jay_merrill
Vice Admiral
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2007
- Messages
- 5,653
Re: If a person wanted a new truck with good mpg??
The reason why all of those old compact trucks got such good mileage is because the weighed very little, had "power nothing" in them, and had very small engines.
The Chevy LUV was an Isuzu from bumper to bumper and had a 1.9 litre engine in it, which is the same motor that was in the original Troopers. When Chevy came out with the S-10, that motor was the base level 4-banger. At that time, Isuzu became free to sell its trucks in the US, under its own name/badging. If I remember correctly, the P'up had a 2.3 litre engine in it at that point.
I agree that the Japanese, Toyota in particular, built some trucks "back in the day" that were very rugged and seemed to last forever. That said, I am mostly a "Chevy Guy" and have had what I consider to be a great experience with them. I have owned two Isuzus and a Mazda, but went back to GM largely because I got tired of paying stupid prices, for parts on the Japanese trucks.
As for reliability of the GMs, I've had good luck with them. If you treat them well via regular maintenance and oil changes, they seem to last a long time. I currently have a Chevy Astro with 152,000 miles on it. It is my daily driver and it has been a great vehicle. I have done very little maintenance on it considering its age (tires, brakes, shocks, 100k "tuneup," some front end parts) and love the truck. Its a bit of a pig on gas because it has the tow package (up to 6,300 pounds), with the associated low ratio rear end, but for the amount of driving that I do, its manageable. I also had a 1985 Chevy S-10 that my father gave me when he sold his boat and no longer needed it. I drove it for awhile and ended up giving it to a young guy who worked for me. The last I heard, he has it in Atlanta and is still driving it - not bad for a nearly 24 year old truck!
To me, these vehicles just are what they are. If they are big and have all sorts of accessories on them, its pretty hard to make them fuel efficient. With the exception of a few "lemon models," they also tend to be more or less reliable in direct relationship to the level of care that they have received.
The reason why all of those old compact trucks got such good mileage is because the weighed very little, had "power nothing" in them, and had very small engines.
The Chevy LUV was an Isuzu from bumper to bumper and had a 1.9 litre engine in it, which is the same motor that was in the original Troopers. When Chevy came out with the S-10, that motor was the base level 4-banger. At that time, Isuzu became free to sell its trucks in the US, under its own name/badging. If I remember correctly, the P'up had a 2.3 litre engine in it at that point.
I agree that the Japanese, Toyota in particular, built some trucks "back in the day" that were very rugged and seemed to last forever. That said, I am mostly a "Chevy Guy" and have had what I consider to be a great experience with them. I have owned two Isuzus and a Mazda, but went back to GM largely because I got tired of paying stupid prices, for parts on the Japanese trucks.
As for reliability of the GMs, I've had good luck with them. If you treat them well via regular maintenance and oil changes, they seem to last a long time. I currently have a Chevy Astro with 152,000 miles on it. It is my daily driver and it has been a great vehicle. I have done very little maintenance on it considering its age (tires, brakes, shocks, 100k "tuneup," some front end parts) and love the truck. Its a bit of a pig on gas because it has the tow package (up to 6,300 pounds), with the associated low ratio rear end, but for the amount of driving that I do, its manageable. I also had a 1985 Chevy S-10 that my father gave me when he sold his boat and no longer needed it. I drove it for awhile and ended up giving it to a young guy who worked for me. The last I heard, he has it in Atlanta and is still driving it - not bad for a nearly 24 year old truck!
To me, these vehicles just are what they are. If they are big and have all sorts of accessories on them, its pretty hard to make them fuel efficient. With the exception of a few "lemon models," they also tend to be more or less reliable in direct relationship to the level of care that they have received.
