Who's smarter?

[ISPKI]

My wife and I have only had 1 car each with a payment, both to build credit for a house. Mine was my 2007 speed 3, paid 7k for it, did a bare minimum 5k loan on it. Bought at 72k, now has 192k and finally needing some work (body stuff, new england winters take their toll).

Hers is a 2012 XC60 Polestar. Bought with 102k and some light damage on front bumper for 8500$. I fixed the damage on it and its been a fantastic car. Quiet, safe, fast, comfortable, did I mention safe? She has around 2500$ left on it.

Everything else I buy used and needing work for barely anything, fix it and drive it into the ground or until someone offers to buy it. I still get why people buy newer vehicles. Not sure I get those buying new every year though but the lease programs actually seem like a good way to go sometimes. My buddy has a 2021 CRV and they only pay maybe 150$ a month for it. They trade it in every 2 years for the next model. It never breaks down and they never have to do work on them because they just dont keep them long enough.

 

[Jesus Freak]

Im reviving this thread for the new membership as well as I wanted to share an experience from getting my wife's new old firebird.

So to go to Atlanta to get this car, I rented a truck and trailer. I know you're thinking, why not drive your dually? I would, and I know it would be fine, but I wanted to nail it Atlanta and get back ASAP. I drive my truck like a grandma, and if...IF....and I mean IFFF, something went wrong, I could call enterprise and say "hey, your truck don't work, bring me another."

But anyway, enterprise rented me a '23 RAM 1500 4x4 blah...blah...blah. Did it pull the trailer? Yes. Did I have issues? No. So what's the problem?

We've all been sitting at red lights and heard the brand new car go dead at the red light, but have you DRIVEN a car that goes dead at the red light? I haven't.... it's horrifying! Most of y'all like me have driven a bunch of junk and had a CERTAIN type of experience with your car going dead at a red light...... and HOPING, PRAYING, PLEADING that it'll crank back up. Most of us have moved past that part of life and have more dependable old vehicles, but it was like "flashbacks" when that BRAND NEW TRUCK would just die. I figured out there was a certain way to hold the brake to make it keep running......... just like how we used to pump the gas a bit while holding the brake and clutch at the same time and making eyes at your girlfriend so she wouldn't realize that you might not get her to the waffle house or home or whatever.

But the craziest thing was this, and I'm sorry I didn't take a picture, but there wasn't a gear shift handle in this RAM 1500 V8 4x4! NOOOO!!!, let me tell you what they have.........a knob that looks like a AC fan adjustment knob! Are you kidding me?!?! How tough is that? "Click it into DRIVE, and let's go muddin' boys, yeeeehaaaa!" Whatever! It's already push button 4wd, but now a AC knob gear shifter? Think about @Clb snorkeling into a mud hole to lock in his hubs "like a man" and some ****** in Crocs pushing his button and clicking his knob! What in the world? And what makes it really bad is the knob is in line with the AC knobs......

So, I had some time this morning and wanted to vasilate on that, enjoy!

 

[DaveBen]

You are not old enough to remember when Chrysler had push buttons on the dash for the shifter of the Auto tranny. They were a big deal for a couple of years and then Chrysler went back to the column shifter.

 

[Jesus Freak]

You are not old enough to remember when Chrysler had push buttons on the dash for the shifter of the Auto tranny. They were a big deal for a couple of years and then Chrysler went back to the column shifter.

I've actually driven a Chrysler from the 50s that had working push button gear selectors on the steering wheel.

 

[Clb]

Just watched deboss? Garage ...He quoted a 550 service truck @ a 1/4 mil
Ummmmm w t f
So a 10k investment today = peanuts...
@Jesus Freak
Try using drive slugs

Tech tip
Install the dang things BEFORE you wade in...

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I'm sorry I didn't take a picture, but there wasn't a gear shift handle in this RAM 1500 V8 4x4! NOOOO!!!, let me tell you what they have.........a knob that looks like a AC fan adjustment knob!

