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Dammit why do I always find these excellent major purchase advice threads after I've already purchased the thing? Anyhow, I bought a new super cab F-150 XLT with a 6.5' bed last month and it is awesome and I love it. In four weeks since driving it off the lot we've already taken it on a road trip in which we hauled a literal truckload of supplies, transported furniture twice, and moved some tools that would have been annoying and awkward to move in the Focus. My husband and I are trying to fix up our fixer upper Victorian and I finally got to the point where I was tired of the inconvenience of not having a truck and could comfortably afford a truck. I grew up driving trucks and just really like trucks (probably because I'm a tomboy with a farm girl background). It's my first-ever car purchase, too. Dealership experience was overall pretty smooth and everyone there was pleasant to deal with and not scummy. I didn't really realize how messed up the car market was before getting there, but only finding three trucks in my desired configuration within a thirty or so mile radius probably should have tipped me off. I did the thing where I got approved for financing at my bank and used it to get an even better rate through the dealer (<3%). Onto a question about a car not yet purchased: my sister told me she was going to start looking at cars in the next couple years as her old-style Land Rover Discovery approaches 20. She basically wants more of the same, which is rugged, angular, 4WD, off-road capable, not overly large, and not "shaped like a seed". I showed her the new Bronco Sport, which she LOVED, but are there other small/mid-sized, truck-looking "real SUV" options beyond the Bronco, Bronco Sport, and Wrangler? Everything else I can think of that's not a pickup or Tahoe/Suburban-sized has gone crossover. Aside from finding some additional potential options for my sister, I'm also morbidly curious about and more than a little dismayed at how thoroughly the seed-like crossover form factor has taken over the smaller SUV classes.
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Aug 3, 2021 16:58
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skipdogg posted:To me "real SUV" means body on frame construction, like a truck. Same here in regards to BoF construction - I have always regarded "real" SUVs as trucks with permanently affixed camper shells and extra seating that you use for sport and other rugged utilitarian purposes. As far as I know, my sister is not aware of BoF vs unibody and wouldn't care about the distinction as long as the capabilities and rugged truck aesthetic were there, which is why I said "truck-looking". I guess the Maverick is in the same borderline territory as the Bronco Sport in that it looks like a truck and is capable like a truck but is unibody so is it a real truck or just a chunky El Camino? (I'm cool with considering it a real truck and the Bronco Sport a real SUV despite them being unibody). I guess my personal conception of what makes a vehicle a crossover largely comes down to aesthetics - if it looks more like an overgrown hatchback than a truck, it's a crossover in my book, even if it happens to be BoF. incogneato posted:Yeah, you're essentially describe a 4Runner. But realize that the current gen is 10+ years old now. It's capable and extremely reliable, but it's also inefficient and lacking in modern design that something like the Bronco would have. It's definitely not small, but I also wouldn't call it large in SUV/truck terms. It's an inch shorter than an Outback and only an inch longer than a (4 door) Bronco. When you guys mentioned the 4Runner, I was like "oh of course!!" and my mind pulled up images of the rugged awesome 4Runners of yore like  and then I went and looked up the current model and   What happened? I've seen these things around and didn't even realize they were 4Runners. It got kinda fat and has a weird grille now (which I know will be a dealbreaker for my sister, sorry to say). Still, the body design/shape is spot on, as is the ruggedness, though the current model seems larger and definitely thicker than the old ones, maybe larger than what she wants. All moot though because the grille design makes it a non-starter. If only they'd put modern innards into the awesome old body. (Now that I think about it this is pretty much what was going on with the Discovery Series II - it was a then-modern vehicle inside a shell designed in the late 80's) quote:I don't believe the Bronco Sport has a true transfer case 4wd system. I think it's meant to compete with the Ford Escape and the like. The Bronco is basically taking direct aim at the Wrangler, though, in terms of off road capability. As long as the 4WD system is capable enough to drive on steep dirt roads and through some (currently dried up) creeks and other small obstacles and get over the Donner Summit in winter without chains, then it's sufficient. No rock crawling or driving through sand or anything. If she needs to handle more serious poo poo she can always borrow our dad's truck (which I cannot borrow because I'm on the other side of the