Posted on 10/12/2017 1:04:32 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Heated and cooled seats. Backup cameras. Panoramic glass roofs.
Not exactly what springs to mind when you think of a pickup. But that's what American truck buyers increasingly want, spending an average of $46,844 on a pickup, according to Kelley Blue Book. That's more than the starting price of luxury SUVs like the Mercedes GLC or the Lexus RX. In 2016, pickup trucks made up a little more than a third of all vehicles that sold for over $50,000.
At the State Fair of Texas this month, Ford Motor Co. is displaying its most expensive pickup yet: The F-Series Super Duty Limited, a luxury heavy-duty truck with a starting price of $80,835. It has custom two-tone leather seats, a heated steering wheel wrapped in hand-stitched leather and high-tech features like a 360-degree camera system that guides drivers when they're hitching up a trailer.
A fully-loaded F-450 — the biggest version of the Super Duty — will top out at $94,455. It's capable of towing an Air Force F-35 fighter plane, but it also has massaging seats.....
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
That does not logically follow. The five speed automatics were all bad to terrible, but the six speed automatics have been doing very well. I have a few clients that operate vehicle fleets for construction or oil field services and it is exceedingly rare for a six speed box in their service to not reach 250K. Of one company’s fleet, I can think of only two of eighty trucks that didn’t and one of them was destroyed in a collision. One actual failure out of eighty over 250K is actually better than the older four speed automatic trucks did.
It doesn’t make sense to engineer the engine to last 300K+ miles and body that never rusts and a transmission that is a crap shoot after 150k. Makes no sense. If new car buying public wants to know why cars depreciate so quickly well there’s your answer - the auto trans.
I'd like to see posted failure rates on transmission from all manufacturers. But that info is surely kept form the public.
My first car was a manual and every car I owned through the 90’s was, too, even higher end Japanese sport sedans. But, with population growth here it just got to be too much of a pain to row through the gears in stop and go traffic. That, and an old high school cross country injury to my left knee started bothering me with the clutch. I still have one manual transmission car, but I only drive it out into the country where I can enjoy it. I hate seeing people blabbing on their cells while driving, they drive worse than drunks with the weaving, crossing multiple lanes to turn and running red lights. So, I try not to pick up if I’m driving and usually don’t unless it’s something that seems very important. Even then I’ll find a place to turn off and stop if in heavy traffic. Out in the country, I’ll keep going but there’s not as many potential distractions on top of the cell phone itself so it feels OK to me.
There’s another issue - commutes have been getting longer, and ‘extreme commutes’ are on the rise. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/02/22/the-american-commute-is-worse-today-than-its-ever-been/
If you’re going to have to spend three hours in your vehicle every day, do you really want to spend that three hours in the vehicular equivalent of a jail’s visiting area or holding cell? Or do you want it to be a comfortable place so the three hours aren’t so unpleasant?
Actually, most manufacturers don’t have that info. Most transmissions today hold together until well after the vehicle exits warranty at which point people don’t take them back to the dealer as much as they take them elsewhere. Talk to AAMCO or ATRA to get specs on that.
Modern 6+ speed transmissions are not a crapshoot after 150K. You sound like my dad, claiming that Hondas fall apart after 150K. Sure, they did in the 70s, but it isn’t the 70s any more and the 70s aren’t going to be back for a while.
Even Hyundai’s native 8 speed *car* automatic holds up over 250K now, FYI.
I’m probably not the poster child for that trend, the worst commute I’ve ever had was an hour and fifteen minutes one way so I bought an ‘07 Corolla to keep the fuel and maintenance expense down as well as to keep the miles off my good vehicles. Pretty comfortable, still have it, very solid competent car, does what it’s designed to do quietly and well, not even harsh riding or noisy inside. Nothing more than routine maintenance, it just goes. A little dorky looking I guess, but other than that the car needs a telescoping steering wheel due to an unusual long-arm short leg driving position. No complaints otherwise, I’d recommend an ‘05 - ‘07 Corolla to anybody looking for competent, reliable transportation that is relatively comfortable.
I’m a freelance consultant so I don’t have a regular daily fixed commute, it varies a lot. So my daily driver is a 2002 Honda 919 motorcycle. Stupid fast, excellent fuel economy and most importantly I can use HOV/HOT lanes legally and freely. :P
If I did have a long fixed commute, I’d probably consider something a bit more air conditioned and comfortable, which lets my Bronco out of it. And reliable/easily serviced, which lets my older Jag out of it. :P
“I guess you’ve never been poor....................”
That’s a dumb conclusion to make. I just don’t ignorantly get nostalgic and claim trucks yesterday were more affordable when they cost more just because they had inferior features like rollup windows.
A 1974 Ford truck was about $4,500. That’s about $25,000 in today’s money and you get a MUCH better truck for the same money today.
“I had a Ford F-100 in the 80’s that didn’t even have AC!”
So what? They can put in better features cheaper than they can put in rollup windows. Costs to cover warrantee items of breakables like rollup windows is expensive.
You didn’t get a warrantee yesterday like you do today. NO ONE gave out 6 years 100,000 drive train warrantees like today.
I wouldn’t want a truck like that anymore! They were crap!
“If you want a dog with no acceleration then the modern auto trans are better fuel economy.”
Get real. A Dodge Ram does 0-60 in 7.5 seconds. That’s faster than 95% of most cars on the road today.
“transmission that is a crap shoot after 150k.”
As opposed to a clutch that has to be replaced every 30,000 miles or earlier for about $1,000 a pop??
I’ll take an automatic transmission with a maintenance interval of 120,000 miles. That’s right: Dodge Rams have a 120,000 maintenance interval as do most transmissions. It’s called synthetic oils and precision engineering and manufacturing. They all work wonders.
That's a good description and I also call them AeroBlobs™.
As I said earlier, stuff rusts. Maybe not in the south, but up north it sure as heck does.
“As opposed to a clutch that has to be replaced every 30,000 miles or earlier for about $1,000 a pop??”
Just replaced my Nissan pickup clutch for the first time at 103,000. $680.
The dual cab short bed 4x4 V6 Tacoma defines this America. They are the perfect vehicle. And that's what Toyota sells every last one they make without offering a penny in incentives.
I love my 2015.
I replaced the clutch in my truck at about 210K after the center spun in the disk. It might have been something to do with roasting it while sled pulling. (^; I ran right through a 400HP clutch.
It probably would have lasted 350K otherwise.
Why would you want to?
I would think that it would cost MORE to have a car without those features, because you’d have to have a separate line..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.