I've owned a few trucks and muscle cars since getting my license at 16. I'm 57 now and care more about flawless operation and comfort than how fast my vehicles go, but power is always nice to have. Just the other day my wife and I were driving the interstate, a stretch with trees on both sides and between the two lanes on each side. We came up on three trucks, all pulling travel trailers about 30 feet in length. As we went by the first truck, the next one in line pulled into my lane to pass the lead truck. Of course, I had to slow down to let this unfold. At first, we were on flat ground, with the truck on the left (in front of me) gradually overtaking the truck on the right. Then things got interesting. The grade began to incline and the trucks started to slow down, at this point they were about even with each other. Both trucks suddenly hit the gas. The one on the right obviously didn't want to be passed by the one on the left, maybe they were together and it was some kind of competition thing? I could tell they hit the gas by the large plumes of diesel smoke coming from both. What was interesting to me was that both rigs looked to be struggling while pulling basic travel trailers uphill, and it wasn't that steep of a grade. Eventually, the one in my lane passed the other and moved over to let me by. That got me thinking about your article (Firing Order, Oct. '19) and the truck I currently own, a '19 Ford Raptor. A truck with a seriously vested interest in appealing to the performance crowd, and one whose design team has taken a huge leap of faith (or just didn't think it all the way through) when ditching the V-8 for a V-6. I just gave it away, huh? Not really.
展开▼
