I don't think that Toyota designs their trucks for hauling. They're for divorced soccer-moms who want to blind ungrateful men by flashing their highbeams directly into their rearview mirrors.
Then again, how many Ford or GM trucks on the road are actually used for work (not commuting)? 15%?
I have defined what a "break-down" is .... so your Fords should fair a bit better. But you remain a malcontent. Come to think of it, Mercedes "break-down" a lot too. Then again, this may be influenced by the area I live in. ;-)
I was being facetious. ;) But still, you get the idea. There's something not quite refined about a poor little four getting thrashed to drive highway normal speeds. I have no idea about the shifting of my new LT1 RoadMaster yet, but I'd assume that it's doing ~1500rpm at 50mph, if its gearing is anything like my old LSC.
There's a double-standard when it comes to imports. You pay more, you must be getting more, and anybody who argues with you must be a fool. Kind of like the Emperor's new clothes.
In news:ZxMwb.186$ snipped-for-privacy@read2.cgocable.net, Matt Keefer being of bellicose mind posted:
Of course. ;-) But there is NOTHING unrefined about high RPM, unless the context is a luxury car. Case in point, HONDA pioneered mass production of short stroke high RPM fours in motorcycles and automobiles. "Thrashed" is a low RPM, long stroke 6 cylinder viewpoint. ;-) I retired from driving OTR trucks. 60 mph was typically 1500 rpm and sometimes less. On the other end of the scale is my aforementioned 400cc four cylinder Honda. 60 mph in top gear is 6,500 rpm. Redline at 13,500. Stroke / piston speed is everything.
I'm definitely guilty of the low rpm luxury viewpoint... my LSC (HO 302) was still geared so that it wasn't really working unless I felt like doing
140mph. It redlined at 6,500- had a 3" stroke, and a 4" bore. I wish that I could have put that engine into something else... I could nearly get the front wheels off the ground. Handled like a Benz too. :) The Buick kills it for power and torque, but isn't so great around bends, but hey... it makes up for it with the soft pillowy ride. No, it doesn't induce nausea like a Cadillac ;)
Heck, I just drove the better part of 1,000 km at 130 kmph and 3,000 RPM. Whatchatalkinabout. (the last was just for (now double tilde) Philip. He is so enamoured of such "words")
I'd say their entire heavy duty lines have more than half real use/work related duties. I see tons of MGC towtrucks and commercial vehicles as well as contrstuction-related ones(Electrician/plumber/etc) - a LOT of sales.
The fact is, people who buy large pickups buy them for real use and off-road(if 4*4). The rest - they buy SUVs instead.
I say some are used for real work, but the vast majority are used to commute. Just watch the commuter traffic you'll see tons of pickups with one rider, empty or with some kind of topper protecting the box from whatevers charging onto the freeways. Another test is to drive thru some residental areas and see how many big PU's are sitting in driveways. These are not work trucks.
I wasn't passed too much, I do get out of the way when I see someone coming! One of the few that passed me on the return trip ended up rolling several times -- with a fatality. It appeared to be a newer GM minivan - chevy or pontiac, hard to tell after two or three times over.
Up here in Toronto, people buy them for the aggressive statement that they make. You see these beautiful waxed shiny F150s and 2500s puttering around town with the tailgates up (carrying nothing), while their baseball-capped owners blast Em-enema or whatever other obnoxious garbage they can get their hands on through the big stereos they put into them. It really makes no sense either, because they suck ass on snow, handle like slugs, and roll when they drift off the road because of the high centre of gravity. Lots of SUVs too. :P
Thank God that cube vans aren't fashionable, or the serial killers would be able to freely drive among us.
There are a lot of under 18 contractors where I live then... who knew that the economy had secretly bounced back to the point that child labour was necessary?
I'd still say 50%. Almost all of those "driveway pickups" are smaller ones like Tacomas. Buying a huge half ton truck is usually something you do for a reason.(I'm not counting the people who lower and put the rims and such on these things - they're just plain odd)
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