Differences between driving in the seventies and today

You can keep the new stuff-No way am I paying $800 for an ISX injector- Or 1600 for an EGR Cooler

Yeah,The old motors were around 300-400 hp, But I'll take it.

Oh,Your 4 mpg was out of a KTA 600 or V-8 Cat/Detroit....

I Owned and Ran a 3406B, Averaged 5.5 mpg In a Cabover-Got 800k out of her be4fore I rolled in bearings- Cost? $250........ My truck Now has a C-12 @ 435 hp averaging 6.3 on my annual Ifta......SO WHAT,I lose fuel economy- I Dont really care, What I care about is Reasonable Parts/Easy access to work on,And Reliability thru the roof.

I'll Give up 7.5 mpg in a heartbeat Before I pay for that New overpriced garbage......

 

I am in the same position. My old Superliner 500 with the V8 engine would take oh... a dab of fuel here or there. No computer anything working that blacktop. Carried enough fuel to be a tanker to support and feed other equiptment through long days. Pricey? Certainly. But that was passed to customers on big jobs. When I filled it with 600 gallons for a 17 hour workday past sunset once or twice I know we are doing some good work then.

Mileage? 40 years between 4 something and 7 something. Pah!!! I laugh at it.

 

The Equipment was not as comfortable, or as powerful. But the quality of the Drivers was far better.

 

I dont get people saying these new trucks have all this power i drove a friends x15 605/2050, my old Frankensteind 425 will walk all over that turd and get close to the same mpg

 

Back then no flip flops or track suits.

 

Nobody is denying that newer trucks are more fuel efficient and comfortable than older trucks. But new trucks and all automobiles today are designed and manufactured with a planned obsolescence, or designed to fail. It's the same thing Apple does to all of the phone users making the old phones slow down and stop working after 2-4 years which forces you to buy a new one.

There is no doubt that most modern electronic devices have a very limited shelf life of 10-15 years under normal conditions, and a lot of it doesn't last half that long under the extreme condition of being in a vehicle. With all of the electronics and plastics used in modern trucks and cars being exposed to extreme heat/cold and being beaten to death by poor roads, some vehicles can be considered a total loss and junked from mechanical problems instead of being involved in an accident. New cars with all of the bells and whistles when involved in a car accident are getting to the point where a body shop can't fix them. There are so many sensors for various things like collision avoidance, that your average body shop can't calibrate them, so that just leaves the dealerships, which as we all know charge a lot more.

My Dad owned a 2013 high end Mercedes until last year with less than 15,000 miles on it. It started running rough and was out of factory warranty. He took it to the Mercedes dealer and they stated it was a timing chain issue and would cost over $20,000 to fix. I found a place for him with a factory trained Mercedes mechanic that fixed the problem for $1,800, and he promptly sold the car afterward. All trucks and cars have now gotten to this point and we're all expected to just pay it.

 

Thats why I hang on to my old tahoe. I just have to feed it additives now and then like i did today to run her out and get the carbon out.

All this talk about obsolete planning makes me hold on to it more. Its all steel. A few battle dents but Im past that.

 

We have a 12 truck location. Right now three are broke down......two came
in on the tow truck.....the other limped in bob tail.

One has had the service truck come out, hook up his laptop......than it
went to the shop for a week......got it back this morning, made one trip and it
has the same problem it had before. This truck has approx. 60,000 miles on it...…
this is the third go around for this truck.

These new trucks are quieter and do ride better.....when they aren't broke down.

 

Mercedes have had timing chain tensioner issues since the m110 engine around 1970....that has nothing to do with how new the car is...just sayin'. New cars last longer actually. My 04 suburban has 240,000 miles, 06 Cobalt has 205,000 miles....cars didn't last that long (typically speaking) in the seventies.