Enjoy the read…
Cyber truck, just my opinion 🤣

https://jalopnik.com/whats-the-worst-pickup-truck-ever-made-1851510767

EVER? No way it could be the cyber or Cruz. These people don't have a car collection or work in a shop. Ive driven both. Up until the f-1 or AK platform GM trucks, everything was terrible. Most of the idiots you see now would never have a vehicle back before the 30s or so. Hand throttles, reverse pedals, timing alter, crank starts.... Ive driven raptor and trx and own a blown 5.0 f150.....the cyber is stupid quick. Lol. Can haul anything the half tons can and rides great. Yeah its ev . And yes its incredibly ugly. But worst? Drive a model T. For the time it was maybe the best truck made by a small margin... and it was the only truck made.

Personally I'd have to throw the brat and rampage and vw trucks out there. Incredibly puny. Less hp than a 100 year old model t. Barely faster.

The old unibody jeep and 60s f100s were pretty terrible. Especialy in 2wd form. You were stick on wet grass in a flat meadow. The rampside corvair based trucks would be near or at the top.... the old non-synchro tons with a 3 or 4 speed on the column.....pretty awful. Big flat steering wheel you had to straddle. Fat people couldn't even get in the driver seat. Horrible seating position. Straight up seat back, like riding in the back of the Cruz.

The srt10 dodge was pretty awful for a truck. I only drove one and it was awesome. Lol Was heavily discounted but new, nobody wanted one. 32k was probably 30% off for basically a Viper truck. 2wd only. A staggering 400 hp v10 (don't laugh, that was a lot back then) driving 2 tires? Hurst shifter etc etc. Still wish id bought one. Bought a trans am instead. "More practical" lol

All that said, trucks now are far more capable, far more civil, and offer a ride that I find better than any car from 20 years ago and better than most today. But in ways they are worse too. I'm well over 6 foot and I need a step ladder to reach into the bed of a normal 2wd half ton. Get into a Raptor R or 2500-3500 and I can't even see into the bed. I have trucks from every decade since the 60s in my collection. The evolution is painfully obvious. They were "work" oriented until the 80s when a very few steps creeped in for comfort. The old cardboard headliner and hollow steel doors of the 60s and 70s did nothing for wind and road noise. Stiff leaf springs and live axles did nothing for ride. If you had a radio you probably hacked the dash yourself. By the 80s ac and power windows were in most. Power steering was pretty much standard. Radio and some noise deadoning was found. By the 90s gm and Ford were milking the same old platforms but as dressed up as possible. Then late 90s and 2000s trucks became the car for most families. 4 door, small beds, rides rivaling a car. No longer having 6 turn lock to lock steering that you had to saw at to go straight. No more bruised kidney when. You hit a speed bump. We were right around 300 HP in that era too. The 5.3 and 5.4. The 4.6 and 4.8 were still under. Power everything was all but standard.

Now we have no "bad" trucks. We still have Mopar but unreliable and bad aren't synonymous here apparently. My newer 2500s ride and drive as good or better than my wifes 2000s Denali (still have it) or benz did. And my newer half tons are a lot better. Power and capability passed up "practical" 10 or 15 years ago. Id say the average half ton is 400 HP now. And all the 2500s have 1000 ft lb of tq. Thats just stupid numbers. Road tractors from 20 year ago weren't near that. The fastest car in the world for years was the mclaren F1. A million dollar car that had 630 HP. Now you can buy a Raptor R or TRX half ton for 75-100k with more HP than that. And the fastest car for any non-kennedy/actor/sports superstar was a Viper or corvette which until 2000 or so was 400 HP or less. Now a Ford Ranger has that in a v6. And a decent optioned half ton has anything you need and then some. 360 cams. Self driving. Trailer backing. Sway control. Heated/cooled massaging seats. Heated wheel. Backup power for the home....we have the necessities covered nowdays for sure.

