dbd33

Surely that's the whole point; if you want to tow something you need torque. A gutless truck fails to be practical and it fails as a vanity item because people who like trucks want the proper noises and the cabability to pull stumps.

Stuarty

Yes the torque is the point. The common-rail deisel can provide tons of it but with economy as well, a 2.5ltr one is pushing out more torque than any V6 petrol and a 4ltr one will outpull a V8.
Stuarty

iaink

(Yet) Another reason not to buy a Ford?

Stuarty

Surely they have to get it right soon, their product in the UK is much much better than my old Escort/Cortina/XR2/Sierra/Mondeo were. yes I was a blue badge man, enjoying the cheap and easy to fix motoring
New Focus and Mondeo are excellent cars for the money.

Steve_P

There was an article in todays Calgary Herald business section on GM. It said they were rolling out thier new truck three months early.

"General Motors unveiled Wednesday what it called its most important vehicles this decade -- its new pickup trucks -- and predicted they will steal more sales from its competitors."

"GM says its new trucks feature the best gasoline mileage of any pickup trucks on the market, thanks to variable valve timing and cylinders that shut down when not needed. Some of the V-8s are a full three miles-per-U.S.-gallon better than competitors Ford, Dodge and Toyota.

With its new Silverado and Sierra trucks, GM becomes the first company to market pickups that produce 300 horsepower while getting more than 20 miles per U.S. gallon out of a 5.7-litre V-8 engine, said president and CEO Rick Wagoner."

I don't want to quote any more due to copyright issues and unfortunately I can't link to it as it's a locked article and you need a subscription to read it online.


Cheers
Steve

iaink

Theres that magic 20MPG number again

With 20MPG seemingly as a magic target number for the industry it seems it really doesnt matter is we can get smaller diesel versions over here or not.

I think I should start to invest in buying up any small hills around the coastal plains, in a few years it looks like they will be desirable island paradises.

Stuarty

Thanks steve I will search about online for more. Saw another thread wishing you well, hope everythings ok
Stuarty
p.s 20 mpg is still crap though.

Steve_P

As well as can be expected I guess.

Thanks for asking.

...and yes 20 MPG is crap but at least they seem to be working on it. If only slowly.

Cheers
Steve

I found a couple of links.
The Oakland Press

The Detroit Free Press

iaink

The New GMC/Chevy trucks have been launched.

Very nice if you like that sort of thing.

http://www.canadiandriver.com/articl...07gmtrucks.htm

Wild George

Being a 'Lady' I am probably well out of my depth replying to this thread, but here goes..
A couple of yrs ago Mr Wild George bought a Dodge Ram Hemi 1500, thinking that it was just what we needed to pull our 28ft trailer..it was a pile of poop.
The gas mileage was horrendous, even when it wasn't pulling anything it made hard work of getting up hills and cruise control was a joke (gear changing all the time) When it was pulling the trailer there was not enough suspension on the back (? not sure if that is really what I mean ?) it rocked along the road.
We have 3 young children and the cab proved to be way too small after about 1hour on the road. The back seats are bench seats and so are very uncomfortable.
We now have a Dodge Ram 3500 Heavy Duty Laramie Mega Cab.
I pulls the trailer like a dream, no rocking and rolling. Mr WG says he feels more in control.
Its a Diesel and does better mileage anyway.
The cab is a dream, the back seats even recline. We added a DVD and so can now pur along for 6-8 hours before they start asking "are we there yet"
All in all us Wild ones would rate our truck 10/10
We love it.

dbd33

28' ! That's some huge trailer. The "parents in law" have a, I think, 19' trailer. They bought the GMC 2500 Crew with the Duramax diesel to pull it. I think of their rig as a traffic slowing behemoth and the size of it, along with the limited pulling power of the truck, restricts the choice of campsites. Where can you go with a truck and a 28' trailer ?

iaink

With a Ram 3500....... "Wherever you Goddamn want"

dbd33

It's too long. The GMC and 19' Nash are difficult enough to get around corners.

bsb

same olde same.

get more bang for buck by getting an import.

iaink

Its a lot more bucks though to get the import unless you buy base level, in which case its very much "No frills" motoring.

I'm coming round to the idea now that given the improvement in domestic vehicle quality/reliability, there is a strong argument in favour of buying domestic (not at list price of course), and a lot of resistance from expats is unfamiliarity with the brands and a certain European snobbery.