I despise the fact that trucks are now cool!

[thepolishmafia1337]

i currently own a 94 chevy s-10 blazer. this is my first vehicle that i have ever owned. i bought it in 95 when it was a year old. i feel safe to say that that blazer has been to hell and back. i bought it when it had 25k on it it currently sits at 190k it has the origanal 4.3l multiport. never been touched. the only thin that i ever had to replace mechanically on the motor was an alternator and plugs and wires once. it has never left me stranded. its carried more weight in engine blocks than my dads 1984 ram 100. its been launched in the air repeatedly, slid sideways into trees, driven across the country 5 times. stuck in mud for 2 days, and it still runs like a champ. sure it has exhaust leaks and dents and half of the interior electrical doesnt work(back windows ect.) but it gets me from point a to point b with relatively little complaint. i do maintain the machanical aspect probably more religously than most. but my point is that 94 is relatively new and you cannot tell me that that truck wasnt built to last. thats why i decided to trade it in on another gm product. i found a gmc serria that i want to buy and i have no doubts in my mind that this truck will live up to the legacy of the blazer.

[THUNDERIN'bird]

I always get a kick out of when I see a New Yorker, or someone from Jersey, or Florida, etc, gone off the roads up here in Maine. Then they think their big crew cab or Suburban or Excursion is gonna need a wrecker to pull them out, because they don't know a thing about their vehicles 4X4 system. So naturally, I just drive away in my car while they hope thier cell phones have a signal. Of course, in the winter I pull people out with my truck, but not these tourists that drive to far into a soft shoulder to look at a moose or some deer. Why do they drive these? Why not a big Caddy or Lincoln?

Anyway, every year at the truck pulls some young punk with his daddy's big fancy, chromed out and lifted 2000 or newer truck drives out in front of the drag, revs the cat-back exhaust for the crowd, (Ooooh, Aaaaah) hooks up and pulls 50 feet or breaks something. After 4 or 5 of them, I finally get to go, in my '79 F-150, with full-time 4 wheel drive, a 400M and a C6, two different color doors, rusted out wheel wells, and bent bumpers. That's right a REAL truck. And always pull at least 240 feet (finally start to spin down), but its still farther than the other half tons, and even beats most newer 3/4 and 1 tons.

My other truck is an 84 F-150 body on a '77 frame with a 76 390 FE, jacked up on a 6'" lift and 37's. I could fit 40's or 42's, but it wouldn't be practical for towing or plowing. Both of these are what I would call a TRUCK. If they had leather, A/C, CD players, power windows and locks, oh, wait, they do.....but they still have a real axle slung out front, not some IFS car bull-sh!t. And a real lever to engage it, not a button or dial. What, are the "Fab-5" fans afraid to break a nail if they hafta actually "use" thier truck? Sure, airbags would be nice if you need them, but I feel a lot safer behind the good 'ole american iron of an older truck then the lightweight, thin metal and plastic I'd be sitting behind in a newer truck........

Although a new Ford Lightning would make a sweet tru......er, car!!

[GMCMudBogger]

We'll, My turn-I just bought an F350 4x4 Crew Cab Powerstroke Diesel with a long bed, It will see some work not much but it will and I love the modern amanities because after a hard day of work I like open the door with out the key and sit in my plush 8 way power adjustable seat, with my A/C on and listen to my 6 disc in dash CD player with cruise control on and not hear the engine rattling and feel every rut in the road, Trucks have evolved and because we are in America and enjoy the freedom of "Choice" in how we live and choose to spend our money, Be glad that truck are so popular and beacuse a majority are still built in North America or would you rather us spend our Hard Earned American dollars on some economy econo box made in Korea/Japan/(insert country here) so the US trade deficit could be even higher than it is now and thus making the economy even worse than it is now? I dont, I love my country and the freedoms it allows me my and my fellow americans, embrace it and enjoy it because not every person in this world enjoys what you enjoy or has the freedom to vent as we do.

Nuff said, Time to move on.


Route666 your sig is actually "Rob Zombie" and Not "White Zombie", Thought you'd like to know?

[George G.]

