New Dodge Ram Pickup: Is it the Next Edsel?

[jtbell]

While watching the Olympics on TV last night, I saw a commercial for the new Dodge Ram pickup trucks, and thought, "do they look weird, or what?" Somehow the grill reminds me of a pig's snout.

 

[Sophia]

Exactly! I immediately saw a pig's snout, before I read your comment :)
They remind me of this guy

 

[fresh_42]

When it comes to American pickups, I always have to think how little has changed.

Only the ecological balance turned worse. Much worse.
(Are the Americans still complaining about gas prices?)

 

[1oldman2]

(Are the Americans still complaining about gas prices?)

Yes, but only until the upcoming elections, then we will have something significant to complain about. in the meantime we lament our relatively cheap gas and continue to push the boundaries of "bizarre automotive design". (the image you posted must be some newfangled "concept vehicle" as I don't see a drivers seat, although this could be a new prototype of a "self driving" car)

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think it's uncharacteristically honest of Dodge to make them look like pigs. Guys buy those huge trucks then drive them to and from work, all alone, and never use them to haul anything.

 

[Fervent Freyja]

They do look like pigs!

I think it's uncharacteristically honest of Dodge to make them look like pigs. Guys buy those huge trucks then drive them to and from work, all alone, and never use them to haul anything.

Where I'm from, the majority of them probably do make good use from them. A huge tree limb fell on my house last year. My Husband tied his dodge to the limb, somehow, and made me hit the gas to pull it off. He uses it haul his toys, things to do with his hobbies, and many other things, but rarely for his job.

 

[edward]

All my old binder, 1972 International Harvester, has ever been used for is hauling. Now if I had a snazzy new truck I would probably drive it everywhere.

 

[edward]

"That grille is hideous. What were they thinking? It looks like a dog's breakfast," said one commenter on autonews.com. Another was more blunt: "Looks like a pig's snout."

Ram brand boss Bob Hegbloom sounded unconcerned. He said the company likes polarizing designs.

"You want to have both ends of the spectrum," he said. "If you have something that's right down the middle, it's probably not going to resonate in the marketplace."

http://www.autonews.com/article/20150216/OEM03/302169977/ram-not-hot-over-scorching-grille-reviews

Apparently I don't understand marketing. IMHO These trucks are only going to have one end of the spectrum.

 

[Mark44]

When it comes to American pickups, I always have to think how little has changed.

View attachment 104774

Only the ecological balance turned worse. Much worse.

You're forgetting that when horses were the main source of motive power, there were massive quantities of horse manure everywhere, potential breeding grounds for typhoid fever and other virulent diseases.

 

[fresh_42]

You're forgetting that when horses were the main source of motive power, there were massive quantities of horse manure everywhere, potential breeding grounds for typhoid fever and other virulent diseases.

Yes, but horses are bad at burning calories so their remains could (and at least here have been) used as burning material. Personally I assume that the lack of sanitation has been by far the more significant reason for these diseases. The normality to wash our hands several times a day isn't that old, not to talk about clean water.

I once asked my brother in law why Americans love powerful cars, considering the fact that they aren't allowed to drive fast. His answer was, that they at least want to have a big acceleration at the traffic lights. Of course it was said cum grano salis. And whether horse indicated typhoid fever or fossil fuel indicated atmospheric particulate matter has the higher death toll isn't clear either. I tend towards the latter.

Americans love their pick-ups (at least as far as the Americans I know have been telling me) and in 0.9 of all cases there is no real transportation reason anymore. It's a kind of mystery and my personal opinion is, that it's because of those coaches in earlier times. I mean, they settled the entire continent with those vehicles.

 

[Mark44]

Yes, but horses are bad at burning calories so their remains could (and at least here have been) used as burning material. Personally I assume that the lack of sanitation has been by far the more significant reason for these diseases. The normality to wash our hands several times a day isn't that old, not to talk about clean water.

At the turn of the 20th century, before the advent of cars and trucks, there were millions of horses used to transport goods short distances. If any horse manure was used for fuel, it would have been a microscopically tiny fraction. With all the horse manure lying around, some of it seeped into the ground water, polluting wells and rivers and creeks. If the water you use to wash your hands isn't clean, being fastidious isn't much help. The excrement that remained on the ground attracted flies, which are known hosts for many kinds of bacteria and microbes.

I once asked my brother in law why Americans love powerful cars, considering the fact that they aren't allowed to drive fast. His answer was, that they at least want to have a big acceleration at the traffic lights. Of course it was said cum grano salis. And whether horse indicated typhoid fever or fossil fuel indicated atmospheric particulate matter has the higher death toll isn't clear either. I tend towards the latter.

Of course you're free to think whatever you want, but here's a link to a report that sheds some light on things.
http://www.publichealthreports.org/issueopen.cfm?articleID=2438

In the nation’s growing cities, it is estimated that there were as many as one horse for every 10 to 20 residents, and each horse deposited
between 30 and 50 pounds of manure and two quarts of fresh urine a day on city streets.17 In the largest cities, this meant literally thousands, and in New York, hundreds
of thousands of horses carrying people, goods, and construction materials into and out of towns.

