Silverado03

I just saw one of those Toyotathon commercials where they say "people will find any reason to buy a new Toyota"

Anyway it showed them destroying noty one but two Oldsmobiles. The first was either an Alero or Intrigue...I couldn't tell because I wasn't paying much attention at first, and it was buried under a snow bank where a plow ripped it in half seconds later. The2nd one was a black first gen Aurora...the stupid bitch cut down a tree and had it land on the poor car.

Toyota's coming for you fly....

GM marketing needs to step up and get back at Toyota for showing people wanting to destroy a good American car for a Jap import. It's time the gloves came off and the real fight begins. Stop worrying about hurting some poor import buyers feelings that we as True Americans still believe in American products. It even gets on my nerves when they use young American children in ads or worse yet our beautiful American Landscape. Yes we have problems in American, but as some comedian once said 1 million illegal immigrants cannot be wrong about American. And can we make American any uglier then having those new Tundras driving around.

Another in a long line of Toyota miscues.

$400 million over budget.

At the very tail end of the announced opening schedule.

Sales figures far below expectations.

Door handles that are not color matched.

Wide panel gaps supposedly attributed to "a tougher looking" truck.

Tundra Autoshow sales men that wear ridiculously small tool belts that show no signs of wear. Pee-wee Hermanish to be sure. Yeah, that's a real working truck.

An absurdly constructed disconcerting interior awash in a sea of grey and black blech.

Stamped metal suspension parts.

Still selling a V-8 with a timing belt in 2007.

A cheap-*** C-frame that only a mother could love.

A truck that can't even muster a 5-star safety rating in any trim.

Let's not forget the "tough" 5-bolt lug pattern.

And styling strongly indicative of a beached whale in heat.

All followed by engines that quickly blow apart.

Yet another sunny day to bash the Tundra.

Did we leave anything out?

Let's look at it this way. If you were a good looking camshaft and saw what they put you in would you not fall apart? Every time I see one on the road I just start laughing. My friend is a big Toyota fan having owned 3 and now a 06. He saw one at the car show last fall and told them that he would never buy another Toyota pickup, since it was so ugly. Even on his new 06 under 20,000 miles he had to have the ball joint replaced per the defect. But will Toyota replace the front tires that are now bald on the outsides due to the problem, NO!!

Lets talk about mpg. My 2003 Silverado Ext Cab 4x4 5.3L, 22.3 mpg highway at 65mph. My friends 2006 Tundra Ext Cab 4x4 with a 4.7L V8 18mpg highway.

And yes my mpg are for real, drive 33 miles one way to work and did the average over 10 days of driving.

Niiice! I hope the banner got lots of attention.

Gotta love Toyota:

I don't seem to recall any fuel economy improving advancements in their new Tundra. Or maybe they were only concerned with having the most horsepower?

Tundra 4.0L V6 2WD 17/20

Sierra 4.3L V6 2WD 17/21

Tundra 4.7L V8 2WD 15/18

Sierra 4.8L V8 2WD 16/20

Sierra 5.3L V8 2WD 16/22 (Active Fuel Management)

Tundra 5.7L V8 2WD 16/20

Sierra 6.0L V8 2WD 15/19

Tundra 4.7L V8 4WD 15/18

Sierra 4.8L V8 4WD 15/19

Sierra 5.3L V8 4WD 16/20 (Active Fuel Management)

Tundra 5.7L V8 4WD 14/18

Sierra 6.0L V8 4WD 15/19

I can't wait for the new EPA ratings. Currently the Prius is rated to 60 mpg city, which is quite impressive. How could the average consumer, who is ignorant and is accustomed to 30mpg city, not get hooked by that? Once the Prius gets its new rating, of 48mpg or so, it should level the playing field some.

So about two years ago I had a local shop replace my front axle seal. And yes I never needed the 4wd till a few months ago. So my dealer has been trying to fix it without luck. Well another trip to the dealer and this time I told them about having the local shop replace the seal. Well the tech just pulled the front axle and found that the shop did not put in the thrust washer right, it was just stuck between the shift fork and the case.

I really hate that shop and have started a claim against them with the BBB.

And my dealer was great, they worked on it for 4 hours on the first vist and only charged me $100. But another $100 today.

This bad boy was instantly noticed from the main road about 400 feet away! It looked amazing, maybe because it was overcast today, but it really is nice in real life biggrin.gif It was parked at our local GM plant in Marion IN, with alot of other new GM products (GMT 900's), Cadillacs.. etc all with Michigan license plates..

So if parked at a GM plant, then what is that ugly Dodge pickup doing in the background? If I worked at John Deere I would not go home and mow my lawn with a Toro.

Yes, that will probably be the outcome..the Camry win was pre-ordained when the '07 was first announced.

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Well anything made overseas will win. The automotive press loves to beat on American cars and trucks.

I have drove the new Silverado, it was amazing, quiet, smooth, plenty of power, great interior, fit and finish way better then my friends 06 Tundra. Heck my 03 Silverado beats his Tundra in ride, comfort, power and mpg. I found his Tundra to have more road noise and the ride a little stiff. It does have nice seats, but hey I'm pretty happy with the 03Silverado Classic with only 100,000 miles and still going strong.

I do believe that Honda's and Toyota's are the most over-rated cars and trucks in the world. I have been in plenty over the years and really they are nothing special.

