Jackson Jambalaya

Meanwhile the BYD Shark has overtaken the Toyota Hilux as the best selling truck in the world (outside of the USA) and Americans cant buy either of those trucks. The closest thing Americans could buy to a real truck was the GMC Canyon diesel, a rebadged Isuzu D-Max. The truck America needs right now is the $22k Mitsubishi Triton 2.5L Turbo Diesel but we aren’t allowed to have that either.

Enjoy your $65k turbo 4cyl petrol powered Silverado (made in Mexico) that will self destruct within a month of the warranty expiration.

I feel like the Unabomber felt when he was 16. They’re trying to regulate me into just staying home with zero freedom.

I miss my 74 Caprice even though people made fun of it.

At this point if China came in and sold the old regular basic cars they’d mop up.

You couldn't pay me to own a GM vehicle built in the last decade.

Virtually all automakers are making less reliable vehicles with engineering decisions that boggle the mind. Another is the trend of putting tiny engines in heavy trucks and putting turbochargers on them to squeeze every ounce of power. Turbos create far more heat, friction and cylinder pressure than naturally aspirated engines and that shortens engine life - a lot. So many truck users are wondering why. The data isn't all in yet, but I'm reading about a lot of service departments seeing turbo failures and blown head gaskets from the higher pressures.

Some things are just plum stupid. Just like that engine off at red light stuff. Plum dum. Oh… dumb… my bad.

Can't be any worse than the Obama engine-cutoff at red lights feature. The guy at Dipsticks oil change always shows me the stick to be sure I know it's full before leaving. What now?

Kingfish must be at the Madison Matinee. It's 3:45 and no posts are appearing.

Actually I think GM reports the oil condition/change indicator and the level.

But I agree, a solution looking for a problem. Several manufacturers have had this "Feature" for a while.

This is why I only buy Japanese cars. American made cars are of poor quality

Don’t buy anything made by gm! Buy Toyota trucks

I'm buying me a Tesla Model Y. I'm 78 years old, need cataract surgery, my mind no long reacts quickly & tired of paying $4.07 for regular gas. I'll put it in Full Self‑Driving (FSD) Mode and continue on my marry way.

My stepson's former 2015 BMW 535 didn't have a dipstick either, just a "sensor" that allegedly would indicate a need to add oil. If we could buy Chinese cars in the US ALL cars would be cheaper, and better.

The Lexus RX350 had a six cylinder engine. Toyota used that engine for 20 years and it was great. Around 2023 or so it switched to a turbo 4 cylinder. The Lexus owners on the Facebook groups and forums are making it quite known they hate the 4 and want the 6 back.

I own one new Honda, everything else is 1999 or older. Even brought my Hilux Surf RHD back from overseas.

GM free since '83.

Interesting trivia tidbit: decades ago when Datsun imports appeared about to take over the American market, trade negotiators told the Japanese they'd like something besides "Datsun" all over the roads. And so the Japanese readily complied and put their corporate name on the cars: Nissan.

Which means "Japanese-made product."

How many Toyota trucks do you see pulling anything that weighs over 5000 pounds? 90% of trucks on the road are used to pull something either some of the time or all of the time.

Honda makes a nice truck - comparable to the Tonka.

Lexus RX350 and Toyota Highlander had the V6 but changed to turbo 4 cylinder. I own a 2018 Highlander that I plan on driving for 250,000 miles. My reliability has been based off v6. I can currently buy a 2022 with 30,000 miles. But believe that was last year of v6.

I seriously doubt any posters on this thread have used a dipstick in the last ten years.

Based on the price and crap that is loaded on the new vehicles now, You’re better off to buy a 15 year old car and replace or repair whatever parts are broken. Pricing has gotten ridiculous.

Ever heard of CAFE standards. Brought to you by our outstanding federal representatives. I own a 12 year old vehicle with a small v-8. It gets 20 mpg average. I looked at a 4cyl turbocharged hyundai and the sticker advertised 22mpg. They are tying to cut weight. A gallon of fuel can be converted to btu's. It takes a certain amount of btu's to push a car down the road so weight and air resistance will determine mpg. Federal regulations are driving the insanity. I don't want a big screen tv on my dashboard either.

