jackjare9455
Full Access Member
Just a post with some random thoughts I was having, and some back porch buddy discussion, since there's not a lot of new posts this week for gen 1's...
To keep up with consumer demand for trucks having more features and tech, becoming basically luxury trucks or family haulers that can go off road, with ever more demands for more power and towing capacity, it seems as though trucks have gotten away from what was in their original DNA. And I guess that is the nature of improvement... The government mandates fuel economy while choking emissions, they demand safety tests to be impeccable, while bubba want's 15,000lbs of towing capacity in his 1500, While Steve wants to be able to pull up on a location and plug all of his equipment into his truck and run his jobsite, while Debra wants to be able to fit 3 infant rear facing super travel customizable 5in1 car seats across the back with plenty of room for baby gear and have walmart bag holders built into the cab and have baby bottle warmers in every cup holder. Cindy wants airbags in the floor, Mark wants to be able to tuck 37's without modification... I would hate to be the manufacturer who has to build these machines to appease everyone. I guess I kind of understand why new trucks are having so many problems right out of the gate. Every vehicle has it's initial problems and quirks, but it has to be harder to maintain quality, these days, while trying to keep up to date and competitive.
But it still keeps me wishing that, without expanding government regulations for safety and pollution, manufactures could get back to creating a vehicle that is more bare bones and based on tried and true platforms for simplicity and reliability.
I was reading a post over in the gen3 forum's, about issues some trucks were having, and I take this quote "It happened when trying to switch from 2WD to 4WD while moving. CEL Wrench icon and Service 4x4 Soon came upon the dash, then all drive modes were no longer available via the dial, nor was I able to adjust shocks, steering, or exhaust via the steering, and none of the 4WD selection buttons would work either."
Good god, what have we built?! LOL. Those features have to be cool, but damn, do we need all of that?! lol, especially when it "explodes". Poor Bill trying to diagnose this crap in his driveway, just isn't happening anymore.
Vehicles that have sophisticated computers built in, with "network cables" for communication between a multitude of modules. Even our Gen1's cant escape this, but it's about as new of a truck as I am comfortable getting into any more. I am going to let people buy 100,000 dollar vehicles, I just can't bring myself to do it, I would much rather have overbuilt simplicity, that you just can't break. Unfortunately, it just doesn't exist anymore, and I get a little nostalgic about it...
To keep up with consumer demand for trucks having more features and tech, becoming basically luxury trucks or family haulers that can go off road, with ever more demands for more power and towing capacity, it seems as though trucks have gotten away from what was in their original DNA. And I guess that is the nature of improvement... The government mandates fuel economy while choking emissions, they demand safety tests to be impeccable, while bubba want's 15,000lbs of towing capacity in his 1500, While Steve wants to be able to pull up on a location and plug all of his equipment into his truck and run his jobsite, while Debra wants to be able to fit 3 infant rear facing super travel customizable 5in1 car seats across the back with plenty of room for baby gear and have walmart bag holders built into the cab and have baby bottle warmers in every cup holder. Cindy wants airbags in the floor, Mark wants to be able to tuck 37's without modification... I would hate to be the manufacturer who has to build these machines to appease everyone. I guess I kind of understand why new trucks are having so many problems right out of the gate. Every vehicle has it's initial problems and quirks, but it has to be harder to maintain quality, these days, while trying to keep up to date and competitive.
But it still keeps me wishing that, without expanding government regulations for safety and pollution, manufactures could get back to creating a vehicle that is more bare bones and based on tried and true platforms for simplicity and reliability.
I was reading a post over in the gen3 forum's, about issues some trucks were having, and I take this quote "It happened when trying to switch from 2WD to 4WD while moving. CEL Wrench icon and Service 4x4 Soon came upon the dash, then all drive modes were no longer available via the dial, nor was I able to adjust shocks, steering, or exhaust via the steering, and none of the 4WD selection buttons would work either."
Good god, what have we built?! LOL. Those features have to be cool, but damn, do we need all of that?! lol, especially when it "explodes". Poor Bill trying to diagnose this crap in his driveway, just isn't happening anymore.
Vehicles that have sophisticated computers built in, with "network cables" for communication between a multitude of modules. Even our Gen1's cant escape this, but it's about as new of a truck as I am comfortable getting into any more. I am going to let people buy 100,000 dollar vehicles, I just can't bring myself to do it, I would much rather have overbuilt simplicity, that you just can't break. Unfortunately, it just doesn't exist anymore, and I get a little nostalgic about it...