So I guess we will wait and see what wins the big prize. I'm hoping Saturn and Silverado.

They can use it to do a remake of the old classic movie Harold and Maude. Remember the Jag hearse?

The interior and build quality details are the obvious differences between the 800s and 900s.  However, you really need to DRIVE the truck to appreciate the improvements GM made...particularly if you drive it back to back against another pickup.  The ride, acceleration (w/the 5.3), braking, steering, etc of the 2007 Sierra SLE crewcab were all vastly improved over the 2006 Sierra x-cab I test drove in July and my own 2000 Sierra x-cab (w/the 5.3) that I drove to the dealer in.  The backup sensors are WAY cool too!  The Z71 suspension on the one I test drove felt a lot like the Z85 on my truck...much better than the Z71 on the 2006...which I'm guessing is related to the improved frame.

Has anyone even looked at the bed???  The bed rail system is better thought out than the Nissan system as GM's bolts into the sides of the bed, not the bed floor where dirty loads like dirt and mulch will gum up the rails (even with the rubber covers on).  The deeper bed is also better thought out than the F-150 as you can still reach items in the bed by reaching over the side...Ford made the sides of the bed too high to do that.

How 'bout the improved clearance in the engine bay to reach the front of the motor for maintenance vs. the 800s?  The extra battery mount in the engine bay?  The fold-up rear seat with no latch to pull?  There's also usable floor space when the seat is folded...unlike the F-150 and the new 2007 Tundra, which has sharp metal brackets and the jack, etc using up floor space.

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When I looked under the hood the first thing I thought was wow this is as much room as my dad's old 77 GMC. Remember those days without all the extra stuff. You could set in the compartment and work on the engine.

Someone mentioned the difference in driving from a 2000 Silverado and the 900's. My first Silverado was a 2001 and then the 2003. And I was amazed how much better the 03 drove. It just felt so much tighter, like they say they are alwaying making improvements.

By the way my friend with the 06 Tundra thinks the new style is the most ugly thing he has ever seen.

Yeah.  I think the build quality and refinement, as well as fresher styling, are all finally there, but they definately didn't do much as far as improving interior space--especially in the trucks, where even the crew cabs are getting quite a lot of complaints about the rear seat.  Making sure not to make the truck too large is one thing, but with monsters like the Titan and new Tundra, a little bit more space would be nice, especially given how a lot of people use trucks anymore.

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My friend has a 06 Tundra and have been in it many times. It's not even close to the new 900's. The 900's interior makes the Tundra look like a cheap Tercel. Of course I think my 03 rides better and is more quiet then the Tundra, plus I get better mpg.

As far as the interior space, why not give the public 2 or 3 inch's in cab length. Well maybe they will make a extra. extra cab for 08.

I dream of the new 900's driving down the coast, who need some fancy German sports car when you can get a 1/2 ton with the 6.0

Okay I was at the dealer for service and I'm bored so I ask about the cool CC black Silverado 4x4 LTZ.

Next thing I'm going down the road. WOW it's an amazing pickup. Smooth, quiet, powerful, and we were getting 21mpg down the highway on 4 pistons.

It is a very different truck then the 800's. I have an 03 and I would give that thing up in a NY sec for a new one. But one thing, the sun visors suck. Even my 97 S10 had two flaps, one for the side window. And it really felt cheap, now for $46,000 I just need a better sun visor. I mean this thing had almost every option, I think all it was missing was the locking tailgate. Because the gas peddle moved, it had a sunroof, rear power sliding window, nav system. And that mean it has a touch screen for the radio also. That was very cool, just touch FM and you have FM, touch sound and you can play with treble and all that stuff.

Also I'm a photographer and use Nikon cameras, they are pretty much the best when it comes to the finish on that camera. The new interior trim is so much like the rubber on Nikon camera, kind of grippy with a nice pattern. And if it holds up like the Nikon's they will look pretty good in ten/20 years of hard work and play.

So go check one out.

Well, brought the rig into my dealer and they spent 4 hours going over things. Tranfer case is fine, front vacum actuator is working all things on the outside work as they should. They said they had the two best techs working on it. But now they think they will have to open up the front dif.

I'm thinking the private shop that did replace the front axle seal put something back in wrong and that is the problem. I mean after all they are the same shop that told me I needed to spend $4000 on a tranny. 30,000 miles later and all is fine. Plus they told me my brakes pads were ready to fall out. Well after I told them I wanted to see the old pads I got my money back. They had at least 60% left and that was at 70,000 miles. I never believe in using my brakes.

So I will save up for the big pulling the front dif cover and finding out what is wrong.

So I would guess you find tha vacum actuator around the front differental?

I really think my tranfer case is fine. I did have the problem with the switch always showing the thing was in neutral. Dealer reset or flashed it and that worked for a fe weeks. Then back to showing in neutral. So they replaced an encoder motor. Not sure, but I think that makes the tranfer case go into it's different modes.

I should have stuck with my 01 Silverado with the good old lever.

I have a 03 Silverado with Autotrac and the front axles will not engauge in auto 4x4, 4hi, or 4lo. I can hear the tranfer case shift, and it does sound much louder then my friends Silverados, so not sure if I should be able to hear it that loud. I do have 92,000 miles on this rig.

Any thoughts or know problems with this system? I did un-hook the battery and hook it back up, plus check the 4x4 fuse under the hood.

I hope it is nothing expensive.