. In fact mid 90s to around 2002/03 is the best of the best. All the modern technology you need without anything you don't.....safety equipment, EFI, 4-wheel disc brakes , overdrive, oil/trans coolers, transmission shift levers rather than electronic buttons that fail etc etc etc.
No, they currently usually cost more than a house these days. "They" will adjust or nobody will buy them anymore. Need to drop the prices $25,000 - $30,000 less. How do you do that? Take off all the unnecessary modern inventions and doodads. A pickup truck shouldn't cost $60,000+....... 60k....haha....many are pushing $80,000 these days.
Yes. I refuse to take any blame as a consumer. I have never wanted a bigger more expensive car. In fact, the best car I owned was a Hyundai Accent 5 speed I bought for $1,800. 42 miles per gallon, and my girlfriend could push it out if it got stuck in a snowdrift.or something... I'll never own a new car, and I will ride my tiny motorcycle (Kawasaki Z125) until the snow starts sticking to the road.
@@gahbah274 This is why the above poster should just make a go-cart with 3 wheels. Things like this already exist with 1 wheel in the back. I forgot what they were called though.
owner of a 90s f150 here, 8 ft bed 2 doors. honestly has gotten hit and ditched. never fixed and runs well. sure repairs are in it, but most stuff you dont need to fix. another owner had one stolen in school. the dude tried to floor it hit 2 new suvs and a tree. guess what survived. the f150.
As someone who has owned the luxury trucks, big and small, I have paid thousands per month in payments and insurance. I now drive a 1994 F150 (8 foot bed) that I own outright. And I can work on it myself, it tows, it hauls, it gets 20 MPG (inline 6 manual), but incredibly, it catches so many eyes. People are surprised it’s on the road, and that I built it myself. It came to me one day that it was “cool” when two teenage boys who volunteer at the church asked to ride in it, calling it a “classic”. At first I was taken aback, then I realized, it isn’t like anything they’ve seen on a lot today. A manual transmission? Wing windows? A bench seat? The natural rumble in the cab? As we pulled into a gas station, a man in this new Duramax looked at my truck and said, “Man, I’m jealous”. That’s when I realized the 1990 OBS F150 is the new classic C10.
As a guy who owns 2 of them in good condition, I still don’t get the hype. They’ve never been that appealing to me. I drive my 2013 f250 99% of the time.
@@00700556 I don’t either, sir. I didn’t buy it to “look cool”. It was affordable and reliable. It is perfect for running to get fencing or hauling whatever furniture my wife needs.
I work at a Ford dealer, I drive new F150's and Super Duties daily. Want to know what I just bought? A 97' GMC K1500 with 213,000 miles on it and honestly I would NOT trade it for ANY new truck on our lot. They just don't do it for me, too much tech, too many gimmicky features that break and I would never use. Not to mention how cheap they feel for how overpriced they are. I don't need lane keep assist, I don't need a massive screen. I don't need 80 different camera's. I don't need a truck that parks/drives itself or a 5 way opening tailgate with a "man step". I just need one that is reliable, that I can haul stuff around with. That's it. Until then (I'm not holding my breath) I'm just gonna buy and fix up the old stuff.
i have a 2020 ranger and i do think that it is a very decent machine, but I also love 90s rangers and have had several. And although I do love the simplicity of the 90s machines the new ranger is pretty great, plenty of power to tow, 4wd, locking diffs, but gets 27 highway mpg, and nothing is terribly complicated on it.
Well I will say that the old Ford rangers were decent trucks and a lot of those are actually still functioning to this day I mean it's interesting because in the 90s I remember everybody would sort of insult what was news in right they would talk about how things were better in the 80s or the 70s or some shit people still do that but what's funny is now everybody's talking about how they were better in the 90s than they are today even though I can remember it's 90s people to think so. I guess it kind of harkens back to the old saying if you never know what you got until it's gone. And that's very true when it comes to the small miniature trucks you can't really get those anymore and there is some importing of the foreign jobs but a lot of States deemed those too small to be safely recommended for the road which is fucking stupid because then they're going to let people drive around in a dumb ass smart car. And of course recently I've seen a few rangers drive around via the newer ones and I thought this damn things are basically the size of what an F-150 used to be I own an F-150 a 2004 that basically parents' laws gave us and I dropped 3,500 and I can say that the new ranger is damn near the size of it in fact the ranger is larger than a 90s Ford f150 it's crazy.
I got an 07 ranger it's amazing,it does what it needs to do. I'm the truck person in my family so I'm always on call. I like that I can use it a lot and not care much.
A real SUV is built like a truck with a full frame under it. Without being RWD and having a full all steel rigid frame what you have is a "tall car" and nothing more.
As a self employed landscaper who actually needs a heavier truck to make a living (hauling mulch, dirt, stone, brush, leaves etc.) I'll never understand why a middle class person will blow so much money on a brand new f250 to go to the dump and grab a 2x4 from home depot twice a year. The cost of ownership is really insane.
@@wizard_of_poz4413 multiple surveys have been done on truck owners and most of them admit they rarely use it for its purpose. All these brand new trucks with aggressive lifts and wide stances yet you never see those at construction sights, they never have anything in the bed, they never doing actual work, but you do see em in suburbs, parking lots at groceries stores or in the car pool line. It’s clear as day why people(guys) buy these trucks. So they can look “masculine” and “rugged”. “Look at me, I’m a man, I’m strong im big, im tough” without actually being those things. This video clearly struck a nerve bc your in the comments replying to everyone that criticized your little comfort vehicles
Well at the basics all you really need to do is go to home Depot frequently and or work there and you'll know immediately what he's talking about. Other than that the Auto industry has 40 years of data that basically says the majority of these trucks will ever see any offered use they won't see any real true work applications that would require a much heavier duty frame and suspension as well as other components as standard equipment for the people that do need those items they are welcome to buy the modeler to up and of course that's how they make their money so basically they've used 40 years of data to basically build these things to a scale of economy and gimp performance. Interestingly enough it was in the early 80s that AMC who owned jeep at the time conducted market research to find out exactly what kind of customer is by their Jeep offerings whether it be the truck or the SUV and what they found out was those vehicles ended up in the driveways of middle and upper middle class individuals and even some people much wealthier and they were parked next to Mercedes and they never saw off-road use of any kind these people just wanted to buy the capability because it had the capability but they never really had any real intentions of using it that still goes on with customers today that's exactly why that market research that was done in the early eighties and of course throughout the decade of the eighties by all automakers is still relevant.
