I had been spoiled and hadn't had to use the AWD feature of the van in the two winters following the horrendous snow we had in early 2010. Even though my two pickups were only two-wheel drive, I figured I could find a more economical AWD vehicle to replace it and had my eye on a used Subaru Forester that belonged to Karen and Don, a couple I worked with before retirement.
Earlier this month the Forester went off the market when Karen and Don decided it made more sense to keep the Forester for themselves to use as a second vehicle for foul weather. I spent a few days traversing the internet looking for other Foresters that might fit my budget. I found that used Foresters sell at prices not that much lower than new ones. Just one more thing to ponder.
Then it occurred to me that I don't really need 3 vehicles since I'm the only driver, and you guessed it, I can only drive one at a time. It also occurred to me that my Toy Truck was due for quite a bit of maintenance at the 50k mileage mark. Possibly I could trade the Toy Truck for a new Toy Truck with 4x4 drive system.
I decided I might find a better deal on a leftover 2012 than I could get right now on a 2013 model. Once again the internet provided the answer, a 2012 Chevy Silverado, regular cab, short bed, 4x4 at Wantz Chevrolet in Taneytown, MD. An ideal Toy Truck replacement that could also get me thru some snowy weather and keep me down to 2 vehicles.
Wantz Chevrolet's internet sales person returned my contact and we arranged for me to wander up to Taneytown last Friday to get a hands-on experience with the possible New Toy Truck. Bea Buckland was very gracious to spend time demonstrating the New Toy Truck while their appraiser guy worked the numbers for my ol' Toy Truck.
Stan the Money Man put the numbers together in a way that I could hardly resist and rather than go home empty handed, I signed the papers and scheduled delivery of the new Toy Truck for early Saturday morning.
JD, here in the BToS still trying to figure out the New Toy Truck radio thingie!!!
PS - I couldn't ask for a friendlier dealer than Wantz Chevrolet and I must say that I actually enjoyed spending time with Bea. Did she convince me to buy the New Toy Truck? I'd like to say that she did, but I'd already made up my mind to purchase given a fair price. However, Bea did make the experience much more enjoyable than I ever expected.
PPS - If you'd like to view the Original Toy Truck, here's a link to the 2004 GMC Sierra 1500 @ Wantz Used Vehicles for it. Give 'em a call and tell 'em JD sent ya. I had word today (Nov 21) that Wantz has sold the ol' Toy Truck. I sure hope the new owners enjoy it as much as I did in the 8+ years I owned it.
PPPS - My definition of a Toy Truck is a vehicle with power that maneuvers quickly in tight spots and has a huge trunk. My ol' Toy Truck certainly fit that description with the tonneau cap on the bed. I now need to find a similar cap for the New Toy Truck, which is powerful and maneuvers extremely well too. Ordered tonneau cap on Nov 27.
PPPPS - A.R.E. tonneau cap was installed Dec 14 and now my Toy Truck Renewal is complete. I can only hope to get the fun and service from this one that I got from the original. Here's foto with tonneau cap installed and ready for Toy Truck duty.
PPPPPS - MVA provided special tag for the New Toy Truck - Jan 28
Two Year Update - Nov 10, 2014
T0YTRUK is about to turn 16k miles; it's actually 15973 on the odometer today. It's time for an oil change and probably to have the tires rotated. I'm a Mobil 1 synthetic oil user and have been for over 20 years now. To date I've had no problems. Most difficult thing for me is keeping it clean. Guess I just don't have the shiny truck need that I had when younger.
Overall, it gets good fuel mileage for living in the congested traffic area of central Maryland. In summer my tank average is typically a bit over 19 mpg around here and a bit over 21 when driving down to the ocean and back. In winter it's about 17.8 or so. I typically drive short distances and unfortunately it takes a while for the engine & transmission to get up to an efficient operating temperature. It's only natural that the mileage would be bit lower in winter.
Given the hilly nature of central Maryland terrain and my 'never in a hurry' driving patterns, I noticed early on that the cylinder deactivation feature that goes from 8 to 4 cylinders when not under load could be what I call a bit 'clunky' when becoming active again in certain no or low throttle positions when turning on to another street at bottom of a hill and heading up hill again. I discovered it was negligible when I was back on throttle early during turn but a bit irritating when being late getting back on throttle. However, cylinder deactivation increases fuel mileage when cruising major highways, etc.
I found the deactivation wouldn't engage until the transmission was in it's top gear. So I decided that when driving slow around town I'd place the transmission selector down a notch in 'M' vice 'D'. The 'M' position allows you to select the top gear you want the transmission to use. I would set it at M5 vice M6 for around town driving. That worked like a champ and the slightly irritating cylinder reactivation didn't happen; thus eliminating the irritation I described earlier.
That worked and I used it for a while, then I decided to purchase a Hypertech programmer for the vehicle computer. I had used one on my previous Toy Truck and it worked great and I also have one for my 2005 GMC half ton 5.3 that works great. One of the features of the Hypertech programmer is that it provides ability to 'turn off' the cylinder deactivation feature. So, you either leave it as a regular computer action or you disable the deactivation feature. I turned it off.
I also installed the power tuning and firmed up the transmission shifts. Now my Toy Truck actually feels like a truck should feel to an 'old fart' like myself. I can tell when it shifts, it runs on all 8 cylinders all the time and the fuel mileage is comparable to the standard factory programming with cylinder deactivation active.
Toy Truck drives great and it has a HUGE trunk and with the short wheelbase it still turns on a dime. Guess what I'm saying is that I luv my T0YTRUK. Hope you luv your truck too.
Four Year Update - Apr 17, 2017
Appears the four year update is about five months behind schedule. T0YTRUK is sitting at 33,586 on the odometer. That's approximately 7600 miles each year. T0YTRUK continues to run on the Hypertech power programming described in the Two Year Update above with similar power and mileage characteristics.
About a year ago, I sold my 2005 GMC extended cab, long bed pickup truck to an old friend and purchased a 2015 Chevy Express passenger van (kind of a really big moving box with seats). After a few months of not having the open-bed pickup to carry large bulky items, I began thinking about alternatives.
About three weeks ago I was driving home from some quick shopping and it dawned on me that it might be time to convert the T0YTRUK's big trunk back into a pickup bed. I drove to the dealer that provided the original A.R.E. cap for the bed and had them take it off.
I was still using the old bed mat that I bought back in '2004 in the T0YTRUK bed and the fact that it didn't really fit too well didn't mean much with the bed cap hiding it all the time. I bought a new bed mat for the T0YTRUK and it is now officially a short-bed PU once again.
No comments:
Post a Comment