country, hence needing my own truck). skipdogg posted:I'm a huge Ford Homer, I've owned 10 different Ford vehicles so far in my life, and will probably keep buying Ford vehicles for the foreseeable future, and I 100% tell people NOT to buy the first model year of a new Ford vehicle. Especially these days. Way too many issues these days. The sweet spot is the mid cycle refresh for Ford where they usually have all the issues worked out. Always give it a year though. Whoops... My F-150 is the first model year of the new generation  . I did end up getting the extended warranty (the real one provided by Ford) because of this and also because some of the computer/electronics/sensor repairs/replacements cost significantly more than the entire warranty, so it's some nice peace of mind.As for my sister, she's not imminently buying a car, just starting to keep her eyes peeled. Her Discovery is currently running fine and she loves it to death, but it's just getting really old (especially for a Land Rover). If she decides on a Bronco or Bronco Sport as her next car, it'll be at least a couple model years from now.
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Aug 3, 2021 20:08
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bird with big dick posted:They won’t even put modern innards into their ugly new body. Is this why their BoF SUVs and trucks get absolute poo poo for mileage? I looked them up out of curiosity and was kind of appalled at how bad it was. And it's not like they even look good to make up for it (whatever the Toyota design team has been smoking the last few years is pretty bad and they should stop, IMHO). I did see a parked current model 4Runner in the wild earlier this evening when we were out and about. It's less bad-looking in person but not by much, but the size is right, and the body shape is pretty good, even though it's kinda thick according to my obviously very outdated perception of what a 4Runner is. Also during our road trip a new Discovery pulled up next to us at the gas station and it was a bit soul crushing. Old body Discoveries stood almost as tall as trucks with excellent visibility (which was a huge part of their appeal and why my dad bought one in 1995 instead of an Explorer or Blazer or something), but this new one was a squat, bougie imposter with poor visibility and completely antithetical to the spirit of the old ones - our '95 (RIP 1995-2014) came with a cool instructive VHS tape on how to drive through rapids and over fallen trees and poo poo and was very much designed to be a rugged off-road vehicle but this new one looks like it would disintegrate if you got mud on it and could definitely not drive over a fallen tree. Is Land Rover only about making useless status symbols nowadays? I don't like cars anymore.
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Aug 5, 2021 05:18
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skipdogg posted:I get the sentiment, but it's really quite amazing how much more efficient and safer vehicles have become in the last 20 years. We have a 2020 Expedition as our family car right now. It gets like 22 MPG on the highway, has 375HP, 450ft lb of tq, a bajillion airbags, a poo poo ton of safety and tech features. Compare it to a 20 year old Expedition and it's quite remarkable how far things have come. Heh, I was mostly just being whiny and melodramatic. I absolutely love my new truck, which compared to the old trucks I've driven is like a goddamn space ship. The cab is amazingly cushy and also highly functional (so many useful pockets, tie downs in the right places, easily foldable backseats, and actual good cup holders and poo poo) with 120v outlets and airbags everywhere, and it rides super smooth while the cab remains remarkably quiet. Also very good-looking in my opinion - fresh and modern but still very classic truck and not weird and extreme like whatever the hell Chevy is doing with the Silverado right now (at least the Sierra still looks good and normal). Overall it is a bright spot in my presently dim outlook on cars. My gripes are mostly with the current state of design and aesthetics (which I find to be largely in not a good place), as well as the fact that crossovers, my least favorite vehicle class, are devouring the market and simultaneously replacing both sedans and traditional SUVs with an unappealing compromise between the two and reducing buying options. Now your SUV choices are basically an assortment of indistinguishable bougie pistachios if you don't want to deal with the enormous size of the remaining truck-based models. But the safety and tech aspects of modern vehicles? That poo poo is all amazing and the advancements in even the last 5 or so years are insane. When I took the truck for a test drive at the dealer, I went straight to looking over my shoulder/using mirrors to back it out of its parking spot before remembering it had the back up camera with the proximity grid overlay and dynamic wheel path depiction. I am already super spoiled to it - makes parallel parking sooo much easier, though it's somewhat slowed down my process for getting a feel for exactly how close I am to things and whatnot.
