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Do you need a truck? (If so that's just fine. But I'm in Texas, and I'm pretty sure most of these folks could get by on something smaller...)
by ghettoimp 8y ago
Do you need a truck?
(If so that's just fine. But I'm in Texas, and I'm pretty sure most of these folks could get by on something smaller...)
- azhenley 8y agoNot the OP, but I've recently had several similar discussions with friends/family about trucks when I bought my Tesla. I live in Tennessee, a popular truck area. They claimed to like trucks for the convenience. Being able to throw stuff in the back and not have to think about whether it will fit in a car. While I do understand this advantage, it would only help me 2-3 times a year, and I aim to optimize for the 95% of daily driving. There is definitely a social and fashion element to it too, just like there is with any brand/type of vehicle.
- MisterOctober 8y agoI disliked pickup trucks for their size and fuel consumption until I owned a house and got heavily into gardening. Home maintenance and significant garden activity are made waaaaay easier by having a truck [or big van, I guess] available. That said, I still don't personally own a truck, borrowing them as needed. An all-electric model of good quality would be pretty tempting to me.
- xyzzyz 8y agoI rent trailers from U-Haul for that, it's only $15/day.
- secabeen 8y agoPlus however long it takes to drive to u-haul, wait for them to check-out the trailer, hook it up, use it, then drive back to u-haul, return it, etc. Time is money.
- Scoundreller 8y agoTrailers should lend themselves well to the sharing economy, no? Minimal maintenance, largely stored sitting idle, no cleaning required. You don't even need to unethically deem your workers as contractors.
- tlb 8y agoUntrained people pulling poorly maintained trailers with under-sized vehicles and without the brake lights hooked up properly because there are several connector standards will cause a lot of wrecks.
- Scoundreller 8y agoIsn’t that what U-Haul does? Possibly behind a 28’ truck driven by a driver that’s never driven anything more than a Civic?
- darkpuma 8y agoTrailers are a huge pain in the ass, have you ever backed up with one? I've done my fair share of trailer towing and given the choice between a trailer and a pickup, I chose the pickup every time. Trailers have a capacity advantage though. Sometimes the shit you're moving simply won't fit in a large pickup truck. In those cases though, having a truck with sufficient power to tow that trailer is still handy...
- jessaustin 8y agoThis is an advantage of driving tractors as a child. Backing up a trailer is second nature for me. I can back around corners, between obstacles, whatever needs to be done, often without taking a hitch. One time I was driving a U-haul pulling a car on a dolly, so there wasn't one but two pivot points. I stupidly pulled into a gas station that didn't have a way to pull through, but I was still able to back out of it rather than suffering the ignominy of unloading the car. My grandfather scoffed when he heard about it; apparently county fairs used to have contests in backing up "four-wheeled wagons" which had similar configurations. The only thing you need is practice. The next time you use a trailer, take it to a big WalMart parking lot during a slow time and play around with it a little bit. You'll get a feel for where the "fulcrum" is, and start using your mirrors to steer. This isn't an impossible task. All the semi truck drivers you see on the road have to get really good at this in order to pass their CDL, and lots of them never backed up a trailer before they took the course.
- bluedino 8y agoYou can rent a truck from any of the big home improvement store chains fairly cheap as well.
- fpoling 8y agoIn Norway even in countryside people do not get pickups. It could be that trucks are just not very good in winter with snow and ice on mountain roads. Or people are not going to pay for extra fuel consumption with prices like 7 usd/gal. But trailers are widespread and gardening/furniture shops provide them either for free or for a very low price.
- richjdsmith 8y ago>trucks are just not very good in winter with snow and ice on mountain roads Canadian here who drives a truck in the snowy mountain roads, I'm pretty confused by this. Why do you say they are not good? There is nothing I'd rather be in than an F350 with studded tires and four-wheel drive on the highway when the road conditions go bad.
- fpoling 8y agoI meant a typical truck without 4-wheel drive. 4-wheels are much more expensive in Norway due to taxes. But there is another problem with trucks. It rains a lot in Norway especially on the west coast and in mountains. And it really sucks to load-transport-unload without the roof under the rain. Most trailers here are with the roof for this reason.
