Just can't get a good basic truck, like the old days!

[WinterDeere]

Now, those are 60 mph rural roads, and no major hills. I know when we go to north GA, those hills eat the gas.

It's very hilly where I live, in fact the back of our house looks out onto the slopes of a ski resort. So that could be part of it.

I will also say that my wife and I get very different MPG's in the same vehicle. I remember one fun little Audi A3 2.0T we owned about 20 years ago, it was her daily driver for her long commute up and down the turnpike, over some big hills into the Lehigh Valley. Her trip computer would usually read about 29 mpg, but one afternoon of some spirited driving with me behind the wheel on local roads, it'd be down to 19 mpg.

I love push button 4WD. Opens up space on the floor for more leg room in my truck, too.

I think you're the first person I've ever heard say that! I hate the things, but not out of principle, it's just due to the horrible implementation:

1. Unpredictable operation. When working on a vehicle up on jack stands or a lift, a manual transfer case can be shifted into neutral, and you know it's in neutral. Every time I need to put one of these electronic transfer cases into neutral, I have to pull out the manual(s) or spend ten minutes between Google and fighting with the correct combination of key position and a pencil into a tiny reset style button on the switch cluster, to actually get the thing into Neutral. It's just a stupid unnecessary PITA.
2. Tiny un-lit buttons. Every truck I have ever owned, you cannot see or find the correct button for the mode you want while driving in the dark. When I commuted, my winters consisted of driving to work in the dark before sunrise, and driving home in the dark after sunset. Other than the rare weekend trip, almost 100% of my winter driving has always been in the dark, as I suspect is the case for many people. So why not back-light those stupid buttons?!?
3. Arrangement or order of buttons makes no sense, and labels are typically too small to read at a glance while driving. In my truck, the buttons are arranged 4-square, with no rhyme or reason which is 4-hi, 4-lo, 2-hi, etc.

If they'd fix these stupid issues, then I'd be fine with electronic shifters. I will admit they have some advantages, if the designers would just get their heads out of their a$$es.

 

[WinterDeere]

So i didnt know an ABS system ever existed merely as a generic brake pulsator...

I don't remember all of the details, but I do remember my buddy used to constantly complain about the ABS on his aggressively-driven Nissan Sentra SE/R. It would blindly and simultaneously pulsate pressure equally on two or even all four wheels, any time just one wheel locked up, which used to drive him nuts.

 

[Hay Dude]

It's very hilly where I live, in fact the back of our house looks out onto the slopes of a ski resort. So that could be part of it.

I will also say that my wife and I get very different MPG's in the same vehicle. I remember one fun little Audi A3 2.0T we owned about 20 years ago, it was her daily driver for her long commute up and down the turnpike, over some big hills into the Lehigh Valley. Her trip computer would usually read about 29 mpg, but one afternoon of some spirited driving with me behind the wheel on local roads, it'd be down to 19 mpg.


I think you're the first person I've ever heard say that! I hate the things, but not out of principle, it's just due to the horrible implementation:

1. Unpredictable operation. When working on a vehicle up on jack stands or a lift, a manual transfer case can be shifted into neutral, and you know it's in neutral. Every time I need to put one of these electronic transfer cases into neutral, I have to pull out the manual(s) or spend ten minutes between Google and fighting with the correct combination of key position and a pencil into a tiny reset style button on the switch cluster, to actually get the thing into Neutral. It's just a stupid unnecessary PITA.

Huh? It’s so easy, you just take a pen and push the neutral button. You think that’s difficult?

1. Tiny un-lit buttons. Every truck I have ever owned, you cannot see or find the correct button for the mode you want while driving in the dark. When I commuted, my winters consisted of driving to work in the dark before sunrise, and driving home in the dark after sunset. Other than the rare weekend trip, almost 100% of my winter driving has always been in the dark, as I suspect is the case for many people. So why not back-light those stupid buttons?!?

Not much of an issue with me. My cab is lit up like a Christmas display.

1. Arrangement or order of buttons makes no sense, and labels are typically too small to read at a glance while driving. In my truck, the buttons are arranged 4-square, with no rhyme or reason which is 4-hi, 4-lo, 2-hi, etc.

If they'd fix these stupid issues, then I'd be fine with electronic shifters. I will admit they have some advantages, if the designers would just get their heads out of their a$$es.