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Aug 5, 2021 18:05
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Residency Evil posted:I'm very confused by the last two pages. I was merely lamenting their transformation from unreliable good-looking rugged SUVs to unreliable dumb-looking bougie status symbols. The '95 Discovery we had was always a piece of a crap and the only reason my dad kept it running so long and for so many miles was because his British mechanic buddy had an identical salvaged model as a dedicated parts donor. Also the engine spontaneously combusted one time when my sister started it up to drive home after school and there was a huge scene with fire trucks and poo poo but my dad just had it towed to the shop for repairs. Ran (poorly) for at least another four or five years after that. In the early 00's when my dad was in the market for another SUV, he asked a tow truck driver which SUV he should not buy, and the guy immediately said Range Rover because he picked them up all the time and way more frequently than any other brand. So my dad got a Tahoe, which ended up being an excellent choice (RIP Tahoe 2004-2020 & 310k miles). So Land Rovers have always been poo poo, but at least they used to look cool and could go off-road.
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Aug 5, 2021 20:44
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Residency Evil posted:Follow-up question: haven't they always been bougie status symbols, at least in the US? Oh sure - when I was growing up, all the nouveau riche people we knew drove Range Rovers. My dad just liked the Discovery over other options like the Explorer because of the height and exceptional visibility. But back then, even though they were being used as status symbols, they were still being designed and built to be bona fide sport utility vehicles because that was what Land Rover was originally about. Now they've forsaken their roots have gone all in on the status symbol aspect and nothing else, which results in useless bougie crossovers.
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Aug 5, 2021 23:02
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So this happened yesterday: My truck, which I purchased new in July, got hit by a box truck while parked. My husband had driven it to his work because his car was in for tire rotation/servicing and ended up in a very unlucky parking spot in the lot near the intersection with a steep maintenance driveway, so when a contractor box truck was backing up out of this driveway, the back corner of the box truck bumped into the taillight and pushed my truck about 18" to the side before the driver saw/felt it. This all happened in very slow motion so it seems that the damage is all superficial - didn't see any obvious signs of internal/frame damage, the taillight still works, and it drove normally on the way home (no highways or high speed). Even so, ethanol's Tacoma horror story was pretty much the first thing that ran through my head when my husband told me so I'm going to have it looked at very closely. I guess one bright side is that we're dealing with a professional entity with proper coverage that has accepted full responsibility rather than some underinsured rando or a hit and run. Still sucks a lot because it's a lovely inconvenience that I really don't need right now and also why did it have to be my new truck? 
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Oct 14, 2021 18:25
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nm posted:Make sure to find an expensive body shop to make up for it. Dropped off truck at shop this morning. We found a highly reviewed body shop nearby - owner/head mechanic is a mechanical engineer and seems to really know his poo poo and has a completely separate setup for aluminum work. He'll send the official estimate later today, but it's already shaping up to be a pretty expensive repair (for the other party to pay for) - a new tail light is like $1k just for the part due to the radar tech in it. And he estimated that it's going to take about two weeks - a couple days to perform the actual repairs and the rest of the time waiting for parts due to supply chain issues. Good thing I work from home and don't have any immediate plans to haul stuff.
