"bwp240" (bwp240)
08/03/2018 at 12:30 • Filed to: Oppo review, rental car review
2
12|
"bwp240" (bwp240)
08/03/2018 at 12:30 • Filed to: Oppo review, rental car review | 2
| 12 |
It was quite square.
Full Disclosure: GM wanted me to drive one of their box trucks so badly they let Penske purchase a truck from them then dispersed it to the general public who can drive it with no experience driving a vehicle larger than a Manhatten apartment.
To start with, I didn’t test drive this truck, I rented it to move into a house. Here is what I experienced in my 80 mile travel between my place, the house and the rental place.
The overall rental experience was pleasant, the truck was brand new with merely 5 000 miles on the odometer and still in the square shape that it originally started out as.
Exterior - 2
It is big, yellow, and not a school bus.
Interior - 1
If you were driving across the state and hoping for a pleasant ambiance, I have bad news for you. It echoes, its echoes echo, all culminating is a symphony of the “wumba wumba” sounds that shaking sheet metal makes. The interior of this truck is pure 2008 GM, it even has the same radio. The seats are adjustable in that they have about 3mm of forward and back movement. However, as I bounce in the seat with my knees in my face, I know deep down inside that there are far worse places.
Acceleration - 1
Acceleration is woeful, but I was too busy laughing as the engine made lots of screaming noises giving the allusion of acceleration.
Braking - 1
No wonder it takes freight trains over a mile to stop, it felt like it was going to take at least a hundred feat to stop at 30 mph. The brakes at least suggest the truck to stop and it does, eventually...
Ride - 1
Empty: Boing, Boing, Boing. The really stiff rear suspension makes this thing incredibly bouncy on the highway. I wanted to try to reach the governor (limit to 75), but any time the truck went above 70 it would shake violently. It is like driving with permanent wheel hop. (Note: I conducted this test with it unloaded because I wasn’t doing silly stuff with my whole livelihood in the back. )
Loaded: Take a tree turn it on its side and put wheels on it. It is heavy, stiff, and unwieldy, but at least it didn’t bounce as much.
Handling - 1
The truck had 5000 miles on it and there was already plenty of play in the misaligned wheel. I felt like I had to turn the wheel an excessive amount just to get it to turn a normal intersection corner. I imagine it is similar to the steering of a Mark IV Continental.
Gearbox - 2
Did you know that these trucks have a manual mode?! Sure it is a column shifter and the manual shift is suppose to be for towing, but hell, let’s do an acceleration run for grins and giggles. Foot to the floor and rowing through the gears (though I am just pressing a silly button on the shifter) was very comical. Other than that, the transmission is geared for torque and it does that job adequately well.
Audio/Toys - 2
It has the best radio 2008 can provide. It is not the best thing in the world, but it did drown out the noise of everything falling in the back of the truck.
Sound (Engine) - 2
If you are looking for a loud, rumbling V8, look no further than a box truck. The metal on metal action of the cab and the box amplifies the humming noise of the engine to glorious thunder. The shaking of the sides as you hurdle down the highway empty sings to the breeze. Pack some Tylenol or earplugs, you’ll need it.
Dash/Infotainment - 0
The speedometer should be rewritten by adding “-ish” to every number. It is somewhat close to what it should be a bit, but not quite. I may be indicating 30, but it is somewhere between 27 and 33, eh, close enough.
Visibility - 0
I can’t see sh it. I am driving a damn house.
To be fair, the mirrors were more than adequate on the left side of the truck. However, power mirrors are a necessity. The right mirror was a pain in the ass to adjust . Yes, let me reach 20ft across the truck and adjust the mirror only to wander back and see that it is not even close to where I need it.
Lane changes went as follows.
Mirror, Sh oulder check, “Shit can’t see,” Panic, Remember tiny mirror, breathe, mirror check, signal, gently urge over hoping not to run over any Aveo’s.
Utility Value - 4
It’s a big box that I can fit a house in. Can’t do that with your E63 AMG Wagon eh Doug...
Value - 3
Renting the box truck was a easy and painless experience. Pricing was very good and the truck performed the exact task it was suppose to do. Compared to the full service moving companies, this was a no brainer. For some of the price they were charging, I could go out into rural Nebraska and buy a box truck.
Total: 20/52 - 38%
I finally got to check driving a box truck off my bucket list. It is a truly terrifying experience and shares almost no correlation to Euro Truck Simulator. That said, I am now an expert at driving box trucks and have no fear once I have to do it again. O nce you get use to the mirrors, always driver forward, and stay on the widest roads possible it really isn’t all that bad. The truck itself can be described as big, slow, uncomfortable, and slightly barbaric in terms of creature comforts , but it got the job done and that is all it is suppose to do.
Urambo Tauro
> bwp240
08/03/2018 at 12:34 |
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Are these ratings with the truck loaded or unloaded?
LOREM IPSUM
> bwp240
08/03/2018 at 12:45 |
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ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
> bwp240
08/03/2018 at 12:55 |
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Did you ever reverse the thing?
XJDano
> bwp240
08/03/2018 at 13:18 |
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Rent a 24’. These 16’ aren’t too bad. I drive them all the time. We use enterprise now though and it’s all fords or Izusus.
Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW!
> bwp240
08/03/2018 at 13:46 |
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At work we have a box van that size and it has the 4.8. WHYYYYYYY????? Why not the 6.0? It has the 6L80 in it but it’s almost never in 6th gear. It's ridiculous. I want to put a turbo on it.
lone_liberal
> bwp240
08/03/2018 at 13:55 |
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I wonder how this would compare to the 20' U-Haul I rented a couple of weeks ago. That one was a Ford and thoroughly used but easy enough to maneuver once I got the feeling for it. It helped that no highway driving was involved and I had a copilot to adjust the passenger side mirror for me. It also helped that I didn’t have to back in to anything narrower than a 3-car wide driveway. Ramp was solid, if a bit steep and the A/C could be used to hang meat so that was a plus.
Old Red Wagon
> bwp240
08/03/2018 at 16:10 |
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I’ll have the privilege of driving one of these when I make the 21 hour drive later this year to Miami. It’ll be an interesting trip, might be towing my M2 on a trailer as well.
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bwp240
> ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
08/03/2018 at 17:36 |
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My very first task was backing it up 200ft solo in a parking lot and around a 90 degree turn because they gave it to me in a spot where I couldn’t get it out.
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bwp240
> Urambo Tauro
08/03/2018 at 17:37 |
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I tried to remove the loaded/unloaded variable as much as I could. I would rate some stuff slightly higher loaded.
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ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
> bwp240
08/03/2018 at 18:04 |
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I’m uneasy just reading that. Good job!
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bwp240
> ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
08/03/2018 at 18:13 |
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They gave it to me cab facing up, and I had to make a left onto HWY 9, thought about just backing and sliding over, but I had to look about 160 deg to the right to see traffic. All I saw was a big aluminum box, so I had to back through the narrow parking lot to the turnaround.
Euro Truck 2 does sometimes apply in real life lol.
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ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
> bwp240
08/04/2018 at 15:42 |
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That....is..... something