They've had that since at least 2014.

You are not old enough to remember when Chrysler had push buttons on the dash for the shifter of the Auto tranny.

Neither an I , but I did know about them and I have seen a car with them.

 

[Jesus Freak]

They've had that since at least 2014.

Neither an I , but I did know about them and I have seen a car with them.

That's really how far out of the loop I am with modern stuff. As far as a Chrysler car having push button shifters in the 50s and 60s, in my opinion, that's seemingly fine for what should be a "luxury car", but a rugged 4x4 man machine? I don't know. I'm certain most all the shifter knobs are just glorified buttons that control a potentiometer that tells(more like recommends) a servo in the tranny what to do, but in a truck they should at least let you feel like you did something. Could you imagine being stuck and rocking your truck back and forth just turning a knob? I'd feel rediculus.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

but a rugged 4x4 man machine?

That's a matter of opinion. I don't care what special features they have or how they look, I have a hard time believing that modern trucks are rugged or man machines. I look at them like the false fronts that they used to put on buildings in the 1800's. They looked good, but once past that, they're unimpressive. Power? So what? Give me longevity and reliability and day! I'd love to see how many of those are still on the road in 25-30 years.

in a truck they should at least let you feel like you did something.

Yes they should. My boss likes to buy wrecked piles of junk on Copart and make them look better (notice I didn't say "fix them up"). I've seen several at work. The first time one came in, it threw me for a few seconds. Once I looked around and saw the knob on the dash, I had it figured out. We had a drunk who was working there. He was ok, but still a total drunk so I was thrilled about him. The boss wanted him to move that first truck from the back of the building to the front. He got in, started the engine, and then had to come find me so I could tell him how to shift it. He said that he felt pretty stupid after doing that.

 

[Cant Write]

To add to it, the wife’s X-2022 suburban (thank God that’s gone!!) wouldn’t shift outta P until you buckled your seat belt. What if I gotta move it 20’ in the driveway....come on GM......and yes I know there’s a work around....

And Adaptive CC.....I absolutely hate it. Sure maybe it works in the city, but out here the turns are sharp enough the sensor loses sight of the car ahead, accelerates, and then automatically brakes once the road straightens out and the car magically reappears.

Or the emergency braking system system yelling at me about a guardrail straight ahead but the road curves....thanks GM and Toyota. The Ford hasn’t done it to me yet.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

To add to it, the wife’s X-2022 suburban (thank God that’s gone!!) wouldn’t shift outta P until you buckled your seat belt. What if I gotta move it 20’ in the driveway....come on GM......and yes I know there’s a work around....

And Adaptive CC.....I absolutely hate it. Sure maybe it works in the city, but out here the turns are sharp enough the sensor loses sight of the car ahead, accelerates, and then automatically brakes once the road straightens out and the car magically reappears.

Or the emergency braking system system yelling at me about a guardrail straight ahead but the road curves....thanks GM and Toyota. The Ford hasn’t done it to me yet.

And people wonder why I say that I'll NEVER own a self driving vehicle.

 

[Rdnck84_03]

I have no desire to own anything that thinks it knows more about what I should be doing than I do (hence the reason I hate automatic transmissions). I will stick to vehicles that do what I tell it to do, not what some sensor tells it I should be doing.

James

 

[KansasIDI]

There are many things about modern vehicles that really get me riled, like all the “safety” equipment, it seems too complicated and distracting. I won’t delve too deep into this, it makes me madder than all hell…

My dad always told me that I wasn’t very smart to drive old Fords, saying that I could easily handle a truck payment on a newer, or brand new truck. And he’s right, financially, it’s something I could pull off with moderate ease. For sure less time spent working on trucks… But as I said, I don’t like the screens and all the buffering that takes away from your focus. I’d rather drive something basic that keeps me focused on driving, than something designed, “with safety in mind” that makes the driving so dull and effortless that my focus falls off. And I like to be in control of the vehicle, when I’m driving. Hence I prefer manual. There are times in heavy traffic situations where automatic would be enough to handle, but then again it really isn’t that much of a pain for me to row my own gears, even in thick traffic.