Yes in that data is actually 40 plus years old and see themselves conducted this very market research in the early eighties and determined that the majority of their Jeep vehicles whether it be the truck or the SUV never see any off-road use and they're generally not used for work applications at least work applications that would require heavier duty now they offered to have your duty trucks and you would argue that the trucks of yesteryear came relatively standard is heavy duty and when you paid the extra money to have it beefed up more basically what they thought heavy duty back then actually meant something but the standard truck back that was also built to scale of heavy-dutiness that you cannot get as standard anymore and that's because the market research told them they didn't have to build it that way because the vast majority of customers will never ever attempt to use the truck for any of that stuff.
People who daily drive pick up trucks and don't even use them for their intended purpose are some of the biggest snowflakes I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. Lol
My friend's rivian ran out of juice towing a small trailer last week. Said it had 150 miles of range when we started and left us stranded in 55 miles. My 2006 5-Speed 4.0 V6 Ranger 4X4 saved the day. Towed the trailer back. Then went and rescued the Rivian driver. That Rivian is a marvelous vehicle. But my 06 Ranger is a better truck.
Well electric trucks are basically crap. I mean if you believe the marketing nonsense then yeah they're going to talk about this ranger that but they conduct those tests if they bothered to test it under certain conditions with a certain weight and by the way that wait also includes the driver or any passengers that went along the test rooms so yeah you might be 80 lb lighter than the guys it rode along on the test and that might somehow squeeze a couple more miles out on the other hand the load that you had may have very well been 400 lb over what they towed at the lab and or test track. In other words these vehicles are tested under certain conditions and the bullshit that they plaster everywhere about the range of the vehicle is based on ideal conditions and not necessarily real world use. They need to be more honest and upfront because the long run they're basically destroying their own industry now I don't think that the industry is really feasible at this point now I will say battery technology will get better and you know they probably play with the gearing in the rear end and they could you know tweak a few things and someday they really will have better capability but as of right now they're going to ruin the chances of the better future coming for these vehicles if they continuously post marketing crap everywhere that says they have these huge ranges because people buy these things and then they're massively disappointed. And it leaves a bad taste in their mouth to wear someday even if they actually do get the range up on these things with any real towing capacity nobody's really going to believe and it's just going to be at another Lost cause in the automotive history books so I think that in the long run they would be better off to talk about how under ideal conditions tell everyone what those ideal conditions are and then talk about how that means if you're wanting to pull the trailer with 2 tons of shit in it you're not getting that range I think that they would be better off to be honest even if that means they might lose a couple of sales today they would at least be setting themselves up for some sort of honesty look in the future when the battery technology does improve.
Or Toby Keith (rest in piss) I laughed when one of the truck ads featured in the video showed Toby Keith on the radio Enjoy your soulless pop music with southern accent pretending to be country music while you drive your soulless tank pretending to be a truck
I remember a few years ago I was shoveling gravel out of the bed of my 1995 Dodge Dakota and my neighbor came by (who had a new Tundra) and said to me "man, I should get a truck like that too". I responded by asking "a truck like what?" to which he said "one that I would actually use". I wouldn't want to shovel gravel out of a new $70k truck either.
aye look at the latest yt vid from 'that car care nut' on the new 24 taco trd pro, uff da mae it's bad. Got a gen 3 now myself but maybe the taco peaked with gen 2 sizewise. Before that was a 01 frontier which was a very capable 4X4 machine but way underpowered for a v6. Definitely I'm with no options and no fn screen but I can allow for power windows.
Trucks used to be built to be work horses. Work them hard and put them away wet. Now they're just show ponies. Most trucks today are just form over function.
Well yeah that's true however I can also say that the reason they're made that way today is because of 40 years of data that basically says that most trucks and or SUVs are never going to see any real off-root use that most of those vehicles are not going to be on the farm basically City people started buying them up because at one point they were cheap transportation then pretty soon that customer base wanted a bunch of shit on so basically they've morphed into minivans with truck and 40 years of data has allowed them to do that because they can build these vehicles to a scale of economy that says they don't have to build them super because the mass majority of those trucks are never going to be used in any application that would require it to be what it was 40 years ago. And then of course to cover their ass but the milk a little more money they offer subsequent models up from perhaps the base models that would be more capable so that's how they're getting away with this it basically allowed them to beef up pretty much the same truck and then sell it to you it $30,000 more it's a scam it's literally bullshit.
Well yeah it's just like with the SUVs what's the city people started to buy them market decided to go in the directions of those people wanted basically I argue that today most pickup trucks or nothing more than fans with a truck bed that they've basically turned them into vans. I mean if you go and look at an old 70s crew cab truck with an 8-ft bed it's a monster it's literally huge but those were largely used by lumberjacks a lot of power companies had a lot of those trucks because they would send the crew of four or five guys out to a field to clear brush to clear trees and whatnot from power lines you know they had a fucking utility that's what those were created now it is the four-door trucks with the tiny truck bed is basically some idiot who does nothing with the truck to show off. And I'll be honest the only reason I have truck and or my wife and I have a truck it's simply because my parents lost our old and could fix it and it had to go to a shop and they relied to about the frame and they didn't want to mess with it they shipped it to us said we don't want it no more so I dumped about 32-3500 in it and got it and it's a wonderful vehicle so it was a matter if we needed a vehicle we didn't pay jack shit for it and I put roughly $3,500 in it and now we have basically a $15,000 truck sitting at the driveway that's the only reason I am because as of right now no I don't really need a truck but it's another vehicle that my wife drive because it has an automatic transmission and where my Camaro is a standard and she can't drive a clutch.
You are blousy ignorant becusse most of us buy them to run businesses and work out of them. The people who say new trucks don’t work are the same ones who don’t work. Mostly old grandpas that are retired. And there’s always been old retired grandpas who buy trucks and keep them nice
CAFE regulations. They have to go through a luxury vehicle loophole or else the democrat laws make it too difficult to sell a truck in any way that makes sense from a business perspective
Part of this is also due to the veneration or desire to "appear" as if you are a "worker" or similar. Pickups have gone from being a more blue-collar or young man's vehicle to being a status symbol for older men. The same has happened with women buying SUVs. Both sexes are prone to marketing gimmicks. Similarly, I contend that pickups, for men, are one of the last vestiges of even faux masculinity in the automotive market. It's impossible to look like a man by pulling up somewhere in a banal, and unvitalistic little coupe or sedan or somesuch. That leaves pickups, or some kind of offroad SUV (Jeeps). I might say the entirety of automotive designs today lack any spirit of speed, power, or vitality, and are now spiritually obese looking, full of comfort features (the user needs to be coddled at all times), and safety obsessed to the point of crippling their intended function. I'm not countersignaling good features, either. I'm fine with my vehicle being reinforced or having seatbelts etc. so I survive a collision or somesuch. But personal vehicles have lost any fire they once had to be reduced to the same dead, uninspired environment much of contemporary life has been struck down to. Too tightly controlled, lacking freedom, and a will to live a certain way.