Worst truck today? Yeah I might say the Cruz or Ridgeline. great jack of all trades but it wins at nothing. Mpg is mediocre at best. Miles behind maverick and barely beats most half tons. Towing is mediocre. Hangs with the worst optioned 1/4 tons but thumped by any half ton or some SUV. performance is mediocre at best. Slower than some half ton 4-door 4x4s (talking turbo here...the base is slower than any truck made today). With many paying 40k or more its Priced as high as far better half ton trucks. Ride is mediocre. Better than a taco or fronteir maybe. Better than a Maverick for sure. Id prefer any new half tons ride and seating though. Probably the worst offroader made other than maverick which may be close idk. Certainly worse than any "real" truck.

So id have to agree maybe. The Cruz is probably the worst truck made today. Not necessarily the insult some see it as. Just a testament to how great everything else is today. The new taco is far from impressive to me. Having finally driven one I was far less than impressed. Id take a 2000 model over it. Lol. Ive NOT driven a fronteir newer than about 2020 so. That might make a difference.

Come compare the Cruz to my 60s, 70s, or 80s trucks and its great though.

 

EVER?
So id have to agree maybe. The Cruz is probably the worst truck made today.

And yet you bought one... so full of

 

Worse looking the Cyberduck wins easily.

I've owned 3 pickups and the SC is hands down the BEST one for my use case. I'm just so sick of people claiming the SC is stupid due to bed size yet giving a pass for the Mav and Rivian. Without the roll back cover all 3 of these vehicles have nearly the same bed length.

 

I agree ,thats one reason I got one, I no longer need a full size, and even ranger and tacoma are too big, people have a choice, if ya dont like it dont buy it !! I went from a 2019 F150 ,and 17 months, so far, so good. no issues.

 

I actually don’t have a reference point for a good or bad truck. I’ve never personally owned a truck. I’ve leased hundreds of F150 for my companies over 20 years as dedicated work trucks and they did the job.

Like 99% of non-commercial truck owners it hauls groceries and air just fine.

 

International Harvester made some horrific pickups in the 70s. I had several chevy half tons over the years. The worst ones were a 73 and 2007 bought new.
I forgot about my 86? Dodge dakota. 4x4 bought new. What a POS that was!
The best one was a 77 high Sierra (454). Awesome truck but a guzzler.

 

International Harvester made some horrific pickups in the 70s. I had several chevy half tons over the years. The worst ones were a 73 and 2007 bought new.
The best one was a 77 high Sierra (454). Awesome truck but a guzzler.

I very seriously considered IH near the top of my list but they weren't quite as bad for "truck stuff" as brat or vw or the corvair truck. Lol

Best in retrospect or best. Best for what? I have some old ones I drive regularly (no 70s Chevy but an 85 4x4 and 84 2wd both half tons and another 85 4x4 I'm re doing now. Several 70s ford though). Compared to anything today they are....rough at best.the 4x4s especially so. People come over and say I had one and loved it. They drive mine and remember how bad they really are. The seats suck something fierce. The old automatics suck something fierce. The 4 speeds with a 2 mile stick and low gearing suck (the 3 speeds suck worse) The brakes are lacking. Power is lacking. Road noise is dramatic. Options are absent altogether other than power steering and brakes by the 80s (one of mine has AC though) They float around like a destroyer in heavy water...good for cruising along but not so much for cornering or anything. Safety wasn't even an afterthought... and it is incredibly rare to see a 200k miles truck from "the good old days" with the original motor/ trans where today its pretty much a given you will get 200k (afm and three valves excluded and most of those even hit 200k). My 454 is rebuilt twice. My 460 is rebuilt once. My 351 is rebuilt once and ready again.....none broke 200k before a rebuild. Most of those old ones spun a rod Bearing or something between 100-200k. Oil pumps failed regular. Unheard of now. And ive not had a 2000 or newer work truck engine fail. Ever. Some over 300k. I did lose a few trans but they were worked hard. No turbo 350 or 700r4 would have took it for long either. And if you had a manual you would be lucky to maintain 70 long at all. Mine are all humming pretty good at 70 on the interstate empty. My newer F150 or 2500s are idling at 1500 rpm at 70. Ignition systems today never fail. Points sucked and were wear items. Anything duraspark was just waiting to fail. One thing Chevy actually did get right was HEI and then the idiots put it behind the carb under the **** firewall. People here cry about the heavy hood on the cruz.....drive a non power steering truck at low speed or stand on the clutch fron a ton from the 60s or so at one redlight. That hood isn't so bad. Throw in axle wrap and full time np 203 transfer cases the big three used, carb tuning, chokes, wipers that make one swipe per mile,headlights that are worse than any non-base cruz today, and a new f150 can tow 14k. Hook 14k up to an 80s and pull it at 70 mph in 100 degree weather and your diff/trans and probably motor will be all over the road pretty quick.

