"Cheap" new basic truck is $27,500!

LBarr2002 said:
Fixed it for you.
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Cooled seats and remote start. Could care less about any of the other features. And backup camera, but that is standard on most everything nowadays.
 
jeepinmatt said:
"I guess I'm some odd middle ground." :D
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Same for most people.
We have 4 levels of trim on most cars.

The lower end and higher end gets little sales.

The medium trims are the bulk of orders.

jeepinmatt said:
Cooled seats and remote start. Could care less about any of the other features. And backup camera, but that is standard on most everything nowadays.
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Legal requirement for cars since 2018
 
I am in desperate need of a basic 3/4 ton crew cab long bed 4x4 gasser. I have looked for six months for something in my price range that was hopefully only five or six years old with less than 150k on the clock for $20k or less. It will not be a daily but needs the towing capacity to pull my trailers and my Frontier. I could do with a 2wd but those are pretty hard to find. Prices are insane. My employer is pulling the plug on me driving a work truck (no longer needed for my current role) so I am in a pinch. I finally turn in the truck this coming Wednesday so this weekend I am going to look at a couple well used nearly decade old work trucks and coming home with one. I will try not to keep looking later and regret purchasing but I simply cannot afford to finance some ridiculously expensive new or nearly new truck when it will not be driven daily. Our finances prioritize saving to buy land, retirement, and our newborn son. We hate debt. I really hate the market right now because two years ago I would have gotten a much better condition vehicle for the same or less money. I don't need or want all the fancy features, just a solid drivetrain, towing capacity, and space in the cab and bed, no rust, etc. Found a Ram and probably bring it home tomorrow if it's any good so fingers crossed.

New truck prices are outlandish but it was already stated people shop payments nowadays instead of price. Instead of looking at vehicles like the depreciating liabilities they are people seem to treat them like assets and status symbols. I have never understood that. I bought exactly one new vehicle in my entire life (my 2001 Frontier) and would never do it again or advise anyone else to either. It's just a bad use of money for most people yet somehow is a kind of bedrock for the US economy. A strange situation for sure. I bought that truck while I was still in college and my folks did not help advise me to shop used as they always bought new vehicles every three or four years. They remember when you could write off the interest for the loan on your taxes and a two year loan was really long. Those days are long gone yet people today seem to act like it's no big deal.
 
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Bebop said:
Look around you. Even here on the board.

Let's use the tow rigs thread as an example.

How many people have a work truck trim, vs how many people own Lariats/fancy units.
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I don't disagree. But I drive a 20yr old truck with manual trans, cloth, floor mats. All of our other cars are base model too, really. A few of them are just by chance, but I don't really care about most features, and the lower trims can be had alot cheaper used.
 
Eh' most of my junk is in the single digit 2000's. I loath replacing any of them. The earlier convo on the length of payment plans and the folks buying them being 😨...the worst part is they treat every other financial descision the same.

I am a believer that the majority of folks in the middle and the economy related to it is nothing more than a propped up house of cards. Govco, selfishness, and folks without concious keep it glued together.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Still looking for all the lean/JIT (just in time) experts to brag on how well it works and how sixed all their sigmas are.
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What is your average inventory volume recommendation then ?

EDIT : To be completely fair, I work logistics in a JIT, have worked both on the supplier and receiving end of the supply chain and feel like I have a half decent grasp on the situation and its short comings. I'm not trying to pick a fight, but genuinely curious on how you'd fix the supply issue we're having right now.
 
Bebop said:
genuinely curious on how you'd fix the supply issue we're having right now.
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Matt specializes in inventory reduction thru liberating their combustible nature. Other areas he leaves to those less prone to pyro tenancies
 
Bebop said:
What is your average inventory volume recommendation then ?

EDIT : To be completely fair, I work logistics in a JIT, have worked both on the supplier and receiving end of the supply chain and feel like I have a half decent grasp on the situation and its short comings. I'm not trying to pick a fight, but genuinely curious on how you'd fix the supply issue we're having right now.
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I appreciate the background, and am not necessarily making jabs at you. When I worked in powergen, we had a guy who used to work at Toyota and was always talking about JIT and lean and kaizen and all the other Deming and Juran related buzzwords, which are almost completely useless for a one-off, single piece batch type of business that was about 80% service and 20% new product, with the only repeat products being every 5-10 years, and many things having not been built since the 1960's. We're talking 100k pound castings and 20k pound forgings with 6 month to 1 year lead times, and a shop rate of $300+/hr.

