Car ownership experiences

[M70375!]

Keep in mind, those vehicles do not have to meet US government mandates thought up by someone who majored in gender studies. That means no mandates on fuel efficiency, emissions, or safety. That translates to engineering for price point and customer appeal, nothing else. They currently are having problems with their US pickup engines. That is on the US government, not the company engineers trying to meet ever harder to attain standards. Compare currently made vehicles for the US market to other comparable vehicles made for the US market.

How many Toyota 3/4 and 1 ton trucks do you see in the United States? That would be none. I’ve talked with Toyota execs and asked why they do not sell the little diesel trucks in the US. The short answer is they cannot meet the vehicle legal standards. Why no work trucks? They cannot compete with Ford and GM in that market segment.

I am bouncing around ranches most weeks for work. My current Ford F250 diesel is by far the best vehicle I have ever owned.

View attachment 709623

As for cars, I only own one car, which has an old 1965 Ford V8 big block in it. It runs pretty good.

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Sweet

 

[CBH Australia]

Toyota or nothing.

Probably the logical choice for the NT.

 

[Sabre]

Yep.. everything with Toyota these days seems to be a subscription service..

When they sold me my current Tundra they raved about the incredible Toyota App and how it does all sorts of neat stuff (all I ever found that it did of interest was remote lock/unlock and remote start the vehicle)... they didnt bother to tell me that using their app was free for the first year.. and after that there would be a monthly fee (and I didnt manage to pick that up in the small print on the contract)..

So now.. every time I fire the truck up it tries to sell me the app services that I dont want and dont pay for.. theres no way to turn off the purple screen though.. you just gotta let it try to sell you for about 10 seconds before it goes away..

They have other in car services like the vehicle has the ability to create its own wifi hotspot (for a monthly fee).. integrated streaming services.. integrated navigation services.. etc..etc.. all for a monthly fee..

I just use car play and my phone at no monthly cost to achieve the same things...

Yes sir, it is a wild greedy world we are living in. I had heard that one of the auto makers, I don't recall who at the moment, was floating the idea of selling and running ads on all their vehicle's center counsel displays. So when you would stop at a stop sign or red light, or turn on or off the car, your radio and your drive would be interrupted with a random Pepsi, Target, etc ad. They had gotten bad press about it and quickly put it on the back burner. But I am certain they are all dying to find a time and a way to institute it.

 

[Sabre]

I am starting this thread to know about what its like owning a car across the world. Especially about experiences in the bush .

And also
"Have any of you experienced car accidents ? if yes what happend ?"




I know we have all been answering, because we all like cars. But do these questions not strike others as odd?

Is this a real account, is this a kid? The questions just seem like questions a child or a scammer would ask.

I could certainly be wrong. But they are odd questions for an adult to ask on a hunting forum.

 

[bigborelover]

Yea. I am 17

And also
"Have any of you experienced car accidents ? if yes what happend ?"




I know we have all been answering, because we all like cars. But do these questions not strike others as odd?

Is this a real account, is this a kid? The questions just seem like questions a child or a scammer would ask.

I could certainly be wrong. But they are odd questions for an adult to ask on a hunting forum.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

I am on my second Suzuki Jimny, the first was the little 3-door and now the 5-door. Zero problems from either and the 3-door proved to be very bush capable.
My Series 1 Landy is reliable, but does need regular maintenance, which is fair, it is 71 years old. it is far more bush capable than my Land Cruiser 100.
Other cars I have owned:
BMW 2000, very unreliable.
BMW 7 series, disasterous.
Jaguar XJ6, fairly reliable, but hugely expensive to run.
Mercedes 200, 123 series, faultless and comfortable
Mercedes 200, 124 series, a few problems, not as nice to drive as the 123.
VW beetle, 1960, faultless.
VW Caravelle Synchro, quite bush capable, but weak shocks.
VW Caravelle 5 cylinder, lots of problems.
Toyota Land Cruiser 100, 2008, faultless, but soulless.
MGA's, various models, fun, but a nightmare to work on.
Mini 1963, disaster.
Peugeot 404 pickup, wonderful, very reliable.
Renault R10, unreliable but a breeze to work on.
Triumph Herald. Reliable and a breeze to work on.