I have one of the afformentioned Harley Davidson pick ups. I like sportyness. I'd like to have a sports car and a work truck but having the additional car, regardless of which is the primary, is not feasable from a cost stand point. Would a regular supercrew do the trick...sure, but it lacks the style I like...and the supercharger. I got everything that I want in 1 vehicle, almost. I don't do "work" on a daily basis and the 5 1/4' bed has proven useless a few times already, but there's nothing I can do about that. Sometimes I miss my 8ft bed. To date my bed has seen a 1/2 ton of gravel size granit(twice), hauled 450 pavestone retaining wall blocks(not at once), plywood, sheetrock, bags of cement, lawn crap, hay, dirt, sand, dirt packer just to name a few. I have a couple of friends who think I'm crazy cause I haul this stuff in my truck and the bed is getting scratched up but I tell them..."It's still a truck and this is why I bought it." Besides, I can always(and intend to) spray a bedliner in a couple years. I know what you mean though. "I miss back when...."

[Sergeant Rock]

A truck can look "cool" and be functional. My F250 XLT is a really nice looking truck, white, 3-door extended cab, 4x4, chrome rims, etc. I haul my camper and my boat with it all the time. I have also hauled rock, wood, bark, sand and junk in it. It looks showroom quality until you look in the bed... scratched, dinged and gouged. I happen to like the fact that my truck looks sweet but is still a truck! I do get the original posters point though. But hey, it's like everything else... the consumer is what drives the shitty service, quality etc. If people didn't willingly pay for junk, they wouldn't sell it.

[PRAIRIEOUTLAW]

[*rake*]

Hey Abboq- ***AMEN*** Us girls have a term for unneccessarily large/loud/obnoxious vehicles driven by men who don't use them for what they're made for - "Compensation Cars". I drove a Honda Civic for years... when I had access to someone else's rig for hauling my horses around. I now have a 1996 F250... would have bought an F150 for the better mileage but found them to be surprisingly close in price to the 250s! Go figure. May as well have the power for pulling the bigger trailer. If I buy a new truck someday I'll have to special order it to get a bed long enough to stack more than 10 bales of hay in.

[rhinton]

Wow, after reading all your statements...I don't think I'm going to get a "new" truck. Thats just unbelievable about parts and stuff wearing out so fast. Man, and I thought I had it bad repairing all my Trans Am problems.

I just think it comes down to this. All the "new" vehicles out there are just not designed with longivity in mind. All the car designers out there are all about style and are kids (well, I'm 23) that have come out of college to try and make money by offering a "new" look to their companies vehicles. Take the SSR for Chevy...all thats for is a grocery getter and to drag from the stop lights.
I totally agree now with Dodge and how they are just making fast trucks...if I'm looking for a truck, I don't want it fast, I just want it to handle my bumps and bruises I put on it. I don't need a frame bent when I go over a curb.
Its crazy...our society is actually getting pretty darn lazy. And I won't even go into politics or what I see in our nation's future.
In my opinion, I'd like to see a "rougher" President or a "rougher" business man in our world. I'm tired of seeing the same stuff as everyone else.
I'm tired of seeing pricks driving around in their big SUVs thinking they own the world when all they do in it is waste gas driving to and from work everyday and not even stepping in the woods.
Oh well, thats my

[CamaroCOOL]

How do you say that Truck today are not tough? The parts are stronger and better! Maybe you are confuseing the "old toughness" with the "extremely stiff ride". just because the ride was really stiff back then didn't mean that i was tough... besides the body being made of sheet metal instead of Fiberglass might be the only way it way more tough back then... They use Toyota Tundra's over in Iraq.. you don't see them looking for on old truck "that your saying is tougher, which 'should be better'" to use over there to last longer and work harder....

[CamaroCOOL]

ya your older truck is "better" at work cause your to scared to take out you new one cause just like everyone else.. they don't want to scrach it. and put dents in it... or bang it up a little

[rhinton]

Originally Posted by CamaroCOOL

How do you say that Truck today are not tough? The parts are stronger and better! Maybe you are confuseing the "old toughness" with the "extremely stiff ride". just because the ride was really stiff back then didn't mean that i was tough... besides the body being made of sheet metal instead of Fiberglass might be the only way it way more tough back then... They use Toyota Tundra's over in Iraq.. you don't see them looking for on old truck "that your saying is tougher, which 'should be better'" to use over there to last longer and work harder....