I can attest to the blind spot of today's trucks being dangerous. My step-mother is currently in the hospital in rehab recovering from being hit by a pick-up truck making a turn while she was in a pedistrian crossing. She is a tiny Asian woman and the driver swore he just did not see her and was devastated that he had hit her. She suffered swelling of her brain, broken bones and is in her 80's, her memory is now shot, both long term and short term. She is slowly recovering, but who knows how much she has lost or will recover. Even before pick-up started bloating out I had a dislike for those that drove, mainly because my CB650 died underneath the front end of an early 90's F-150 that ran a red light, I ended up in the middle of the road with my leg tucked under my arse in a most unnatural position and looking forward to three years of rehab and recovery. Trucks are meant to beasts of labour, not some wankers status symbol.
Of course he couldn't see her. That's my biggest problem with all new vehicles. I rented through Avis and got a brand new Audi. Immediately noticed after I got in that I felt like I couldn't see. The windshield on it was half the size of the one on my 10-year-old Toyota. In fact, I could live with every other deficiency of modern cars, trucks, etc. if they just had bigger windshields and smaller grills.
The Apillars (on either side of the windsheild) are 7 inches wide now. They used to be 3 inches wide. Vehicle safety standards let drivers speed and drive like idiots and survive while killing pedestrians and cyclists.
@@valleyofiron125 Maybe this is what I'm noticing when I get in new trucks. I always thought it was the smaller windshield, but maybe it is the reduction in peripheral vision. I don't know exactly, but something about them feels way off.
93 GMC K-1500 is my DD. I rebuilt it. I put an aftermarket 40-20-40 bench seat with no head rests in the front. Being able to see 360° with very little obstructions might be my favorite feature on my setup.
@@four-eight-zero5627 You know what they say about GMC Trucks right? Body by Fisher, engineered by Miss Take. The K-1500's and F-150's of that time period were true trucks, real work horses and not some jokers vanity ride.
The issue is trucks moved away from an affordable and utilitarian vehicle to do work, into a plush luxury vehicle or status symbol / mall terrorizer.... I doubt any of the new truck drivers ever do any work using their truck or go offroad with it.
How to buy a new pickup truck: 1. test drive a truck from the dealer lot. 2. rob a bank and load the bed with bags of cash 3. return to the dealer lot and pay for the truck in cash, assuming you cleared about $80,000 from the heist.
I have a 2005 Silverado that i paid $5k for last year. It has 250k miles, all electrical stuff works (power windows/locks/lights), 4wd works, no rust, very few dents, no rips in the cloth interior, you can eat off the engine bay, it starts/runs excellently and drives great. The only things that dont work are a few lights in the dashboard (the lights that light uo the gas gauge and engine temperature). I wouldn't trade it for ANY new truck.🥰
Dash lights in pre 2010 vehicles are usually pretty easy to replace. Biggest thing is finding the service manual which most public libraries can get a hold of. Now some have annoying clips that you have to make sure to replace but couple hours max and you good to go.
Hey man, those gators are actually wicked little machines. Definitely far from a golf cart. Never, would I ever, in my right mind, buy one. But we have them at work, and they are very capable. You're pretty much paying for the John Deere name though, no excuse why they should be more than like $15,000 IMO
I almost bought one recently, but my buddy beat me to the punch for it. 1995 Chevy K1500, 5-speed stick, 5.7L 350. Beat up truck, but still a truck. Something I can actually haul my shit around with. I now have 2 2000 Silverado 1500s that I use for that stuff, and they do me just fine.
Or you went out and got a Lund visor and side steps. Maybe a rollbar. What the hell happened to rollbars anyways? I went looking for one for my old '84 D100 a few years back and all I could find were these cheesy looking light bar mounts that bolted to the bed rails, not down in it.
This is an excellent essay on the state of the modern pickup truck and how it has become an overpriced status symbol instead of the useful vehicle it once was.
It's still useful if you use it the way it's intended. I use mine just about w eryday. Homesteader and blue collar with a 2020. It's not even hard to fix either.
My dad has a 1989 gmc sierra 1500 for the farm truck. It's completely fine for hauling a slip tank to fill up the tractor in the field, carry tools for when machinery breaks down. I can easily reach over the side of the box to grab a duffel bag or a jerry can. Trucks are so big now that I have to crawl into the bed to grab anything, which again is more difficult because of how tall they are. Trucks have become the exact opposite of what they should be. They are now impractical instead of practical. I hate it. I'd buy something like a 2000 Silverado in a heartbeat. These new truck just hurt.
They now have sidesteps and built in tailgate ladders. My brother just bought a truck that has some weird pop-out sidesteps. On the other hand, my buddy wanted the safety so his wife got a giant F-150 that's never really used as a truck and along with his SUV they barely fit in the garage my sedan has tons of room in. Also, I think most new trucks are using aluminum beds, because in your giant, massive, overweight work vehicle you need to sacrifice functionality and usability for weight reduction. We had to repair our outer wall and threw chunks of concrete and debris from the roof into the back of our old pickup, and loaded it with said concrete until it was as high as the cab roof and then hauled it to the dump. Modern trucks would crumble.
Nice. I'm hoping my 1997 C-1500 extended cab in emerald green metallic will be the last truck I ever own. It's got 278k miles on the odometer, but she's still driving smoothly!
My dad had a 66 Chevy. Three speed on the tree you know he's still talks about that truck to this day I guess the bed got Rusty on it and whatnot so he took it off of course made it flatbed before he took the truck bed off though he ended up ramping a bridge in town at 55 miles an hour fucking around. He said when he took the bed off that's when they discovered the 5/8 piston had snapped in the helper shocks yet the truck via helper springs on it you couldn't tell they didn't know it till they took the truck bed off to put the flatbed on he talks about how at one time they overloaded it with hay once he said the front end was slightly squirrely but it still handled it really well of course he bets that most the trucks today if you tried to do that it wouldn't haul it I think he's right. For the longest time I was never a Chevy guy but I will say that I do believe that dad's old 66 was back when they built something worth a shit in fact I would say back then was when all car companies built something worth a shit.
Switch the property tax for a land tax. Suddenly, massive parking lots become a terrible thing to have. Cut the "minimum parking requirements" too. Suddenly, (new) massive parking lots become nonexistent and old ones are sure to disappear like a marshmallow in warm water.
