What IS 'american' any more? Some of the "foreign" cars have more american content, (and are actually built IN america.....) than the so-called 'domestic' brands. The only difference being, what country the profit ends up in. Even Chrysler (including Dodge), isn't an 'american' company any more. They are owned by FCA, and Italian company......

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeyYou

What IS 'american' any more? Some of the "foreign" cars have more american content, (and are actually built IN america.....) than the so-called 'domestic' brands. The only difference being, what country the profit ends up in. Even Chrysler (including Dodge), isn't an 'american' company any more. They are owned by FCA, and Italian company......

Agreed, If you look at that list above, that I linked, the Dodge Durango, is the most American made, and its 45th on the list.

 

LOL. Calm down, young feller and take a look at my sig. I've got over 300K on this Dak and my handle is a reference to Dodge longevity. I said "back in the day" and I meant roughly 80's to early 90's. Dodge trucks have always been good products and American made cars are now stellar for the most part, with great improvements over the past few decades.

I can tell you without question that the average Toyota in the 80's was ten times more reliable than anything Chrysler was building. Cars like your LeBarons or Dodge Aries, Chrysler New Yorker, Dodge 400, Reliant, Spirit, Shadow, Horizon, etc . I can name a whole long list of Chrysler vehicles in that time period that couldn't hold a candle to your average Japanese car.... especially those based on the K car platform. It gets even worse if I move to Fords. Try comparing an 84' Ford escort to an 84' Corolla. Some GM products were decent, but for the most part, it was the Japanese cars that you could drive for hundreds of thousands of miles with basic maintenance. So no, you didn't "HAVE to get a Japanese based car to get reliability," but it was a lot more likely to be so. Today, all that has changed.

I have no hate for "Japanese" vehicles. I believe the competition they bought was a major reason "American" cars are so good today. Anyway, change marches on. My next vehicle will likely be a Tesla.

 

I have no desire for an electric car, or truck, for that matter. I do too much 'truck stuff' not to have one, and range is one of the qualifications. Not that my ever-thirsty V-10 does that good on gas, but, 3 minutes to fill it up, as opposed to having to sit for an hour charging, to get any range at all? I'll pass, thank you very much. Maybe when charging stations are more plentiful, and fast charging is the rule, not the exception... I'll consider it.

 

I have no plans of getting rid if my truck if I get an electric.

The technology is growing so fast its crazy. Lucid claims its Air sedan will go 517 mi on a single charge. Tesla is up to over 400 for Model S.
I rarely take long trips in my truck, but before covid, I was commuting about 60 miles a day in traffic in it. I wouldnt mind taking advantage of free charging at the office and driving a car that can practically drive itself, receive software updates OTA + accelerate like a supercar. Go test drive one if you haven't yet. You will see ICE vehicles as ancient tech after that. I doubt I'll buy another gas burner.

 

Oh sure, it is indeed an up and coming technology, still and all, I like the rumble of a nice V-8 under the hood. Not some soundtrack played to simulate it. I LOVED my buddies Hellcat, that thing was AWESOME. Sure the Tesla accelerates better....... but, still, no rumble. I am more into the visceral experience of driving.

 

I too, like gas engines.... esp. the ones I can work on.
But I believe we are in the same position a blacksmith was in 1910 or so. ......
We are going to be obsolete along with our cars in time.
I personally feel the time is close when it will be self driving electric cars.... (10-20 years)
And on some roads, our cars, will be as welcome as a horse and buggy is now.

 

It ain't up and coming. It's here and now. The writing is on the wall for ICE vehicle manufacturing.

https://qz.com/1341155/nine-countrie...-law-to-do-so/

Car makers are scrambling to play catch up and FCA is probably the worse positioned of all, at the moment. I like the rumble too, but soon it will sound like a steam engine huffing and puffing. It simply won't make sense. Again, go test drive one if you haven't. It will completely transform the way you think.

Soon the only thing you'll need to know is how to change brakes and with regenerative braking, even that will be few and far between. In two days Tesla is having it's battery day event which should reveal new battery technology and range increases. The innovation focus is no longer how to improve ICE, it's how to get past them.

 

well all that you mention for Chrysler were FWD. I have yet to own a FWD anything. I have a 78 Fury still, and a 80 Volare (though that one is a resto mod project right now, all apart) the only Dodge "cars" I have owned from the 80s were Diplomats. But I had a few 80s trucks and 1 3/4 ton window van. all with 318s. I don't like FWD with their sideways engines anyway, and still say that after fixing them (all brands) since the late 80s for a living. Right now for daily drivers we have a 96 Dakota a 99 Dakota and an 01 Durango. I will never "not" have a truck of some kind. there is no "car" out there today built in the past 15 years that interests me in the least except maybe a Challenger. Maybe. They absolutely RUINED the Charger when it came out with too many doors. How can a car be a "sporty car" as a 4 door? Not happenin. These days I can't even find a conventional cab pickup. from anyone. Comical looking, out of proportion, too many doors and way too little bed to a point of uselessness. I just picked up an 85 D150 with a slant 6, that will be hitting the body shop as soon as I can, and I have a spare engine in the machine shop as we speak (though the original runs fine as is) that I am going to hop up, goal is to get "stock 360 power", referring to the power that the truck would have had if it had come with a 360 "of the day" from the factory..... which was still less than 200 hp. Im not crazy about my 99 with the 3.9, eventually that one will go away in favor of the 85 for non salt season.... though I still love my 96 4wd with its 318..... that one will stay til it rots into the ground as will the Durango with its 360.

 

There is a lot of interesting tech advancements for the ICE engines as well, variable compression being just one. And then we have the whole 'carbon neutral fuels' technology on the horizon as well. Making fuel from CO2 drawn right out of the atmosphere.

Electric cars still make up less than 2% of automobile sales here in the US. They are still simply toys for the wealthy, and up-and-comers. Tesla is kinda-sorta coming out with a 'mainstream' electric car, but, pricing is still a bit high for most folks tastes.

A lot of folks are making noise about banning ICE engines, but, so far, no one has actually done it, it's is scheduled for some nebulous 'future'. I am somewhat skeptical that it will actually happen. Those that are talking about it 'soon', (2025, or so) are dramatically underestimating how long it is going to take to build the infrastructure required to go to only electric vehicles. And talk to any long-haul trucker...... They don't see their diesel engines being replaced by electrics any time soon......