First Truck for a Tractorman

[glennmac]

I have appreciated all the practical advice, but I have also enjoyed the theological dissertations. You can learn a lot about life from Buddhism even if you end up not practicing it.

 

[kerr]

Well, did ya ever get yourself a truck?

 

[glennmac]

Havent got one yet. Maybe next spring. I do know which brand I would buy: Toyota. Best reliability record per Consumer Reports. Best crash test results. Won all kinds of truck of the year awards the past 3 years. Best quality, IMHO.

 

[kerr]

There ya go.Should serve you well.

 

[Bird]

Has Consumer Reports ever recommended anything besides Toyota in the last 20 years?/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif I've often wondered how much Toyota pays them./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

Bird

 

[glennmac]

Must pay em a lot. The Tacoma was above average in repair history. The Nissan average. And all the American trucks, as I would have expected anyway, were below average to poor. The Tundra was CR's top pick of all trucks. Lexus V8 engine, no less!

 

[kerr]

I have a 96 4x4 taco.at 32k plugs and fuel filter.At 61k front brake pads.At 63k thats all to date.Been luckey enough to have had 2 store bought new ones,best money i ever spent.4 or 5 years i would sure like a tundra 4x4 with an auto.trans.When We get deere little john paid off I can think about it.Although the better half thinks we need a pontoon boat worse.ha ha

 

[Bird]

Glenn, I'm not saying the Toyota isn't a good truck; may be. I don't know, but I know if you went by Consumer Reports no one in this country would have bought anything but Toyota cars 20 years ago. And when I realized how ridiculous their ratings were on products in general, I cancelled my subscription. I wouldn't lend any credence at all to their recommendation without carefully reading their entire report, and even then take it with a grain of salt. They may really put down a good product for reasons that mean absolutely nothing to you, and rate a competitive product highly because of features they claim to like and for which you have no use.

Bird

 

[glennmac]

Bird, I understand your point, and it is valid, to a point. If everyone followed CR's recommendations we would all indeed drive nothing but Honda Accords and Toyota Camry's. They have only rated trucks twice in their history, because trucks are too specialized for their view of "best" vehicles.

I do think the one area where they do shine is their reports on actual car repair history. That is objective, and no one else does it as well as they do. But when I want a Mustang convertible, I want a Mustang convertible, and I dont care what CR says.

Where I really think they are worthless is when they pompously rate things things that are wholly subjective, like what's the best peanut butter or ice cream. Back in my drinking days, I bought a certain brand of Scotch because it was a CR "best buy". But, of course, I did a lot of dumb things in my drinking days.

 

[beenthere]

Bird. I agree with you 100%. Very well said, and my sentiments exactly. I've owned too many great things that for some reason are not at the top of CR's list. I don't think it was circumstance, and to me, CR is totally out of touch. They probably are not "totally", but to me they are! They are about as far off as Ralph Nader!