Actual Tundra Towing Capacity

[MikePA]

It may be a "simple concept", but it's a flawed concept, too. When Alan Meyers or one of the huge construction companies needs information before they buy a hundred F-250's or GM 2500's for their fleets of trucks, do you think they would value the information that C/R would provide?

How is it a flawed concept? CR knows who their readers are and that determines what they test and how they test. No, Alan Meyers would not value information in CR, nor would I expect him to.

Do you have any idea how many trucks are sold that will be used for construction, mining, oil fields, landscaping, snow removal, tree work, etc.? More than the ones who buy them for picking up the kids from soccer. So no, they actually DON'T test full size trucks "the way the majority of their readers use the vehicles". C/R caters to the minority of users when it comes to full size trucks.

CR caters to THEIR readers and if that's a minority of people who buy full size trucks, so be it. They know their readers are buying pickup trucks so they test them and report on how their readers probably use their pickup trucks. Most of their readers probably do not plow snow, haul 10,000 pound trailers or buy 3/4 or one ton trucks.

On edit: I'm not trying to make you upset, Mike. I think C/R does a great job testing products for the average homeowner, but when they step into the "working world", they have left their area of expertise.

I'm not tryng to upset anyone, either. But I really do not see them 'stepping into the working world. They are Consumer Reports, not Construction Vehicle Reports or Fleet Purchasers Report.

I don't denigrate Consumer Reports because they don't evaluate software and hardware the way I'd use it to support a company of 15,000 people nor do I accuse them of stepping into the corporate world when they test Office2007 from the perspective of a home user. There are other magazines that are sector specific I read for that information.

 

[Builder]

I guess....

but the next time you step out of your office job and drive around during the day, count the number of trucks you see being used as work vehicles.

Then ask yourself if C/R is leaving out a larger number of potential readers that would like to know how their trucks would perform in the working world....the place that Ford/GM/DC designed these trucks for.

I respect your opinion, but it seems silly to test a truck as a passenger car instead of as a truck.

Does C/R test a Prius hybrid as a truck?

 

[patrick_g]

Here in South Central Oklahoma there are sometimes more pickups in a parking lot that cars, not always but sometimes. Lots of trucks on the road percentage wise compared to civilization. Maybe 1-2% at most have signs on the doors, or a ladder rack, or a service body, or a hay spike, or visible evidence of non-domestic cargo. As many of them are driven by women as men and hauling kids is a popular use. Crew cabs with short beds are becoming the new fad, giving SUV's competition for numbers.

We are still a farming and ranching area and you do see lots of working trucks but there are hordes of trucks used in place of cars (see above re crrew cab short beds.)

We are bearing a dead horse to expect CR to cater to our minority niche. They do what they do and do it well for the audience they serve, I think none do it better.

Unfortunately they aren't servicing our needs. This doesn't make them wrong or bad. They don't pretend to service our needs. We are a niche (or at least a different) market and unfortunately we don't have a good CR equivalent in our area of interest. "Women's Wear Daily" and "Cosmopolitan" also do not address our HD truck use issues, why not bash them too? I realize it is frustrating and maybe venting makes us feel better but it is non productive.

Looks to me like there is a BIG opening for someone with guts and interest in HD trucks, truck usage, and equipment to start a magazine and product test operation.

By the way, we have an '04 Prius hybrid and it makes a better truck than the PT Cruiser which is officially a truck according to Dodge. The Prius rear seats fold forward and wth the hatch back yo have a large convenient cargo area (they have cargo net and tie down attachment points.

As part of a fleet mileage scam, Dodge used a loophole to claim the PT as a truck. Why do this? The PT has such terrible mileage it drags down the average fuel economy ratings. So, SHAZAM it is a truck and doesn't mess with the passenger car ratings. It does pretty good for a truck so it helps the truck fleet stats. Clever, huh? How is the PT a truck? It has a hatchback and a removable back seat. SHAZAM, a truck!

That sort of info would be of some interest to truck oriented folks if for no other reason than a chuckle every time you see one of those cute little retro trucks on the road.

The Prius does not come with a provision for a hitch and there is no officially sanctioned hitch (as of my last info) but there are after market receiver hitches available for it. What can you safely tow? Beats me! Maybe a super light weight aluminum trailer for hauling some bicycles or carrying some luggage or camp gear but it wouldn't make much more sense to me to try to tow much with it than to pull a plow with a Piper Cub (with wings removed, of course.) I could see maybe a special hitch with two widely separated attachment points and a light weight one wheel trailer if you just had to tow with it.

Pat

 

[Builder]

Here in South Central Oklahoma there are sometimes more pickups in a parking lot that cars, not always but sometimes. Lots of trucks on the road percentage wise compared to civilization. Maybe 1-2% at most have signs on the doors, or a ladder rack, or a service body, or a hay spike, or visible evidence of non-domestic cargo.

Parking lots are a poor place to look for a cross section of cars/trucks used by all people. How many people who use trucks for their intended purpose also have a car? I do. When I'm at a shopping mall parking lot after work, I'm in my car, not my work truck. Therefore, those "working" pickup trucks are parked in shops & construction sites, not mall parking lots.

I think guys cooped-up in offices all day miss a lot of the working world action and truly do not see the armies of construction, utility & landscape workers driving around in pickups all day long.

What you say about the average indoor worker, like an information systems manager who now drives a 4x4 pickup to work is true- they have now become the vehicle of choice. However, I don't think that should diminish the necessity of providing real-world information about the pluses/minuses of a trucks real intended uses for which they were built.

OK, I'm done. Thanks for your points of view, sorry for getting off the Tundra topic.