By the second half of the century (Mark44: the 19th century) , according to public
health reports from around the country, thousands of dead horses, goats, pigs, and cattle lay imbedded in
uncollected filth, often for days and weeks. The streets of Boston, Chicago, New York, New Orleans, and other
growing communities were filthy with accumulations of manure from the horses that traversed the area, as
well as dead dogs, cats, and rats, and household and vegetable refuse. In some cities, public health officials
estimated that in winter, refuse accumulated to depths of two to three feet.

Some of the diseases that rampant in these communities include typhoid, typhus, diphtheria and whooping cough, cholera, and fevers and influenzas, at least some of which were a direct result of all the manure and dead animals lying around.

How do you think public health compared back then, before cars and trucks were prevalent, with the particulate matter present nowadays?

Americans love their pick-ups (at least as far as the Americans I know have been telling me) and in 0.9 of all cases
there is no real transportation reason anymore.

Can you provide evidence of this number? It's true that some Americans have large pickups and don't really use them for their intended purposes (of hauling stuff), but there are also lots of Americans who actually haul materials in their trucks, including farmers, building contractors, and many others.

It's a kind of mystery and my personal opinion is, that it's because of those coaches in earlier times. I mean, they settled the entire continent with those vehicles.

We call them wagons or covered wagons. People ride inside coaches. In any case, I doubt very much that any person buys a pickup because they are somehow reminded of the covered wagons used by the early pioneers.

 

[fresh_42]

Can you provide evidence of this number? It's true that some Americans have large pickups and don't really use them for their intended purposes (of hauling stuff), but there are also lots of Americans who actually haul materials in their trucks, including farmers, building contractors, and many others.

No. This is only what has been said in personal discussions. Of course the pick-ups are used to haul stuff. But in how many of these cases a normal car wouldn't do the same? I'm not saying they are useless, but to pretend they were only used by farmers, constructors or similar professionals is simply wrong.

I admit that animal husbandry in such a density as described in your reference causes problems. The more if people don't eliminate the cadavers. Maybe I underestimated the death toll at the times.

In any case, I doubt very much that any person buys a pickup because they are somehow reminded of the covered wagons used by the early pioneers.

Of course not. I've only said, that it reminds me on wagons. (Sorry, I had to look it up and didn't find the correct term.) And I think there might be more to it, in the sense of mentality, than could be justified by pure needs. One figure I've found was about 60,000 new trucks a month. I find this a lot.

 

[Mark44]

Can you provide evidence of this number? It's true that some Americans have large pickups and don't really use them for their intended purposes (of hauling stuff), but there are also lots of Americans who actually haul materials in their trucks, including farmers, building contractors, and many others.

Of course the pick-ups are used to haul stuff. But in how many of these cases a normal car wouldn't do the same? I'm not saying they are useless, but to pretend they were only used by farmers, constructors or similar professionals is simply wrong.

I didn't say or imply that pickups were used only by farmers, etc. I quoted above what I actually said.
For someone who lives in a city, as I think you probably do, a pickup isn't useful very often. I live in the Northwest of U.S. Outside the large urban centers like Seattle and Portland, there are lots of farmers and loggers who have pickups, and for whom they are useful vehicles. Other folks use pickups with camper shells attached for recreational purposes. Still others who aren't farmers or in construction do home-improvement projects at home, and for which having a pickup is very useful.

For the record, I don't have a pickup, but I do have a small SUV with 4-wheel drive. We get enough snow where I live that without 4WD you can't get around. I have recently used it to haul lumber from a local home-improvement store, including 16-foot 2" x 12" boards, and 10-foot 2" x 4" boards, plus a lot of other 8-foot boards. My vehicle has a roof rack that I can tie this stuff onto. Bringing the lumber home would be pretty impractical if all I had was a car to haul it with. Try fitting some 4' x 8' sheets of plywood into the trunk of your car.

 

[Averagesupernova]

For what it's worth, those pickups are not Dodges. The 1/2 ton pickups no longer say Dodge on them. Nitpicky I am for sure, but I could not resist.

 

[D H]

Try fitting some 4' x 8' sheets of plywood into the trunk of your car.

I have two cars (one of which is dead) and a truck. The two cars holds two people each, plus perhaps a few groceries. A big grocery trip? Need the truck. A trip to the hardware store or to the gardening store? Need the truck, no doubt. A trip to the dump to get rid of decades of accumulated junk? Absolutely need the truck. A road trip outside of town, perhaps camping? There's no thinking. Need the truck. There's no way a tent, a couple of sleeping bags, a couple of backpacks, and supplies would fit in either car. Besides, hour upon hour of bouncing in a performance car on Texas's poorly maintained roadways would kill me.

While my truck is not at all sexy and does not have anything close to a sexy name (I name my vehicles, and her name is "Jane"), she is sturdy, strong, comfortable, and reliable. Compare with "Jessika", my hot car (a non-stock C5 Z06; "She's not bad; she's just built that way") or "Monica", my wife's dead MG. Both of those cars are initial caps Fun, and the one that isn't dead is all-caps FUN. All-caps FUN requires a vehicle that does 0-60 in less than 4 seconds and pulls close to 1g in a turn. But the only useful things I can do with her are to drive to work and pick up a few groceries and a bouquet of flowers for my wife on the return trip home.