Anyone have an idea on what new trucks are going out the door for?

[Paddy]

Lack of tolerance notwithstanding, there's more than a few Ford F-150 Lightning, Chevy SS 454, S-10 Extreme/ZQ8, and GMC Syclone owners who would wonder about that statement.

Those are all 'specialty' vehicles designed for high speed?  Your production pickup truck is not.  It's light in the ass with a relatively high center of gravity and 'not designed for high speed' suspension, nevermind the tires.

So, yeah, you've got no business doing 90+ in a pickup truck.

But I think you already know that.

[DustinD]

I just looked up the information on the Ford Lightning. There where no significant changes to the chassis and suspension. Only mild stiffening and lowering. If one is unsafe at speed, other will only be a little different.

I think it would be more correct to say "Anybody who drives a pickup truck that can not handle speeds over 130 mph deserves whatever happens to him on the interstate." Not that I wish any harm on anyone.

If you think 90+ is a lot you do not want to know what I do on my dirtbike, snowmobile, or cars.

[Paddy]

If you think 90+ is a lot you do not want to know what I do on my dirtbike, snowmobile, or cars.

Wouldn't surprise me.  I worked in a hospital for several years.  My office was right next to the ER.  Not everyone got out alive, and some who did are still quadraplegics.

I do care what you do on the highway, though.  I don't want you coming across the line at me just because you can't control your vehicle.

OK?

[Brad Johnson]

I know that Chevy trucks have been electronically speed limited to 95-98 MPH since at least the 1996 model year, possibly before.  The notable exceptions are the performance models like the SS.

Anyone claiming to have been faster has disabled the ESL in their vehicle, is smoking something, or is full of it.

Brad

[Ryan in Maine]

If you think 90+ is a lot you do not want to know what I do on my dirtbike, snowmobile, or cars.

Sidebar: What do you do on your dirt bike, snowmobile, and cars?

[DustinD]

A bit over 100 on the honda XR 400 dirtbike on the interstate a few times. Quite a bit less off road because I can never find any big open spaces that I trust not to have pot holes.

120+ on the polaris XC 700 snowmobile. I frequently ride faster in the ditches on my sled than the cars are doing on the road. Sadly they recently (I think it was recently) made that illegal, not that I will stop.

For cars I have done about 130 in both of the cars that I have owned. If you meant normally, I do ten over the speed limit in traffic so about 80 tops unless the other cars are going faster.

I plan to break all three records by a lot in the next year.

[jefnvk]

It's light in the ass with a relatively high center of gravity and 'not designed for high speed' suspension, nevermind the tires.

Lightnings sure as heck aren't driven with BFG AT's or heavy load tires.  Truck is also dropped a few inches.  I'd imagine the 454SS and such are the same.

[Larry Ashcraft]

So, yeah, you've got no business doing 90+ in a pickup truck.

Not that I do it regularly, but I've hit 95 in my four ton, crew cab Chevy Duramax while passing semis in Kansas.

No issues, and I consider myself a pretty good driver.  I learned how to power slide about 1962, and I've been on a few racetracks (mostly autocross).  And I managed not to kill myself or anyone else when I owned a 400 horsepower, big-block 1968 Mustang (talk about light in the rear).

[mfree]

"Every GM truck I have listed above, at 97MPH just cuts power to the engine.  Why can't mine go faster!"

Because GM wants you to travel at speeds that don't make the factory tires spontaneously explode.

I still wish I had that problem As it is, 80 is quite hairy enough, thanks... it's not worth the foot to the floor, 30 second creep up from 80 to 90. 2003 Sonoma 2.2 just can't pull it.

Now, I used to have a beat-to-heck and back '69 Ford F100, manual everything, 360V8 with the three on the tree. If you shut the door hard you could watch the cab wobble around on it's mounts for a few seconds, and you could put your fist through a few of the holes in the bed sides.

Bizarrely, that thing was rock steady on the highway even at 70mph. I was NOT willing to go any faster thanks to one occurrence... I was tooling along at ~60mph on an empty highway (this was a "trip to the dump" truck after all, not a commuter) when about 500 or 600 feet ahead was my turnoff. I stepped on the brakes, then I stood on them, and I watched the turnoff go by the driver's window at about 15mph. 4 manual drums with hard linings just can NOT do the job at highway speeds, and if I was going 70-80mph it'd probably take me 1/4 mile to stop. I kept the speed down to 50 after that, slow enough to knock it down to second and let the engine help in an emergency.

[Jamisjockey]

Anybody who drives a pickup truck over 90 mph deserves whatever happens to him.

No kidding!  I love my truck, but its not for its agility and handling. 
Oh, and I think anyone that drives over 90mph deserves what happens to them.  Speeding that fast is a hazard to everyone around you.....

[RevDisk]

  Dealers are always wanting you to trade in something.

Apparently, they don't want you to know how much they are overcharging you, so they make you think they are giving you a wonderful allowance on your old wreck. 

Ever really want to tick off a dealer?   Get a vehicle delivered from the factory at dealer invoice - 3%.  They tend to get upset when you get a better price than they do.

[Tallpine]

dealer invoice

That's another thing that bothers me: what they tell you that they paid for the vehicle.  Usually they say they are only making $100 or something on the sale.   (Not that I have anything against dealers making money - they just have a lot of bargaining room)


I worked at a dealer for a while, and other employees were buying new vehicles for about 2/3 MSRP.  (I think that was supposed to be 10% over dealer cost)   

I almost bought a new pickup while I worked there, even though I had a 2 year old pickup at the time.  I could have sold my used pickup for enough to pay for the brand new one, but of course I would have had to float 2 loans for a while.   


About 5 years later, I really was looking to trade-in.  I was bargaining with a dealer in NM, for a stripped down 4x4 p/u with a 6 cyl and no radio.  They made an offer, and I told them the highest that I would go was some $400 less than that.  They said "no, we can't make any money at that" so I went back to the dealer in CO that I had worked for and just as a regular customer I bought a similar p/u only with a 350 v8, radio, guages, extra fuel tank, and undercoating for the same price (difference) that I had offerred the other dealer.   The dealer in NM was really pissed when I showed up for some minor warranty work a couple months later.

That was the last new vehicle I ever bought (1980).  I started my own business shortly after that and sold it for capital.