New Tow Vehicle

Pete, the answer is they use the same trannys as all the other ski boats, they were zf45"s with walter v-drives on the back of them.
Jap cars, we'll get into a shootin match as BFN says, all i can say is im 100% red white and blue and the argument that they build hondas and toyotas here doesnt work with me, People seem to forget that Ford GM's and Chryslers are built here too, by our Brothers...fathers....uncles..

this is a point of view, unbiased and it would never ever effect a friendship or family member, cause my mom just bought a new Honda.....
When you slap 40k on a foriegn car which is now dollar for dollar of an american vehicle. Not more than 20 years ago Tiedaman square was filled with people on bicycles, Japan's means of transportation was a man up front pulling you on a cart, they had no idea what a Lexus was because they were all being exported to the worlds super power, now all of a sudden China's and Japans streets look like an L.A freeway at rush hour. what fuels those Lexus's that they now can afford and the BMW's... Gasoline, now the 550 princes in Saudi Arabia which thier equivalant to a ski boat is a 5 million dollar yacht says to eachother we no longer have one big customer who we treat like they are our family, we have people right in our backyard that need gasoline as much as our not so great friends anymore in the US, and we dont have to use tankers and all the extra costs to ship it there...and you know something gasoline is like drugs...its supply and demand and we could basically put our own price on it because after all what are they going to do?
so now the American people are paying 3 bucks a gallon average for a gallon of gas which by the end of the summer will be 3.50 a gallon, now with gas at the cost that it is it will start biting into the money we were able to stick aside into or savings for our kids future and we as Americans have a tendency to look the other way and fail to see the hidden costs of inflated fuel prices such as the food you buy everyday starts to creep up, the transmission you send me costs twice as much to ship as it did 5 years ago, your landscaper has to put a surcharge on the invoice, your appliance repairman has a surcharge, you are skipping weekends on your ski-boat cause your kid needs glasses.....you get the point and when they build them here right in our back yard and the profits stay here, the investers are in charge????   send me $500.00 once you do you are no longer in control of that $500.00 I am, and i am going to do with it what i want and when you need it back and i dont have it...who you gonna call.
sorry for the rant, but when you are in business for yourself you have a tenedncy to notice this stuff

I am just as surprised as you are Rob...thought these guys would take off on this way sooner.

john

You wear a Harley shirt and ride what...???!!!!!
Now who would get you that shirt...you know you gotta ride one to wear one.

Good thing the boat ramp is not to far away...what with you missing pistons.

john

Randy_in_Ohio wrote: When I'm going to spend 30k on a truck I'm going to buy the best quality, value, safety and "bang for the buck" I can,

I gotta agree w/ Randy.
My blood flows red, white & blue forever (and right now I've got (4) Ford & (1) Jeep), but if I was out shopping for a new rig, I'm going to compare apples to apples and go with the best value.
I will always buy "well made" USA first. However, I work too hard for my money to give it away on lesser quality just because it says USA.
To those who don't agree with that I say -
Maybe more Americans need to get off their ass and make sure that everything labled "made in USA" is premium quality. This Country is great, but no reason we can't be even greater!

I am still not jumping back into this debate, but let me say this Randy. I work for the uaw and I refuse to support the purchase of any ford made anywhere but here or canada. It can be from canada, because they are CAW. That is my way of telling Ford Motor Company I am not happy with them building cars or trucks in other countries. Notice I said nothing bad about what you chose too purchase. As you said you shopped around and looked at all the options. At this juncture in time all I can ask is that, but in the future keep an open mind about the big three. Their quality has been improved greatly, as it is the imports that are starting to slip. Just not possible to build millions of cars in one year and not have some lemons. Not making excuses for any company, just stating a fact. The import companies are starting to have those troubles now. I wish you the best of luck with your truck, as no one likes to feel like they wasted their hard earned money.

jbear wrote: Very fair and mature James. john

   Agreed.I also agree about the quality as of late seems to be getting much better.


   Mike

James, I totally respect your opinion and loyalty to your union and employer. And I agree with jbear and you are very fair and mature. I also agree that Ford and GM have improved quality as of lately. like I said, I looked at all of the trucks out there. I read countless reviews, visited forums, and test drove every one of them at least once and a couple of them more than once. I plan on keeping this truck for at least ten years, so I wanted to make sure I was making the best informed decision I could.

I decided on the Tundra because it was the best truck I could find for the money. I seriously considered the Silverado but I didn't like the way the doors were set up and there wasn't as much room in the back seat as in the Tunrda and by the time I added options like power windows it was costing as much as the Tundra would and the Tundra still had more power and towing capacity.

Maybe the fact that I had great service out of my '98 Tacoma had some effect on my decision too. I bought that truck in 2002 with 60,000 miles on it for $15,000 drove it for over five years with not one problem and sold it with 128,000 miles on it in less than a week for $9,850. I didn't even have to advertise it, just parked it at the end of my road in the evenings. The guy who bought it paid exactly what I was asking, he didn't even try to get me down in price.

I seen the new F150 while watching coverage of the Detroit auto show on TV the other night, and It looked pretty cool.

I think the above truck would look a little more appealing in a different color in my opnion. I know the intent of the color is to make it look tough, but I think a color that is a little glossier would be better. Randy you went way further then most people would have in your trucl selection. I commend you for that, and hope you get every one of those ten years you want out of that truck. That way more of your money can be spent on the boat.

87BFN owner wrote: Randy you went way further then most people would have in your truck selection.I commend you for that, and hope you get every one of those ten years you want out of that truck. That way more of your money can be spent on the boat.

I have a tendency to "over-analyze" things.

I took the boat for a "test pull" with one of the Tundra's I test drove. It was amazing, pulled it like it wasn't even back there. Better than the Chevy and much better than my old Tacoma. Too bad I didn't get to pull with mine before it got cold.
If I make it out to GL this summer I'll let you take it for a test drive James, Don't worry, we won't tell the guys at Ford.

The more I drive this truck, the more I love it, it really is fun to drive.

Rob
Nice ride. Your going to love the stow-away rear seats on road trips.
My wife has an '04 Eddie Bauer with the 5.4. It's a great pull vehicle for the BFN.
Let me know what you get for millage. My buddy has an '05 EB and gets 15.5mpg. My wife gets 13.2mpg. She's either on the gas or on the brakes, no in between.

Steve

Oh, Randy,
Congrats on your new vehicle. You're okay in the book of my parents in law... They have had Toyota's since... well their first car!

Nope Steve... Bud is even a little pricier than normal lager...

Someone said ADVERTISING here... Lots of commericals (even funny too) for Budweiser on TV...

It catches on...

That truck may seem big now Rob. Just wait till you start carrying 2 tons of baby stuff with you everytime you leave the house. Nice ride. BKH

I have been tossing around the idea of getting a new tow vehicle. Have been looking at F250 with the V8 desiel or the Chevy 2500HD with the desiel. Does anyone have one and can you tell me what kind of MPG's you are getting? I am trying to decide if going for the desiel is worth it or not.