A slate truck is a pickup that’s been painted white or left unpainted so people can see the metal and add their own paint or decals. It’s a popular look for car enthusiasts who want to personalize their truck.
The Gladiator is a truck that looks and drives like a Jeep Wrangler but has a bed for hauling stuff. It’s great for off‑road adventures and everyday use.
A 4xE powertrain is a future electric engine system that some car makers were planning to use in many cars. It would let those cars run on electricity instead of gasoline.
A plug‑in hybrid is a car that can run on both gasoline and electric power, and you can charge its battery from a wall outlet so it can drive short distances on electricity alone.
The Grand Cherokee is a popular SUV from Jeep that can be driven on roads or off the beaten path. Some newer versions have a small, turbo‑charged engine that still gives good power.
A small displacement engine is a compact engine that can still give good power if it has a turbocharger, making it useful for big cars or vans that need to be fuel efficient.
A 2‑liter engine is a small motor that’s good for everyday driving and saves gas. It’s not as powerful as bigger engines, but it’s enough for most people.
Mid‑sized trucks are medium‑size pickups that can haul a decent amount of stuff and pull trailers, but they’re smaller than the big trucks you see on highways.
A turbo on a 4‑cylinder engine means the car gets extra power from a small fan that pushes more air into the engine, making it feel stronger without being too big.
If a car company says there’s a recall, it means they found something wrong that could be dangerous and they’re telling owners to get it fixed for free.
Car
GM 6.2 V8
This is a big engine that powers some of GM’s sports cars. It had a problem where the part that keeps heat from escaping (the head gasket) could fail, so GM had to fix it for owners.
The 4L60 is a type of automatic gearbox that helps cars shift gears automatically. It’s been used in many GM cars and trucks for a long time and is known to last a lot of miles.
An advanced driver assistance system is a computer in the car that helps you drive by watching what’s around and giving you warnings or even steering help. It’s like having a smart assistant that keeps you safe on the road.
It’s a truck that has both a regular gasoline engine and an electric motor, and you can plug it into a charger to get extra power or drive on electricity alone for a while.
The J-2007 S-A-E standard is a rule that helps decide how well a truck can tow heavy loads in hot, sandy places. It looks at things like engine power and cooling.
It’s a way to squeeze more air into the engine using extra equipment like a turbo or supercharger, so the car can make more power from a smaller engine.
Footprint means how big the truck is from front to back and side to side. A smaller footprint can help it turn in tight spots but might feel less steady.
It means the car’s computer or engine has been tweaked so it can do more power than originally built. Think of it as giving the car a performance upgrade.
A side‑by‑side is a small off‑road vehicle where people sit next to each other, like a tiny truck. They’re used for fun or light jobs and can run on diesel.
Car
Toyota Sion hybrid
The Toyota Sion is a small family car that can also run on both gasoline and electric power, which helps it use less fuel and produce fewer pollutants.
The GR Corolla is a faster, sportier version of the regular Toyota Corolla. It has more power and better handling for people who like cars that drive well.
To refuel a hydrogen car, you go to a station that pumps compressed hydrogen gas into the vehicle’s tank, similar to filling up gasoline but with hydrogen.
Some cars can give electricity back to the house or the grid. The amount of power they can send out is measured in kilowatts, which tells you how strong that power is.
Rebel line‑ups are a group of Ram trucks that are built for off‑road adventures. They have special parts to help them go over rough ground.
Car
Ford Power Wagon
The Ford Power Wagon is a tough truck that can drive over very rough terrain. It has a strong engine and special parts to help it go where other trucks can’t.
A single cab truck has just one row of seats, so only the driver and one passenger can sit inside. It’s smaller than trucks that have a second row for more people.
LIVE
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Welcome to TFO Talking Trucks Podcast Episode 307.
And this episode is a bit of a holiday episode, because we're heading right into Thanksgiving.
Yes.
It's also producer Cole behind the camera's birthday.
Woo!
Which is exciting.
Yes.
So what we're going to be talking about in this episode is things with new trucks that
we're thankful for.
And also, I'm going to throw a caveat in there.
Also not thankful for it.
Yeah, fair enough, because there are a few.
There are a few things we're not liking at all, and a lot of things actually we are thankful
for.
But for truck technology.
Specifically.
But before we get into that topic, we're going to talk a little bit about some news, rapid
fire.
Yes, a little bit of news.
And also, this is us live on patreon.com slash TFO car, which is our only Patreon page.
So you could always, for most of these shows we do like last week, we didn't do a live
show, because we were at the ranch, and the internet there is pretty challenging to
Internet's not one of the good things about the ranch.
So it depends on the podcast a little bit.
But as much as we can, we're filming here in the studio.
We like to do these lives so that we can interact a little bit with some of our Patreon
subscribers.
Yeah.
They can ask questions.
We can try and answer them.
And thank you for your support.
Yeah.
This podcast really is because of you, listening and viewing and watching.
So thank you very much.
So a bit of news that just came out late last week.
Well last week was mostly about Los Angeles outer show.
Yeah.
I mean, that was pretty huge.
And there was plenty that was going on there, a lot to cover.
And Tommy was out there covering it for us.
He did go check out the slate truck in the pouring rain.
Yeah, that was interesting, kind of weird.
Yeah.
Event where there was kind of a dinner event and they parked a slate truck because it
was a slate event on the street side.
But it was pouring rain so they had the tent set up.
But it was not conducive to great video production.
No, because if Tommy stood more than like a foot away from the side of the truck, he was
just getting drenched.
Yes.
Which is tough.
But that's also part of what we do here is we film in all weather conditions all times
a day.
So I've certainly seen some videos of you where it looks like you're a weatherman in the
midst of a winter event.
Windstorm.
Yeah, about to get blown over.
Yes.
And we still got a film and do our stuff at the end of the world.
We try.
Yeah, always.
And including winter.
And winter's coming up.
Look at that.
There's a river.
There's a river next to the truck.
A river of water flowing past the curve.
That's crazy.
So yeah, it was very, very rainy, kind of surprising for California.
Yeah.
We try to spend a little bit more time with the slate truck, which is always interesting
because it's something that we are definitely looking forward to testing.
But there's some more news in the truck world.
Exactly.
Well, essentially, it's usually not like a pickup truck show.
It's a lot of, you know, SUVs usually get unveiled there.
Some off-roaders as well in the past.
But Jeep dropped a little bit of truck news coinciding with the show, which was a Jeep
gladiator, Willie's addition, 41.
And normally, a trim added to a truck wouldn't necessarily be huge news because it's primarily
style.
It's still penistar-powered.
Yes.
It's still the same gladiator that we know and have known for quite a while now, because
it's right.
Vehicle's been around for a long time.
But this one's kind of cool because this Willis addition of the gladiator has at least pictured
here a fabric top, which I like.
And it's also got the coolest, very military style olive drab green wheels to match the olive
drab exterior.
Oh, man.
I mean, Jeep knows how to pull it, there's strings, right?
I mean, the style and some of the features that they offer.
And also, these additions are not the highest end top of the line, Jeeps.
These are a bit more affordable in their lineup.
And that was kind of their, a little, they're sprinkling a little bit of new dust on to
the gladiator, which is like you said, hasn't changed.
It's made to be like, to your point, made to be a little bit more basic, which makes sense
for what they're styling it after.
But just because it's more basic on features doesn't mean it's lacking in looks and style,
this has that in drove.
So I think it's a 32-inch tire that comes with this wheel tire package.
And definitely the wheels, the olive drab exterior is already pretty cool.
It's got a hood with a vent in it that looks pretty beefy and a little addition to the bumper.