2:15pm
Yes I would pay to drive a new car with manual crank windows and simpler controls with less plastic and thicker sheet metal, stick shift 6 cylinder. Prefer it not be Chinese, however.

Wish we had free markets so we could purchase BYD here. American made cars are crap. No innovation just more enshitification of everything in an attempt to drive shareholder value. Honda or Toyota is the way to go if buying a car in the states.

Blue collar dudes making 70k driving 90k pickups - peak stupid but dumbassery seems to be the way of the game today.

When I bought my 1st car, a 1957 Chevy For $325 it was 13 yrs old. No way I can afford a 13 yr old car now...

I watch some channels on Youtube and TT such as Royal Auto Service. Watching them get into the nuts and bolts of how the CAFE standards have screwed up engines is quite educational.

@3:38 AM daid
How many Toyota trucks do you see pulling anything that weighs over 5000 pounds?

How many Toyota, Nissan, or Mitsubishi diesel trucks can Americans buy?

The best vehicles made by Toyota are the Land Cruiser, Land Cruiser Prado, Hilux, and Fortuner and they aren’t available to Americans. Same for the Nissan Patrol, Navara, and Terra. Not for sale in the USA. We just get the bloated soccer mom vehicles.

I recommend two channels. Both are twenty somethings who fix up old cars.

Simon Fordman is based in Minnesota and fixes up rusty old American classics. Simon’s channel is devoid of dialog and you must turn on captions for his commentary.

Next is “Haters Garage” who is southern car nerd who fixes up atuff he dinds on marketplace and also Japanese stuff like AE86 and RX7s.

Bonus is “low buck garage” if you can handle his lisp. He’s a 40 something millennial.

Watching any of these channels will inspire you to get to work on YOUR project car!

You could always move to China and buy two or three of them. Most of the people that buy those trucks don’t keep them long term. If you have the money, buy what you want. There are plenty of American vehicles that are decent to buy. We only hear about the ones that are bad. I have driven Ford and Chevy most of my life and never had any issues out of them. But,I am a mechanic, by trade, so it could be the maintenance I keep up on them.

I doubt it, people want vehicles that run on computers. Some people can’t think without their phones, why would they want a car without massive screens and technology?

How many here ever drove a German old model VW Beetle? Great little cars, especially on ice and snow. So dependable, even girls and hippies could take care of them.

9:33: is it really a free market when China subsidizes the hell out of them? Allow them over here but stick them with a tariff to equal the playing field. Those cars are starting to clean up in Britain because they are so much cheaper.

2914 Silverado 315,000 miles. Never burned a drop of oil. Check level when I feel like it. Change oil every 4,000 miles. Have no idea how many sets of tires I have gone through. Probably 8 sets. Engine runs as well as the day I bought it, Never changed the serpentine belt. One set of sparkplugs installed at 100,000 miles. My mechanic gave them to me when I picked it up after tuneup and said. "Keep these and we will put them back in when you have it tuned up next time. we joke about it maybe every 40-50,000 miles when he puts new tires on it. I ask about the replacing the serpentine belt and he looks and says, "nope". AC still works great.

Kingfish, I have learned so much from Royal Auto on YT. I am anything but a mechanic, but it has made me a better consumer of auto repair. Great channel. As for me, we are retired, and we drive a 2014 Chrysler Town and Country (grandkids) and a 2009 Mercury Mariner. I love my old cars, or as my wife calls them PFCs.....Paid For Cars.

Can I buy the BYD truck in Canada and drive it in Mississippi? Asking for a friend.

After reading this, I asked my husband about car manufacturers no longer using dipsticks since I am clueless on this. I think everyone is getting their panties in a wad for no reason. How many times do you actually check your oil with a dipstick when you get your oil changed regularly? People bitch for no reason.