@@kinvert That's... not how taxes work. You don't "tax" employees. That's just paying them less with more steps. I'm aware that income tax is a thing, but instigating taxes based on occupation is a recipe for disaster. Back to the main subject: You should still have *some* sort of tax or fee for owning land/property. Without such, a few people will "claim" all land since they don't have to pay anything to keep it and then charge exorbitant fees to let others use; which is basically a land tax but worse because it won't come with services. This is exactly what is happening to the housing market: Wealthy people and groups/corporations are buying residential lots without actually using them in order to charge huge fees and make a massive profit for little effort. Capitalism is great for things that are optional in life, but horrendous at things people need to survive.
@user-uj3zk2cx8t You do know that a giant hunk of metal in a low to no rust climate will roll down the road indefinitely as long as you repair or replace the moving parts right?
I'm telling you. If some random company decided to produce an 80-90s style compact truck (like an s10) and priced it low with little in tech options, they would have a gold mine and wouldn't be able to make enough of them.
Look up the Toyota Champ. They already make the perfect small truck that would sell for 13-14k brand new here, but our government won't allow it. They even offer it in a 2.4 diesel.
You guys don't get the Hilux right? In south America are the absolute KING. Smaller than the Tacoma, can haul more than the Tacoma and is indestructible even in newer versions. And you can option it without most of the junk tech that you don't need. Even in my country that is literally the most expensive in South America is a good investment cause they hold they value greatly.
@@Khan.WrathOf keep getting told that driving is a privilege not a right, but it sure seems that any idiot can get a license and him getting it taken away or being punished is slim to none.
Idk, my 09 minivan has the side airbags and it's rather small. Hell my old 07 Civic was the same. I think it's got to be something else, unless Honda is just hiding the good airbag tech.
I have a 90’s Suburban, but even that truck is somehow smaller than a new “standard” Silverado today; a Suburban is somehow smaller than a “normal” pick up today, let that sink in! 😂
I bought my last truck, a 1992 F-150 Lariat XLT (manual) about 24 years ago. She and I are both retired now and she still runs beautifully. Being a Florida truck there is very little rust on her and what little there is can be found as surface rust on the frame. Just had her repainted about three months ago and she is once again a shiny thing of beauty. She will be my last truck since new models are expensive, rubber band tire pretenders. My wife says that she's checking out how to bury me in my truck when I go. Not sure she's kidding.
I agree. Once trucks started coming off the dealership floor with 6 inch lifts, it got ridiculous. I live in the south and even just 10 years ago trucks were cool. But now everyone drives a Ford or Chevy lifted with 38 inch tires and headlights that will blind you. They're just luxury status symbols at this point. I proudly drive an 02 corolla. I've driven 2 of my friends newer trucks and they just don't feel right. They feel floaty and just weird. My 03 F150 was way more connected to the road even with a 3 inch lift.
I rented a modern Chevy 1/2 ton last week - blown head gasket on my truck - and the first negative I could feel is the frame felt like it was too flexible compared to my 73, a stupid switch for the parking brake that will eventually fail, a non-removable gas cap with a flap in it that you push the nozzle through, and that annoying Throttle-by-Wire - I hate the delayed throttle response. And yes, It was huge.
Bro that’s so true 😂 I remember when you’d see a beautiful, rare, all decked out black f1 lifted and lit up. It was so cool to see driving at night. But now?…..the magic has died 😂
My 17-year-old son just bought a 2009 Ford Ranger in excellent condition for $7000. Low mileage and not a speck of rust. He's so proud of that truck and didn't want anything bigger. He's going into tradework , so he wanted to start off with something smaller and reliable. That's the attitude a lot of people should take when looking for trucks to do truck things...
@@zsu-23-4shilka2 Not just many, smarter than like 95% of them, since the other 5% are those working in trades and are older folks who know what a good truck is, not the psy-op to make Americans believe bigger is always better. If I could get a Mazda B2200 and upgrade it to handle higher cargo weight with higher and stiffer rear springs and some decent front suspension travel, and put a nice reliable automatic in it, I would. Although getting a B2200 would be way too costly, so an old Ranger would be just perfect. Edit: Lol it just occurred to me that RidersInBlack's son is part of the smart, forward-thinking and intelligent 5% and I perhaps didn't make it clear that I was implying that XD
Good for him! My 17 year old son also drives around in a 2004 Ranger that I picked up for him. He now knows how to drive a stick shift and has more driving skills than 80% of folks out there. We also get to bond in the garage when working on it. Its simplicity makes it a beauty.
You know what the government should do instead of given you money to buy an electric car. How about give you money to restore a classic car? America's heritage has to be something American.
Thank you for a great common sense view of the modern truck market. I would buy a bare-bones truck in a heartbeat if it was available and cheap. Trucks selling for $40,000-$100,000 are ridiculously overpriced and crazy!
This is such an important conversation The auto industry has gone completely off the rails, and the people need to bandntogether and stand up for ourselves and our vehicles
I had a Facebook memory from 13 years ago where I had taken a picture of gas prices ($3.19, Central Kentucky). I captioned, "take a picture, it'll last longer." I remember it very well. Gas prices had been much higher for a long time but had come down for a few days. (The same gas station is down to $2.96 today.) Anyway, at the time I had taken that picture, you couldn't give a pickup truck away. Nobody wanted them due to the cost of gas to drive them and everyone was focused on getting a small, gas saving car for their commute. Today, when gas prices fluctuate, the response is to bitch and moan about it on Facebook rather than look for ways to reduce the overall cost per mile. People have truly gotten dumber. I feel sorry for the working guys and farmers who actually need a reliable, cheap truck for actual truck things.
I grew up in farm country and every single farmer drove Toyotas from the 80s and 90s. They hauled anything you could think of and went all over the hills and uneven terrain with no problem. Now that I live in the city I have neighbors driving trucks that are so huge they have to park completely on the sidewalk because they block the whole street if they don't. And I've never seen them hauling a single thing in their spotless beds. Even when they've seen me carrying furniture by hand down the street they refused to help because they wouldn't dare dirty their precious status symbol.
I see S10s and Rangers overloaded to high hell just about every day. I'm talking these trucks have to be carrying 10,000 lbs. worth of load. Beds plum full of stuff, with a tandem axle trailer, too. Suspension sagging so low it may as well be resting on the bump stops. They take it like champs, though. I have never seen an S10 or Ranger with a broken frame for any other reason than rust with my own two eyes. These tiny 4 cylinder trucks hauling loads that a brand new 3500 diesel should be hauling, all by themselves. The little trucks that could.