Exactly, they are using Toyotas because they are better than Dodge, Chevy, and Ford for trucks. The United States are not building them like they use to...its too much plastic and fiberglass. I can see using that for cars and such, and maybe some parts of the truck, just because they are lighter weight, but they need to make a real "work" truck and not a truck for show.
Ya, the baseline model trucks might be for that reason...but I'm sure they won't last over 100,000 miles without some major repairs!

I know I can't give an example because I don't own a truck but my car is an example, in a small sense.

After having a wreck into the front driver quarter panel...now everything in that car is Fing up. I'm not sure if its because of that or not but the engine only has 57,250 miles on it. Thats it! And I don't even rag it out! Hey, even the transmission had to be rebuilt...and I wait till the transmission goes into reverse and drive before stepping on the gas. Those people waiting for me to back up can just freaking wait!
Hey, even the trannies on my car are called, "glass transmissions" because they are known for their problems and breakages.

Just giving those facts alone makes GM look like garbage. I'll never get another GM for as long as I live. I'll just have to go import.

Anyway...enough about that.

[RageOfOrder]

I'm drivin a 4.6L V8 2000 F-150 Flareside, regular cab, regular box (6 feet).
It has about 86,500km on it right now and so far I havn't done any real repairs on it. Another 6 or 7 thousand clicks and it will be time to change the air filters n such, but I've been pleased with it so far. It looks incredibly good, without any additions to the body it catches the eye of people all over town, yet can still towe just about everything I've thrown at it. All summer I use it for towing my boat to and from the lake, then hauling firewood in the fall, Trees n shit in the winter, and various other things.

The thing that gets me with people now is lowering them right to the ground, puttin underbody kits/lights on, and pretending it looks good.
The brand new 2004 F-150's.. Big and powerful looking.... DON'T fuckin drop those things, it looks gay. There's one guy drivin around town with a ground effects body kit on a 2004 F-150... God it looks retarded.
If you're gonna buy a truck you had better be using it for SOMETHING, be it offroading or hauling..

Enough of my ranting. You have better things to read.

[john4.7]

"I just see a lot of people wasting a lot of hard-earned money on trucks they really do not use. I think of all the other
things that their "Euro tails," Z-Rated tires (that wear out in 15,000 miles), aluminum wheels, hydraulic suspensions, bass stereos, cold-air intake, and performance exhaust could buy."

How you feel is your business but what gives you the right to criticise how other people spend their money. I don't agree with alot of things either but I keep my opinions to myself. Heres a thought for you. You complain about trucks getting 13 mpg while simultaneously complaining abuot them spending money on intake and exhaust. Why do you think they do that? Because those modifications improve their mileage. I put cold-air and flowmaster on my durango and it paid for itself in fuel savings. Also I use my suv to the fullest going off-road and also pulling a covered trailor for work. Do I care that most people who drive these vehicles would never do this? Not really, because I know that if these vehicles were only sold to the people who will actually use them to the fullest the sales volume would be so small that the dealers would have to price them more expensive then they already are just to justify making them. It's simple logic the more of something you make the cheaper the individual units can be priced. Why do you think low volume vehicles like Ferrari, Lamborghini etc. cost what they do.

[KaotiKCamaro5]

nothing like seeing a woman with an Excursion doing 90 down the highway with a "Laker Soccer" sticker on the back window because she knows that if she flies off the highway and hits 7 trees shes not going to die.. trucks and suvs are becoming more popular because of the advancement in new safety features.. they hold up better in crashes than a Ford Taurus would because they're bigger.. but someone like myself doesnt give a rats ass about safety.. i bought my truck because i needed something i could beat the hell out of during the winter.. so i could keep my camaro in the garage..

[KaotiKCamaro5]

and for the record.. i dont think trucks are cool..