So all of that's neat stuff, but the wheels have got to be the highlight.
It's almost styled a little bit like a steel wheel.
It's a big, solid, very, almost monoblock, but not quite.
Very utilitarian looking wheel.
I just want to buy the wheels, Jeep, would you just sell the wheels, put them on what?
You don't have a Jeep?
You just get the wheels to look at.
My Boohanka.
That could be cool.
Well, I don't know if it's the same bolt pattern.
I may have to adapt it, but jeep back on it, or, hey.
Or body swapped the Boohanka onto a 392 Wrangler.
Even though it's front engine.
No.
That would be hard.
That would be very difficult to do.
No, no, no, very cool style.
They also dropped a little bit other news this year, since it's kind of a holiday season.
We're beginning looking into the holidays.
They also canceled the 4xE powertrain that was supposed to come, and now is not around.
And I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing.
We don't know.
We didn't get a peek behind the curtain, so to speak.
Like, what are some of the reasons for them thinking about it, and then kind of canceling
it.
But it could be good because simplification, right?
Sure.
They're simplifying it.
To some degree, I understand it, although, if they're still waiting on updating the
gladiator, which, to our knowledge, we don't have any date for a...
Not really.
No.
...a next gladiator that we're expecting.
For 2026, it stays mostly the same.
I think it would be nice if they leveraged a lot of their existing powertrains to give
you more choice to make an older platform, still be a little bit more relevant.
That's something I think they could have done that would give them a little bit of an
edge, because currently here in the US market, you can't just go out and buy a plug-in hybrid
truck.
Exactly.
There are hybrid trucks from Toyota, from Ford.
But not a plug-in hybrid at all.
Not a plug-in hybrid.
Also, there was a rumor of them stuffing a V8 into a gladiator, which was a rumor we
were really appreciating and really liking.
And exciting about...
Because when was the last time you saw a V8 in a mid-sized truck?
It's been a while.
Many years.
Decade.
It was like a 5-3 in a Colorado, was that?
Yes.
And there was an H3T as well, the Hummer.
It's been a long...
Yeah.
I don't know, actually, technically what the last mid-sized truck with a V8 on the market
was, but it's been a while.
It would...
And the gladiator is mid-sized.
It's a little on the long side, wheelbase.
But having that with a V8 would be really cool.
I would like that.
Exactly.
But once again, we don't have any confirmation of that, which is a little bit disappointing,
I guess.
But Jeep did show what a month or two ago, the new Grand Cherokee, with a new 2-liter,
very densely high-powered, very-powered dense engine.
But here's the thing.
I want to hear what you think before we move on into some of the other thankful things.
For example, a Sprinter Mercedes-Benz Sprinter comes to mind.
It's offered with a 2-liter turbo diesel.
But it's a large van, which could be quite heavy, loaded to full capacity, and having
small displacement, seemingly high-strong engines in big, heavy vehicles doesn't seem
like a super-great combination still.
What do you think about putting a small engine into a big...
And you're kind of transferring, applying that to the new 4-cylinder?
Yeah.
The new 4-cylinder is 2-litres, 324-ish horsepower in the Grand Cherokee.
And the Grand Cherokee is not a small vehicle either.
Not at all.
What do you think about that engine in the Gladiator?
Let me just ask that.
Yeah.
It's a tough call, because it's an engine that's just coming out.
So it's hard to say that it's definitively not going to work.
There's certainly a lot of 2-litres on the small side.
There's a smaller side, yeah.
There's certainly a lot of mid-sized trucks at this point in the majority that have moved
in the direction of 4-cylinder's turbos.
So it's not unprecedented.
Most of those 4-cylinders are larger displacement, 2.4, 2.7.
So yeah, I get where you're coming from, a high-strong 4-cylinder for longevity is
not necessarily the best thing.
But I think it's just too early to make a judgment call for this particular motor.
Now I did read an article that had kind of a cool idea.
They were to take that 4-cylinder that you're talking about, this new 4-cylinder that
we've seen in the Grand Cherokee.
And if they were to engineer a V8 out of that basic design, then they could have a new
generation V8 that could be very potent, really effective.
And that would not be the first time, far from the first time, that a manufacturer has
taken a 4-cylinder and used it as the basis for developing a V8.
That's...
Now you're talking.
And I know a lot of German manufacturers use 4-litre V8s, also turbocharged 4-litre V8s,
which are amazing engines from many different applications.
Yeah.
Double up on that engine that you're talking about, you said, what, 320?
Yeah, only 320.
It's turbocharged, of course, but 300.
Double that.
So what if they double that?
No, that would be at least 600 horsepower.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So I think that would be great because the 5-7 and the 6-4, Hemi's have been around for
a long time.
What if they called it the next generation, Hemi?
Yeah.
So that is not an original thought of mine.
That's from an article that I was reading from another outlet.
But I do think they brought up a good point.
It would be pretty cool.
So who knows?
Who knows what the future holds?
I would still love to...
Even if it's an old school, 6-4, Hemi, or even a 5-7.
Oh, 5-7.
Yeah.
I would love to see something like that in the Gladiator.
Keep it simple.
I mean, I think that's...
I think my theme recently, like why...
I know 6-4 exists in the 392 Wrangler, and it might be easy to put it in the Gladiator,
but I don't want it to cost 90 grand, either.
You know, keep seeing 5-7.
Yeah, keep it simpler.
Yeah, I like that idea.
One, the Wrangler Moebs that they've shown off have a V8, and they're not $100,000 like
the 392 Wrangler is.
So it could even be possible.
It would be really nice.
I would love to see it.
V8, all things we say.
V8 in a Gladiator would be so cool.
Yes.
So what are some of the...
Do you want to start with your list?
What are some of the things you're thankful for?
Sure.
So yeah, getting to the main topic of the podcast today, Andre and I had slightly different
approaches for the things we highlighted as us being thankful for.
We haven't talked about each other's lists.
No, it's going to be kind of a surprise for the most part.
There's a chance that we picked some similar things, but it sounds like since we took
kind of a different approach, maybe not, because I picked developments in the truck industry
that have happened over time, that have resulted in things we're thankful for that make trucks
better than they used to be more capable, more drivable.
That was my approach.
And I looked at the last year, this is not a year-and-review show, but I still looked
at the last year.
And I was like, what are some of the coolest trucks that have come out and also relating
to kind of like really cool stuff.
So maybe a similar approach in a way to yours?
I think it was a little more broad, maybe.
But I was focused on the last, at least 11 months.
So I was looking more recently and some events that happened this year as well.
So is your list almost like your, because each of us picked five things, is your list
almost like your top five trucks that you tested in a way?
Kind of, yes.
Yes.
And events, including events, we went to test those trucks.
So I think that'll actually be cool, because that will let us cover a broader scope of things,
you know?
All right.
So what do you got?
What's your one of the other things?
So piggybacking a little bit off of what we've just been talking about, I love the diversity
and powertrain options that you can find in trucks today, because it used to be back
in the day that you would either find a larger truck with a naturally aspirated gas V8,
or maybe a slightly smaller truck with a naturally aspirated gas V6, maybe an even smaller
truck with a naturally aspirated gas 4 cylinder.
But there wasn't a whole lot of diversity and powertrain options.
These days, like we said here in the States, there's not a good plug and hybrid option.
Some other markets there are, which is cool, and maybe still someday we'll get something
like that here on our shores.
But you can still find tons of diesel trucks, even a varying sizes, granted, were out
of mid-sized diesel trucks.
And there's some out there out of four-size, half-toned diesel.
Well, except for three-and-a-macks.
Yeah, except for GM.
So not as many diesel options as maybe a couple of years ago there was, because you used
to be able to get an eco-diesel in the Jeep.
