The Most Eco-Friendly Half Ton Truck Engines

Many hard-core “greenies” long for the extinction of the pickup truck. These people view pickups as an anachronism – a hold-over from a time when Americans actually worked for a living. If you’re reading this blog you already know, but here it is again:

Pickup trucks aren’t going away. High gas prices won’t end the American love affair with pickups because people buy trucks for a reason – they need em.’

The Most Eco-friendly half-ton truck engines.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what about the “greenies” who need a pickup but want one that’s eco-friendly? Some would say that there’s no such thing, but we disagree. Using federal fuel economy and carbon footprint data provided by the EPA, we’ve put together a list of the most eco-friendly pickup trucks. Read more…

Truck Tent Comparison – Napier vs. Camp-Right

Last Spring, we offered up a basic Napier truck bed tent review. The general consensus was that while there were a few gripes we had regarding features that could probably be improved, in general, it was a very practical and well-made tent that provided nice sleeping space high up off the wet ground. With hunting season upon us (or nearly upon us, depending on your game of choice), we thought it might be nice to look at truck camping again.

The Camp-Right Truck Bed Tent

There are a few pickup truck tents available on the market that are worthy of investigating should you be tempted to transform your Tundra into a full-on recreational vehicle. One of which, the CampRight, is an interesting competitor to the Napier Sportz tents. Read more…

Intro-Tech and Covercraft Sun Shades – Overkill or Luxury?

If you spend any time at all flipping through parts catalogs or browsing internet auto parts shops, one thing eventually becomes clear: pretty much anything you can imagine as an accessory for your truck has already been designed, built and put on sale at a hard to resist price. Want LED lights for you windshield washers? They’re out there. Want to dangle a nasty representation of the male anatomy from your trailer hitch? It’s a mouse click away from being shipped to your house. The array of products available for the Tundra is really quite impressive, and it represents a very large market of people that are looking for ways to make their trucks nicer and easier to enjoy.

Custom sun shades are a nice accessory, but they might be overkill.

Sometimes, however, you run across a product that at first seems to make sense but after a little bit of research turns out to be impressively over-engineered and over-priced for the task at hand. The Covercraft Car Sun Shade and Intro-Tech Automotive Windshield Sun Shade might fall into this particular category. Read more…

Wi-Fi Flowers For Prius and Eli Manning Buys A Toyota

Here are a couple of odd pieces of Toyota news:

1. WiFi Flowers. Toyota is sponsoring an art project that will place giant flowers in public spaces around the USA. The flowers look kind of cool, but what makes them really interesting is that they contain wireless routers for free public wi-fi and a handful of power outlets. Seems like a smart way to publicize the 2010 Prius on the cheap. Good idea. Read more…

Toyota’s Puzzling Marketing Blitz

Toyota is acting strange lately.

• During the 90’s, Toyota led the charge in hybrid technology despite the fact they made little or no profit on every hybrid they sold.
• Last week, Toyota announced that they will not significantly invest in all-electric vehicles, nor will they choose to use Lithium-ion battery packs in upcoming vehicles.

15 years ago, Toyota rolled the dice on hybrids with no regards to costs.