I am sure all of you have that "friend" that can find nothing good to say about an American made vehicle. I have one. I feel like it is my mission to educate him on the pros of American made vehicles. Well today he tells me he is looking at a "real" truck (I just bought an 04 F-150 XLT).....a Tundra. He says that all the studies show that it is a safer, better truck than anything the Big 3 can produce. I just look at him and laugh. No matter what I say (I am pretty informed) he is sooooo against anything made by the Big 3. Just wanted to get this off my chest. Anybody else have a "friend" like this??

 

Had one. One. Had to shoot him though. Oh well. Jing Bow, JIP NIP NJIP JIP JIP> Bing. Oooops Sorry. Budlight Laugh in progress!

 

I have to admit that the Tundra is a nice truck. I have owned 2 of them. Both of them were Limiteds and very well built. The first thing he will notice when owning the Tundra is the rotors will have to be replaced about every 15K miles, becuase Toyota has not figured out how to make brakes to stop a 2.5 ton vehicle. He also will not be able to fit anyone of any signficance in the back seats. The back seats in the Tundra are almost as usefull as the back of the regular cab F-150. I really enjoyed the Tundra and it is well built, but it is still only about 90% the size of the F-150. Notice...I am now driving and F-150...There is nothing quite as large as this truck and nothing I would rather drive.

 

Yeah we know folks like that, they seem to post here regularly.

 

Well yes I do.

I also have friends that think the Trans Am and Camaro aren't the same vehicle. They also think the Trans AM and Firebird and WS6 aren't the same vehicle.

They say thier basis of reasoning is which car has more horsepower and racing advantages.

They also think the Eclipse is fast vehicle. They also believe that a kid at my school has V12 twin turbo mercedes engine, rwd, under the hood of his Kompressor.

They also think they know how and when to shift on maunals via education by automatics via usage of the 1234 thing on the shifter.

They also think there is such things as V4's in cars.

They also think my car has a huge *** engine (302) like those found in previous Lincolns (460, 430, etc).

They also think that FWD are real performance cars.

They think that you can only supercharge certain types of engines and vehicles, such as mustang, vette, T-bird, Camaro, but you can't supercharge an inline four found on an S-10. You can supercharge just about any vehicle and engine!

They tend to speak out of thier *** often. I just sit and laugh.

 

Just traded my 99 F150 for a 04 SCrew. I looked very closely at the New Tundra double Cab..it just wasn't as much of a truck as the Ford. I'm happy with my decision HOWEVER, I must say Ford as a company is not anything to write home about. When push comes to shove, Ford will not stand behind their vehicles without a knock down drag out and a STRONG case, REAL STRONG case can be made that a Toyota is much more reliable (mechanically) than a Ford. As soon as Toyota makes a real truck..'think I'll be there.

 

Little '04 F150 vs the Rest Story...

I work for a Ford dealer and the tests were presented by Ford for a training session.....BUT.

Ford gave us salespeople a "Tower of Power" afternoon training session, where we got to see the F150 head-to-head with the Chebby, Dodge, and Tundra.

The F150 outclassed these by a mile when working them with heavy loads, doing a bumper-to-bumper "pull off" and frame tests.

The frame tests told the best story....basically (using machines and a simple flex test) the F-150 has a frame twice as strong as Chebby, 4 times more rigid than the Dodge, and 9 times stronger than the Tundra.

Another major build quality note...the F150 has crossmembers through the frame and pickup bed carriage bolts that mount through the frame...this truck is built for the long haul baby.

If you are using you truck for light load hauling or occasional light towing...any 1/2 truck will do the trick. The F150 is the quietist of the bunch...and I guess we will wait for the mag's tests too.

If you are using this truck for any "real" work....5-6,000+ lbs trailers...stuff like that...the F150 blows everything away.

 

There is such thing as a V-4. Ford put them in Corsair, Capri, and Granada in the mid sixties to late seventies. Not too many of them found their way to the states though. You can also find a V-4 in sime older Saabs. I believe it's ford who made that one too.

 

After driving Toyotas for most of my life I bought an F150 about 2 years ago. Although I love the size and power as far as being well built it isn't even close to the same quality as a Toyota. My truck has more squeaks, rattles, and little problems at 75K than my last toy did at 175K. I don't have any specific experience with the Tundra so I suppose I am a bit undeducated here but I don't imagine toy started making lousy trucks just in time to get 'truck of the year' from Motor Trend. One note, I have never had so many problems with rotors and pads on a vehicle until I bought my F150. From searching and posting around here I am definately not alone. I don't think anyone has learned how to stop a truck this big. Overall, I am happy with my truck. It is about what I expected when I bought it. The 'squeaks and rattles' are really nothing more than a minor annoyance. There is a reason the Toyotas cost a lot more. Overall, (sorry guys) they are butter built in ways, and safer. I have friends in the auto body business and researched this before I bought my truck. The guys that put them back together say the Tundra is in a class by itself and all the research with crash test date suggests the same. In the last ten years Ford has made great strides and has really started turning out a good product. True they are superior in some areas but realize there really is no 'best' truck out there. It all depends how much you want to spend and what you need it to do.

 

Tundra = Trucklette.

 

Agreed!

 

Trucklette ^ Haaa haaaaa (bully kid from the simpsons)

 

Well, also if I'm not mistaken, doesn't the Toy use a rubber band for a timing belt. where ours and even the chevy and dodge use a chain... this was the reason I quit looking at the toy, I did like how you could add a TRD supercharger to it and keep it under warantee...

 

I have owned 8 Toyotas, all have been great cars. Two of them had rotor problems and one rust real bad.

I have owned 7 Fords, four were major lemons, broke down all the time. The last Ford I owned was 1986, had only 6,000 miles; most of which was put on by the dealer trying to fix it. After 7 months we traded for a Acura, and have not been back to Ford since.

Now I need a truck. I have studied all 5 brands real close. (Also had a 95 Silverodo Ext Cab. It was good but not real good - at least it did not break down like the four Fords).

But back to the current issue, needing a truck. So far the Ford F150 SuperCrew Lariat 4x4 LSD looks by far the best. I will be using it to pull a boat. I know the frame is the best. I have driven it a couple of times now over extreme off road, and the body and frame did not twist or flex, and it was 100% quiet. I was impressed. I know the Chev would have "bent" all over the place, and the Tundra would have been worse

I have been turned off by the Tundra DC, because of the substandard seats. Way too small, and they do not offer power on both sides, which we need for the long trips, etc.

There are a lot of things about the Ford that have me concerned. The number one issue is reliability. The Nissan may be great; but I don't wont no "ugly" truck.

Anywho,,,got a couple of months to decide, which will give me time to see what kind of problems people are having with the Ford, and then I will go from there.

Later

 

The longtime reliability issue with Fords has definatley been improved upon. Most charts show a marked improvement with their 1996 redesign. As for the off road thing..... I don't what glue these guys are on..... I have taken my F150 off road a bit and it feels like a 1978 Torino with worn shocks and bald tires compared to the 4runners I used to own.... I can't say I have driven a Tundra but I don't imagine Toyota has forgotten how to make off road trucks.