You could get the Colorado with a smaller diesel, which were cool options.
Those trucks are still out there, so you could buy them used if you want to factor that
into things.
But there's still quite a few really good diesel truck options.
There's still some big V8s that you can get from the factory.
You can get a naturally aspirated V6.
You can get all kinds of turbo powertrains.
You can get trucks that are electric.
Soon enough, Ram's even going to have a range extended electric truck.
And a little later on, Scout is going to have a similar kind of powertrain you can buy,
which is a really, very broad scope.
So you can pick out a truck that's going to fit your specific use case with a powertrain
that's going to fit your use case.
And I think that's really cool, because that didn't used to really be a thing.
No, and I think what you're saying is duff-dailing in kind of what we did last week for the podcast,
which look at all the full-size trucks that we have for truck of the year competition.
And when we open those hoods on those trucks, we said, okay, this has this engine.
But there's a variety of engines you could put in its place as well.
And even though a couple podcasts ago, we were talking about our favorite engines that
you can buy now.
So you could check out that podcast if you want to see some of our favorites.
But I just love the fact that over time, there's become more and more options for you
if you're shopping for a truck.
What kind of powertrain do you want?
That doesn't just have to be some naturally aspirated gas engine.
You could go diesel, you could go slightly electrified, you could go turbo or full electric,
you could go turbo or you could keep it old school naturally aspirated, V8 or V6.
All those options are out there, which is really neat.
Exactly.
And I guess, let me do one that kind of falls off of your list.
I love that there's a couple more options this year, at least recently, for more efficient
engines and trucks, specifically coal.
I'm talking about, in our long-term fleet this year, we had a Maverick old-wheel drive
hybrid, which is crazy efficient.
It was.
As you started to bring up trucks that we own, I started thinking about some of the trucks
and I thought about our coyote powered F-150, our deuce and a half, single digit.
So we have some trucks on the other side of the spectrum, but to your point, our Maverick
was really good on fuel economy.
And what kind of brought this point home for me is for our testing this year, for truck
of the year full-size halftone.
We have an F-150 hybrid, which is the bigger brother to the Ford Maverick, obviously.
But coal, I recently just commuted in the F-150 hybrid, this is a 2025 model, and I sent
you an image of my trip meter.
So check out my trip computer.
So I drove about 132 miles, and it says 56.1 of those miles were on electricity.
And granted, this is not a lot of highway.
I mean, I do do some highway driving in my commute.
So you could see it's spent about four hours driving about 132 miles.
But what is it, 40% ish of my driving was electric, and this is not a plug-in hybrid.
This is just a regular hybrid in the truck, and it's saying 25.9 MPG.
Yeah, so about 26 miles per gallon in an F-150, which is a pretty large vehicle, very
large and heavy.
Definitely a sizable truck, that's a good number.
So really impressive stuff, and depends on what your priorities are, but yeah, like
you're saying, there's really a lot of awesome powertrain options out there.
Yeah, and also Zach and I recently did a trip from Detroit to here in a two-wheel drive
ram, with an hurricane, three-liter, and we got 25 MPG also.
I know it was a two-wheel drive truck, which was a little bit lighter, plus it had an
efficiency rear axle.
But nonetheless, those trucks do exist, so if you want a little bit better efficiency,
so it's kind of dovetails with what you're saying.
And I would be happy with numbers like those, talking about fuel economies, maybe not the
sexiest thing in the world, but it is definitely important, especially if you're using a truck
as part of your business that directly affects your bottom line, and even just a truck
as a daily driver, think about the fuel costs added up over years and years, stuff like
that's important.
Yes.
Can I do something that I'm not thankful for?
Sure, yeah, let's hear one.
I wasn't thankful this year for recalls.
I was not...
I think most of us can relate to this.
There's a big recall here.
But I was looking back into some of the stories we did over the last 10, 11 months, and basically
every manufacturer you can think of had some sort of significant pickup truck related recall.
I'm not talking about like bad stickers in the door.
I'm talking about engine problems, transmission problems, axle, in those serious components
where things were actually going wrong in a very big way.
Yeah.
GM's had the 6.2 V8 failures.
They've had some transmission.
Ellison branded 10 speeds in the transmission issues.
Toyota recalled more engines.
There's still dealing with the V6s.
Yeah.
Ford famously across the whole brand had well over 100 recalls.
Yes.
So, yeah, just tons of recalls in general.
Yeah.
Try and think.
Was there any big news at...
Some didn't have huge significant recalls on their recent trucks, but they were just
coming off what a couple of years ago, coming off some of the emissions, scandals there.
So...
And I know they had some growing pains with the original electrical components on some
of the hurricane engines, but it seems like they ironed out a lot of those issues recently.
Yeah.
Just...
It's been a busy year for recalls, for sure.
Yeah.
And I don't know.
So, basically, most of those recalls did not affect us personally.
You know, like we were mentioning, we do have a pretty extensive long-term fleet of
used and also new pickup trucks.
So we weren't affected personally speaking, otherwise we'd be speaking out more about this.
But just looking in general and reading some of your comments and letters and emails messages
of all kinds, where you guys are reporting problems to us.
Yeah.
And we try to do our best to put that information out there so that people are informed
if they're shopping with their own money to buy a truck.
We also buy as a company, several of these vehicles to try and test them out from all
the different brands, and definitely if we have issues with the truck, we'll make videos
about it.
We try to make videos about any big issues that are going on and being investigated
because that's important things for buyers to know.
And it's been a busy year.
There's definitely been some pretty high-profile issues.
Yeah, specifically, like this last few months, which is, okay, what's your next thing that
you're thankful for?
Also piggybacking off of the powertrain discussion.
Modern transmissions now I know, and we just brought it up.
There have been some transmission issues in specific vehicles.
Okay.
But if we take a broad look at things, think about, you remember our good buddy, Brendan?
Yes.
He's got a 2500 Chevy Suburban with an 8.1.
It's rated toe, something crazy like 12,000 pounds.
In an SUV.
In an SUV?
Yes.
Which is awesome.
So, it's a great vehicle, but it also has, if I remember right, a 4L80.
Oh, it's holding four fingers up, yes, four speed.
As mean as that 8.1 is, towing in the mountains, especially 10, 12,000 pounds, with a 4-speed
automatic.
Not great.
The spacing between those gears is probably quite far.
Yeah.
So if it's got a downshift, it's going to feel like a downshift at all the way.
I think if David was here, our friend David, Moro, was on this podcast, I think he would
probably, you think he would smack me?
I don't know if he would smack you, but he would definitely remind us that reliability
on some of the older transmissions, not all of them, obviously, not most of them, but
some of the 4L60.
4L80 was quite good.
True.
Yes.
Yeah, and there's definitely older transmissions that have proved themselves to be very strong,
and there's some more than terrible.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There was also that back in the day as well.
And there are some new transmissions that are having some issues, so you could make an
argument that transmissions aren't getting any better.
But objectively, towing with an 8-speed or a 10-speed transmission, I say it all the
time, but especially up here in the mountains, it makes a huge difference.
So that has been a monumental upgrade for trucks, especially when you're towing heavy.
Yeah.
And we've noticed this also, well, you know, our Igunlet testing, we've noticed this for
sure.
We've noticed that in something fun we do, which is drag racing, in acceleration testing,
right?
Because as soon as you give that engine a little bit more ratios, or we also do rolling
start, like a passing maneuver test, where if the engine is in the right gear, it can
explode up, you know, in its speed and really be really fun, and also quite good in accelerating.
And also, same thing on the deceleration, right, you have more gears.
You could stop yourself a little bit more effectively.