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Oct 18, 2021 17:56
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NinjaPete posted:Does anyone have anything extremely nice or bad to say about Escapes? We'd be using it for canoe-carrying and driving on gravel but nothing more heavy duty than that. When I graduated from college my car plan was to buy a Ford Escape as my first ever vehicle purchase - I liked the fact that it was an SUV but quite compact, had a hybrid option, I liked how it looked, it was affordable, etc. Also my neighbor at the time had owned one and absolutely loved it but traded it in for something bigger when they had their second kid. But then the 2013 model came out and I immediately lost interest. Kept looking at 2012 and earlier used Escapes for a while though. I suppose my thoughts are outdated and useless because the Escape I'm talking about is the old miniature Explorer type and not the current lifted Focus type.
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Oct 19, 2021 07:30
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skipdogg posted:I don’t want to break your heart or anything, but that 2nd gen Escape was basically a Mazda 626 sedan with some body panels and a lift Oh don't worry, my heart broke over the Escape years ago and I ultimately bought an F-150 because unlike back then, I now own a huge fixer upper and wanted the utility of a truck on hand (I grew up with a truck always around and got spoiled to it). It also handles all our SUV use cases which is great. If I ever want a compact SUV in the future, there's now the Bronco Sport, which has filled the void created by everything getting turned into a crossover. I'm not a hardliner about BoF vs unibody or anything, so as long as it's off-road capable and sufficiently truck-like and boxy in appearance, it's good enough for me. With crossovers I just don't like the general aesthetic or the rounded edges taking away from interior volume/useable cargo space and reducing visibility. But that's apparently a minority opinion, given the insane popularity of crossovers and the decimation of the small and mid-sized truck-like SUV classes.
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Oct 19, 2021 16:54
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Corla Plankun posted:This is the first I've heard of it but this looks good as hell. Is it worth it to buy 3rd-party stuff (e.g. canoe racks and dashcams, etc) at time-of-purchase? It seems like they could either be subsidized or marked-up-extra-high depending on how mean Ford is to its customers and I don't know enough about how much this stuff usually costs to make a call about it. When I bought my truck and signed up with FordPass, I got a buttload of reward points that I could put towards the purchase of accessories. They took a few days after purchase to propagate, so once they did, I called the dealership, ordered a drop-in bed liner and tonneau cover, they arrived the next day, so I returned to the dealership and applied the reward points and saved a couple hundred bucks on the accessories purchase. And the parts guy helped install the bed liner. I thiiink the bed liner was under $300 and the tonneau cover (folding aluminum panel type) was $1,100. I had never purchased truck accessories before so I didn't have a sense of whether prices were normal or whacked. Seemed reasonable, I guess? Tonneau cover was pricey, but it's secure and well made so  Overall pretty smooth and easy experience. It did help that the truck I found online that I wanted happened to be at a chill and decidedly not slimy dealership that was easy to work with. Also helps that Ford has this super handy website to help you find all the poo poo that's compatible with your vehicle: https://accessories.ford.com
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Oct 19, 2021 17:46
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clockworkjoe posted:well i uninstalled the app and I won't get the warranty. Thanks! Yeah a "service contract" that handles routine maintenance for regular wear and tear seems like something not worth bothering with because I figured that was the sort of stuff that you just did on your own as part of being a car owner and also if you do it on your own you're not locked into using the dealership's services. Probably dumb/BWM of me in the long run, but I ended up taking the extended warranty for a few reasons: - First model year of the new generation - All these high tech computer/sensor parts are loving expensive, with some being as or more expensive than the entire cost of the warranty - Extended warranty is through manufacturer (if it was some third party dealer poo poo I would have declined) - I come from a family car culture of keeping cars around for a decade or two and driving them into the ground so chances are I'll be keeping it for a while - My dad had a Mercedes GLS that ended up having five figures worth of out-of-warranty problems and that was kind of a nightmare (and one of very few cars my dad traded in before driving it into the ground) - My first ever vehicle purchase so I wanted the peace of mind The extended manufacturer warranty was the only add-on our finance guy even suggested after literally crossing out all the other options (GAP insurance, service plans, etc) as unnecessary bullshit. Didn't push for it very hard, just recommended it due to the first model year of new gen and new tech making making repairs super expensive and I thought it was a good idea/took the bait.
