US News and World Reports Truck Reviews

[BillTex]

Came across this today;

Top Ranked Autos - Best Cars & Trucks - U.S. News Ranking and Reviews


If you're in the market for a light duty pickup, this makes for interesting reading.

Too bad they only rank 1/2 tons...

Bill

[azflycaster]

I'll admit that I am a huge Toyota fan and I love my new Tundra. I looked at the other 1/2 tons before I bought my new truck and IMO the Tundra was the best in it's class. I was a bit surprised to see it came in behind the Silverado and the GMC. When I read the reviews I still did not understand how it came in third. When I saw all the advertisements on the pages I understood.

[BillTex]

Originally Posted by azflycaster

I'll admit that I am a huge Toyota fan and I love my new Tundra. I looked at the other 1/2 tons before I bought my new truck and IMO the Tundra was the best in it's class. I was a bit surprised to see it came in behind the Silverado and the GMC. When I read the reviews I still did not understand how it came in third. When I saw all the advertisements on the pages I understood.

I don't see your point? I have the hard copy in my hands, and there are advertisments from just about every auto manufacturer (as well as many other products). I don't see a connection between Chevy and US News...look at the little trucks in the column to the left...who is ranked first there? And the rest of the web report for cars and station wagons, etc...
Am I missing something?

Bill

[azflycaster]

Originally Posted by BillTex

I don't see your point? I have the hard copy in my hands, and there are advertisments from just about every auto manufacturer (as well as many other products). I don't see a connection between Chevy and US News...look at the little trucks in the column to the left...who is ranked first there? And the rest of the web report for cars and station wagons, etc...
Am I missing something?

Bill

Bill,
All I am saying is that when you go to the site, you have 2 Chevy ads on every page. No Ford ads, no Dodge ads, no Nissan ads and no Toyota ads, just 2 Chevy ads on every page. Like I said earlier, I am a big Toyota fan and I love my Tundra. When I read the reviews, the Tundra lost the most points for being big and macho, go figure.

Everyone has their favorite truck and that is just the way it is. I am sure that anyone who owns a Dodge 1500 is not going to agree with the results...

[Jared129]

I find it interesting that they separate the Chevy and GMC into different groups. The majority of ratings such as "Motor Trend" and "Car and Driver" which I have read recently usually consider them tied and then move on to the next manufacturer.....

[wingfoot321]

Let's think about this review,

A bunch of guys (may be gals too) who write for a living, probably don't drive a truck, live in a big city, wouldn't get dirty for love nor money, who only have read someone else's review, added "hard data & analysis" (opinions) are trying to tell us what is the best truck.

This is about like someone on the "View" (Barbara Wa Wa) telling someone in the midwest that New Yorkers feel your pain when your jobs go to China.

This magazine is too hard for good toilet paper, otherwise worthless.

Incidently, I have one Toyota, one Ford, one GMC, one boat, one airstream, & one Massey Ferguson.

[BillTex]

Ranking and Rating Methodology Overview - U.S. News Rankings and Reviews

Seems to me they use the same methodology (and even the same data!) as the other auto rags.
Can't say this review holds any more, or any less, weight than any of the others.
Just thought it was interesting. Particularly for those in the market for a light duty pickup.
(Having said that, I still don't see any bias in the reviews. Take a look at the cars ranking, lots o' Japanese cars...)

We all have our reasons for buying the trucks that we do.

Bill

[RedSHED]

My Toyota experience was more consistent with this report:
Consumer Reports: Toyota Reliability Slips as Ford's Improves - MarketingVOX

Others have had very good experiences with them, however, so ... shrug.
The really funny thing is that the two vehicles that I have owned that cost the most in terms of $/mile or maintenance hours/operating hours were a Honda and a Toyota. We enjoyed them both, but were puzzled how they could have amassed the reputation they enjoy.

To my shock, and near horror, one of the better vehicles we've had was an Expedition. It had 40k miles of rental car (ab)use when we bought it. Our out of pocket for non-scheduled was minimal by the time we sold it. About 2-3 times the miles we put on the 'yota and less than half the non-scheduled maintenance.
At that point we quit listening to what other people say and decided to just get what we liked.

[BillTex]

The "perception" of quality can be a difficult mind set to change. Used to be no-one would buy "made in J---n" then they had some very successful changes to their manufacturing processes, and marketing campaigns, and the "perception" went the other way. Then US manufactures realized they were losing market share and they in turn made some significant changes to their manufacturing processes. The results, and the marketing, are just catching up now. Problem is it takes time to change the "perception of quality.” We have an entire generation raised on "made in J---n,” and most have them have never even visited a US Auto dealership. I suspect if they could get over it and go drive a US vehicle, they would be pleasantly surprised, and feel pretty good about spending some cash in the US to boot.
My experience would parallel yours; I leased one foreign truck (the only truck I ever leased. Purchasing works out better for me.) I disliked it so much; I paid a penalty to get out of the lease early.
Nothing but GM in my driveway since. Usually keep our vehicles a good 10 years, which results in ~ 150k miles or so. Sold a 97 GMC last year (I think it had ~135k on it). What a great truck. My Wife had a Chevy Z back in the 90's, most reliable vehicle we ever owned. Sold it at 10 yrs old and over 120k miles.
To each his own, but I'll do my small part for the domestic economy every chance I get. Hope we see more articles like this.
How many would buy a foreign made AirStream?

Bill

[waynemorgan]

good deal i just got one 3 weeks ago ,i traded in my 99 ford f350 (diesel,crew cab 6 speed drw) the chevy takes some getting use to again,it just has the 4.8 so i will have to get a lighter trailer now.

[Gene]

It seems to me there are a lot of trucks out there better than anything we saw while growing up or in our early years as adults. I've owned some awful cars and trucks, but they were all made before the '90's. We've owned 6 Toyotas since 1999—either SUV's or pickups—and they are very, very reliable (though the later ones aren't quite so reliable as the '99 and '00, but almost every problem has been pretty minor since then). We are used to them and happy with them, though if Toyota calls, I'd make a lot of suggestions for improvements. Toyota is also an arrogant company, just like GM was a generation ago, and maybe they will have the same fate in the next 30 years. I'm sure GMC, Chevy, and Ford make excellent trucks, at least compared to the junk that was being put out 20 or 30 years ago. We are all either biased or have personal likes and dislikes (note my strong anti-Chrysler bias, inherited from my father). I agree with most of what the US News report says about the new Tundra, including the numb steering, but it's also very responsive, I just can't feel the road very much. I'll soon learn how it tows and won't be "currently looking" anymore.