Yeah.
Because you can keep yourself in that a most effective window or range of RPM all the time,
and that makes your experience driving the vehicle, pulling a trailer, whatever it is
that you're doing much better.
So modern transmissions, especially modern automatics, have come a long way, especially
versus way back in the day, 70s, 80s, old slush boxes, three speeds, not great.
Yeah.
But what do you think?
I know why most manuals went away from trucks, from pickup trucks.
I understand it because if people are not buying them in great quantities, then it's
difficult to sell them, right, and produce them.
But I would like to see some more future options with manual transmissions.
Yeah.
I miss it a little bit.
It went away from the Cummins in 2018, I believe, and that was, when I cried that year.
We did.
We didn't know each other.
But separately.
Yes, separately we did cry.
At that point.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And was the RAM, was that the last HD, the manual?
I think so.
Yes.
I think so because I think Ford.
It's the last holdout.
It went away with those earlier GM, gosh, it was a while ago for GM, Toyota still, I
mean, the big trucks from...
Yeah.
Win away from the big trucks.
But like Tacoma still has one.
Yeah.
As an option.
And until recently, Gladiator had it.
So yeah, they are kind of going away.
It's a niche thing, especially in a diesel truck, I actually think Rowan Gears has a lot
of fun.
Those last, you know, 2017, 2018, G56, six-speed commons are a lot of fun to drive.
It makes you feel a little bit like...
They're not going to win any drag races, though, but I don't think that was the point.
No.
It was just an ability to drive, be connected to your truck.
Also, you know exactly what Gears are, you're right.
Yeah, cool.
It's a little wondering.
Every gear is in a different zip code.
That's part of the reason that it takes a while to move between them.
Yes.
It's a boost between Gears.
But it's great being able to manually select a gear.
You know you're going to stay in that gear.
It gives you a lot of control over the behavior of the truck and, especially on some of those
later diesel manual trucks, when you use the exhaust brake and you're locked into a gear,
that exhaust brake does a lot.
So I love driving in a later model G56 commons with the exhaust brake.
Fantastic.
Fantastic combo.
I think there's something like we were doing a gauntlet testing last week, right?
We saw a couple of trucks, semis, having issues on the mount and with hot brakes or losing
brakes.
We actually saw some aftermath.
We were struggling with brakes a little bit.
Yeah, we were smoking our own brakes during some of our truck of the year testing there.
But imagine if we were in manually like six speed vehicles and then those semis, I mean mostly
went to automated manuals, right?
Yeah.
But if the driver is connected, you know, involved in driving experience, those problems
I think would be more far in between, right?
Because the driver would be more engaged and just in control of that vehicle, a little
bit better.
That's my impression.
Yeah.
Some of the automated transmissions in modern semi trucks are really impressive.
I had the really cool opportunity to get to drive a western star.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I believe it was a western star.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that had a really intuitive and cool system for the transmission where if you wanted
the truck to downshift and use its exhaust brake to slow you down, you could adjust how
aggressive it was using a column mounted or a stock mounted steering column.
Yeah.
And if you dropped it down a couple of rungs, it would more aggressively downshift and
engine brake.
So that technology is all really cool stuff.
But I do like rowing gears.
Exactly.
And it seems like the newer vehicles, all of them, including semi trucks like you were saying,
have a computer that's trying to think for you more frequently, right, thinking for
the driver instead of the driver.
And when it works, it works beautifully.
Yeah.
There could be those little nuances, little cases where, you know, the computer may not
be quite on top of it as you thought.
We have a question from, or comment from Dylan Mays.
And one of our cameras is right in the middle of it.
So I can't read it from outside.
Okay.
I'll do it.
Perfect.
Although why won't that manufacturer come out with a plug and hybrid V8 truck, or at least
the regular hybrid V8 truck, not like an e-torque, Dylan, you and I are thinking on
the same page.
Remember what I said in our favorite engine podcast?
Be like a Porsche 918.
Yes.
I said that we talked about GM investing into the next generation V8 engines.
Yeah.
Remember?
And I said, why don't they use that new V8, the one where they're working on, but slap
and looked a little electric motor on the back of it, make it a hybrid.
You saw what happened.
They have 150 hybrid, right?
You have a little bit of electric coasting, recharging, power export features, efficiency,
a lot of benefits.
And the V8 noise, that'd be sweet.
I think that it would be really cool.
You would just have to figure out the marketing of it to make it appeal to people that are
looking for the maximum in performance, because it's been proven before that you can pair
a very high performance V8 with a hybrid system and get a boatload of total system output
and make a very high performing, capable vehicle.
That's been done a lot in, especially exotic cars, imported cars.
On the truck side of things, a lot of the people that are shopping around for V8s are probably
shopping around for it because it's a little bit more old school.
It's a little bit simpler.
Maybe they don't want the complexity of turbos.
Maybe they don't want the complexity of a hybrid system.
There may be some hurdles there in marketing that vehicle, but if you could market it in
a way to say, we got the V8, so we got the cool factor, and we got the hybrid.
It's the best of everything.
It might be doable.
It'd be neat.
I think I agree.
I think one way indolence comment, I don't think a plug-in hybrid would work because that
would be a hard thing to sell, like to your point, because you're introducing large battery.
You're introducing a lot of other components, maybe a larger electric motor or maybe multiple
electric motors at that point, so you're introducing a lot of components.
Those components also take away a lot, so they take away from payload, they take away
from a lot of other aspects of that truck, that pickup truck, but I think, and I keep
using Ford because what Toyota has done in their hybrid tundra in Tacomas is they combine
electric motors with their engines to make power, but not effectively make more efficiency
out of it, so that was their focus for them.
Their focus was to provide more than V8 levels of power, but I think what Ford did, they
kind of gave you more power, but also gave you efficiency, so that's what I want to
see.
I want to see both of those.
Yeah, there's definitely a way to build it and make it function really well.
It's, I think, a bigger question of getting people to accept it, because you and I have
actually talked to truck buyers who felt like even a system as mild as the E-torque system
that's on the 577, and also people hate turbos, also.
That felt like E-torque ruined the way that it drove, and it does not.
I mean, if the system is broken, it does, of course, yeah, of course it ruins it.
But the most part, it does very little.
It does very, very little.
It fills in maybe a little gap between gear changes, it, you know, it makes your auto-stop
start of the engine maybe a little bit smoother, but to make it slower, it will never do.
No, as Tommy says, in the most extreme of circumstances, having E-torque or not having
it is not a night and day difference, what Tommy would say is it's a night and late evening
difference.
Wow.
Yeah.
No, no.
Think about, like, 5 o'clock in Colorado at this time of year.
Yes.
But at that point, why even include E-torque?
You know what I'm saying?
I mean, I know it helps them, you know, with average fuel efficiency for the manufacturer.
I mean, they can eke out those small percentages, and it kind of helps them in the holistic
way.
But if it's not providing a big benefit to the consumer, to the customer, I say, don't
do it.
You know?
And I'm saying there's probably a lot of people that would agree.
Yeah.
So I think, Dylan, if that was the case, and Dylan agrees with me, I don't see any evidence
of that.
Well, because of just, but the sheer fact that he commented this, why won't they make
a hybrid V8 truck?
I think there's at least one customer, Dylan.
Yeah.
Dylan would buy it.
Well, there might need to be a few more, but I think it could be cool.
I'll buy one.
Yeah, all right.
There's two.
There's two.
There's two.
There's two.
So niche market.
Okay.
So, um, let me see.
So we hit my efficiency point.
Yes.
So I was really thankful that you and I got to go to Davis Dam.
Because that was important.
That was with Ram Heavy Duty, trucks that we did earlier this year, and it was kind of
a bucket list item.