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Oct 21, 2021 17:20
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SouthShoreSamurai posted:People really don't like trucks though? I love trucks. I bought one ostensibly because it will be helpful in trying to get my stupid house fixed and gives us the convenience of having a second vehicle for our household, but the truth is that I just really wanted one, am at a point in my life where I can responsibly afford one, and having had grown up with trucks always around (and driving them since age 12), I missed having one around. In the strict sense of the word, I didn't need it. We'd been doing just fine with one car and I could have kept renting Uhauls and poo poo. Still, I've used it for plenty of truck things already, and it's an excellent road trip vehicle (super comfy and quiet, we can haul around a ton of poo poo with us, and by truck standards it gets pretty decent mileage). Sucks driving to work in an urban area though. Doesn't fit well in many parking lots/garages or on narrow streets, etc. Luckily I only go in once or twice a week at most. As for dump trailers, they rule. However, I do not have a garage or even off-street parking at my house and therefore have nowhere to stash a dump trailer and nowhere reliable to stage getting it hitched up. Nitrox posted:Actual construction is accomplished by vans and designated delivery vehicles like box trucks or flat haulers. We all make fun of newbies financing a $45k truck and then trying to figure out how to attach 12'-16' beams or pipes or ladders. Although your single cab 8 footer will go pretty far with capo and/or roof racks. My neighbor is fixing his house out of his old-rear end Sienna with the seats taken out and it's an excellent construction hauler. So in conclusion, trucks are cool and sometimes useful/convenient, so buy a truck if you want one.
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Oct 27, 2021 00:10
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JnnyThndrs posted:I still say that an actual longbed small pickup(Ranger, old school taco, S-10, etc.) is the best all-round daily driver/work on your house/haul poo poo around vehicle. My Ranger has a seven-foot bed, so eight-foot poo poo doesn’t even hang over the tailgate, a 1500lb capacity, and drives like a car. Just whip that little bastard into parking spots, jump in and out of it without steps/running boards, and it handles nicely without that constant ‘am I going to fit?’ mental gymnastics thing going on. You took the words right out of my mouth. I reeeally wanted to like the (new) Ranger because an old school compact truck would have been just as useful for my hauling needs and much easier to maneuver in the city and street park. The dealership had a Ranger in their showroom and it was super chunky, with all the emphasis on the gigantic crew cab and then a dinky little bed. Super cab long bed Rangers were unavailable in my area, and even so, the new Ranger is big enough that you might as well just get the drat F-150 (which in turn is the size of an 80's F-250). And even with the F-150, I lucked out finding a super cab medium bed nearby. It was one of three with that cab/box combo within a large radius, while there were mountains of awkwardly proportioned crew cab short beds for suburbanites with even less robust truck uses cases than me. I mean, I definitely happy with the F-150. In addition to being able to haul around lumber/furniture/camping gear, it's an all around really nice vehicle for the money and a nice change of pace from my husband's base model compact sedan. Also makes my ladydick look bigger.
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Oct 27, 2021 15:52
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gently caress the whole ‘surburban penis enlargement’ mindset and ‘WE NEED TO PUT THE WHOLE loving BROOD IN A PICKUP AT ALL TIMES’ trend.