Capability is better today. As far as "truck" goes. Any half ton today can tow 10k pretty easy and do it at 70 mph all day. My 80s k series was rated at 6k. And 70 mph would be unsafe at best. The trucks got beat around by the trailer. Crap brakes. No trans coolers on vast majority. Overheating was common place where today its unheard of. Even with the "supercool" or "tropical cooling" options you paid for in the 60s-80s they still heated pulling. I haven't seen a vehicle overheat in 30 years unless it had no coolant left. Payload was usually decent in the 70s and 80s since the trucks had no options to eat it up and the short bed was longer than most ton today and the 8ft bed was pert near 8 ft long.

Power was awful. Our late model vortec efi 454 was the highest the 454 ever got in a truck. 290 hp and 410 ft lb. And you can't really help it any since its already bored and the valves can't have any more lift. So your pretty much stuck at that. A new Chevy 4 Cylinder half ton has more of both. Even a ranger or Colorado has more of both now than our 3/4 ton 2500 big block. (Or our v10 f250 ford....) The 460 was a dog too. Everything was. A 4 cylinder Mustang today will kill 99 percent of all 70s-2000s muscle cars. And a well equipped canyon/ Colorado or ranger has more hp and tq than a truck 454 or 460 or v10 or LA block Mopar ever had. Hard pill to swallow but its true. And they have more than twice the gears now....And you get double the mileage to boot. Before 2000 300 HP was a lie people told. 400 wasn't even a lie they would try for. Lol. Now any half ton work truck probably has 400 HP. That was a Viper in the 90s. You couldn't build a 700 HP truck with a pretty unlimited budget back then. Bigfoot and gravedigger were 6-700 hp blown aluminum block big blocks pulled from boats by the 90s... now you can just walk into any Ford place or ram dealership and they have you one with 700 hp likely in stock with a 100k mile warranty if you choose. Chandler and Anderson would be ashamed now.

The worst truck today (cruz/mav/RL aside) is a better truck than anything pre 2010. People forget the bad and remember the good. Lol. I love my old vehicles but they aren't close.

 

I owned a Ridgeline for 16 years and it was an awesome vehicle. Could get 22mpg on the highway with regular unleaded. In all those years of ownership I replaced a power steering pump, tires, pads, and struts. 245k when I traded it on the Santa Cruz. In the snow the Ridgeline was excellent! the AWD computer controlled traction system worked better than an Dodge, Ford, etc. Got the Cruz limited because the Ridgeline was getting a little long in the tooth. Cruz is great. 28 - 30 MPG, AWD, bed cover. Wouldn't own a Dodge, they all seem to rust out in the rear wheel wells. Had an Internationl
pickup, 1966 and an International Scout. Both tough as nails.

 

LOVE the comments on all Jalopnik articles! This one is FTW:

Let's be real: most "real" truck owners don't need them as a truck, as they mostly haul sailboat fuel 95% of the time. I need a car 95% of the time, and a small truck 5% of the time. I love the SC for what it is: a well-appointed, good looking, great driving AWD vehicle that can haul stuff when needed.

 

Let's be real: most "real" truck owners don't need them as a truck, as they mostly haul sailboat fuel 95% of the time. I need a car 95% of the time, and a small truck 5% of the time. I love the SC for what it is: a well-appointed, good looking, great driving AWD vehicle that can haul stuff when needed.