Yeah, there is the big trailer that we were pulling.
That was kind of a bucket list item for me because David's damn grade, which is between
Nevada and Arizona, is instrumental in how many factors rate their vehicles for towing.
It's part of the J-2007 S-A-E standard.
We were not there in the hot months, well, maybe that's a good thing.
But we actually saw the route we drove it many, many times during that day or two days.
So that was a cool experience, I thought.
It was, and it was really cool to get to compare David's damn to the hike that we're obviously
so familiar with, and looking back at the video, I apparently chose to wear the tightest shirt
on my own for the event.
But you were showing off some of your stature and muscular muscles.
Right.
Well, it takes a very tight shirt to do that, but very small one.
But it is really cool to get to tow heavy trailers.
What was the heaviest trailer that Ram had set up for us there, around there?
Well, we were pulling that big tractor, right?
I think that was the heavier load.
Yeah.
The fifth wheel camping trailer, which was larger profile, but was lighter.
Yeah.
I thought this was, I think it was over 20, but I don't think it was 30.
Okay.
I wish it would have been 30, because it was, it would have been a harder test.
But you have to keep in mind a lot of journalists, because this was a journalist event as well.
Yeah.
They don't have CDLs.
You do.
I do.
Yeah.
So I would have been the only person driving, which would be cool, but I wasn't.
Yeah.
So fair enough.
So you kind of have to be mindful of some of that.
It was still a sizable trailer, which meant we got to test out these trucks under some
pretty challenging circumstances.
Again, it was hard for us not to make a lot of comparisons between Davis Dam and the
Ike.
I think the main thing as a test and as a challenge that Davis Dam has going for it is what
you brought up, temperature, cooling systems, that is number one.
The Ike is definitely more challenging in its grade because it's quite a bit steeper.
And steeper maybe for longer.
Davis Dam is actually overall a longer distance, right?
But it kind of levels out several times within that distance.
I gauntlet almost never levels out.
I mean, once you're going down or up it, you're really on the incline.
And then the other challenge with the Ike is elevation and air density.
Because by the time you get to the top, you're down how much from sea level?
So that's about a third of the oxygen.
Of the air density.
Yes.
Is gone.
Is gone.
Yes.
So it's hard to say how much oxygen is gone because I'm not a scientist, you know, an
oxygen is not, there's a lot more nitrogen in the air than oxygen.
I think people know where to scientist.
Yes.
But let's say one third of air density is gone.
Yes.
So that makes it challenging as well because.
Which potentially means a third of your power potential is gone.
Yeah.
Up depends if it's a naturally aspirated truck or not because anything that's force induction
is going to be a little bit better.
A bit better.
Yeah.
Definitely.
But there was a cool experience.
I think you loved it as well.
Oh, yeah.
It was really cool.
Just to see, and I think it was like what, 75 degrees, maybe when we were there, maybe
80, but the temperatures there can get up to above.
And I think there's some, there's some there's a number of like, it has to be at least
a hundred degrees, right?
For them to actually do the J 28 or seven SA run that's going to certify.
And they have to do maximum AC when they're pulling a trailer as well.
Yeah.
And there's several different things that must be met.
Depending on the category of truck, they have to maintain a certain minimum speed as
well.
So it's definitely a challenging test.
And because it's something that we've heard about so much, talking about tow ratings
on trucks, that was a really cool thing that Andre and I got to go check out in person,
tow trailers on it.
See it firsthand.
Yes.
What's your next item?
We can kind of piggyback off of this as well, talking about capability in modern trucks.
Something that we've discussed a little bit in the past.
I love older trucks as much as anybody, but the amount, yeah, exactly.
I've got 12 out of comments that was rated from the factory to tow about 12,000 pounds.
Oh, that's cute.
Sorry.
Watch yourself.
12,000 is enough.
It's actually a lot for me.
What's your tundra rated to tow?
8,500 pounds.
Not even over 10, Andre.
Yes, no.
Come on.
Yeah.
No, 12,000 is actually a lot for daily work.
And that's a lot.
That's all the towing capability I need.
The heaviest things I need to haul around are my broken down project cars.
There you go.
And that's under 12.
So unless I was pulling maybe several of them at the same time, which I'm not, because
I don't have a trailer big enough to do that.
Yes.
Not a bad number, but these days in an F250 or 2500, you can reasonably expect to be
closing in on 20,000 pounds of towing capability.
And then some of the most capable trucks that you could go out there, buy from the factory
like that F450 that you pulled a trailer with when we were in Michigan.
We have a video of this.
Yeah.
It was a two-wheel drive two door.
40,000 pounds.
Yeah.
Yeah, there it is.
Holy cow.
That's the right thing to say.
And you could say the same thing about payload.
You can go to the dealership and buy trucks that have an unbelievable amount of payload.
So the capability in modern trucks to do work is incredible.
And not only what they're rated to do, but how they feel doing it.
Like we discussed, the transmissions make a huge difference.
The modern brakes, modern suspension and wheel bases and tires and steering and everything
that they've added to trucks now makes them not only be able to haul more and pull more,
but they feel better doing it.
I was remembering as I'm watching this video, my thoughts started like flooding.
My memories started flooding in.
Like I remember when we just got going, I could feel the entire frame like trying to twist
right because you're applying 1,200 pounds feet of torque.
Yeah.
And through the transmission.
So much torque.
The chassis twisted.
Well, yeah.
Like you can see it on semi-truck sometimes when the semi-truck takes off from a line sometimes
Dom Toretto's charger.
Oh, yeah.
For sure.
He lives life a quarter mile at a time.
Yeah.
And you pulled this trailer much more than a quarter mile to it was something else.
To be fair about what we're saying, 40,000 pounds on this truck is a lot.
Yeah.
And I could feel it coming down this little hill.
This was at Romeo Proving Ground, that Ford set up this event at, right?
Yeah.
And you could see some of the grades.
It's hard to see on camera, but it's actually a pretty sizable incline and decline.
So this is a bit extreme.
It's more than a bit extreme.
This is very extreme.
It's very extreme.
Yes.
But the fact that you could go to a dealership and buy a truck that theoretically can pull 40,000
pounds is...
Or even 35,000.
Yeah.
Or 30,000 or 25.
All of these are massive numbers.
Those, those, that's big trailers for the average person.
I'm sure there's someone out there maybe Dana can send a listen in to us.
Oh, he's laughing right now.
He's a truck driver laughing at 40,000 pounds and nothing.
But he's also got a giant semi-truck that, you know, is heavier and longer wheelbase.
You know, soon as you make something smaller like a pickup truck, especially this two-door,
that was not a very long truck.
You know, you need that stability, you need that footprint.
Yeah.
And that is one of the challenges with a truck like this is it is pretty compact and pretty
lightweight.
The trailer outweighs it several times.
Yeah.
So much.
Yeah.
Maybe never going to feel that great doing it.
Yeah.
I could feel the difference between the trailer and the truck when we were heading down
this little, this little downgrade because you can feel the mass kind of pushing you along,
right?
So you want to be very precise with your, you know, driving style.
But other than four video, we try not to pull trailers that are at the maximum of what
a truck is rated to tow anyway.
There are sometimes that we do that specifically in the Iconnet to see how trucks act when they're
right at that limit because it's important testing.
But if we are going to be pulling a trailer for another reason, going cross-country, doing
something, we're ideally going to pick a truck that's rated to pull a lot more than
what we're actually doing.
Yeah.
For example, we own a Chevy Silverado 2500 HD.
So when we're pulling a trailer that could be eight or nine thousand pounds, we could
potentially use the F-150, right?
But we don't.
