Vehicle poll

[int 504]

The salt they are using here has changed to far more corrosive variants than what we used years ago. The quantity and frequency of use has also escalated. Talking rural Maine but the type of salt(s) and increase in usage is everywhere it's used as far as I know.

[460]

I drive a steel body 2014 F-150 extended cab 5.0 with 58K I bought it brand new.  I use it as secondary vehicle relying heavily on my cars for salt exposure.  The truck has been oil guarded annually to keep the rust at bay.  So far it is working.

I have been involved with the Kia products in the past in comparing them to the domestics at my work.  They are very impressive in the fact they put money where the customer touches/feels.  So with that they don't have the latest powertrain tech or the most HP.

Scott

[Cattech]

19 Sorento V6 AWD, just hit 50k. So far has been trouble free and have another 50k of warranty in case I do have problems. I didn't plan to keep it this long, but since all the lots are devoid of new vehicles, it looks like I'll be in it a bit longer. With gas headed for the stars and this things 28 mpg, not complaining too much.

Yes, Hyundai/Kia have been having engine issues, from what I can tell, it's limited to certain 4 cylinders in the lower model cars. The larger vehicles made in various US plants have been fine. I can confirm 2 people I know with Kia Souls that both got engines around 90k. Kia picked up the bill in both cases.

I wanted an Eco-Boom F150 for a while. I'm not sure what I think anymore. Performance is there, but reliability has been 50/50 among guys I know who have them. One guy was going on engine #3 at 120k and he sent it down the road.

Back to the Kia, I wanted the Chevy Blazer or Ford Edge. Was looking at $50-55k for either. The Sorento was right there in performance and finish and got it for under $30. So, guess if I did have to put an engine in, I'm still money ahead.

 

[sandhiller]

3 hours ago, Lazy WP said:

I am not sure you guys that are driving the F150s fit my generic profile. 
I have compiled a list of poorest, aggressive, non caring drivers and the vehicles involved. 
A jacked up F150, is almost always going to challenge a 80000 pound semi. It’s big or little brothers won’t, but the 150 will. 
The driver of a Kia Soul must think that they are driving a Mini Cooper! But they don’t have any of the performance enhancing options and generally are looking to get munched by a big truck. 
If you come across a gal driving a say, Mercedes, BMW, or heaven forbid a Range Rover, those gals are entitled to every inch of the highway, and you better bow and get out of her way. Now if she can somehow get military or National Guard plates on said vehicle and add a handicapped parking permit to it, you are totally at their mercy. 

 

I call it the "Idiot Whisperer"

 

I have to slow down a lot less when the knuckleheads pull out in front of me and this is all they can see in there rear view...................😅

 

The "train air horns" are just for bonus sheets and giggles and helps them find that acceleration they did not know they had 😆

 

[12_Guy]

Sandhiller, she certainly looks intimidating. I always enjoyed driving my beat up, POS pickup. It looked like it had been in a few wrecks but actually it had not. Just hard farm and jobsite abuse. Anyway people would normally give me plenty of personal space. I guess they were afraid I might hit them??

And yes big horns can be a blast. 

[hardtail]

Don't know about the idiot part but the aggressive drivers up here are any Mazda, must have bought into the zoom zoom marketing 

My SIL had the puke green Soul of which you speak and loved it, they are a weird looking car, Nissan also has some 🤮 model styling but generally rate pretty dependable

I'm driving an 11 Kia Sorento as a commuter, V6 timing chain issues with the tensioner and guides, replaced once already and back again, it was peppy when new 300hp but dealer did software downdate and that took a bit off it, slowly declining to its death now, 150K and asmatically rolling along

[Mr. Plow]

My AL bodied F150 only weighs 5700#.....I'll let some other dude play chicken with your rig.........I sure won't!!!  

[mike newman]

3 hours ago, 12_Guy said:

 

And yes big horns can be a blast. 

...certainly  a bit of home spun  philosophy  there.....deep and meaningful...lovely play on words...

Mike

[Dasnake]

The only time I had an encounter with a foreign vehicle was years ago on the highway, a cutie pie pulls up beside me and catches my eye then proceeds to pull up her top and starts rubbing her braless boobs and licking her lips, I start to smile and say something, (can't remember what) and then she floors it up over a 100 and never saw her again, had stuff like that happen on the bike a few  times  you long haul guys must have a few stories.

[Troll]

6 hours ago, sandhiller said:

 

I call it the "Idiot Whisperer"

 

I have to slow down a lot less when the knuckleheads pull out in front of me and this is all they can see in there rear view...................😅

 

The "train air horns" are just for bonus sheets and giggles and helps them find that acceleration they did not know they had 😆

 

Train horns:

I had one on frame just back of the cab on my B-61 for many years. Push button and air solenoid controlled as the truck has air brakes. This wasn't a copy or imitation as I did an apprenticeship at the track shop of the Illinois Central RR when in high school. The real McCoy was given to me upon completion. You put 120psi to this thing and it would wake up the neighborhood. I mounted it on the truck frame facing the "slow lane" and made good use of it when FINALLY getting around the moron that had a mile of cars behind them as they drove 10mph slower than the limit. Funny how they always dive to the ditch side when this thing blasts it's song in solo which is loud enough to permeate most anything as it's scaring the b'geezus out of the driver.

Many driver's were quick to show me I was #1 in their book too; some with double emphasis of the point.   

[Gearclash]

I want a jen-U-wine train horn on every one of my ag tractors that goes on the road.  To blast those morons that 1) pass when the left turn signal is on 2) pass on the right hand side 3) pass when there is oncoming traffic homicidally close or up a blind hill.  Never underestimate the insanity of a soccer mom in an SUV . . . 

[mike newman]

...never trust  a General Motors   product to get you home......and never trust a Nash's    headlights , either

Mike

[TractormanMike.mb]

Where does the young man with the 800 horse power jacked up black smoke belching diesel pickup that never tows anything rank? 

[New Englander]

20 hours ago, jeeper61 said:

Southeast expressway at rush hour

Back in '70 or '71 I drove the WBZ Rush Hour Rescue on the SE Expressway during rush hour. The fact that I can now write this is a testament to my agility then. I'd stop to "rescue" a breakdown, lights flashing, distributing flares and actually having them run over as soon as I lit them. I had my wrecker hit a couple if times despite all of the lights and flares and had to run or jump for it many times. Pouring a little gasoline into a car was best done like a pit stop as they'd get you and the can if exposed for more than a minute. I wish we had battery impact wrenches back then but I got really fast with a cross wrench for Indy 500 like tire changes. Limiting the exposure time was the best way to mitigate the risk.

Rush hour is not the time to be driving a semi on the expressway!

I've been spending lots of time in LA since some business has shifted there. Surprisingly the drivers on the CA freeways are nowhere near as aggressive as the Boston drivers.  Perhaps it's simply that freeway traffic is something they've dealt with since birth. Sure, there are some idiots like everywhere and the dummies on the phone texting but more seem to be laid back or perhaps accepting of their fate.

[New Englander]

2 minutes ago, TractormanMike.mb said:

Where does the young man with the 800 horse power jacked up black smoke belching diesel pickup that never tows anything rank? 

Their mission seems to be to roll coal on every Tesla. Other than that they have no discernible purpose.

[Lazy WP]

2 hours ago, TractormanMike.mb said:

Where does the young man with the 800 horse power jacked up black smoke belching diesel pickup that never tows anything rank? 

Most of them don’t want anything to do with a big truck that actually works.   They would like to be able to mess with you like the 150 guys, but they are usually to scared to do it.