Spot on. I'd say my use case is closer to 90/10 or more like 80/20 when you factor in towing. But pretty much every full-size truck I see is hauling air. The exceptions are true work trucks like landscaping guys, plumbers or scrap metal collectors. Occasionally I see someone who is clearly moving furniture.

I had a 5 foot bed Dakota for 20 years and never once needed anything larger so I knew the 4 foot SC bed was going to work out just fine. For longer items (like my kayak or a ladder) I just put the tailgate down and deployed some straps. The largest item I ever hauled was a treadmill. At this point in my life (over 50 years old) even if I could carry more stuff my body sure doesn't want to load and unload that much crap so to me this whole bed size thing is totally overblown.

 

Of the SUV's/SAV's out there, The Cruz was the one that ticked my requirement boxes. It might well be the worst pick up on the market, thankfully I wasn't after a pick up!

 

Lucky Me....I never owned a bad Truck.. all my Trucks were AWESOME...................

 

How bizarre, SmoovC & LittleBokey both joined this forum on the same day in 2021, July 18,

 

That and owning an SC are quite literally the ONLY things we have in common. 🤣

 

This sand box is big enough for the both of you, just don't pee on my piece

 

It is big enough for all of us.... assuming people play nice.

 

SC maybe the worst truck, but it's the BEST SAV!

 

Among the class it may well be. It clearly loses in mpg to the hybrid mav BUT that's 2wd only so not much adventure. And most don't put the Honda in the class. Its usually with the midsize now where is loses at everything.

Then compared to the base mav
And base Cruz the mav is cheaper by a decent bit. BUT then the base mav tows more and has a lot more power than the more expensive base Cruz. Better back seat. Worse fit and finish. Better resale. Better network. Way faster And better mpg.

You have to compare the turbo Cruz to the base maverick to win at much anything. And then the cheapest turbo Cruz is the 40k dollar night (and 42k for awd) compared to the 25k dollar maverick turbo. To be fair if you compare the Cruz to any truck costing an extra 15k...it will get stomped. That gets you into an xl f150. Maybe an xlt or a cheaper Chevy half ton, or half way up the ram ladder. And the Cruz loses in every conceivable category except mpg and it can lose there too depending on options. And that's skipping the canyon/Ranger/fronteir/RL completely


The baja was the best (only) SAV at the time. Its actually a very comparable vehicle to the cruz. It really was a nice model. Flopped spectacularly in 4 years time.

And again worst truck, if you just think about it honestly, is hard to argue with. You have half the HP. Half the tow. 1/3 the bed payload. Yet no better mpg than half the trucks. No integrated trailer brake. No low range. The Maverick is a better "truck" in that it does have a factory hitch and trailer brake module. Plus it has 42 MPG. I drove a Festiva in the 90s that didn't get better. Lol

ESPECIALLY so if you talk base Cruz. 25 MPG rating and 190 HP. 3500 LB tow.

Ford and GM and Dodge are awesome at padding info. "BEST TOW CAPACITY AVAILABLE in a truck available in red with brown leather". Lol. Ford makes about 5 F150 a year with the heavy duty payload package. Only in reg cab. Only 8 ft bed and only 5.0. But they can say "with an available payload of 3300lb" because of it. They also sell about 2 f150 with the 3.3 gas motor. My buddy ran and owned one of the bigger Ford dealerships on the east coast for 20 years. Never saw one.... but they can say 25 mpg highway. They also sell about 5 regular cab short bed 2wd 5.0 or 3.5 but can say "low 13 second 1/4 mile". Chevy does the same things. We order our work trucks and I fuss at how some options go away with others. Lol. You have a tow package. And a max tow package. And pro trailering. Lol.

 

Dumbest question ever is more like it.
It all depends on for whom and for what. My best truck is not your best truck. I've got two and they are both best. ('22 SC and a '55 Chevy) Best in different ways though. But if I was a different person (like a hand on a 10K acre ranch) they would probably both be worst. DSFDF.