 

[rookhawk]

I like this thread and the anecdotes I'm reading. Could I ask that when people define reliability, they describe whether they are doing rough off-road and bush use and for how much mileage, or general road use and for how many miles?

A lot of people say their cars are reliable in general but you find out they buy them new and trade them in at 50k miles. Others say things are reliable but that means they beat the hell out of them off road, but for few miles. Then others say they are reliable and it means 500,000 miles on highway.

The amazing thing about the Toyotas is they are reliable in all senses of the word rather offroad ability or long-mile longevity.

 

[wesheltonj]

I will shortly be in the market for a new truck. My current truck that I inherited is a 2014 Ram 1500 with 46k miles. I really don't know why my father purchased a 1/2 ton, 2x4 truck other then he must got a deal on it. Needless to say, it has a nice car ride and is ok on the ranch when it's dry. When its damp a 2x4 is a disaster. (I have stuck it and ripped the front bumper cover off getting it out.) The problem with 1/2 ton trucks is the cab is unibody construction and the bed is ladder. Which means you cannot install an Ranch Hand wench bumper on 1/2 tons. ARB does make a wench bumper for them, but does not have the front hitch bracket. The second problem is payload, that's 20 bags of corn at a time. That's an extra 10 bags with a 3/4 ton. When your corn feeder hold 3000 pounds that's 2 extra trips to fill them.

Of course me being cheap, I really don't want to spend a lot of money for a vehicle that's only used a few times a year. I am trying to convince my wife that I should just keep the Ram to use it as necessary and purchased a G Wagon with Bonus Deprecation this year (Thank you Donald Trump) it would pay for itself.

 

[Spacebogan]

You're 100% correct regarding the US emissions standards ruining the fun. That said, 1-2-3 year old Toyotas that feature the 6 cylinder are worth the same price as a brand new 2025 with the hybrid turbo 4cyl. Yes, the 6 cylinder has terrible MPGs, but it also is famous for going 500k miles while being treated horribly and maintained never.

In the 1980s Toyota had a 6 cylinder they tried a kill test on in Australia. They drained all the fluids from the engine and drove it to see how many minutes and miles it would last before seizing. They abandoned the experiment at over 400 miles because it would not fail. That is the engine in the early Hilux.

The early Land cruisers had the straight 6,early Hilux's a 2.0 petrol.

You wouldn't get 5km in a cruiser without oil in it.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

The early Land cruisers had the straight 6,early Hilux's a 2.0 petrol.

You wouldn't get 5km in a cruiser without oil in it.

Nice thing about those early Land Cruisers is their transmission and engine mounts bolted right up to GM 6 cylinder 235 ci. Almost everyone I knew back in those days made the swap. With some modification a 283 V8 could drop in.

 

[Spacebogan]

Nice thing about those early Land Cruisers is their transmission and engine mounts bolted right up to GM 6 cylinder 235 ci. Almost everyone I knew back in those days made the swap. With some modification a 283 V8 could drop in.

Many were converted to a small block chevy V8 too. You got more HP and less fuel consumption than the stock straight 6. The really early cruisers were three speed.

 

[Spacebogan]

Ok so my list of reliable cars that I have owned,in ascending order.

1990 Suburban 6.2 Diesel
Nissan Micra
Toyota Yaris.

I have owned doge rams,chevy tahoes,two unimogs,three series land rovers, one defender 110,a volvo,suzuki jeep etc and apart from my latest and newest Chevy pickup they have all been decent if properly maintained. My new pickup lunched the cam at 50 000 miles and now I am waiting for a new engine

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Ok so my list of reliable cars that I have owned,in ascending order.

1990 Suburban 6.2 Diesel
Nissan Micra
Toyota Yaris.

I have owned doge rams,chevy tahoes,two unimogs,three series land rovers, one defender 110,a volvo,suzuki jeep etc and apart from my latest and newest Chevy pickup they have all been decent if properly maintained. My new pickup lunched the cam at 50 000 miles and now I am waiting for a new engine

May as well have GM replace the transmission while the engine is removed. I'm told there are dozens waiting at the local dealership on warranty. One of my buddies at the trap club has been driving a rental pickup for more than six months while his new truck sits in the lineup.

 

[Killo]

I'm not an African but I've fixed many vehicles in situ while on safari. It was these experiences where I gained much appreciation for the superiority of Toyotas.

