15th Jan 2007, 18:10

I don't really get what all the fuss is about here. All the new trucks are nice, and for me the only ones I would consider buying are the F-150, the Tundra, and the Ram 1500. I went with the Ford, because I liked it more. Its tough as hell if I wanted to haul loads of stuff, but it is also extremely refined. I almost went with the Ram, but it just didn't really have what I was looking for, it just didn't "click." Neither did the Tundra. Since I drove it first, of course it set the bar for the other trucks. I thought it was marvelous... untill I drove the F-150 next, and that truck just blew it out of the water. More powerful, felt more solid, the cabin was comfortable and airy, and the ride was much better. The Ram was wonderful and felt to pack a bigger punch than the others, but it just wasnt as comfortable. I just guess it depends on personal opinion. But, if I had bought a truck to do some serious work, I DEFINATELY would have bought my truck without even batting an eye at the others.

15th Jan 2007, 18:32

15:53 we always have had options to drive imports, not all domestic owners are impoverished. I have owned both at the same time including Mercedes. I switched entirely to high end domestics recently. The reason being that since 2000 the mechanical woes on our imports including Japanese overcame our desire to continue buying them. By the way there are women that work in automotive plants. One of our friends a tool engineer could buy her husband a new vehicle. I'll drive a Corvette, Silverado SS, Traiblazer SS and let you guys drive Toyotas. If Toyota makes a twin turbo Supra equivalent I may reconsider my comments. And Lexus does not handle very well.

15th Jan 2007, 19:52

Test driving is what it all about. And drive all of them... not just a Toyota. If you want fuel economy you look at what you can afford. If you want performance and are willing to pay for it that's a group of choices. You are not going to force someone making a very good living to drive a small truck if they don't want one. On the other side why talk about a bigger truck if you cannot afford to fuel, insure or even fathom buying one? There are different buying motives on here. I don't care if it's a domestic or an import... it has to appeal to me #1 on a test drive.

15th Jan 2007, 22:16

Fuel mileage isn't really any better with the 4.7 Tundras. Our friend's Tundra V-8 gets an average of only 14mpg according to him (and he's not too happy about that). Another friend's full size GMC super cab gets over 18 average with the V-8.

16th Jan 2007, 06:46

To 19:52- Actually, a test drive is not what it is all about. A test drive is important, but knowing what your trucks capabilities are is just as important. This is what us domestic owners are all responding about. You could test drive the Tundra and think, wow, what a beautiful car-like ride it has. But then try to do some work with it and quickly realize the capabilities are lacking, when compared to the big 3 offerings. So, certainly test drive them, but educate yourself on what these trucks can do for you.

16th Jan 2007, 08:54

Given the majority of these gas guzzling vehicles are used as commuter cars and/or short haul Home Depot runs, a test drive should be sufficient.

16th Jan 2007, 16:14

Yes 15:53, we domestic drivers are worried about Toyota taking over. For one, we don't like our country losing to the Japanese (that doesn't make me feel very proud), and then having to work for them and contributing to their take-over.

Second of all, (even though the domestics, I believe out-sourced way too much) we are not excited about all of the plant closings and lay-offs that are taking place. I don't find anything about that hilarious.

Worst of all, we fear that if Ford, Dodge, or GM get put out of business, we will get stuck driving the same wanna-be trucks as you guys. (Having no real options) How will the work ever get done? Now our tobacco loads, hay bails, and wood piles will have our trucks squatting to the ground like everyone else's. Then when the work becomes too much for the aluminum engines, they will over heat into giant globs of metal because aluminum has a significantly lower heat tolerance than iron. The worst part of it all is that we will have to pay more for these trucks and their parts. (Which would be out of this world, because Toyota could charge whatever price they wanted with no competition.)

Me no wanna drive a Tundra. Me want metal. Me want weight. Me wanna survive a wreck, if one ever occurs. Me want variety.

I want the net-profit of a company's vehicle sales to stay in the United States (even if they do pay Mexicans' and Canadians' wages) instead of going to another country. Those billions of dollars in profit that Nissan, Toyota, and Honda have been making are going over to a little Island in the East and flourishing their economy while sucking ours dry. Now, isn't that hilarious? I am so tickled about things such as that. Sure they're paying blue-collar American wages, but where does the rest go? Well it certainly doesn't stay here.

I don't want Tundra's to become as common and redundant as Camry's.

GM and Ford make boring cars? Yes, I suppose that those Camaro's, Corvette's, Mustang's, Monte Carlo's, GTO's, and Grand Prix's are just "blah" in comparison to those exciting and awesome Camry's and Avalon's.

Oh well, I'm not too worried. I see four times as many new Impala's and Fusion's than what I see new Camry's. Also, even though Ford had a very rough year in 06', they still managed to set a record of selling almost a million F-150's.

I guess some people have come back around to driving excitement, rather than falling asleep at the wheel due to boredom. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.....