Not much issue for me.
I’ll take the extra floor space for the aforementioned “hassles” of pushing buttons. Floor shifter and manual transmissions are relics of the past.

Come on!!! Time to move on with the times!

 

[WinterDeere]

Huh? It’s so easy, you just take a pen and push the neutral button. You think that’s difficult?

I forgot that step: why should I have to go dig up a pen, just to put my TC in neutral?!? In any case, it doesn't work like that on mine, but maybe it's a sign I got a bad switch. I always have to try it multiple times, with the key in different positions, and even then it seems when it finally unlocks it's using some combination I'd already tried twice before.

Point is, a floor shifter is easy and as reliable as concrete, and always operable in the dark without taking your eyes from the road.

If given the choice, I'd still be driving a manual transmission with a manual transfer case. I switched brands from GM to Dodge just to get that combo, back in 2005, but it doesn't seem to be available from any maker today. It's not a huge deal, but I will always favor manual control over automatic, in just about anything. Heck... I switched one car from power steering back to manual, in the late 1990's!

Come on!!! Time to move on with the times!

I'm sorry, I thought this was a thread about "a good basic truck, like the old days"!

 

[Jstpssng]

Having a front wheel drive family car or a lifted truck doesnt say anything about, if you get stuck: It just dictates WHERE you get stuck.

Though, there are some offroad trucks that if they do get stuck, youve got to bring a crawler to get them out

It also depends on who is driving. I used to take my 2wd pickups places where everyone said I needed 4wd. I've also gotten my 4wd trucks stuck in places I should not have been...

 

[ultrarunner]

Locking differential by any of the trade names like limited slip, positraction, etc., really help

 

[John0829]

It also depends on who is driving. I used to take my 2wd pickups places where everyone said I needed 4wd.

YES!!! Many, many years ago I had a 1966 Chevy 3/4 with a 292 and 4 speed manual that I would go anywhere a 4wd would and a few places the owners of said 4wd could not. I have always felt that sometimes, SOMETIMES, bad luck can get you stuck but more times than not it is the nut behind the steering wheel that causes it by not reading the conditions correctly or by being stupid.

 

[RB5]

I forgot that step: why should I have to go dig up a pen, just to put my TC in neutral?!? In any case, it doesn't work like that on mine, but maybe it's a sign I got a bad switch. I always have to try it multiple times, with the key in different positions, and even then it seems when it finally unlocks it's using some combination I'd already tried twice before.

Point is, a floor shifter is easy and as reliable as concrete, and always operable in the dark without taking your eyes from the road.

If given the choice, I'd still be driving a manual transmission with a manual transfer case. I switched brands from GM to Dodge just to get that combo, back in 2005, but it doesn't seem to be available from any maker today. It's not a huge deal, but I will always favor manual control over automatic, in just about anything. Heck... I switched one car from power steering back to manual, in the late 1990's!


I'm sorry, I thought this was a thread about "a good basic truck, like the old days"!

I switched an old chevy truck from power back to manual steering when my power steering belt broke. I replaced the belt soon after.

 

[RB5]

YES!!! Many, many years ago I had a 1966 Chevy 3/4 with a 292 and 4 speed manual that I would go anywhere a 4wd would and a few places the owners of said 4wd could not. I have always felt that sometimes, SOMETIMES, bad luck can get you stuck but more times than not it is the nut behind the steering wheel that causes it by not reading the conditions correctly or by being stupid.

We went shooting guns years ago on a bluff overlooking the Trinity River. I drove my 2 wheel drive chevy down a motorcycle trail to get there. My friend had to pull a huge tree limb that was still part of the tree off to the side using his motorcyle for me to pass one spot. After we had been back there a while some guys in a jeep 4x4 rolled up. They kept looking at us and my 2wd truck like they were wondering how we got back there.

 

[WinterDeere]

I switched an old chevy truck from power back to manual steering when my power steering belt broke. I replaced the belt soon after.

Power steering with a broken belt and manual steering are two very different animals. The power steering hydraulics add a ton of drag, and the ratio is usually much higher, such that lock to lock might be half as many turns.

I wouldn't manual steering on a 4wd pickup truck, but on a Mustang set up for drag racing with 4-1/2" skinnies up front, it was an easy way to fit a larger motor with a higher capacity oil pan under the hood.