No.
We go for the bigger guy.
Yeah.
If we can.
Especially in the mountains, definitely pick a, try to pick a much bigger pickup truck for
the job that you have at hand.
So what's your next thankful?
Well, I was going to be, I'm thankful for a couple more things.
First of all, I'm thankful for Hellcat engines.
We currently in our, in our, we have a loan on loan from Dodge, a Durango Hellcat jailbreak
right now.
And we just took it to lunch.
And that's just such a pleasing experience.
Roman, Roman was kind.
I had come to the office on Friday with my least, nearly free, little electric fiat.
That you own?
Yeah.
Well, you've been at least, and Roman asked, do you want to take the Durango Hellcat home
for the weekend?
Yes, please.
I didn't have to think too long about it.
So I got to drive that all throughout the weekend.
My fiance loved it.
I loved it.
I slammed through a tank of fuel on it.
But you tried to slam through a tank of fuel.
No, and I drove, I didn't even go that far.
I didn't go anywhere over the weekend just around town.
But you can't stay out of the pedal even if you're not flooring it at every light.
It's fun to get into the pedal just enough so that you can hear the supercharger buzzing
a little bit.
It is so much fun.
That engine's been around for a long time.
They could make it for the next 30 years and it would still be entertaining.
Yeah.
I agree with you, 110%.
And the reason why I bring this up also is that it's still rumored.
I mean, we don't have complete, you know, we know the TRX is coming back, which is
don't know exactly when.
That's what I mean.
But we think and we know that it will have a version of this Hellcat engine in it.
The supercharged V8 engine, we don't just don't know exactly what power levels it will
be or what type it will be.
But I'm glad it's coming back, especially in the pickup truck of that caliber.
Just because you could hear the supercharger a little bit, it just involves you on many
different levels.
It's very quick and fun.
It's also, you know, can haul a trailer if you really need it to.
I mean, it won't pull 12,000, but it will pull.
It's ready to tell what it was like 8,200 pounds.
So I'm really thankful for that.
One, then we were just at SEMA and we saw the Raptor R Ford had brought to the show and
put a three-liter Whipple supercharger on that they're saying is going to have an over
900 horsepower.
Can't imagine driving that.
That would be something fun to look forward to.
Definitely.
So next year, we'll be talking about more, more thankful things.
So yeah, really, it kind of dovetails into your item where engine choices, right?
So there's so many choices for daily work and also incredible fun as well.
So that's really cool.
As we're talking about horsepower, once again, it leads me right into my next topic.
How did I know this?
It's fantastic and we didn't even plan this out.
I output diesel engines and exhaust brakes, something I'm very thankful for.
As much as I love the Raptor R, the Supercharge V8, the TRX, and even how mind numbingly fast
some of the electric trucks you can go out there and buy are, I think all those things
are cool.
The trucks that get me the most excited still are the diesels that you could go out and
buy the power stroke high output.
Our Duramax, it sounds a little weird to say it, but it says, I would describe it as
a sporty engine.
You tip into the throttle, you give it three quarter throttle at or around maybe 15 miles
per hour, lights up the rear tires like nothing.
Exactly.
And when you were just talking about the Duramax V8, I remember, remember we had an Overland
build truck, I think Colken looked this up.
We had a camper on top of it.
It was on 37s, it was a GMC CER-84X, a V-Edition, it was an Overland build that was going
to be auctioned for charity and or actually not for charity, it was going to be auctioned
for the foundation which does charitable work for overlanding.
I think it was more recent than this, it had a little camper, I think it was an Alfred
video, probably was an Alfred video.
We do a lot of videos, it's kind of hard to search through a lot of some time.
Colken find it.
Colken find it.
That truck, we went, you and I went to the ranch.
I remember I turned and I put my foot down and this 10,000 pound truck, there it is, first
dirt, leapt into action.
Yeah.
It was shocking to me because as heavy as it is, it does have slightly modified intake,
it has a snorkel, AV snorkel, and a slightly freed up exhaust system, but it wasn't a big
boost in power, it was just a little bit more freedom.
It's funny because as far as torque figures go, this is actually the least torquey of all
the HD engines that are currently on sale, so the fact that the least torquey of all of
them can light up the rear tires when that's not at all your intention is unbelievable.
It's just effortless power in these trucks, and what I love so much is that you can get
into any modern HD diesel truck and you have so much power.
If you go from a Jeep or a full runner or something that's loaded up with equipment,
maybe it's some kind of overlander and like what we're looking at on Andre's video, it's
got a camper on the back of it, it's got a little fridge, it's got steel bumpers, winch,
off road lights, all that stuff, they feel weighed down in any other vehicle.
To your point in an HD truck, you just don't notice.
And it's the same thing, even any modern diesel truck, you link up a trailer that's much
below 10,000 pounds, especially like you could still win some drag races.
As much as like I like the 5-liter Coyote, putting a big giant trailer behind it, which
weighs like 8 or 9,000 pounds, and then pulling, and then you notice it, it's much slower,
it works harder, it's not as easy to stop, a diesel truck like you're saying with an exhaust
brake, they stop confidently, they go, yeah they're quite impressive, they have all the
emission systems on them, which are not power adders.
No, and they still make good loads of power, and to your point the exhaust brakes from
the factory, just a fantastic thing in modern diesel trucks, and I'll bring up my 12-half
commons again, mild truck that I love, but in factory form that truck had 175 horsepower,
it topped out at like 75 miles now.
And this was only 30 years ago.
Granted, with all this that we're saying in mind, trucks are not about speed and acceleration
necessarily, but if you linked up my truck in factory form to a trailer and you started
pulling up a steep hill, it will notice it.
Yeah, it was working very hard.
So in a modern diesel truck, when you can face basically any grade, and you can feel
passing.
Almost invincible.
Oh, it's unbelievable.
Yeah, with a lot of these trucks, yeah, it's amazing.
Yeah.
Here's one item on my list.
It has to do with what Toyota has been doing recently.
So what shocked me and what I was thankful for was that Toyota side by side.
And I know it's not a pickup truck, and I know it's not on sale, but you and I went to
SEMA this year, and we saw a Toyota Sion branded.
Yeah.
That was another shocker.
Sion branded hybrid, 300 horsepower plus, and also very heavy and very beefy side by
side.
Which the Sion branding is also interesting to your point because there are a lot of
most people remember the Sion brand.
Cold, do you remember Sion?
Cold remember Sion.
But people don't associate Sion with off-road.
No.
That was not at all.
Or trucks of any kind.
Not the brand at all.
So this is definitely a big departure from it.
You could see the shock on my face, I think.
Did you see that?
Yeah.
So this was something that we were really not expecting to see whatsoever.
If Toyota got into the side by side market, that could be really interesting.
They could shake things up very much.
This particular side by side that they built for SEMA is very different from what you
would go out and buy on the market now because it would be significantly heavier and more
bigger, more substantial.
That's how it looked and felt in person.
This is a substantial fact.
And actually one of the members of the engineering team on this project, because Toyota did it
in the house.
They did not give an engine to a builder and say, hey, here come up with a side by side
for us.
They used their own engineers, their own design studio at Calty.
So this is a Toyota effort.
And one of the engineers said this side by side could be weighing around 4,000 pounds,
which would make it the heaviest side by side I've ever seen.
Yeah, an absolute beast.
This would not be an impossible or completely unprecedented thing, though, because everyone
knows Honda is huge in the power sports world.
That being said, Honda is kind of unique because there's not a lot of companies out there
that make cars, motorcycles, ATVs, side by sides, lawnmowers, generators, Formula 1 car
engines, private jets.
Jet planes, yes.
Yeah.
