GM's Silverado named best truck in Canada

A couple of problems, first this is a 2008 model, old news. Second how come most Canadian truck owners own a Ford?

I took most of them for test drives in 2005, and bought a Ford F150.

On Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:30:03 -0600, Canuck57 fired up the etcha-a-sketch and scratched out:

...that's because GM is stupid in splitting the truck business between the Silverado and the near-twin Sierra. They count as two different trucks.

Ford does not do this, so the F150 shows up as the #1 in sales.

If you historically combine the Sierra and Silverado you find they are often even with and ahead of the F150.

I'm not trying to bash the 150. After all, I'd love to get my hands on an IDI 7.3L F250 crew cab 4x4 or a Excursion equipped with the 7.3L engine.

Where live, to kill time when traveling my wife and I will count them on the highway or road. F150/250/350 always seems to be the #1. And I just count Chevy/GM as one group also. As even RAMs are more popular around here, especially the diesel versions. But in Saskatchewan GM does seem to do #2.

Me, I love the F350 Lariat long box. But couldn't see the price spread for a F350 over the F150 5.4L gas Lariat which I bought. I did take a GM Silverado and Avalanche out but couldn't see the value.

Although they are not in the top 3, Nissan and Toyota seem to be gaining share in the last few years.

If GM combined ALL of its car brands they would be number one as well. However name plates are nameplates.

Toyota captured the number one single model CAR brand a few years ago by renaming the "Solara" the "Camry Solara."

If one is comparing LIGHT trucks, the F150 as a single brand has been number one in sales for thirty two years and the "F" Series is number one in total light and heavy duty trucks, not GM.

When one combined total annual sales of car and trucks however GM has been, and still is today, number one sales in the US.

You have got to be kidding, Toyota can hardly give the Tundra away. They even closed the Tundra plant in Texas for three months and dealers are still holding 120 day supply.

Toyota was also dumping Tundra's a the Manheim Auctions for as low as $25,000 the last three months of 2008.

Toyotas total share of the light truck market for 2008 was less than 5% and the Titon less than 2%

On Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:23:09 -0600, Canuck57 fired up the etcha-a-sketch and scratched out:

Interesting. I rarely see a Dodge truck around Los Angeles. Mostly Chevy and/or Ford.

Here is the 2009 July top ten pickup truck sales:

Ford is number one with the F-series at 215,959 units sold YTD.

Chevy is number two with 177,56 units.

However, if you combine the Silverado and the Sierra (remember, they're the same truck with different trims) you get 238,098 units sold.

This is - of course - much less than last year at teh same time, when GM had sold around 500,000 units and Ford around 400,000 units. =8-O

I love my Avalanche. It gives me the flexibility of a "small" truck (like a 150 or 1500) yet can have the bed of a long truck as needed. I just picked up a loft bed for my younger son last weekend. I went down to the guy's house, loaded the bed - including the 8' posts - into the truck and drove home with the tailgate closed.

OTOH, this weekend, I was attending a soccer referee clinic and had the bed locked up with my ice chest, soccer stuff and my mother's computer (which I was taking home to clean). I then swung by, picked up the two boys, threw bikes in the back and headed over to mother's and the park.

I have just under 60,000 miles on the truck in a little under three years. We recently drove up to Oregon on a mini-vacation. 1500 miles in ten days in the truck with the two boys, my wife and the dog.

They want that market. They've built a plant in Texas I think and are doing all they can to build loyalty.

However, I did test the new Tundra. I was not impressed. Though it is physically larger on the outside, the inside still felt cramped.

(I do wish my truck had a power rear window like the Tundra does!)

Nissan has a great product in the Pathfinder/QX56. Nice truck. I'd driven one a few times and am very impressed.

Now if only my Avalanche can get 45 MPG!!

I don't worry about the mpg. In my situation I have only a need for one multipurpose vehicle. One that can go 500km+ between standard fuel ups, 4x4 and warm for winter, can haul a boat at 2800lbs. If I bought a $60,000 Volt (likely CAD price) and I depreciate it over 12 years... that is $5000 per year. My truck doesn't come close to burning that much gas.

So to buy strictly on fuel efficient just makes about as much sense as burning money in the firepit. An Obama sucker play.

So the wife and I share one vehicle saving thousands in maintenance, depreciation, aggrivation and insurance. Plus, I like our time together when she drops me off or are together. Many people are doing this to reduce autos consumption of money that really doesn't add value to our lives.

On Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:07:32 -0600, Canuck57 fired up the etcha-a-sketch and scratched out:

You mean, you don't run your air conditioning in the winter? :P

I tend to agree. Though I would *LOVE* to tell the Saudi and Venezuelan governments to take a hike, I can't see the economics of it...yet.

Now that is a valid point.

I wish I could do that. My wife - when she works - is the opposite direction from me. Also, she's usually home running the rugrats around to various functions when they're not in school.

Unfortunately - with the crap public transit system in LA - I can't take the train or bus to work in a reasonable timeframe. Though I work only twenty miles from home and there's a train station within four miles of my house as well as across the street from work, it would take well over two hours to actually *take* said trains each way. (I have a co-worker who can ride his bike almost the same distance in an hour. He doesn't wear a suit, though.)

Also, I'm often taking the truck to locaitons outside of my office. Just last week, I drove over to Orange County (right near Disneyland) and then will be driving to San Diego (about 100 miles) next week.