Another thing is, even though I dump thousands of dollars into these Fords, it is still less than a 5 year old Dodge with a Cummins would be in payments… on a 5 year note… much less a new truck…

My dad stopped talking about it when turbos failed on 4 trucks, all at ~130k miles, $10,000 repair bill EACH, and the EGR cooler failed at 110k miles, on 3 trucks, at $2000 each… which certainly didn’t help me be any more interested in a newer truck…

I have looked into getting a newer truck, free to look, but the big power and fancy screens don’t do it for me… especially at their price!

 

[Cant Write]

I couldn’t agree more! That’s why I drive old junk and am happy with it.

On the other side of the coin, boy howdy is her F-150 ever livin’ nice. I don’t need all the doo-dads, but the seats!!! I love the seats!! Oh and how quiet it is at speed. And it’s ability to switch to NORMAL CC

I need to work on the sound deadening at some point, and seals.

I’ve actually always been a miser, a wallet with rusty hinges so too speak. Growin’ up less fortunate will do that I guess. So I always have had 2 cars, an econobox (my TDI) and a 4x pickup. All cheap with liability only at 10x the state mins.

I don’t see how the masses drive something 90% of the time that’s ******* fuel with expensive parts.

I’m not talking about the contractor or rancher or folks who actually need a pickup.

I’m talkin’ about the likes of my wife (LOVE HER TO DEATH) but if it weren’t for her business and write-offs. No way would I be payin’ for 30k miles/yr in fuel plus maintenance on a half ton. She’d be right back in a TDI wagon. ALH of 5-spd flavor. (Miss that car)

 

[hacked89]

I’ll break the echo chamber

I think the new f350s pull, stop and handle better and more confidently than the old… as they should. If you can afford it (completely agree on all the comments about not having monthly payments). I think there is one big caveat, I wouldn’t own a new truck that’s not under a factory ford warranty.

The older trucks, I can pull the whole drivetrain in hours. I can take a day off work and swap transmissions and transfer cases. I can order an IDI and flip flop them with no special tools outside of the few I made at home. None of this is possible in a new truck. Additionally - the cost of the CP4 injection pump over the DB2 as an example.

But take a 2024 F350 and crawl under it and poke around it, it’s really not that much different than the IDI trucks at the core. Look at the steering box and positions, axle types, etc. It’s a real truck with 30 years of improvements + a luxury car layer.

But like I mentioned, you don’t want to be responsible out of pocket for the cost and maintenance of the latest 6.7 and 10 speed transmission.

I guess if I built my perfect “truck” it would be a 2024 SRW f350, with a wide track front axle from a 2024 f450, a built turbo IDI for the engine and a zf5 for the trans.

 

[Jesus Freak]

I’ll break the echo chamber

I think the new f350s pull, stop and handle better and more confidently than the old… as they should. If you can afford it (completely agree on all the comments about not having monthly payments). I think there is one big caveat, I wouldn’t own a new truck that’s not under a factory ford warranty.

The older trucks, I can pull the whole drivetrain in hours. I can take a day off work and swap transmissions and transfer cases. I can order an IDI and flip flop them with no special tools outside of the few I made at home. None of this is possible in a new truck. Additionally - the cost of the CP4 injection pump over the DB2 as an example.

But take a 2024 F350 and crawl under it and poke around it, it’s really not that much different than the IDI trucks at the core. Look at the steering box and positions, axle types, etc. It’s a real truck with 30 years of improvements + a luxury car layer.

But like I mentioned, you don’t want to be responsible out of pocket for the cost and maintenance of the latest 6.7 and 10 speed transmission.

I guess if I built my perfect “truck” it would be a 2024 SRW f350, with a wide track front axle from a 2024 f450, a built turbo IDI for the engine and a zf5 for the trans.

I'm cool with that. Not my bag, but that's legit.