At this point Toyota should just issue a statement recalling every model they’ve produced in the last 5 years. Seriously, it’s getting embarrassing at this point. They are obviously doing everything they can to rebuild their now tarnished image which is a good thing. It just seems like they’re now recalling every single model in their line-up.
The most current recall is for the 2010 Tundra pick-up truck. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sights that there is a potential problem with the front propeller shaft. This can cause a crack to develop in one of the joints that may lead to the drive shaft separating and falling away from the truck, causing the vehicle to lose control. I have had this happen and I can tell you from experience this is no fun. If you have one of these trucks I would HIGHLY recommend you get it into Toyota pronto.
I don’t know if any of you remember the opening scene of the movie Smokey and the Bandit, but if you do, you’d recall a bunch of semi-trucks racing around a big dirt oval. I always knew people raced these things, but I had never actually seen them in action. This two-part video shows these bad boys going toe to toe and quite honestly, they’re out there racing for blood. Seriously, these guys are no joke when it comes to slinging these big rigs around.
Back in the days before pickups and SUVs became rolling-clubroom status symbols, manufacturers used to build simple, no frills, rugged trucks. If you needed a full sized truck, you shopped for a Ford, Chevy or Dodge, depending on your upbringing. If you needed a compact pickup, you shopped for a Toyota. Once you realized how expensive Toyota’s were, then you shopped for a Ford, Chevy, Nissan, Mitsubishi or Isuzu.
Isuzu and Mitsubishi have all but vanished from the market, and today’s offerings from the other manufacturers tend to be long on luxury and high in price. What if you want a simple, low cost truck with serious hauling capability? What if you’d prefer a diesel motor in your compact pickup? That pretty much narrows the field to none, these days.
After 28 years, the seven-millionth Ford Ranger rolled off their St. Paul assembly line last month. Ford also announced their intention to end Ranger production in 2011, with a replacement scheduled for the 2012 model year. Internet rumors say the new compact pickup will be based on a smaller version of their perennial favorite F150.
I owned a 4wd Ranger, and it was a decent little truck. Comfortable enough, powerful enough and capable enough, it was a reasonably priced alternative to Toyota’s Tundra. Got a good Ranger story? Got pics of your truck in the dirt? In honor of the Ranger’s demise, let’s see ‘em.
A Louisiana man attempted to return his Toyota Tundra to a local dealership for the recall repair. Told that parts were not yet available and that he’d have to wait, the man left the dealership and, suspiciously, experienced unintentional acceleration. Into the dealership’s showroom.
Now I’m not saying it was intentional, and neither are the local police or the Toyota dealer in question. Still the timing is, um, suspicious and would lead one to believe that anger perhaps played a role in the events. You can bet that this won’t be the last such incident.
Limousine Services have been getting more creative in the era of downsizing, but this particular company may have found a new niche, Armored Limousines. The Armored Limousine Service Inc., a company located within the Dallas Texas Metro Area, offers a service in which their clients enjoy being DIFFERENT & STYLISH with a sense of SECURITY. The “Limousine” is, in all reality, a stretched Armored Car, the type that is used to transport valuables between banks, that has been up-fitted with your typical, over-the-top party limo interior, complete with two-toned leather, neon and strobe lights, and a retractable stripped pole from the ceiling.
Ok, so this is really one big ass truck, but at least it sports a trendy color scheme. I received this video from the manufacturer, and so I thought I would share it with you. Want more? Just leave a comment.
The Toyota Prius notwithstanding, General Motors and Chevrolet squandered the leadership position in alternative-propulsion vehicles that they stated to hold with the twin introductions of the EV-1, and the Chevrolet S-10EV. What, you never heard of the S-10EV? Ahhh, come, sit, and learn how GM regained it’s swagger after two truly forgettable decades of producing mostly uninspired vehicles, and introduced a truly revolutionary car – The EV-1 – along with the companion S-10EV.
As a bittersweet farewell to one of the most tumultuous years in automotive history, RideLust presents to you a re-cap of all the biggest industry events in 2009…and a few that slipped in under editorial bias.
Rick Wagoner, Bob Nardelli, and Alan Mulally spent weeks feigning humility and destitution in three piece Brooks Brothers suits in an attempt to wrangle a billion-dollar loan from an apparently benevolent Uncle Sam. Eventually, the government acquiesced and agreed to bail out both General Motors and Chrysler so as not to interrupt their steady production of poorly built, aesthetically unappealing vehicles.
Stunt double Ben Collins outed himself as Top Gear’s infamous masked driver, The Stig, potentially blowing the sweetest gig on planet Earth. Rather than kill him off, Top Gear attempted to counter the rumors by fingering (::snicker::) legendary racer Michael Schumacher as The Stig. Gearheads in America with an Internet connection that’s too slow to cope with downloading the weekly BBC broadcast still don’t give a rat’s ass.
There was some sort of F1 scandal involving Renault intentionally throwing the Singapore Gran Prix, but we were too immersed in our rally obsession to care. Just Google it or something.
As per their plan to cut costs and pretend to pay back taxpayers, GM made the logical decision to axe one of the only remaining brands that consumers still cared about, Pontiac. Shortly after the announcement, rumors began to circulate that the late John DeLorean’s company was interested in purchasing the rights to produce the Pontiac Solstice. The idea, much like the DMC-12, was short lived.
Drawing heavily from the blatantly phallic styling of the Ambiguously Gay Duo’s car, Porsche released it’s first 4-door sedan, the Panamera.
In stark contrast to the European money pits traditionally featured, today’s FOTD is a 1991 GMC Syclone. Despite the fact that it’s probably older than your first born child and manufactured by a company not exactly renowned for its longevity (which I expect will be directly refuted by a barrage of GM forum trolls), both the Syclone and the Typhoon have left such an indelible legacy that they are granted a reprieve from my domestic scorn.
As a matter of fact, so enamored am I with arguably one of the best examples of superior engineering to ever leave Michigan, I’m even willing to overlook the ominously rebuilt title. According to the seller (and confirmed by Carfax), the truck was stolen in 2001 and recovered with damage severe enough to warrant a “salvage” branding, which still only resulted in a $2k price decrease. The slightly blurry photos paint a promising picture, though, and as long as you’re adept at maintaining a vehicle constructed almost entirely out of Bondo, this is definitely a piece worth investing in.