Back to the topic, JIT would recommend zero inventory, and the needed components flowing in at exactly the moment they are needed, correct? I would be lying if I told you I had any clue as to what the "average inventory volume recommendation" would be, since I am merely an armchair quarterback. But I've seen too many instances of attempts to have JIT inventory result in delays because of supply chain disruptions and natural disasters. Plus I'm naturally cynical and snarky, so I had to sieze the opportunity ;)
 
jeepinmatt said:
When I worked in powergen, we had a guy who used to work at Toyota and was always talking about JIT and lean and kaizen and all the other Deming and Juran related buzzwords, which are almost completely useless for a one-off, single piece batch type of business that was about 80% service and 20% new product, with the only repeat products being every 5-10 years, and many things having not been built since the 1960's. We're talking 100k pound castings and 20k pound forgings with 6 month to 1 year lead times, and a shop rate of $300+/hr.
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We're talking about automotive manufacturing here. Far from this.

Back to the topic, JIT would recommend zero inventory, and the needed components flowing in at exactly the moment they are needed, correct?
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This is a gross simplification of the concepts. Ideally, yes. In reality, there is a 24 to 48h stock on high runner parts and between 1 to 6 weeks on low runner parts or when the supply chain is unreliable.

I would be lying if I told you I had any clue as to what the "average inventory volume recommendation" would be, since I am merely an armchair quarterback. But I've seen too many instances of attempts to have JIT inventory result in delays because of supply chain disruptions and natural disasters. Plus I'm naturally cynical and snarky, so I had to sieze the opportunity ;)
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Agreed that a blind implementation could cause a lot of disruption but I can also tell you from first hand experience that most of our current issues have nothing to do with the JIT model. We are simply ordering and building more cars than what the suppliers can send us parts for.
 
Bebop said:
We are simply ordering and building more cars than what the suppliers can send us parts for.
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Well then tell them to make more parts.
Problem solved.

Your welcome, the consultancy bill is in the mail.
 
jeepinmatt said:
There, that better? :D
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Season 5 Nbc GIF by The Office
 
When I was in the dealer (fixed ops) between 1991 and 2011 the dealer made on average 3-4k selling a new car on a full price deal with the “holdback”.

It seemed to remain fairly steady all that time, less on cheaper vehs and more on higher priced models.

We employees got GMS pricing which was slightly less than what the dealer paid which meant you could trade every couple of years and do ok without hurting yourself.

I bought my last new GM in 2002, a loaded manual Super Sport Camaro. At that point I had owned 9 Z28s and 2 Corvettes but not all new. That SS ran 12.97@108.5 at Fayetteville Motorsports Park on it’s 4th run bone stock. Ran low 11s a few months later.

I’m sure dealers are not making money these days on sales as the volume is low. Sure they sell everything that comes on the lot but there‘s simply not enough volume. The few folks left I know in service say things suck balls right now and they’re looking a way out.

I am SO GLAD I got out of that world when I did. Snapon had it’s own tribulations but was a walk in the park compared to what the dealer had become after 2008.
 
Way I look at it everything has gone up in price sure the dealership is offering me cash what I paid for my truck 3 years ago and I have a work truck as a spare, but the way I look at it is if it’s going to cost 15 to 20k more to replace same truck in a year or 2 why would I get rid of one that will be paid off in a year and a half. Even had a buddy to sell his truck to local dealership 40 years old and driving his moms suv wtf?
 
anvilrubi said:
Way I look at it everything has gone up in price sure the dealership is offering me cash what I paid for my truck 3 years ago and I have a work truck as a spare, but the way I look at it is if it’s going to cost 15 to 20k more to replace same truck in a year or 2 why would I get rid of one that will be paid off in a year and a half. Even had a buddy to sell his truck to local dealership 40 years old and driving his moms suv wtf?
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Very true and finding a couple of year old low mile used model is next to impossible. My wife trades Hondas every few years. Auto Park in Cary is her dealer and there were no CRVs to be had, Angie had a ‘19 CRV awd Touring and they called or emailed her a couple of times a week for months.