Back in the States I've spent the past several years eradicating a stable of horrible American cars that included many Jeeps, an awful Ford Expedition, and a few others. We still own a Ram Ecodiesel which required about $5000 of investment in weight loss solutions to make it reliable.

We have two Toyota FJ Cruisers, the easiest to work on, simplest Toyotas allowed to be sold in America in the modern era. The FJs share a lot of parts and technology with the Hilux and Land Cruisers of African fame.

A simple anecdote is emblematic of the entire discussion:

Three months ago I had two headlight bulbs go bad in the same week. One on a 2016 Dodge Ram, the other on a 2008 Toyota FJ Cruiser. The Ram required 4 hours of work to get the housing removed and to swap the bulb, including the use of 4 extensions and tons of swearing. I cracked the housing in the process and had to epoxy it back together. The FJ cruiser bulb was replaced while I was simultaneously pumping gas and required no tools. Total time of the project was under 2 mins without any instructions or looking at the owners manual.

2 toyotas and one lexus GX back home in Mexico, also tired of fixing American Cars…

 

[NoStepOnSnek]

Toyota Tacoma, 2022 and older you can’t go wrong. 2000s Nissan Xterras are good too

 

[Hogpatrol]

After dealing with vehicles since the mid '60s when a half-way intelligent person could work on them, the ones being built today are for buyers just above or below the mental retardation line. They have enough electronics to put a man on the moon and keep him there for months. My truck has an engine belt driven vacuum pump. I guess the vacuum from the intake manifold wasn't enough for the last fifty years to operate the power brake diaphragm. From what I observed in the auto manufacturing business, the real engineers are gone and what we have now are computer nerds and government bureaucrats designing autos and trucks with barely the life of the payment term. YMMV.

 

[Flbt]

I am starting this thread to know about what its like owning a car across the world. Especially about experiences in the bush .

If you are looking for a tough off roader
From my experience a 77-79 ford 4x4 or straight axle Toyota
Flowed by Chevy stright axle trucks

My dad would have said Isuzu pick for the late 80- to early 90s he had over 300k on 2 of them but it was hard to find parts for.
They lasted doing farm work and playing off rd in the swamps of fl and on the beach back in the day and a lot of dog hunting that is hard on trucks.

 

[Bonk]

I’ve got a 2024 Tundra with the turbo v6 as well…

I haven’t been real pleased with the tech package… it’s been back to the dealership multiple times at this point for repairs to various electronic issues ranging from cameras to the phone interface, to knobs falling off the dash for no reason…

But I have to admit that I’m super happy with the drive train… I haul A LOT of heavy stuff, routinely… everything from beds full of grass sod, to truck loads of fire wood, etc… to pulling my boat, to pulling a trailer with my side by side on it, etc… and do A LOT of highway miles (I’ve only had the truck 18 months and it’s already got 38k miles on it)…

It is smooth on the interstate, pulls with no problem at all, etc.. and while it’s a gas hog, it’s not nearly as bad as I expected…

I think the turbo v6 is likely going to end up being just as popular and just as reliable as the old beloved Toyota 5.8l v8…

I agree about the drive train. Rock solid. I also agree about the technology. I haven’t had any issues but some of the safety crap is obnoxious. Slams on the brakes if I’m driving through tall grass in a pasture. It thinks I’m going to hit something. It won’t let me move the truck with the drivers door open. That’s very inconvenient with a farm truck.

 

[mdwest]

I agree about the drive train. Rock solid. I also agree about the technology. I haven’t had any issues but some of the safety crap is obnoxious. Slams on the brakes if I’m driving through tall grass in a pasture. It thinks I’m going to hit something. It won’t let me move the truck with the drivers door open. That’s very inconvenient with a farm truck.

What’s worse is much of that crap you can’t turn off… and the few things you can, you have to go through the process of turning them off every time you start the truck..

Love the drive train…

Hate the tech package..

 

[Flbt]

I agree about the drive train. Rock solid. I also agree about the technology. I haven’t had any issues but some of the safety crap is obnoxious. Slams on the brakes if I’m driving through tall grass in a pasture. It thinks I’m going to hit something. It won’t let me move the truck with the drivers door open. That’s very inconvenient with a farm truck.

And I thought the self locking doors on the mid 90s Chevy were bad on a farm truck
Could not imagine all that crap