@@lsswappedcessna not to mention most people that drive those pickups actually use their truck for well you know….WORK. Not just driving it around too feel big and bad in these huge trucks nowadays that don’t get used
I have a 2016 Nissan Frontier, short bed. I threw a Leer cap on it and use a trailer to move big stuff. Truck is great for camping - keeps all my stuff dry.
I love REAL TRUCKS, but I can't see why so many people love these 1/2 ton Crews with a super-short bed. Oh wait, it is because they really need a full-sized station wagon, but those are no longer made.
A salient characteristic of people who solo commute in oversized pickups is not just a profound entitlement mentality but also complete blindness to it, such that the entire way they relate to public life boils down to demanding free stuff from the government while angrily accusing others of the same. And the victim complex, dear lord! Show me a guy speeding down surface streets in a 3.5 ton deluxe monstrosity and I'll show you a grown man who feels deeply wounded every time he sees someone riding a bicycle. Seriously.
As someone who lived through the 80's and 90's, when the SUV took over in the 90's, the truck as we knew it would die. As an example, the Toyota 4Runner. When they first started, they were designed off the truck platform. As they become popular, customers demanded more comfort features. Ride, seats, etc. So the SUV got it's own platform, separate from the truck. Unibody vs body on frame. Eventually, the truck was designed in part to satisfy design requirements for the SUV. Eventually the truck took on SUV traits to stay relevant to many buyers. Ridgeline, Avalanche as examples. Even the Maverick is more SUV than truck, since it's designed off the Escape platform.
Ehh I disagree we still have true body on frame truck based SUVs even the 4Runner you used as an example is still a body on frame truck based SUV I think the issue is the manufacturers lying and calling things like Highlander for example and suv or calling a ridgeline,maverick or Santa Cruz a truck when it’s actually a unibody Ute. People start comparing these unibody’s to body in frames and start to like to feel of the unibody more which will be the downfall of the Pickup and SUV in the future
The 4Runner is still an incredibly capable body on frame truck based SUV, developed alongside the Tacoma… The Avalanche was also a body on frame truck, derived from the Suburban which was itself based on the Silverado 1500. Also a great truck. Our issue now is over the top “tech,” CAFE regulations making every car huge, and deceptive marketing.
Well kind of but not really, So the Auto industry is a whole each company that is pays for certain amount of research to find out exactly what the vehicles they manufacturer and or previously made is used for so that they can position either a new model or figure out if there's a hole in the market that is being filled they need to know who to market it to. So AMC back in late 70s early '80s conducted research and they found that the majority of their Jeeps was parked in driveways next to Mercedes vehicles and BMWs they found out real quick that the majority of cheap owners bought these things for bad weather security and not necessarily off-root use the research they conducted determined that the vast majority of those four wheel drive SUVs and perspective trucks never saw any off-road use. Of course AMC wasn't the only one that did research other companies had conducted a lot of research especially when it came to pick up trucks because pickup truck sales actually went up in the early eighties because everybody had a aha moment that told the pay trucks are cheap transportation because that's what they used to be because they were more so farm use and other assorted work related projects. So basically what the industry had is over 40 years of data that says the mass majority of these vehicles are never going to see off-road use and they're never going to be used in any real serious work applications and they knew about this even in the 90s at that time they had a little over 10 years of market research that told this so it was only a matter of time before every manufacturer would build these things to a scale of economy that basically says they don't have to build them as tough as they used to because the vast majority of the customers are never going to use them for those applications. That's basically what's going on that's why they basically turn to pick up truck into an oversized minivan with truck bed on the back a very small one. Had that Dad or not then the automakers would most likely still be building them in much with the exception of some EPA regulations now they of course cover their ass and you're more than welcome to pay much more money for the model or two up that would be capable of hire towing capacities and hauling capacity the bad part is even though you pay more you're probably still getting some four-door extended cab tiny truck bed arrangement the difference is perhaps it has a slightly beefed up frame and it might have a bigger inch and it might have slightly different suspension under it that makes towing an RV a lot easier and that you would have better handling with but it still has a giant fucking cell phone jammed into the dash and it still has all kinds of other electric junk that will break basically the life of most of that shit is somewhere it about 6 to 10 years before it really starts going completely wonky. Most automakers even little AMC I knew the truth behind not just four wheel drives but trucks and SUVs in general in the early eighties and they knew that the city people were buying these things up and they knew that most of these vehicles would never see any real actual work or off-road applications and it was only a matter of time before they would strip out a lot of the build qualities that made them rough and gruff.
@@American-Motors-CorporationYou make a great point. Trucks became minivans on a frame with a small bed because most buyers drive them to go work in a cubicle. Then as manufacturers saw how many people were buying lift kits trucks started getting taller to a point they are practically useless if you need to work out of the bed on a daily basis. Modern trucks are the men's version of an expensive purse. Overpriced and a 10 dollar bag can be more capable. They are built to flex on people the other guys at the office.
I work in a law office that houses several other similar businesses in the same building. You’d be shocked by the amount of finance bros, attorneys, and mortgage brokers attempting to cosplay as general contractors by getting enormous trucks
Fugg modern pickup trucks. They went from vehicles for working people to super priced luxury vehicles for rich office workers who just want to feel manly.
@@wizard_of_poz4413ever heard of... crumple zones? The padding you accuse him of demanding has been there for a while. Also helps to consider that the tank driver may be on their phone as well as the driver of the Corolla they're going to drive over.
@@wizard_of_poz4413 This problem is systemic. Trucks are actually less safe today than they were 20 years ago, and cars are too. Manufacturers build to the safety standard, but the safety standard assumes a car on car accident. Not a car V truck or truck V truck. Reinforcement is in the wrong place for an accident with a truck. There've been crash test studies. Also fatality numbers have jumped and phones do not account for the numbers. If phones were responsible the number of accidents going up would be in line with the jump in fatalities, they are not. All crashes are now more likely to end in fatalities.
@@wizard_of_poz4413 Crash tests are standardized for certain weights and heights. They assume a car's center of mass is say 18 inches off the ground. Ish. So whether they are testing for a car or a truck to get the best score on the test they'll reinforce everything for that height. Every test is aimed at where the most amount of force would be concentrated for an average car. But the center of mass isn't there on a truck. All trucks are built to the wrong standard to get the highest crash test safety rating possible, but that doesn't reflect the real world. Move the assumed center of mass up a foot and they all fail. Because they aren't built to the crash they'll actually have. This has been tested, repeatedly. But it isn't the EU or US safety test. It's independent testing when outside groups were trying to figure out why the death rate was going up. They've been trying to get the test changed for years. The auto industry lobbies back though. Trucks used to be shorter, they keep getting taller. Almost everything on the lot now days is lifted. A 1990s full sized looks like a baby compared to what is sold today.
