Getting older and the changes in what we like...

[mmissile]

I bought a Dakota, and one that was lowered from the factory, so I'm well aware of what size it is.

One thing about owning a truck- one you own one, you'll kind of feel naked without one.

Hey, there's a nice shelving unit off the side of the road, I'll just stop and throw it in the.....

Never mind, I don't own a truck anymore.

I don't like trucks. I only have my dually to pull my car trailer, and otherwise....it never gets driven. I teased people for ages about minivans, then realized I can carry about anything in one [including race hemi's]...and have been driving them for about a dozen years. They fly under the radar, while out all day. If I buy another new vehicle, it'll be a Caravan. Yes, there's still a few new ones out there. Been looking, lately.

 

[Kern Dog]

Might work for some... I have the same small truck I've owned for thirty years and don't envy those who need a newer/bigger one...

Same here.
I love this one:

Look at how tall and thick the newer one looks:

I'm tempted to put a tape measure on mine and a newer one. I'd swear the distance between the rocker panel and door sill is TALLER on the newer trucks.
They don't even seem to offer the 2 door Dodge/Ram trucks anymore.

 

[Budnicks]

^^^^

I like my lil' truck, it ain't going nowhere

only 60k miles too, got a lot of life left,
1999 Dakots SLT 4x4 ext cab 2 dr

fits in this lil' 20'x20' garage

still nice inside

easier to park tighter turning raidius, 15-17mpg ain't so great
but the amount I drive anymore, it'll last another 25 years

Now I could go for a new TRX with 4 drs

but that's about it other than the 4dr Jeep Gladiator Rubicon Launch Edition
I own already

or maybe a new Dakota 4x4 when or If they ever come back, in 2026 (?)
2024 Ram 1200/Rebel/Dakota concept
I doubt I'll get either thou

 

[Budnicks]

the Daytona 50th aniv. edition
like @Richard Cranium is cool for a 4 dr performance sedan
his is white w/blue stripes IIRC
this looks sharp for a 4dr

me & dad bought my sister Candy a 2017 Chrysler 300s 4 dr,
killer deal in Dec. of 2017 (her birthday was Dec. 20th) they wanted to move inventory
$27k out the door IIRC
it was a nice car, it got crushed last winter when a 200 year old 8' trunk oak tree
in a big wind storm up in Redbluff, it fell on her house & garage, took it out...
They totaled it gave her $17,000 (ins. rip off)
took more than a year to fix her place too, still not done,
"sweetheart deal with a local contractor", screws ya' everytime, but she wouldn't listen...

hers was dark graphite pearl & dark graphite leather interior, fully loaded 18 of 23 options
stock photo from the web

 

[68BabyBlue]

I owned a little Mazda B2000 pick up in the early 80s, which my wife drove, and I wrote off on my single unit trucking business. Haven’t owned a pick up since. My Peterbilt 379 always won out in the “mine is bigger than yours” game.

 

[gtx6970]

Yeah, I looked, this was the best Pink C body I found...

Mike Ross's car I believe

 

[Triplegreen500]

I've always loved wagons (bought mine 30 years ago).

Love my 91 Daytona turbo - my first new car, still own IT, too.

Gotta have a truck. Make mine a diesel, thanks - no sense to me to have something designed to "work", with a gasser in it. I'll take torque AND fuel economy, thank you. Gonna keep my 01 Cummins on the road as long as I can - which should be a LONNNNGGGG time, since it's also a six speed stick.

As for changing tastes...well...mentally, I like the same stuff. Physically? Well, it's not as easy getting in and out of the ol' Daytona as it was 30 years ago lol. But I still love it once I'm in there!

I have the same motorcycles I've been riding for 25 years (if not the exact same bikes, the same models)....been enjoying the same cars and trucks...but I really don't have much of a desire for anything new. I love my 14 Grand Cherokee diesel, but only because it's pre-auto-start-stop. If it had that dumb bullshit on it...it would have been gone in a heartbeat. As it is, 10 years and 100k miles and I still love it. But zero desire for anything new. Start/stop systems....no third pedal options anymore...crappy engine designs....no thanks.

