I’ve never owned a truck but have driven a few and am occasionally a passenger in friends’ trucks. None of my friends own new trucks, model year 2010+. My friends’ trucks and trucks from only a decade ago used to be quite utilitarian, with minimal equipment in the cabin. Trucks sold nowadays have come a long way with interiors that would rival that of luxury cars. Trucks like the Dodge Ram, GMC Sierra, Chevy Silverado, Ford F-Series, and even the Toyota Tundra and Nissan Titan have leather clad interiors, with soft-touch materials, and all state of the art technologies you’d normally find in luxury cars.
You’d think with all these added luxury features, modern trucks would lose their utility and somehow become less usable in the field, where they belong. But that’s not the case, modern trucks are more powerful, with higher load capacity, and are able to tow much higher weights than their predecessors.
Modern trucks like the GMC Sierra are able to haul trailers of up to 11,500 pounds with their V8 engine options (source: autonet). Not only are the new engines more powerful than before, they’re also more efficient. Trucks like the new Ford F150 achieve higher fuel mileage thanks to the use of aluminum body panels, which make it weigh 700 pounds less than its predecessor, while making use of efficient EcoBoost V6 engines.
So the saying “they don’t make ‘em like the used to” is appropriate here, but in a positive manner. The modern truck may be posh on the inside but it can do everything its predecessor did; only it can do it better, in comfort, and more efficiently. Of course, a truck is still a utility vehicle and will never be as fuel efficient as a car, but you can still feel better by knowing that the big truck parked in your driveway consumes less fuel and emits even lower amounts of CO2.
1 Comment
I do some what support your theory about how trucks are better but I just can’t believe that. Even this most of this is due to personal opinion I believe if they would have kept with the rugged simplicity of old trucks they would have a much better product. I still drive my old 1979 f150, its a dream. I have also driven new Chevy Silverados and ford f450s.
Since the mid-late 1900s engines, transmissions, electronics and ext have vastly improved. There is no doubt there but all the funding behind making it a family vehicle has rewined every new truck for me. All of the smoother drive, extended cab luxurious feature don’t help at all for the meaning of a truck, they take away the focus on what the big companies should be focusing on. The truck was originally built for the farmer, or the common laborer who need to transport goods threw muddy fields, damaged dirt roads and other terrible tarraign. Now last year both my friends got their 4wheel drive Silverados suck when my 2 wheel drive f150 just cept chugging along not even slipping. Although tires help one of the Chevy’s is lifted with 35’s. Not only this but I hit my bed with wood, metel or any hard material and it might scratch the paint but that’s all. It won’t dent, but these new trucks if you step on the sides they dent.
Most people who buy trucks today are road queens who use there truck for groceries or going to the office every day. They are way to luxurious for what they are ment for. The increased file milage also gets people to think it would be better for them to get a truck when they could save much more money on a car.
So you can see I do not like the way these companies are making trucks family vehicles instead of work vehicles.