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I have a stripper 1989 GMC longbed 5-speed 305 "fleet" pickup, and a '92 Chevy extended-cab 350-powered Silverado. They both have well over 200,000 miles, have both needed major work because they were abused before I got them, but now they're as reliable as bricks and are excellent TRUCKS. I've had both of them for many years, do all my own work on them, and I expect them to easily outlive me. I also have a SMALL fraction of the cost of a late-model pickup in both of them, including a new trans in the Silverado, and a rebuilt engine in the GMC. 2 years ago I had to rent a new truck to work out of on an out-of-town job, and the ridiculous bed height made it an absolute PITA. But hey...it had a power tailgate, a primo sound system, a backup camera, and a bunch of stuff that went ding-ding-ding. WTF? PS: I also just bought a clean one-owner '96 S10 Blazer. Leather interior, everything works, comfortable on long trips...essentially a high-ground-clearance station wagon, and a very USEFUL vehicle in its own right.
A big part is that almost no trucks are available with manual transmissions any more 😢! This is the entire reason why in 2010 I bought a 6 speed manual Tacoma instead of a Tundra with a slushbox. I'm still driving my 2010 Tacoma every day.
Without being long winded as it is pretty multifaceted, I cant be but taken aback by going through Ford and Chevy trucks brochures from the 70s-90s. Ford literally had a trim level as the name intended “CUSTOM” because you could order a completely base model truck with zero options, but add any option from any other trim with no additional cost besides the option itself. Chevy had many things similar, and both Ford , Chevy and Dodge had many dealer options ie ; pinstripes, rims etc, that where real incentives to have/buy. I cant begin to imagine how EXCITING it must have been to buy/look for a new truck back in the day.
Well for the most part back then it's a big option was whether or not you wanted it for and then what engine do you want it paired with and do you want an automatic or standard transmission I mean those I would argue are the core options of the 1970s when it came to pick up truck frankly I believe that would even go well into the 1980s. But I will say Ford Chevy and Dodge didn't build their trucks around the four-wheel drive cyst the four-wheel drive system was an add-on to those vehicles. That's the difference between the Jeep via the Jeep truck but also the Jeep SUV and the Ford Chevy SUVs and pickup trucks. This is why the 70s through the 80s Jeeps whether it be the truck or the SUV had the highest ground clearance if any four-wheel drive on the market. And I know that everybody is going to say well but the Ford Chevy and Dodge setup higher blah blah blah no they didn't the body did because the body was jacked up so that they could stuff the transfer case under if someone ordered one in four-wheel drive configuration. Ground clearance is measured from the pumpkin of the rear end to the ground Jeep had the highest ground clearance meaning it was extremely hard to high center it. Just a fun fact because the biggest selling point 4 jeep and their trucks was literally the four-wheel drive system and its capabilities. Now in the late seventies early '80s AMC conducted some market research and what they found was the most of those vehicles will never see off road use of any kind that was the start of City people buying trucks but SUVs the other car companies had realized this as well so what you have today is the Auto industry is armed with 40 to 45 years of market research that basically tells them they don't have to build the trucks or SUVs today to the same specifications and capabilities that they did 40 years ago. So even though Ford Chevy a Dodge had their four wheel drive systems on their trucks and SUVs at the time as add-ons which basically Jack the body up it did nothing for actual ground clearance they were still better and offered applications than the modern equivalent and that's because modern equivalent isn't built to even the specifications that they would have had laid out back in the seventies or eighties. In other words they cheapened it up and in the process they've limited the capabilities and they did so because market research told them they didn't actually have to build it out that far because most people will never attempt to use it that way and the ones that do they can go ahead and just buy the model or two up so the car company gets to extract more money for offering what used to be a standard capability only they packaged it up a little differently and what they call the model or two up basically they're selling you what used to be standard equipment for a higher price and they still jam the cell phone in the fucking dash and you're still getting stuck with this extra back seat that you probably don't want because you'd rather have the bigger truck bed.
If you buy a custom vehicle from Ford, the Window Sticker is Green instead of Blue, and reads SPECIAL ORDER. I think if you do the same with a Dodge the sticker has your last name on it. I ordered my Bronco as stripped down as possible. Stick shift, as little tech as possible. The only thing i paid extra for was $295 for a decent color because I hate grayscale.
It's not that multifaceted, democrats ruined the car industry on purpose and mandated that everything be drab, boring, repetitive, expensive, and crummy
I drive a 2014 gmc sierra. I'm a HD diesel tech for Kenworth. I commute my truck to work and routinely carry work tools, supplies, home supplies and work supplies. I carry kayaks, I go to the river bottom in the willamette valley. Maybe im not the user you're pointing at. My first full size was an all manual 2007 NBS chevy. Too cal it spartan is an understatement. It couldnt really tow, got stuck easy, and had a 5ft6 bed, cost $24,000 new. My 2014 was $43,000 new but I bought it from the colorado department of forestry on consignment from a dealer. It tows, it carries all my work crap, and it can carry the whole family on weekend trips to the lakes and rivers. Yes its more expensive but its comfortable and a solid work truck on top. Not everyone you see with a full size truck is a brodozer in training. I think the hummer and cyber mistake are targeted at a completely different owner. You want utilitarian I think the peak is the minivan, especially for painters and contractors. The only time safety goes out the window with full size trucks is aftermarket lifting systems without updating or changing brakes and steering. Side curtain airbags make a big difference in rollovers but they're standard now. Automotive is a on hundred percent for profit industry. If people stop buying big then they wont sell them big, which tells you that these trucks and Crossovers are exactly what people want. Sorry, but it's true.
This is why, after 40 years as a Ford Technician, I got OUT of the Dealerships! FoMoCo has become a shit storm. It is NO longer the FoMoCo I was in love with! Jim Farley has DESTROYED FoMoCo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stop buying these expensive disposable piles of trash and buy an older truck. If you want 700 horsepower and exotic luxury then you need a car not a truck.
I had a Ridgeline in 2013, for one year, traded it in for a 2014 F150, liked it a lot, sold it to my son for $3K, in January, got a 2021 4Runner, thought that I was going to like it, didn't, traded it in for a 2024 Frontier, kind of like it, don't like all the bells and whistles on it, wished that I had kept my F150, I do miss that simple truck.
I used to park next to a Ram truck at work. The top of my Elantra was right at the top of the hood of the truck. I eventually ran into the owner and I asked how hard it was to to load and unload stuff from the pickup bed with it being so high up. He just replied - "this is my driving to work truck". The office cowboys have made truck more expensive to the point where you don't want to use them as trucks
Trucks should be a tool, simple, like a cart, or a wheelbarrow. I don’t want an $80,000 computer. That’s why I bought a 1993 Dodge d150. Just enough truck.