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SouthShoreSamurai posted:I've never had a truck before, and I'm not dead-set on getting one now. It just seemed like it would hit a lot of convenience boxes for me, and I can afford the extra cost. Everyone I know that has a truck swears by them. (Admittedly half of that crowd don't really use it for truck things, so like was also said... idk why they even have one.) I think the convenience angle is a good way to look at it. If you want and can afford the convenience of a truck, then why not buy the truck? It's just important to remember that for the vast majority of people it's not necessary and merely provides luxurious convenience of not having to reserve a Uhaul truck/van and fill out the paperwork and grab the poo poo you need to pick up and return the van but not before stopping at a gas station refilling the tank to the exact level it was before and then go back to the place and retrieve your own vehicle and finally go the gently caress home. I think people swear by them because when a proper truck use case does arise, having a truck immediately on hand is extremely convenient. You get really spoiled to it (I know I did, which was a factor in me wanting a truck). Also trucks are cool and modern trucks are overall really nice vehicles. My truck is an XLT (second lowest trim) and it's a goddamn luxury spaceship inside (or maybe my perception is skewed because the luxury features in the last Ford truck I drove included air conditioning and FM radio). As for how the old Ranger drives, I don't recall that I've driven an old Ranger in particular, but I've driven trucks ranging from a heavy duty extended cab long bed diesel monster to a bitty little Datsun and the smaller ones are much more car-like in how they handle. The ride is still very much truck, but handling is much easier and more familiar to anyone used to regular cars and not giant trucks. The opposite can be said about my parents' late 90s S-class dictatormobile. Fucker might as well be a truck given its size and weight and RWD. It's super smooth and handles very nicely at high speeds though.
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Oct 27, 2021 20:52
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I was more thinking this: 
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Oct 27, 2021 21:19
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Anne Whateley posted:She claims that nowadays all dealers charge you a 5% penalty if you self-finance, so you can't shop for rates or bargain with the dealer at all. While I'm sure dealers love the idea of that policy, I'm not seeing much about it online. Is it really that prevalent? (New England) What a strange notion. I got approved for an auto loan through my bank at a nice low APR for the express purpose of bargaining for a lower rate if need be. We got to the finance manager stage without telling them that I already had a loan, and the first rate they offered was higher than my loan, so I showed him my loan sheet and he came back lower, so I took the dealership's financing. If I had not gotten that outside financing to bargain with, my APR through the dealer would have been over a percentage point higher. Maybe send your mom to her local bank/CU branch to talk face to face with a loan person who can tell her about outside auto financing and possibly set her up. I personally had a very nice experience getting the auto loan through my bank and would do it that way again. ethanol posted:You don’t need an 8 ft bed to do truck stuff lol. You really don't. Even my construction industry dad thinks 6'/6.5' beds are totally fine for the vast majority of cases. I'm finding my 6.5' bed to be just right.
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Oct 28, 2021 06:55
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Inner Light posted:Hey thread. Is there any best practice that you all like to use for 'car affordability' ? Meaning, maybe in terms of % of total income, yearly or monthly, something like that. I am seeing for example, a responsible % of your take-home monthly income should be something like 10%. (https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/much-spend-car) I'm at 15% with my payment, but then again I bought a shiny new truck in an overheated truck market, so a more expensive vehicle than average. I make pretty good money in a low cost of living area, don't have a lot of expenses, and am generally not a big spender, so I can very easily afford the payments even though they are over the recommended 10% threshold. The sub-3% APR is also nice. I went in with a focus on the truck's overall price and then on the terms of the financing, rather than the monthly payment number, and also brought them financing from my bank to let them try to beat (they did, with a loan also from my bank). mobby_6kl posted:Regardless, does anyone know what's the actual % that people spend, IRL? Like I think the average new car is like 40k, and the income is like 50? but the average person isn't buying the average new car probably. I'm also wondering about this. After reading so many negative truck equity stories in the BWM thread, I feel like an outlier because I can comfortably afford payments and didn't buy too much truck (because I just want it for doing truck stuff rather than being a status symbol/compensation). I've been reading that auto loans are just getting way longer, like 84 months is now common and normal when it used to be unheard of. So that might help keep payments lower, but then you're paying waaaay more in interest and getting hosed long term.
