Robert Hall

^sounds like you have many real world use cases where a full size truck with a 6.5 ft bed is worthwhile. An appropriate tool for certain tasks.

Reality is complex. On the subject of DIY and hauling stuff from Home Depot, last week one evening I hauled home from Home Depot a 1 gallon potted shrubbery, 2 5 pound bags of potting mix, 1 40 lb bag of top soil, 1 40 lb bag of mulch, 4 blocks, and 16 small fall flowers to plant in a flower bed. The crazy part? Not in my Jeep, but in my sister’s Chevy Trax. Should have taken a photo.

The Rivian is a luxury off-roader, nothing about the product or marketing says it's a work truck. It hasn't been advertised as a work truck. That's your imagination running wild if you think it is. One trim of the Ford Lightning seems to be marketed as such, though.

Re: the IROC-Z— Gen Xers with money now able to get the car they wanted in high school. I get it. Or it could be a Baby Boomer wanting a car like they had in their 20s or 30s.

They sold maybe 1000 of those? It was interesting, but a flop.

80s GM transverse engine FWD models are best forgotten. A bunch of boring look alike appliances. Same with the Chrysler K cars and Ford FWD of that era. (The Taurus SHO was interesting, though). I would always take RWD over FWD, that’s just my preference. As far as Audi using race wins to advertise their Quattro models, that’s nothing new. All automakers have used motorsports victories in advertising. Ford has done it. GM has done it.

There are many things.

I wonder how fast my diesel Escort was. It did get 55mpg Highway, though.

Good. My frame of context for late model trucks I’ve driven were hard despair gray plastic inside (2010-ish F150 and 2015ish Chevy Express UHaul van).

One thing to keep in mind, is enthusiast magazines target a specific demographic. There was a group of Americans that loved tiny European sports cars in the 50s-60s. They often were into road racing and raced their cars on weekends.. They read Road & Track. There were the 0-60 drag racing and wrenching crowd that favored big engined Detroit cars..maybe they read Hot Rod. There were the customizers and hot rod crowd that was a big subculture in the 50s-60s. And Motor Trend and other magazines tried to cover a vast range of mainstream consumers. Lots of different sub niches. The American car scene wasn't monolithic then nor is it today.

It's a good idea that GM is going with a more upscale interior for the higher priced trucks, I know if I were shopping a $50-75k pickup I wouldn't want the same Rubbermaid interior as a $25k work truck..something costing 2-3 times as much needs an appropriate interior for it's price point.

Consider the context, though..that was Road & Track...Road & Track writers favored sports cars, which then were small European cars that were underpowered compared to the massive US cars of the era. Triumphs, MGs, Porsche 356s, Austin Healeys, etc were the kinds of cars their writers favored, and sports cars of that era weren't known for being fast, but were known for handling. While at the time American cars were massive and known for V8s and acceleration but not for handling.

I liked the Magnum, wish they had done a 2nd Gen with ‘11+ Charger front and interior. I remember looking at the WK ‘05 Grand Cherokee and thinking they had cheapened the interior compared to my ‘00 WJ. I didn’t like the design or the interior materials of the WK.

the late 00s were a low point for Chrysler interiors...they were dreadful across the board...cheap, hard gray plastic. It's like Daimler did everything to the lowest possible cost as far as interiors.

Bolt still looks like a potato. Leaf is about as bad. Kona isn’t bad, the Mini familiar.

Another beach day, saw a very clean dark blue late 80s IROC-Z rolling w/ the T-Tops off, and a clean maroon mid 80s Cutlass Supreme.

Today at Breakwater Beach at Geneva State Park. I love September at the beach. Warm and sunny, no crowds. Mello listening to the surf.

'greasy and sweaty'...interesting description. I assume the recent trucks have been better than the old Fisher Price despair gray $1 plastic interiors that they put in everything from the Cavalier to Corvette, though.

Heh-heh. I meant Laramie when I said Lariat. These trucks have so many trim levels it gets confusing. But lots of choice is a good thing. Same with some SUVs.

I think the ZR2 is targeting the Raptor and TRX, as a performance off-roader, though less over the top. Not sure how the High Country compares to the Denali, Platinum and Limited. Interesting, Ford has a Limited above the Platinum, and Ram has a Limited and Limited Long Horn. I think the Big Horn is a lower level, below Lariat? Hard to tell from the Ram site which doesn't have seem to list the trims from lowest to highest.

BTW--the new trim level in the Silverado for 2022 is the ZR2, not XR2. Its described as an 'extreme off-road capable' model, similar to the Colorado ZR2. https://jalopnik.com/the-2022-chevy-silverado-zr2-wants-to-be-the-most-truck-1847647549

The '22 Silverado interior update looks quite good. Slight front end tweak also w/ new grille and big badge for some trims.

That reminded me..I saw a blue & white ID4 a few weeks ago out on Catawba Island plugged in at a McDonalds. Should have taken a pic, it was parked between the drive thru and the building.

It's in the ballpark of the fastest FWD 'ring times from a few years ago. Definitely fast. 2015 Golf GTI 7:47:19 2015 Honda Civic Type R 7:50:63 By comparison, some sports cars: Porsche 911 GT2 RS 6:43.30 Lambo Aventador SVJ 6:44:97 Mercedes AMG GT Black Series 6:44:97 The record time, for a race car is Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo : 5:19:545

Looking forward to the new Matrix movie. Watched the trailer today. Too bad they didn’t get Elon Musk to play a new Architect.