She decided she wanted an awd Pilot and they gave her way more in trade than I thought they would, real close to the sticker and discounted the Pilot. Gave her the goodies like WeatherTech style mats and stuff too.

Pilots don’t sell like CRVs as they are bigger and more expensive. They already had the CRV sold by the time her deal was done.

————-

I sold my ‘02 F250 7.3 4x4 Lariat for 26k. Guy drove from SC and counted out hundreds.

I took the opportunity to cash out. I replaced it with a more appropriate ’01 RCLB 4x4 XL I scored for less than a tenth of the money I sold the other truck for.

Crazy times.
 
I ended up buying the Ram I mentioned in my post above. 2012 2500HD Crew Long Box 4x4 5.7 3.73. Will tow 10400# which is about a ton more than I needed. Runs and drives well except for probably a pinion bearing in the rear making noise on drive, quiet on coast. Lots of cosmetic issues, dent in the passenger front fender which tips the headlight, dented rear passenger door and rocker, lots of little rock chips and a cracked windshield (although not in the viewing area it would fail an inspection on). Interior was spotless but the blower motor did not work on High and the Radio did not play through the speakers. Cargo box is a new takeoff from another truck, tailgate is not but is serviceable albeit also dented. Very peppy truck, was pleased to figure out that 2012 was the first year of the better 66RFE transmission (I had a 2006 2500HD with the 545RFE and was not a huge fan).

For the money in today's market it was not a bad purchase but it still kills me that a mere year or two ago the same money would have bought a truck a couple years newer with fewer cosmetic issues. Maybe in a few years I can trade up to something a touch newer, for now this will do...nah who am I kidding I will probably keep this until it either catches fire or gets caught in an accident. Lots of the issues are minor and can be fixed when I feel like it.
 

Watch The Stig Drive The 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing At VIR: Video​

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After taking the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing down country roads and several hot laps around the challenging 4.2-mile Grand Course of the Virginia International Raceway, The Stig proclaimed the new luxury performance sedan as Cadillac’s swan song.
Paul Gerrard, who was known as the The Stig for the U.S. on Top Gear, is a professional racing driver who set lap times for cars tested on the show. He took the new 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing through its paces and came away wholly impressed.

“This is the peak, this is the pinnacle, and I think that’s why you see this very much, you know, sort of like they left an open checkbook when they developed this car,” he said. “They said, do whatever you want, this is its swan song, make it as brilliant as you can.”
Driving the manual, Gerrard talks through his runs around the VIR using the CT5-V Blackwing’s Performance Data Recorder (PDR), which includes various data overlays like a track map, lap timer, g-force, throttle and brake position, ground speed, selected gear, RPM’s, and steering angle.

He compared the performance of the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing to the BMW M3 and M5, Mercedes-AMG 43 and 63, and Porsche 911 GT3 – respectable company to be in – while also delivering on being a top-tier luxury sedan.
“It’s just happy to do [laps] all day, [yet] a complete luxury car – got a reasonable back seat, big trunk, very nice ride on normal conditions in touring mode. You know, checks all the boxes as a daily driver,” Gerrard says. “Bring it on the track, hammer on it like it were a Porsche GT3. It’s happy, feels good doing it, and it does it well. And it’s got the lap times that support that.”

As previously reported by GM Authority, figures recently released by Cadillac show the CT5-V Blackwing turning a lap time of 2:49.5 at the VIR Grand Course. As noted by Car & Driver via its Lightning Lap test, that makes it quicker than such heavy hitters as the 2012 Ferrari 458 Italia (2:49.9), the 2014 SRT Viper TA (2:49.9), the 2017 Acura NSX (2:50.2), 2020 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 (2:50.3), and the 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 (2:50.4).

Check out Gerrard’s full review in the video below and pick up some track driving tips from the pro himself.

​
As a reminder, the 2022 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is powered by GM’s supercharged 6.2L V8 LT4 gasoline engine – the same powerplant found in the C7 Chevy Corvette Z06, sixth-gen Chevy Camaro ZL1 and ZL1 1LE, and the third-generation Cadillac CTS-V. Output in the CT5-V Blackwing, however, gets a bump to 668 horsepower and 659 pound-feet of torque. All of it is sent exclusively to the rear wheels through either a six-speed manual, which is standard, or an optional 10-speed automatic. Pricing starts at $83,995 in the U.S. market.
 
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