Just thinking out loud, but I wonder if this didn't have as one point in the automakers' "for" column that it would dissuade at least some casual DIY'ers to take it to a shop, and hopefully a dealership, to get the oil changed. It might also give the dealerships a talking point for those of "limited automotive knowledge:" "This is a very technical closed system and only your dealership has the factory gizmos to do the job right..."

It’s actually the opposite. Diagnostics has never been easier since the entire planet collectively adopted GM’s ODBII standard. Code readers can now run on a smartphone. The problem is components are made to the lowest imaginable standards in China now. Even Genuine GM parts are made in GM’s China plants.

@10:19
Yes! You can buy them in Canada and Mexico. Plenty of other vehicles you can buy there that you cant get in America as well, like the Suzuki Jimny, (aka Samurai) Toyota GR-S Yaris (WRC champion rally car) and the Toyota Land Cruiser FJ. (new FJ Cruiser)

8:33, replying to 9:08 - You are looking at from the standpoint of someone who has some knowledge of the tech and an interest in knowing anything at all about it. From the standpoint of many people who are neither, but were OK with checking a dipstick, they aren't going to order a scanner, DL/buy an app, etc., etc. For the casual DIYer who would turn a oilpan bolt, change a filter (now often a "top load" cartridge), add 5-6 quarts of oil, and check the dipstick, it might - might, not will - be a dissuasion. I am not suggesting it was the major or only factor, just another check in the makers' "plus" column. To be fair, I can think of a few positives. Among them, no chance of anything going down the dipstick pipe, some minor degree of condensation reduction, less complexity in assembly, etc. My guess is that it was yet another thing that honestly looked good to engineers who weren't really mechanics or even "gearheads" and there was no real pushback, so it gets implemented on whatever makers are choosing to implement it. I'm a "hobbyist" wrench-turner who does various things on our vehicles and I'd never heard of it. But I have no direct reason (yet) to have heard of it because nothing we currently own is affected.

We've driven a couple BMW's and a VW over the last 12 years. None of them had dipsticks and the sensors worked fine. Now the cars tell the dealer when the oil needs changing - probably wouldn't drive them much past 100K anymore though...

Americans dont want reliable, fuel efficient cars anymore. Mitsubishi withdrew the Mirage for the North America market due to poor sales. It would easily last 300,000 miles with regular oil changes and got 40+ MPG. Yes, it was a slow 3 cylinder and people would make jokes. That is, until Trumps Iran blunder pushes gas proces to $6 a gallon and then you get the last laugh!

Every large truck built the last 6 years have failing electronics that aren't covered by warranty after 28 thousand miles. That is every maker except the Honda .......and it isn't actually full sized. My 1998 F 150 STILL works.

If you buy new American car you only have yourself to blame. Buy a small Toyota or Lexus hybrid and never worry again. I put 40k a year on my RAV4 Hybrid. I'm at 130k and they tell me my brakes are still good. They tell me to be a little harder on the breaks every so often so the rotors don't rust up. Evidently the electric motors suck up more braking power than I thought.

But, not all hybrid's are created equal. The JEEP hybrid is a joke. Honda seems to be catching up, but they all have different design and different goals. MPG vs power, etc. Go watch some YouTube videos on the Toyota hybrid synergy drive system and why it's so refined. No alternator. No starter. No transmission. All wheel drive with no center driveshaft. Electric motor torque. Never has to be plugged in. 45 MPG. 236 combined horsepower.

No belted CVT! It's uses a planetary gear set power split device that never needs service and has a life expectancy of 500k miles. It's sandwiched between the gas engine and one electric motor that also serves as the starter. It's very elegant. Funnily enough Ford developed a similar system (which was later refined for the Maverick) around the same time as Toyota. When they each found out they had basically made the same thing. The two companies entered into a technology licensing patent swap and avoided lawsuits with each other. Their designs have diverged since then.

There's a reason Toyota is offering hybrid only on some models now. It's just a better car for the moment for most people.

Toyota's truck hybrid system (i-FORCE MAX) is a different animal I cannot speak on but I believe the focus is less on MPG and more on torque, similar to EcoBoost Hybrid.