Oh the times they are a changin. When the original F-150 Lightning and Hummer were both able to be purchased new at a dealership, they had a combined city fuel economy of about 20 MPG. The Early 00s were a strange time, but here we are now two decades removed from their original build and they are both coming back in radically different configurations. These former gas guzzlers are coming back as EVs. Cue the2022 GMC Hummerand2022 F-150 Lightningand they both look incredibly promising. The real questions are, will they have a similar joie de vivre as their gasoline predecessors, and will they be as reliable and tough as ICE pickup trucks? To figure this out we are going to examine what we know about both of these EV re-imaginations to set the stage for the first round of the EV Truck wars.
Bad Gas Travels Fast in a Small Town
Over the past week we have seen some of the dumbest things you could possibly do with gasoline. Thanks internet! Thanks to a pretty serious ransomware attack and the relative state of panic experienced by Americans as we deal with the long-term effects of a pandemic, the possibility of gasoline shortages, and the voraciousness of the media to portend nothing but doom; people are hoarding gasoline. Two big things here: gasoline doesnt have nearly as long a shelf life as those packs of Charmin that youve had since last March, and you really shouldnt transport it IN THE SAME SHOPPING BAGS that you used to bring the 3-ply home. Were not the OSHA by any stretch of the imagination: but we also know that if someone burns their car, house, or business down due to neglect or stupidity- theyre not getting that insurance payout! So we are going to go over some of the worst ideas we have seen when it comes to getting that sweet go-go-juice, as well assome of the downsides to your carfor using old gas.
Where Have all of the Pickup Trucks Gone?
If you have eyes you have undoubtedly noticed a disturbing trend on most of the car dealership lots in Rochester- a complete lack of new truck inventory. Silverados, Colorados, F-150s, 250s, 350s, and every flavor of Ram are all becoming a hotter commodity than a stack of plywood under a box of 9mm parabellum. This is a rough one for everyone. Trucks have become a mainstream family vehicle in addition to being one of the favorite tools of American commerce. With demand at an all-time high, supply has hit an all time low. Lets be clear, werestill building trucks. Unfortunately, for everyone involved, were not finishing them because of a lack of the semiconductor components that run everything from the heated seats to the infotainment and engine management systems. This problem is so pronounced that many of the 21 model year vehicles that have been produced skipped getting the engine mode that can turn the 8 cylinder into a 4 cylinder at highway speeds for better fuel economy.
Noises Your Car Probably Shouldn't Make
Short of using it in the cold dark vacuum of space, cars are going to make noise. Its a piece of metal with somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 parts moving anywhere from 5 to +220 MPH. Some of these noises are fantastic, like the burble of an off-beat V8 or Immigrant Song blaring out of the Bose sound system because the morning were writing this, we woke up to a few inches of snow in the middle of April. Not thrilled. But thats ok because it is allowing us to do some introspection about the sounds your car may make telling you to stop at Cavallaro-Neubauer Chevrolet toget it checked out.However for some of these noises, the problems can be a bit more serious and you may need to take advantage of our service loaner vehicles for a few days!
Do I Have To Service my Chevy at the Dealership I Bought it From?
Valid question, really. The short answer here is no. The longer answer here is, no, and theres a good chance that you wouldnt want to even if you had to! Lets break this down. There are a lot of Chevrolet Dealerships in the Rochester Metro that will gleefully take your money when you buy a new Chevy. However, when it comes to protecting your investment with regular maintenance, recall work, or just normal wear and tear repairs- the landscape gets a bit more chaotic. Modern cars, trucks, and SUVs have paradoxically hit a level of complexity that has made them simultaneously more and less reliable. The odds of catastrophic failure on a new vehicle are nowhere near what they were in the past, but there are more stupid little things that break. However, this has also drastically stepped up the degree of difficulty when it comes to fixing them. As a result, less people can work on their own vehicles, thus becoming more reliant on the dealership to keep their vehicles running and operating properly.
Trax or Trailblazer?
If you are looking to buy a small crossover in the first few months of 2021 you are spoiled for choice, and might in fact be completely overwhelmed by the insane levels of choice that you have. It has proven an incredibly lucrative formula for automakers, as crossovers made up just 4% of cars on the road in 2000,to a whopping 40% by 2018. So they just keep making more crossovers and now it takes a lot longer to find the right one for you. So to answer this question, we have been spending some time getting to know the Trax as well as the all new TrailBlazer to find out which is best for what type of consumers and answer the question of which compact crossover is best for you.