There's not a lot.
Huh?
Yamaha does instruments.
Yeah, coal brings up a good point.
But Honda makes a lot of different things.
So they're a little unique in that Toyota stepping into the side by side world.
I wouldn't say that it's impossible, but Toyota is generally pretty conservative.
They don't usually do stuff that's super out there.
So I would be surprised if they do this.
But I think they have the resources to do it.
I mean, if they make a decision to do it, they will do it for sure.
It's just much, much bigger than basically any other side by side manufacturer.
And I was going to bring one more truck in this at SEMA with Toyota.
And the only thing I'm hoping for, if Toyota ever decides to sell the Sion of fronter side
by side, to make it simpler and lighter, that's my whole truck.
That's my whole truck.
Maybe a non-hybrid version.
Maybe a non-hybrid version, maybe a two-door version, it doesn't all have to be four-door.
What if it had a GR Corolla motor in it?
Hmm.
That'd be cool.
Now we're getting somewhere.
So also could be 300 horsepower, but done in a different way.
Yeah.
This had a Toyota Tacoma hybrid powertrain, basically a four-cylinder turbo electric system.
Which is not a, to your point, not a slim powertrain.
No, it's not a very slim one, and it's also not the most lightweight.
But also, there are controversial vehicle at SEMA, which was a Tacoma H2, which was a hybrid
hybrid.
I'm sorry, Jesus.
Hydrogen powered Tacoma.
And I was kind of excited by this, because I do that.
But a lot of other journalists and a lot of our viewers were quite negative about this.
Yeah.
I have a lot of feelings about this because we go to SEMA a lot.
We see a lot of different vehicles.
There are tons of V8 swapped, this and that with 40-inch tires and solid axles, and
it's awesome.
But putting a hydrogen powertrain in a Tacoma and making it work and making it this well
engineered and well executed is such a flex because that's something that really only
a company like Toyota would have the engineering prowess to do.
If you gave me enough time, like a lot of years, and a lot of money, and a lot of money,
I could figure out putting a V8 and 40-inch tires on a Tacoma, especially if you give
me a good angle grinder and a sawzall, and your standards are really low.
But the fact that Toyota designed this hydrogen thing, I think a lot of people that watched
our video about it, were saying, well, this doesn't make sense, the hydrogen structure.
Where would you refuel?
How would you refuel a Hydrogen Tacoma?
That's, besides the point, they're not trying to bring this to market.
This is just an example of what they're capable of, and I think that's bad-ass.
Yeah.
That they made it.
And it has a lot of very cool specs.
Look at the suspension components.
They went out and they just like flexed all over the place with, you know, kind of a
long travel suspension under it, special skid plates, everything, also they had a camper
in the back.
I know.
What the?
547 horsepower?
Only 547 horsepower.
And they had a rear locker as well, and yeah, they lifted it, they did.
All kinds of really cool stuff to it.
They had built it into kind of an overlander.
So even the water byproduct from the hydrogen powertrain was recovered in the truck, and it
could be used to wash dishes, or for you to shower with.
So they had done all these really neat things in the engineering of this vehicle, and I
think a lot of people overlooked it because they looked at this as something they-
It's like if this was buy.
If this was sold now, I agree.
This would not be a good choice, because there's only what 40 hydrogen fueling stations
in California.
But as a demonstration of what's possible and what Toyota's capable of, it's pretty
bad-ass.
It had 15 kilowatt export power.
Yeah.
You could run maybe two homes off of this if you really wanted to.
It's tons.
So-
It's a mobile powertrain station.
It's a mobile powertrain station.
All it needs is a tiny bit of hydrogen.
Yeah.
Small amount of hydrogen.
But-
It's-
Anyway, I thought it was a cool concept.
Yeah, I thought it was really cool too.
It's like a lot of power.
Yeah.
Anyway, I thought it was a cool concept.
Yeah.
I thought it was really cool too.
It's like a lot of the people that were commenting on the video.
It's not something either of us would want to buy in this moment.
But it's amazing that Toyota was able to build it.
But I see here's my bet, okay, and I think Roman, remember Roman and I were also betting
against each other on this during one of our infamous meetings, staff meetings?
Long meetings.
Yes.
We-
He was saying something like, oh, this is just a one and done.
This is just a flex that, like you said, that Toyota wanted to show off a little bit some
of their engineering.
And I was like, you know what?
I could see the next generation, Tacoma, which should arrive in what's six, let's say
six years from now, in that generation, we could see this as a possible option, right?
That's my bet.
Sure.
Yeah.
I mean, given six years or seven years, if there's more hydrogen infrastructure around the
country, or maybe certain areas, I think we could actually see a production version of
this.
They make a production hydrogen car now.
They have the Ferrari.
They do.
That's where they pull a lot of those hydrogen powertrain components from to build that Tacoma,
initially, although heavily modified that system.
And sure, especially on a small scale, maybe a couple thousand of them, I could see them
maybe making-
Not cross country, so I mean Tacoma.
If you live in the middle of South Dakota, maybe it's not an option for you.
Maybe you don't have a hydrogen station.
And honestly, if they did build that, the people that are absolute Toyota nuts, huge fans
of the brand, they would fight each other with fists.
They would get on the list to get their hands on this ultra rare Tacoma that they only
made maybe a couple hundred of or something.
So yeah, it could be cool.
It's definitely not impossible.
They make a hydrogen car now.
They could make a hydrogen truck tomorrow, if they wanted to.
That would also be another one that would maybe be harder to market.
Yes.
But they could do it.
They definitely could.
What's on your list?
Next thing on my list is off-road trims in trucks now, because looking back not even
that far, you could go out and buy a Z71.
You could get a G80 rear locker or an FX foreign, and that was pretty rugged.
These days, the off-road trucks that you can go buy with factory winches, skid plates,
steel bumpers, long travel, live valve suspension, front rear lockers, full-time four-wheel-drive
systems, there's so many innovations off-road features that you can get in a truck from
the factory, covered by warranty, it's crash certified and everything.
It's spectacular.
It's unbelievable.
The off-road vehicle is in the amount of capability you can get straight out of the box
now.
Exactly.
Cool.
Can you bring up a ram warlock recently?
We had a warlock, the blue truck, as a loan from RAM.
That's just one other example.
The warlock is not the most hardcore off-roader that RAM is building right now, obviously, there
is the RH-O and there is the rebel line-ups that they have.
On the bigger side, power wagon still, which is also great.
Like you said, choice, there used to be maybe one off-road version of some sort.
But now there's three or four different types of suspensions and options, and this truck
was a little bit more on the affordable side, I can't remember it was like $50,000 or something
like that.
Oh, look, I'm wearing my flat-bill hat, you know?
That's how cool I felt in that particular range.
Very nice.
Yes.
Yeah, and you think about it on the forward side of things, like you said, FX4, trimmer,
Raptor, Raptor R.
There's so many different off-road trims, but those halo off-road trims offer some unbelievable
pieces of hardware, and also software, some really advanced traction control and four-wheel
drive systems, all straight out of the factory, right off of the assembly line, it's unbelievable.
You can get some fantastically capable trucks and take it from the dealer lot straight
to the trailhead, which we've done several times.
And manufacturers like Ford and RAM and GM and Toyota, they prove out a lot of those
parts in racing.
So GM, for example, ZR2, I've kind of chased them around a little bit in the desert.
You know, the ZR2 and Bison type quality components are proven.
They invited you there, they weren't running away from you.
Correct.
Yeah, I was allowed to chase them.
Yes.
I think Colin and I chased the Mint 400, it calls favorite event, and I'm motively speaking.
Mint 400's iconic.