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Nov 12, 2021 16:42
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shortspecialbus posted:Hello, we recently moved to a much more rural area than we were previously in, and have decided it's time to trade my wife's decrepit 2013 Mazda3 for a pickup truck of some variety. Definitely seems like a truck would be the way to go for your use case. I honestly wouldn't bother considering SUVs/crossovers because hauling trash in an SUV is the worst. At least with a sedan you can put it in the trunk and not have it stink everything up. And a truck does an excellent job covering your outdoorsy SUV use cases. Anyhow, as an F-150 owner, I would recommend an F-150. The new ones are all-around very nice vehicles for the money. I have the XLT, which is the second lowest trim and it's still pretty great . I opted for the supercab (the one with the suicide doors) because it gives you extra interior space for delicate cargo/valuables, occasional seating for friends, and the ability to lean your seats back, all while not adding too much length or cost, and the 6.5' bed, which I've found to be a very good size. Even my dad in construction told me I didn't need to bother with an 8' bed. If you find yourself moving construction materials a lot, consider adding a rack.
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Dec 29, 2021 08:33
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shortspecialbus posted:We've had 2 recommendations for F-150, what do people think of the GMC Sierra 1500, Dodge RAM 1500, etc? I heard Tundra mentioned. Is the Ridgeline any good? We seriously are not truck people and I've largely ignored them up until this point, so we don't really have a lot to fall back on aside from a general idea that usually people who bought whatever brand of truck REALLY LOVE THAT BRAND OF TRUCK and hate all other trucks, which makes it hard to get actual objective assessments. My dad has a ~2014 Sierra 2500 and the ride and handling is rear end compared to my F-150. I think this is just it being a 2500 extended cab long bed and not GM vs Ford. Interior is nice though. He more recently acquired a 10-year-old fleet F-150 for like $500 that's a single cab short bed and hand crank window level basic and he loves it. It's no frills, easy to work on, and short so he can drive and park in the city easily and fit in places where his Sierra can't. As for the Silverado, the honest reason I didn't consider it when truck shopping was because I really don't like what they've been doing with the grille design lately, especially with the 1500. Too weird and angry. But yeah, I get the sense that the half ton truck options are similar enough outside of looks that you can't really go wrong with any of them. Hell, my dad changes truck brand allegiance over grille design alone and he is a truck guy. Maksimus54 posted:I love the Tacoma as a great driving truck but in my experience it really was not cut out for towing. It's still a "midsize" and gets the same poo poo(or worse) MPG's the fullsize trucks get with lesser utility. Get an F150 like everyone else and their brother. This is pretty much exactly why I got an F-150 over a Ranger (or Tacoma), which technically would have been more appropriate for my fairly light hauling needs, lack of anything to tow, and being in a city with no off-street parking. The mid-sized trucks didn't get significantly better gas mileage (it was like a 1-2 MPG difference), wasn't cheap enough to give it a meaningful price advantage, and wasn't small enough to give me a significant compact truck advantage for my urban location (size inflation of mid-sized trucks is a gripe of mine). The F-150 was a much better overall value.
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Dec 29, 2021 21:47
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skipdogg posted:Those trucks ride like rear end when they're unloaded. They're designed to have a decent load on them. Most 3/4 and 1 ton trucks drive like poo poo unloaded and is probably the most common complaint about them. That would do it. Truck was completely empty when my husband and I were driving around in it. My dad has it loaded with crap or towing something most of the time. The F-150 seems much better optimized to ride well while empty (since I guess a huge chunk of buyers don't necessarily buy F-150s for their truck-based utility). Handling feels a bit different when it's loaded, but ride quality doesn't seem to change much. My sister drove my F-150 and remarked at how smooth it was, probably because she was used to my dad's truck.
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Dec 29, 2021 22:55
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:really just the difference between a half ton and a 3/4 ton, empty other brand half tons ride fine Yeah I figured as much, just didn't want to spout assumptions about trucks I hadn't driven or read up on (I've driven several 3/4 ton trucks over the years but only my F-150 in the 1/2 ton category).