I see many "$80k computers" hauling on the road for the stuff I do. Then you run into the problem of $20-40k "real trucks". Paying top dollar for old pile of rust, forget it....
I tried telling my mother about how modern SUV/XUV's are less safe, but she's stuck on "bigger = safer". I also told her about how smaller cars aren't 'crash compatible' and it's way more dangerous for them if the two were to crash and her response was "Oh well, at least I'LL be safe". -_- I hate it here
They are the reasons cars have gotten so big. People all say "well I prefer to be in the bigger car in the event of a crash so the other car doesn't run over me"
Amen to all points. Mine is a 1991 Toyota 2WD XtraCab with a V6 engine and 5-speed manual transmission. Right after purchase, I loaded it roof-height to the tailgate with green firewood towed at the same time a 14 foot trailer loaded two feet front to back with green wood. The only problem had to do with stopping - no problem. 370,000 miles later, it's still a competent working truck. Short-sighted and dimwitted government regulators enabled automakers to do this. Great video.
@schwarzwolfram7925 except not really cause you have alot more cargo space alot more power and off road capability and towing. Yall just try way too hard to hate. Ik a bunch of homo douce bags drive trucks and dont need them but that doesn't take away from the versatility and capability of a truck. If I don't need the shell, I loosen the clamps and take it off. If I need the tool box I put that on. If I need the full bed I take it off. If I am going through mud pits and loose gravel I put on 4 wheel drive. If I need to pull the trailer I drop it in and lock it and go.
They're not worst, you're just blinded by nostalgia. we've been in the automotive industry for a couple generations now, own my own engine shop now, and all the trucks I'm sure you're praising had people complaining in exactly the same way back then, just different problems. Those old trucks didn't last for shit either, there's a reason most of them are gone, not because of overcomplication but plain old car problems. Modern trucks are substantially more reliable when you compare like for like, back in the day getting 100k out of an engine was an incredible feat, most motors where needing rebuilds by 70 thousand, needing an engine transmission rear end etc rebuild was a routine part of maintainece. Back in the day you had a year warranty on your car. And i know you brought up rated load capacity but don't forget until the late 90s most trucks had unhardened mild steel C channel frames that loved to twist bend and fatigue even with their (overrated) capacity, modern trucks are a carbon or chromoly boxed frame that's through hardened, not to mention thicker and stronger frames. Old truck capacity was basically all she'll pull in ideal conditions, modern truck capacity is based on fatigue cycles, safe braking and reasonable acceleration, a modern truck can probably pull twice it's rated capacity. I have a little 07 dakota that i used to haul 3500lb of tiles 200 miles and other than being on it's bump stops there wasn't a single diffrence in drivability. Try that with an old truck and you'll bend the frame or burn out your brakes. Basically you and everyone else complaining about modern trucks is the old flat head guys complaining about this overhead valve stuff. My dad used to tell me the same story of the guys who swore by their mercury 255 and that the new 239 trucks are just not gonna last. Guys in the 90s said the new OHC 4.6 ain't gonna be anywhere as good as the old 302 and 351, and it turned into one of the most reliable engines. There are legitimate issues with modern trucks, we're basically in the late 70s early 80s again because of government regulations making large vehicles impossible and yet inevitable (small cars get horrible crash ratings and can't have larger engines because of footprint), and new technologies being shoved into cars both for necessity like legally mandated safety things and for consumer demand, nobody will buy a car without cellphone connectivity. Same thing happened back in the day, remember the Vega and chevies attempt and aluminum block to lighten cars and get better economy, or various systems that didn't work like spider injection, TBI etc. And features that broke all the time like digital dashes, talking cars, auto adjusting suspension, etc etc. Then the late 90s 2000s hit and cars where perfect, because all that tech was figured out. We in 2024 are back in that time when tech hasn't been figured out. Give it 10 years and it'll be good again. Also remember manufacturers sell vehicles that sell, they don't make cars out of principal. People WANT big stupid trucks with small beds, people WANT a car with a bed like the Maverick or Santa Cruz. They cars for a profit, people wanted stupid designs like fast backs and stupid features like those ugly cloth top roofs back in the day too. The market answers consumer demand.
A few weeks ago I was talking with my mechanic, we were towing my RAV4 99, and he told me that he was selling his pick up truck (can't remember the model, they all look the same!) because he didn't actually needed it; the gas it was consuming was making him loose money. He pretty much told me that almost any other car can tow other cars, and I can corroborate that, cause I've often had to tow my uncle's IzuzuTrooper (a massive car) with my old 99 RAV4 and that was uphill. Modern pick ups are just oversized trucks to carry huge egos for people with more disposable income than braincells... we need to check for lead poisoning again.
Well yeah but if the tables were turned and you were the owner of that truck and that truck broke down and then your mechanic had this RAV4 I mean level ground good weather yeah I think that your mechanics right it would tow it it would be fine uphill well I guess that depends on the size of the hill and the grade of the hill but there would be a lot of struggling going on there. I mean if that were fully the case then most towing companies would not be investing in a big ass tow trucks so I guess if most of his clients vehicles are somewhere between a motorcycle and a RAV4 then yeah he's right he can get away with but the minute he gets a client with a big ass pickup truck he might need something more though I don't know what he plots to replace this with. Of course I will say that there's a lot of people that came to that conclusion they don't really eat the truck but the only real reason is that they keep the truck is because they know that they are most likely going to lose some amount of money on if they sell yeah I know that right now they are commanding one hell of a price even used but that does not mean that you yourself is always going to be able to get that price. And then of course we could say that he owns the truck out right but I don't know that he does a lot of people in that situation the reason they keep the truck is because they have it financed and the money they would get out of it by the time they pay off the loan they're not going to have enough left to actually replace vehicle so they're hopelessly locked into it now obviously he probably doesn't have this problem or he's not thinking I don't know which way that falls cuz I don't know his personal situation. And to be honest yes I have a truck that we don't really need we needed in terms of four wheels of seat and the fact that my wife can drive an automatic transmission because the other vehicle that I currently have is an 87 Chevy Camaro with a 5-speed my wife can't drive a clutch even though she's 6 years older than me and I'm 39 so here I am the millennials that can drive a standard cuz I grew up doing that and my Gen X wife can't drive a stand it's kind of hilarious really but truck long story short basically my father-in-law was going to do some front end work to it he had it apart and then it basically said there for 4 years some friends if there's offered to take it to a garage they did the garage lied about the shape the frame and basically they tried to do rip them off out of the truck and I said no no those frames could be fixed that's bullshit so they shipped it down here to me and they said they didn't want it anymore so basically they give it to us and then I turn around and put about 3,500 but it's an 04 f150 beautiful truck hardly any rust the frame was in good shape as a precaution I had my mechanic touch it up a little bit but got a new front end under it it's a nice truck it's a daily driver that's the only reason that we have one because right now I don't actually need one I'm not in the countryside anymore trying to get back there but I'm not there yet. No that's not everybody's deal I mean it just happened to fall in our lap and it just so happens that yeah it did take a year to get the money together to fix it but it was well worth it simply because I can't go to a car lot and buy that truck for $3,500 a truck especially last year would have cost in the neighborhood of 13 to 15,000 especially in its current state of its fixed.
