Just can't get a good basic truck, like the old days!

[not2old]

At the rate I'm going, it will take me another 380 years to break 200,000 miles on my truck.

Same here. I bought my F350 in Sept. last year and it just turned 4000KM (2599 miles) and I've been using it a bit more than usual. I absolutely love the way it tows 9000lbs.

 

[jjeff]

^, back to your point, about your step-son learning with the Digital Guardians = Off...... many people don't want to think about it/or believe it, but all this tech has limitations or blindspots, and that ^ type of weather can slam that home, literally.

Rgds, D.

Is it really learning how to drive if your relient on a cars fancy safety options to get you safely from point a to point b?

 

[jjeff]

Same here. I bought my F350 in Sept. last year and it just turned 4000KM (2599 miles) and I've been using it a bit more than usual. I absolutely love the way it tows 9000lbs.

My 2016 double cab 2500 Sierra just rolled 125k mostly highway trailering especially to my place up north. (Over 500 miles one way) was and still is my favorite most capable truck I've ever owned. I may end up regretting letting my friend show my wife his crew cab truck.

 

[rontaki]

Is it really learning how to drive if your relient on a cars fancy safety options to get you safely from point a to point b?

Back when I lived in the SF Bay Area, there is a a little town called Kensington next to Berzerkeley, with a reputation for very strict enforcement of speed limits. At the time, I was driving a stick-shift VW. Whenever I was driving in Kensington, I stayed in 1st or 2nd gear so as to not exceed the speed limit, even accidentally.

 

[ultrarunner]

Island of Alameda was known to be strict… especially if you were driving with a light out or similar… big contrast from say Oakland.

Chevrolet Luv, Ford Courier, Datsun, etc all had very affordable new small pickups… 4 cyl with a stick and if A/C it was luxury…

 

[Jstpssng]

Is it really learning how to drive if your relient on a cars fancy safety options to get you safely from point a to point b?

When I bought my first pickup with all wheel ABS I had to learn to drive all over again. No more pounding down marginal woods roads, slamming on the brakes when a hazard appeared. Stopping on snow was/is ridiculous. After doing $300 worth of front end damage bouncing through a washout because the damned ABS wouldn't let me stop, I pulled the applicable fuse.25 years ago $300 was a lot of front end damage. It was nice to be able to stop again. When some bozo looked me in the eye and pulled out 50 feet in front of me, I would have t-boned him with ABS. Instead I put down 4 strips of rubber and stopped in 1/2 of the space that the charts say I could. Yet I also realized that I would have been found at fault if I'd hit him, so begrudgingly hooked the ABS back up.

 

[jjeff]

From way back when I have to drive in in inclement winter weather specifically driving In Snow and ice I learned to slow and stop with a firm but steady pressure on brake pedal right on the verge of locking up the wheels but not. abs or not you can'teach that or any defensive driving methods for that matter in one of those new fangled auto braking safety option loaded trucks. Learning to drive these days sure seems like a new vehicle orientation on how to work all that tech instead of Learning driving fundamentals. unfortunately I see common sense things like defensive driving will eventually take the route of the old phone booths and be long forgotten in my lifetime why learn something like defensive winter driving if new tech does it for you? Until it fails or malfunctions of course.

 

[RB5]

When I bought my first pickup with all wheel ABS I had to learn to drive all over again. No more pounding down marginal woods roads, slamming on the brakes when a hazard appeared. Stopping on snow was/is ridiculous. After doing $300 worth of front end damage bouncing through a washout because the damned ABS wouldn't let me stop, I pulled the applicable fuse.25 years ago $300 was a lot of front end damage. It was nice to be able to stop again. When some bozo looked me in the eye and pulled out 50 feet in front of me, I would have t-boned him with ABS. Instead I put down 4 strips of rubber and stopped in 1/2 of the space that the charts say I could. Yet I also realized that I would have been found at fault if I'd hit him, so begrudgingly hooked the ABS back up.

ABS was crap when it first came out. We learned to steer into a skid and control the vehicle by driving in an empty parking lot. My first truck with ABS caused me to have 2 rear end collisions when it completely failed to stop.

 

[Jstpssng]

ABS was crap when it first came out. We learned to steer into a skid and control the vehicle by driving in an empty parking lot. My first truck with ABS caused me to have 2 rear end collisions when it completely failed to stop.

MY first company truck after driving the above mentioned pickup was an '04 F150. I was intown with about 2" of fresh snow. I came to a stop sign and (luckily) started braking well in advance but the truck didn't even slow. With no braking action I was about to roll into traffic so in desperation I stomped on the parking brake. In 4wd that locked all 4 tires up which cut down through to the tar and I stopped dead. If anybody had been behind me they'd have hit me for sure, it snubbed up that fast.
Later that winter I took both trucks out on my road with about 6" of fresh snow to check stopping distances. From 45mph my '98 Sierra with discombobulated ABS stopped in 2/3 the distance of the '04 Ford, when I applied brakes as hard as I could. Granted the Ford likely weighed a little more but it also was new with about 200k fewer miles. I later wrecked my back trying to stop that Ford... exploring a woods road on fresh snow, topped a rise and dropped off a hill I didn't want to go down. I stomped on the brakes, braced myself against the steering wheel to push them down harder, and something in my back went "snap". Then I had to drag the darned thing back up the hill again.

 

[paulsharvey]

One Huge improvement with trucks was been places to put stuff; Not cargo, I mean chargers, receipts, cup holders, laptop/tablet, ect. It seems small, until you dont have a center console... My Ram is a split bench, and it has a nice center console for storing stuff; and if you raise it up, the middle seat also has storage under it too. Work truck, 2022 F150, also has a split bench, but the center is just a triple cup holder and an arm rest. If you work out of a vehicle, you appreciate a place to keep some pens, note pads, chargers, receipts, business cards, ect.

The older ones... you might have 1 cup holder or two, and everything else was either on the passenger floor, or on the dash.

Its not night vs day, but small quality of life improvements, that really didn't cost anything to mold into the plastic trim pieces