 

[XS22J8R]

Trucks have gotten huge. I had a standard cab short bed 95 Ram 1500 that served me well for many years until it got rusty. I did without a truck for about 10 years until I got a ‘21 2500. I bought it to tow, odds and ends chores, and as a backup vehicle, not as a daily driver. It really is too big for practical daily use, in fact it sticks out about a foot from most parking lot slots.
I‘m tall and didn’t have running boards or steps on a Bronco I had in the 80s or on my 1500. I felt they were mainly for decoration.
So I didn’t order them on my 2500, and despite being over 6’ tall, I realized after it arrived I needed steps! Still not a fan of the way they look, so ordered AMD retractable steps which cost over 2 grand.
I could have ordered a standard cab with 8’ bed, but secure storage was my biggest beef with my 1500. Not much room to put anything behind the seat in the cab.
So I got a 4 door, plus Ram boxes. Now I have room to put just about everything and anything securely. I don’t need the back seat. I needed interior storage. Why aren’t extended cabs still an option? They are still available in class 6 and 8 trucks, but not pickups. Why?
I went gas and have no regrets. My truck pulls a 24 enclosed like there‘s nothing behind it. Gets 10-11 towing. Gets around 15 mixed driving and as much as 19 highway.
CTD was a close to a 10K option. Diesel fuel is more expensive than gasoline now, and def sucks. In fact the whole emissions system on diesels is a mess now. It used to be that diesel was the only way to go for towing, but gas came so far while diesel got so messed up with emissions, that other than for pulling big 5th wheels trailers I can’t see a case made to get a diesel.

 

[Triplegreen500]

That's why my diesel is pre-emissions 2001, with a manual trans. Extended cab, 8' bed, 4x4 Ram 2500. When I bought my Charger in FL, I towed it home with the Ram....and it gave me 18mpg towing the car from FL to MD. It gets me 20-22 daily driving up and down a mountain to get to and from home. It's my gig truck, it's always loaded with audio gear or pulling a trailer full of audio gear. Or hauling stuff for yardwork, or home projects, or parts, or motorcycles....it rarely makes a round trip, empty.

And, it's got 288k miles on it at the moment.

Now, my '14 Grand Cherokee has DEF and being a light-duty vehicle that I don't tow with (why would I - I have a cummins!)...I've had zero problems with it. Fill the DEF once a year (about $17 at the pump)....and that's it. 25mpg city, 32 highway.

Diesel may be more expensive per gallon, but if you do the math it's still cheaper per mile. I spend about $0.05 a mile more on fuel driving my Wrangler TJ to work, than I do driving the diesel Grand Cherokee...and about $0.02 a mile more in the Wrangler, than I would if I drove my cummins every day. And, no tuneups on the diesels - no plugs, no wires, no coils...just a fuel filter every 10k miles, and the diesels are happy campers.

A couple pennies a mile might not sound like much, but if you go 300 miles a tank? That's $15 a tank. If I do 10k a year in my Wrangler, just the fuel costs put me $500 behind the Grand Cherokee, based on the per-mile cost. And that's figuring our current local pricing of 3.99 diesel and 3.00 unleaded.

It adds up.

And that $500 I save? Fills the Charger quite a few times over the season, so I can drive and love it !!

 

[Detective D]

View attachment 1599762

To me, new trucks look dumb as ****. They are all too thick and too tall with no more ground clearance than before.

My 98 Dakota has more ground clearance that most of the new half tons.

 

[Detective D]

That's why my diesel is pre-emissions 2001, with a manual trans. Extended cab, 8' bed, 4x4 Ram 2500. When I bought my Charger in FL, I towed it home with the Ram....and it gave me 18mpg towing the car from FL to MD. It gets me 20-22 daily driving up and down a mountain to get to and from home. It's my gig truck, it's always loaded with audio gear or pulling a trailer full of audio gear. Or hauling stuff for yardwork, or home projects, or parts, or motorcycles....it rarely makes a round trip, empty.

And, it's got 288k miles on it at the moment.

Now, my '14 Grand Cherokee has DEF and being a light-duty vehicle that I don't tow with (why would I - I have a cummins!)...I've had zero problems with it. Fill the DEF once a year (about $17 at the pump)....and that's it. 25mpg city, 32 highway.

Diesel may be more expensive per gallon, but if you do the math it's still cheaper per mile. I spend about $0.05 a mile more on fuel driving my Wrangler TJ to work, than I do driving the diesel Grand Cherokee...and about $0.02 a mile more in the Wrangler, than I would if I drove my cummins every day. And, no tuneups on the diesels - no plugs, no wires, no coils...just a fuel filter every 10k miles, and the diesels are happy campers.

