Why would they let a women like this even review any truck. She is comparing it to an effin Prius. WTF

That's some of the shoddiest "journalism" I've ever had the misfortune of reading. I'll stay tuned for the next article where she blithers on for two pages about how she gets into the back of the bed of the pickup. Maybe she'll do a ballet and talk about her personal trainer some more, or her favorite brand of tea, anything that doesn't have anything to do with this truck is what I'm after boy howdy!

Next week: Martha Stewart's article on the T-REX earthmover!

The NYT has as much a right to review a full-size pickup (regardless of whether or not it comes from their corporate concubine) as Paris Hilton has the right to appeal her conviction, i.e. none whatsoever.

What next, the National Review doing an article on great tofu receipes?

The NYTimes auto section has always been a sorry excuse for journalism.

Their review of the C6 Vette acknowledged what a stupendous performance bargain it was, but ultimately concluded it a disappointment because it wasn't technologically advanced enough beyond the C5.

The C6 is far from perfect, but such an obviously contrived excuse to give a satsifyingly negative review to the NYTimes audience made me stop reading it altogether.

Ok, here is my amusing comment on the Tundra test drive.

No wonder she fell flat on her face.

Did you read here Texas eight step process.

I came up with my own version of the Texas two-step - call it the Tundra eight-step. Step one: open the door. Step two: grab handle. Step three: right foot goes up. Step four: left foot up.

Step five: pause for balance and reflection. Step six: ease behind the wheel. Step seven: sit down. Step eight: close the door and reach for lap belt.

She forgot at least two steps(pun intended) - - -GIRL, PUT YOUR FEET BACK DOWN

For those of you who do not wish to read it, i'll sum it up:

"Oh my god! it's so... BIG! Why would they make it so big? I can't even get in it!"

I do have to congratulate her on defeating Toyotas patented FEPS (Female Entry Prevention System) which was designed with the safety of the public in mind, no doubt.

If it keeps chicks out of em, MAKE EM EVEN BIGGER!

To be fair, Maynard is a business writer and doesn't purport to know a damn thing about driving (she rolls a crossover, fer crissake).

That said, the Christopher Jensen review of the truck is a heap of dealer-sourced specs and google-search factoids. I'm not convinced that he actually drove the truck. At least Maynard gave it a shot.

I love the NYT, but its Auto section doth suck righteously (except for running columns by Ezra Dyer, who rocks). Not too long ago, one of the writers was complaining about the difficulty of operating the MMI in the Audi A6 while driving at 80mph with a coffee cup in one hand. Fucker, that kind of behaviour is why road rage happens!

To be fair, the Maynard piece was meant to be more of an impressions feature focusing on the truck's hugeness, not an actual full vehicle review. Buckster, you missed the point.

No, I didnt miss the point.

The next time I test drive a sports car I will compare the approach and departure angles to and FJ.

That is how absurd this article is.

Buckster, you missed the point.

I understand it is just to give scale but it still pisses me off

@nutbastard:

Haha. Golf clap.

Way to further the stereotype of the trendy modern woman who's too ignorant to fathom a vehicle designed for hard work. First two paragraphs really beg the question, why is she getting paid for this? Comin' up next, a Hell's Angels member takes a look at the new Twike! (wtf is that thing anyway?)

To mix up that stereotype, my friend's mom has a dandy time driving her F-250 Powerstroke Diesel, so no complaints about being too big there. (Though if you want to abuse her for her choice of vehicle, that's not my problem.)

Either way, at least they didn't look at a GM product, or you'd never hear the end of it.

Mickie does the reader a great disservice by comparing herself to Heather Mills. That makes the reader think that Mickie is proportioned similarly to the skin-and-bones Mills. Mickie, to say politely, is proportioned somewhat more generously. No wonder she couldn't get in the damn truck. It's like when journalists write, "This car snaps and surges when I shift gears, therefore it sucks," not acknowledging they don't know how to drive a stick-shift.

@Yozzie: Get outta here, Dyer writes for the Times? Clearly, I've been foolish to stop reading it.

If only I could get my head far enough up my own ass to pay to use their website, I'd research his articles.

Wait... Did she really compare her clumsy lack of grace in climbing into a pickup truck... Did she really compare that to a one legged woman attempting competitive dancing?

That's stunning.

i honestly didn't find it that much worse that any other auto review sites' review of a truck designed for working. jalopnik, the truth about cars, and edmunds are not good. autoblog is ok.
4x4 sites are good for heavily modded trucks, but not good for stock.

i'll even give her props for not bitching about the fuel consumption, which i'm sure ttac and edmunds would have done.

and i'll admit that it's much more difficult to review trucks, when you are used to zipping around in super sports cars. no site has got a large boat to drag up and down some hills. no site has got a dusty track to see how quickly the electronics crap out. no review site slaps on a grill guard and pushes stuff over, or a brush field to see how much tree branches scratch up the paint.

with none of those, the truck is always gauged on 0-60, comfort, and handling, which is never gonna match a car, so it's difficult to re-orient to compare full size trucks.

though honestly, it's not that big of a deal really. i read the truck reviews the same as i would for a bad review of a movie i have no intention to seeing - for humor, for highway handling, which is typically at odds with offroad, and just because they are there.

With all the 'new media' offerings that the Times has come up with as of late (Pogue's odd, yet admittedly hi-larious tech videos anyone?), its easy to see that they're going for a quote "younger demographic" and become "more lighthearted" to attract all the younger readers that it so desperately needs.

Bad journalism? Mostly
Good for a laugh and perfect for a book of short stories? Sign me up for a copy!

I can just see it now:
"The New York Times: All We Wanted Was Some Sweet Young Lovin'!"

Available now from Puffin Books.

I wouldn't even wipe Paris Hilton's arse with the NY Times!

@smokeydog001:

I wouldn't even wipe Paris Hilton's arse with the NY Times!

Is there some substance out there you do find adequate for that task?

I just don't think I'd wipe Paris Hilton's arse, at all.

Ha, try the NYT review of the movie "Cars", wherein the reviewer bitches about the lack of hybrid car characters: http://tinyurl.com/2x5d35

I love reading the NYT, but I go elsewhere for automotive news. You can't be good at everything.

@area_educator:

A cactus comes to mind.

She did get one thing right - there are a lot of Priuses (Priii?) in Ann Arbor ;-)

@nutbastard: HAAA... That nails it.