Pretty excellent analysis tho it’s a shame how society is going. Gotta ask how the EPA regulations make things so bad for cars, I’m not too familiar and I’m a bit of an idealist (would like to avert climate change blah blah blah) but if cars need to get bigger and more expensive, that’s not in line with my goals. So I’d like to under the failures that have been encountered in reality.
Any reliable engine platform was pretty much thrown away cause they couldn’t hit the strict emission standards. Now we get junk that deactivates cylinders to save on fuel or stops and starts at every stop. Engines are also built out of weaker, yet lighter materials. I feel like cars are not the real issue with climate change. Sure they don’t help, but planes put out more and are constantly flying and using tons of fuel yet no one really talks about that.
This is an oversimplification, but the EPA has a formula to determine how "efficient" a vehicle is. You can look it up, but it's actually a very complex equation. One very large factor in this equation is the footprint of the vehicle, how large it is. For the same MPG a larger vehicle scores much higher, which does make sense. It is harder for a large vehicle to get good MPG. Unfortunately because of how this is set up for example, something like a 90s Tacoma would have to get 40+ mpg, which isn't really viable. But if you take that same vehicle and make it larger, all of a sudden 20mpg looks pretty good. In this way, smaller trucks are almost impossible to make compliant without large gas guzzler fines placed upon the manufacturer. To get around this they simply make the vehicles larger
The EPA sucks because automakers spend billions in lobbying the government to keep these idiotic loopholes open. SUVs and trucks prop up the entire US domestic auto industry and they're not letting that change.
it should be noted that the "footprint" metric was introduced in 2010, post-2008 auto bailouts. Prior to that EPA regulations did not have any regards to car "footprint". I did a research paper predicting exactly the results we're seeing now back in 2011.
Utes in Australia still have single cab options but most are twin cabs with short trays. Can only fit two pallets not four. They are used as tax write offs in Australia. Better to get a Japanese cabover truck .
I saw a feller get stuck in one because the traction control killed power. You have to turn it off before going offroad or in mud or the thing thinks youre wrecking.
Wish we were allowed to have utes in the States. Closest thing we got since the 80s was the Subaru Baja and even those would be illegal to manufacture today
These stupid newer trucks you see are massive and very military looking as well. No style except aggressive and ugly. The trucks you can get in Japan & Europe are real trucks built to do actual truck stuff. Long beds with removable side panels, manual transmission, very basic, very reliable, very useful, and very cheap. You know, the polar opposite of what your typical Chad & Karen wants.
I need a truck for truck use. I tow a travel trailer and haul cargo with it. I use it as a vacation vehicle, off road recreation. This is BS what the industry is doing to pad their pockets.
They're making the maximum money before consumer tastes change overnight and all families start driving station wagons again. They know that time will eventually come and they want to be ahead of it.
I'd never buy an EV. Also nobody is interested in spending thousands of dollars on a disposable vehicle. Newer vehicles are engineered to last the length of the warranty, so that's maybe 4 years.
I know! This reminds me of when Scotty told me about the new fleecing strategy of manufacturers say that transmission fluid lasts a "lifetime" when their definition of "lifetime" is 60,000 miles, and then after that it doesn't matter. They are trying to re-define words to rip you off!
I worked at a car dealership and I said I can't believe how huge the Ranger is now and everyone was all "they're the same size". Absolutely insane. Trucks are just minivans for guys who need to compensate cause they can't handle the idea of driving a minivan. A whole bunch of pavement princesses that are 110% cringe.
Well that's technically what I've been saying through this comment section to people that basically the trucks are fans the city people have basically turned them into many things I mean I don't blame the car company they had to sell you know you've got to make a profit so if that's what the customers want then that's what you're going to do and I think part of the reason they've built this way is because late seventies and definitely by the mid 80s that pretty much told them that the majority of trucks and SUVs never really see off-road use so it was only a matter of time before they were going to use that data and build the vehicles to that scale of economy that yes you can get four wheel drive on but there is a certain amount of limitation because they're not really built around the four wheel drive system of course I can say that Ford Chevy and Dodge never really was built around the four-wheel drive system to begin with. Basically for that you got to go to a Jeep and basically you're looking at the 1970s 80s for the most part remember Jeep trucks I mean the big honking Jeep trucks remember those? yeah the concept of a Jeep basically is built around the four-wheel drive system whereas Ford Chevy and Dodge it was an add-on basically that's why the body of their trucks and frankly SUVs said higher off of the ground and mind you it was the body not the front end or rear end on it's basically the pumpkins of your differentials were not higher and that's actually how ground clearance is measure so the Jeeps whether it be the truck or the SUV had the highest ground clearance of any four-wheel drive on the market because the pumpkin actually set up higher they didn't do a body lift the reasons that Ford and Chevy did the body lift was tuff the transfer case under it when someone ordered a four-wheel drive it was an add on. Jeep still retains some of that but I can say that I don't necessarily think that they still have the highest ground clearance of any four-wheel drive on the market I mean they have tweaked certain things the capability of most vehicles including the Jeep on the market has basically dropped it capability like I say that's based on 40 years of data that says most of these vehicles will never see off-road and or extreme conditions that they used to build these things for so basically the Jeeps of today I would argue or gimped in comparison to what they once were 40 years ago. But I would argue that for most trucks and SUVs in existence.
Minivans are actually a based vehicle to choose, even the new ones have some pretty good storage, specifically the toyota sienna, idk about the chrysler Pacifica, all i know is that you can turn the rear into a flat cargo floor by storing the seats in the footwells
I tow a 5000 pound camper through 45 miles of beat up logging roads twice a year to rustic camp. My red truck is usually brown when we arrive. Also, we drove from said camp to Eagle Lake, Maine to see the “ghost trains”…. Drove the truck through some of the most rugged terrain east of the Mississippi - close to 100 miles one way often through water and mud, that when driven through filled my truck bed. I also drive it to work and get groceries. But sure, it’s a pavement princess.