Yeah, Mint 400 called really enjoyed it.
That was the first press trip I ever did was with Stephen Elmer on the Mint 400.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
You guys were on the GM.
Yes, exactly.
So these parts, these off-road components, proven in racing, they are perfected, you
know, they're tested together, and like you said, with warranty offered to the customers,
to anybody.
How awesome is that?
I would argue that we're in the golden age of off-road trucks, and same thing, likewise
with the SUVs.
And with all trucks, yeah.
And SUVs as well, there's fantastic off-road trims you can get from the factory in SUVs,
so it's really off-road trucks especially in the golden age.
Maybe soon.
Colin and I brought up a video where we did a trip in the Colorado ZR2, Vegas, Torino off-road.
Yeah, which was a heavy event for us because we were three days off-road driving.
Because basically that entire trip was off-road.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Also, be heading into an upcoming golden era of some street trucks because they seem
coming back.
That'd be interesting.
F-50 Lobo, there are a lot of rumors about what Ram is doing.
We saw the Ram dude in SEMA.
Yeah.
Had sidepipes.
Dude, yes.
The F-50 Lobo is slightly lowered, has V8 power.
So there could be a resurgence, like you said, in also street worthy performance trucks.
Yeah.
You can go to the factory and get a supercharge slapped on to a Coyote powered F-150 as well.
So if you feel like the Lobo is maybe a little too mild, which might not be good.
It could be.
Yeah, I would argue it probably is.
Slap supercharger on it.
Exactly.
Yeah, there's a lot of really cool trucks.
I think next year, 2026 will be very interesting because we had maybe not a lot of like thorough
new generation trucks this year in 2025, but next year, because we're looking
towards 2027 model year trucks, we already have seen lots of prototypes from GM on their
full size trucks.
We could see some updates on the heavy duty side for several manufacturers.
So next year is looking like plus who knows what Ram is doing.
Maybe they might bring an SRT street truck back, right?
So of some kind.
I'd be happy with that.
It's probably not going to have a V10 in it, but if it had sidepipes, I'd still be
pretty happy.
There you go.
It could be the dude.
It could be the dude.
So wrapping up a little bit, I'm going to do one item I'm not thankful for.
And it has to do with some things we already talked about, but I'm not thankful for really
expensive trucks.
Yeah.
Because a lot of the excitement that you and I just talked about, off-road capable trucks,
really high output diesels, lots of engine options.
Those are all inadvertently creating this price increase in these vehicles.
I would like to see some affordable mid-sized trucks, which is not fancy ones, but affordable.
We started this podcast, we talked about Slate, so Slate, that's the whole story behind
that company.
I don't know if it'll be successful, there's still a startup because it's a two door
little pickup, which is the only thing they offer, right?
I mean, other than the SUV body that you can put it up, we kind of convert it.
But we need a little bit more, what happens to a two door ish Tacoma SR, but many other
manufacturers don't, Ford doesn't, GM doesn't.
Why not have a little bit more affordable, simple mid-sized cars?
It's true, it's a tough balance because I get excited talking about some of the really
cool trucks that are out now, stuff that you could go out there and buy.
I do too.
I think sometimes, well, we see a lot of valid comments about the prices of trucks being
out of control.
That's why we've talked about it several times on this podcast and in videos.
I think sometimes people will write off new trucks because they are so pricey, and I
can understand why I own a 30-year-old truck for that reason.
But the two aren't mutually exclusive.
New trucks are great at a lot of things.
They are also very pricey.
But they think where manufacturers maybe are, the area they're getting trapped into because
basically all of them are publicly traded companies.
They're interested in profits, revenue and profits, and to bring shareholder value and
also obviously a lot of value.
They're focused on creating these packages in order to buy a sunroof, you also have to
buy this, or in order to buy this engine-
Yeah, get this.
8,000-dollar technology package.
Yeah, in order to get this engine, you also have to buy that.
They figured out ways to really get us to channel us into buying something quite expensive.
But like we talked about offering of different engines, they don't have to sell a lot of them.
But give us a slightly simpler track to go down, something more affordable.
And on the bright side, there seems to be more manufacturers now talking about the need
for more affordable trucks than more so in the last couple months than in the last several
years.
It seems, however, maybe a little too slowly, but manufacturers are starting to notice that.
Yeah, I want to see more competitors to the Maverick, like we talked about previously
in other podcasts.
And also Ford has teased us, they didn't show anything, but they said a $30,000
Ford or a little pickup is coming.
So that's within two years.
So that could be really interesting.
Yeah, and I think I saw in the news that there's even a lot of high ups at American auto manufacturers
that are going to be meeting with government officials to talk about some of the regulations
and things that require certain features and vehicles that are expensive to drive the
prices up.
So who knows, maybe there will be some more affordable trucks on the market soon.
That would be fantastic.
I still like older vehicles.
So yeah, I haven't been shopping around for new trucks, but we're lucky.
I get to drive cool new trucks at work.
Yeah, it's hard to like if you said, go home to my wife.
Do you want an F and F and F?
Yeah, I do.
But will I buy one?
Probably not.
No, so it's just it's just outside of what kind of makes sense for my life right now.
It's far as price is concerned.
I think it's very cool that we get to test them.
I do always feel good when I get back in my 30-year-old brand though.
It's like going back to your house.
I was driving one of the half-tuns that we were testing for truck of the year, which those
videos are starting to publish now.
I was driving one of those trucks for a couple days and I was so happy to get back in my
old truck.
Yeah.
That's a good feeling.
Yeah, it is.
But no, new trucks are great at a lot of things.
I tend to get spoiled a little bit more, like just cuddled by the new trucks, you know.
Oh, and I hear not to, not to, no, no, not to bring an age thing into it.
But Romans, as at least, he gets older, he likes more comfortable vehicles.
I am also getting a little older.
My RAM is not so comfortable.
No, no, I mean, you know, jumping in the brand new truck with your podcast already playing
and your heated seat already on, there's something about that that's really attractive,
I think.
Yeah, and you've got a family and dog and all kind of stuff, so yeah, single cab, second
gen, probably wouldn't work.
Not as well, probably.
Yeah.
Anyways, all right, well, let us know what you think in the comments below.
Hopefully you're enjoying your family time, if you're listening to us during the holidays,
I really appreciate you, and thanks for your Patreon support as well.
And drop us a comment too.
Any truck features or any particular trucks or truck experiences that you're thankful for,
we'd love to hear them.
Yeah, exactly.
Thank you.
Thanks very much.
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About this episode
Thanksgiving vibes kick off this episode as hosts reflect on truck tech they're thankful for, alongside some features they dislike. They discuss the latest news from the LA Auto Show, including Jeep's Gladiator Willy's Edition and the cancellation of the 4xE powertrain. The conversation dives into the diversity of powertrains available today, modern transmission advancements, and the impressive capabilities of off-road trims. They also touch on the rising prices of trucks and the need for more affordable options in the market, making for a well-rounded discussion on the current state of the truck industry.
( https://www.alltfl.com/ ) Check out our new spot to find ALL our content, from news to videos and our podcasts! In this episode of TFL Talkin’ Trucks, Kase and Andre break down the truck tech and trends they’re thankful for, from a multitude of engine choices to the incredible capability that modern trucks offer. They highlight the innovations that make trucks easier, safer, and more enjoyable to use — the stuff that actually matters to real truck owners.
Then they dive into the tech and trends they can’t stand, including lots of recalls, pointless gimmicks, and design decisions that make trucks worse, not better. It’s an honest look at where truck technology is headed, what deserves applause, and what needs to hit the road.
( http://www.patreon.com/tflcar ) Visit our Patreon page to support the TFL team!