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Dec 30, 2021 00:36
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KillHour posted:The SUV equivalent to the E450 is the GLE450. Here's how they compare: Don't forget the hulking station wagons of yore: 1990 Ford Country Squire posted:Passenger capacity These things were incredibly spacious and highly functional as people & crap haulers but the giant barge-class ones pretty much all died out once minivans came about with their height and super handy sliding doors (fun fact: the earliest minivans looked like the ugly offspring of a station wagon and a box truck). The less giant ones (like the E class wagon) stuck around. I remember quite a lot of my friends' families having a BMW/Mercedes/Volvo wagon. They were really cool - you could have your cake and eat it too because they were luxurious not-minivans you could fit all your kids and their crap into. Too bad they're a dying breed. I'd take one over a minivan any day once I get to the kid-having phase of life. I guess I have a soft spot for station wagons because I drove my grandparents' station wagons around quite a lot (early 80s Country Squire and a mid 90's Buick Roadmaster wagon (which was extremely comfortable, a drat smooth ride, and overall a way nicer car than it had any right to be)).
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Jan 5, 2022 01:36
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Corla Plankun posted:My father-in-law had a mid 90s Buick that we would borrow from time to time and I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the nicest cars I've ever ridden in (including my rich tech bro coworkers' brand new Lexuses). Never would have set foot in it on my own but I really enjoyed it once I was obliged to by circumstance. They're good cars! Nice cushy ride with an unexpectedly grunty engine. I got curious and looked up the Roadmaster and was pleasantly surprised to see that it's obtained cult status due to it secretly being a phenomenal car. It had a beastly V8 that also went into the Corvette (and that is apparently easy to work on), was generally very reliable, had a smooth ride, a high quality cushy interior, can seat 8, and can fit all your crap because it's enormous. And it could tow 5,000 lbs. It's ugly, but in today's crossover-saturated market, is a wood-paneled sesame seed really all that much worse than a plastic-clad jellybean? Totally going to start recommending the Roadmaster to anyone looking for a sub-$10k family car.
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Jan 6, 2022 02:35
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 02:31 |
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So, my husband's car met an untimely and unexpected end last week and now he's in the market for a new vehicle. He's decided that he wants an EV (ideally one that's eligible for the tax credit) and is leaning towards the Cadillac Lyriq, which honestly looks pretty awesome (and holy poo poo the dash has actual loving buttons instead of that godawful touchscreen-only bullshit). Anyone have any thoughts on/experience with the Lyriq? He's also considering the Mach-E (no longer eligible for the tax credit as of 2024 but is cheap enough compared to the Lyriq that it's still worthwhile). We are both kind of bummed at the dearth of good sedan options that are eligible for the tax credit (because husband's first choice in car type is sedan). We don't need an SUV because we already have the perfect SUV (my F-150) but everything is a dang SUV (or truck). I think part of the appeal of the Lyriq is that it's more car-like than SUV-like, with station wagon vibes (this is a good thing because I love station wagons and miss them). And speaking of station wagons, here's a comedy option for Not Wolverine: a '94-'96 Buick Roadmaster Estate wagon Here me out: this vehicle checks all your boxes (except fitting in your garage because it is a loving barge and the newfangled tech because it is old): - Spacious, luxurious interior that comfortably seats six (front row bench seats need to come back) - Ample cargo space where you can put two additional passengers in the jump seats or all your poo poo plus a dog or three. - Ride quality is buttery smooth, rivals Mercedes (have driven both, can attest) - V8 (same one they put in the Corvette) - Tows 5,000 lbs (which means it can tow your boat) - no longer the ugliest car on the road now that everything is shaped like a bean - generally reliable and easy to work on - will probably come in under budget because it's a 30-year-old car Cons: - lovely MPG for a non-truck, but it's actually on par with the current gen F-150 - 30 years old - still really ugly
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Dec 21, 2023 01:18
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