A couple pennies a mile might not sound like much, but if you go 300 miles a tank? That's $15 a tank. If I do 10k a year in my Wrangler, just the fuel costs put me $500 behind the Grand Cherokee, based on the per-mile cost. And that's figuring our current local pricing of 3.99 diesel and 3.00 unleaded.

It adds up.

And that $500 I save? Fills the Charger quite a few times over the season, so I can drive and love it !!

Can't speak for new stuff, but last I checked the cummins motors took like 11 quarts of oil or something.
My 8.1L started in -14F(-30F windchills) after sitting for 3 weeks without plugging a block heater in or anything like that recently. The gas won't gel either.

I am not trying to bash on deisel, it makes sense a lot of times. But it isn't some foregone conclusion that it is superior every time.

 

[hdwrench]

many years ago i bought a 69 coronet wagon from a friend, it was his grandmother’s. it was in decent shape but i especially liked the 383/auto . we’ll towing it home was a treat . i’ll save that story for another time. i ended up putting it on the road for a winter car taking my summer ride off the road . did that for a few years . then my best friend did the same for a few more years . by then i had parked my hot rod and was cruzin harley’s . the wagon was running but not often . we traveled to chicago to visit friends and take in a pig roast . another buddy bike was not ready for the trip but he wanted to go , o told him he could use the wagon . by then we named it the bluesmobile….he made it there following 8 harley’s traveling at breakneck speeds , and back home . never one did that wagon skip a beat … it finally got destroyed but the engine and trans are still w me ….i wish i still had it !!!

 

[Triplegreen500]

Can't speak for new stuff, but last I checked the cummins motors took like 11 quarts of oil or something.
My 8.1L started in -14F(-30F windchills) after sitting for 3 weeks without plugging a block heater in or anything like that recently. The gas won't gel either.

I am not trying to bash on deisel, it makes sense a lot of times. But it isn't some foregone conclusion that it is superior every time.

Yep, 11 qts, 5k change interval. Meh.

I don't live where we go minus F temps very often (if ever). It lives in a garage and I do use a block heater when it's close to freezing...but mainly for cabin heat because that big ol lump takes a LOOONG time to heat up! She starts and runs fine every time. And, haven't ever had a gel problem in any of my diesels (been driving them for 25 years now).

The Jeep doesn't even HAVE a block heater. Starts and runs like a gasser, every day.

For the durability and fuel economy...I'll take a diesel any day.

 

[moparedtn]

I agree with others about today's trucks. I just got issued a brand new F250 work truck (temporarily) to drive
for work and it's about ridiculous. It's actually an install crew truck - big-arsed V8, crew cab, boxes, pipe rack...
Ford still uses twin I-beam front ends!
It's not very pleasant to drive at all - it makes up its' own bumps in the road, I like to say.
10 speed (what the hell needs a 10 speed besides a bicycle?) and horrible gas mileage - and as I found out
recently, absolutely no traction in snow, slush or mud. I mean NONE, despite all those fancy "drive modes" to
choose from.
Oh, and it's electronics are loaded with all manner of nanny nags like "CHECK REAR SEAT FOR FORGOTTEN
PASSENGERS" while it displays a baby car seat on the screen. Oy...

On the other hand, Bert just hangs out at 180k and gets the damn job done....

He's a keeper.

 

[PlymCrazy]

...pipe rack...

That ruined the mood

 

[Ron H]

Off the topic, well not entirely, saw a new commercial yesterday for a chevy truck pulling a trailer full of snowmobiles. Driver sets it to auto steer as he clasps his hands looking out the side window. Hmm, wonder when they'll make self-driving snowmobiles, ATV's, hell, even motorcycles...why stop with the vehicles? Some don't want to DRIVE? Call uber or take the bus then. Yeah, I'm just old and think it has its ills. Someone might have said the same thing about cruise-control back when..

 

[YY1]

Gyroscopic motorcycle without handlebars?

 

[hdwrench]

you know your getting old when you start repeating your father’s rants only now aimed at stuff your looking at . i remember back in the day my father cussing about elvis and the beatles on ed sullivan, his rolling stones rant is not repeatable here ! now it’s my turn bitching about rappers and these new pop artists and much much more ………after one of my cussfest recently i thought to myself “ starting to sound like dad “!

 

[SlingLow]

 

[mmissile]

View attachment 1612310

One is a truck, and the other is a 5-6 seat school-bus.