 

I have to agree with Twinsemi. If you get the correct truck for what you plan to do, it will be a great truck. If you try to make a vehicle or truck do something it was NOT designed to do, then it will be a bad vehicle. I am 78 years old now. I have owned 6 trucks over the years. All six have been fine, because I kept them up and never tried to make them do something they were not designed to do. Now I have a Santa Cruz, which is really an SUV. It is fine for what I do now. However I would never try to use it for Construction work, or REAL off-roading. It is a good errand runner for me.

 

Worst truck currently

Pretty much anything made by Ford. Constant recalls over serious issues and problems only get worse with age.

Why? Because ford didn't properly prepare their vehicles for the shift to aluminum bodies.

You see, when you mate aluminum to steel you get galvanic electrolysis. This leads to corrosion in interesting places. Places that affect the grounding of the electrical system. Hence, the unending electrical gremlins that have plagued their trucks since 2017.
Ford found a way to live up to the old acronym Found on roadside dead.

Worst truck after 2000 but before 2017?
Tough call, all the following were the worst.

1st)Again a Ford. From 2008-2010, the Ford 6.4l powerstrokes. Enough said.

2nd) The Hummer H2. Does everything poorly with the bonus of the worst fuel mileage conceivable.

3rd) Pretty much every luxury pickup made in the 2000's. Avalanche, Blackwood, they were all just terrible.

Worst pick up of the 1990's?

The Dodge Dakota's (1st & 2nd gen) were famous for reliability problems.


Worst trucks of the 1980's? A tie between the Dodge Rampage and the Dodge power wagons. Ugly, unreliable and parts falling off as they left the dealership.

That's enough for now.

 

Worst truck currently

Pretty much anything made by Ford. Constant recalls over serious issues and problems only get worse with age.

Why? Because ford didn't properly prepare their vehicles for the shift to aluminum bodies.

You see, when you mate aluminum to steel you get galvanic electrolysis. This leads to corrosion in interesting places. Places that affect the grounding of the electrical system. Hence, the unending electrical gremlins that have plagued their trucks since 2017.
Ford found a way to live up to the old acronym Found on roadside dead.

Worst truck after 2000 but before 2017?
Tough call, all the following were the worst.

1st)Again a Ford. From 2008-2010, the Ford 6.4l powerstrokes. Enough said.

2nd) The Hummer H2. Does everything poorly with the bonus of the worst fuel mileage conceivable.

3rd) Pretty much every luxury pickup made in the 2000's. Avalanche, Blackwood, they were all just terrible.

Worst pick up of the 1990's?

The Dodge Dakota's (1st & 2nd gen) were famous for reliability problems.


Worst trucks of the 1980's? A tie between the Dodge Rampage and the Dodge power wagons. Ugly, unreliable and parts falling off as they left the dealership.

That's enough for now.

We have plenty of aluminum Ford fleet trucks and no issues. The older non aluminum superduties we had all kinds of body mounts fall apart. Rear mounts sucked. Usually around 100-150k. Some sooner. Known issue. Never heard of any such recall with the aluminum trucks an I own several. Lol. You would think they let me know sometime since 15 (not 17) when they switched. Just not true. Too many high mileage ones for sale to bash much. Early tt had turbo issues. 2 year of 5.0 had some oil burners . 18 was one. And the front hubs before 21 were garbage. Dumb design. I service trucks for a big landscaping place and some of his half tons are over 250k. 5.0 trucks.

Any powerstroke not a 7.3 is bad. And we have to pull the cab to do much of anything.

Worst 2000-2017 and you fail to mention afm/dfm/dod? Nor three valve?

I see Dodge and Chevy from 15-20 with rusted holes through the body. Not m issue in the salt with the Fords after 15. Here i wish the hole vehicle was aluminum. Rust ends most every vehicle here

Then WHY are you on this forum? Dumb 💩 . If Hyundai sucks so bad.. why don't you troll elsewhere.. 😒

Wife bought one for the daughter to drive to college. Been covered ad nauseum

As has Hyundai's "sucking".

You sure are high strung. Will all work out. Ive been forgiven for my ignorance. You will be too.