- bluedino 8y agoIn Canada you would be silly if you only bought a 2WD truck. You can also get a 'topper' for the bed to enclose the area. Vans are also popular for transport as well.
- richjdsmith 8y agoInteresting that 4WD is taxed differently. Is this due to fuel consumption reasons? On your last point, are truck canopies not common in Norway? Something like this: https://canopy-world.com/ https://canopy-world.com/
- fpoling 8y ago
- graycat 8y agoI like light trucks because they are for people who plow snow, carry bricks, lumber, cinder blocks, lawn mowing equipment, hogs, chickens, bails of hay, etc. in all weather over all roads and even no roads. E.g., there is good ground clearance for charging through snow, over rough ground, jumping curbs, etc. The suspensions are stiff, rugged, and long lasting, can take bad bumps and keep going with no damage. The light trucks have BUMPERS that actually work; so, can bump into something, push another truck, maybe by accident hit a deer some night, all with little or no damage. With no bumpers, lots of little bumps would need $1000+ for body repairs. So, as a result, light trucks are functional, rugged, and comparatively simple and easy to maintain. I.e., light trucks get rid of the nonsense luxury stuff I don't need, can't use, don't like, don't want, don't want to pay more for when I buy, and most of all don't want the cost and Excedrin headache #498,293,991 of maintenance. These trucks are much the same year after year, aren't "all new", and, thus, have a lot of the bugs, design errors, bad corrosion problems, and bad part kinks worked out. As soon as a seller claims "all new" I'll have to conclude the seller had a lot of problems with their models for the last several years and walk out saying "Maybe I'll see you again in 10 years.". "All new" may be good for Paris fashions, but I don't want it in a vehicle. These trucks have solid rear axles, usually with stiff leaf springs -- that is, RUGGED with no problems with alignment, weak bushings, etc. I like Ford and Chevy because they are made with parts readily available, from Ford, Chevy, or third parties, all over the US at relatively low prices now and for decades into the future, use English wrench sizes, and are well understood by a huge fraction of US mechanics. My next vehicle will be a light truck from Ford or Chevy even though I will rarely make good use of the bed in the back. For a vehicle I want a solid, mechanical tool, functional, rugged, durable, easy to maintain. As soon as a seller mentions luxury, I'm gone. Yup, like Jay Leno, I like blue jeans, too.
- farmerjoe_eatat 8y agoAs someone who grew up on a farm I always looked at rich people in a city that drove a truck kind of funny. I don't get it, but around where I grew up there is a middle class of people who go to church, listen to country music, and drive $50k trucks everywhere even though they get terrible mileage. As a tangent, if you go far enough out in the wilderness, having a truck makes some sense. You might have to drive a couple hours to the nearest store in some remote parts of the US that I've visited, and I can't imagine making the trip more than a couple times a month at most- and you may have to haul a load up and down several (potentially icy) mountains. However, I don't think that's why most people own trucks. It's a fashion thing, the same reason people drive most other $50k cars around.
- saosebastiao 8y agoI also tend toward the thought that most truck drivers don't need trucks. But people don't buy vehicles based on their median driving behavior, they buy them based on their ability to handle common but not daily needs. I'd venture to guess that most texans with pickups use their truck bed far more often than californians use their back seats.
- kstrauser 8y agoI use my back seats all the time. Where do you think we put our Whole Foods bags?
- zaroth 8y agoSurely the bags are reusable, so it’s not so much “Whole Foods bags” as it is, “bags of Whole Foods groceries”.
- kstrauser 8y agoI dunno. I’ve got a lot of bags. The kernel of truth in that: stores are required to charge for bags here (East Bay outside of SF). We have a bag of shopping bags - the “meta bag” - in our trunk so that we always have plenty available.
- Rapzid 8y agoIn Texas, can confirm. It's also crazy how much they spend on them. Pretty much a second mortgage for a lot of people based on income.. Can fit a lot in my hatchback and would just do what they do in New Zealand on the odd occasion I need more; rent a truck or van for the day.
- _underfl0w_ 8y agoAlso in Texas, can also confirm. My coworker dropped the phrase "Texas Cadillac" the other day. Couldn't cringe hard enough. I hope to be able to afford an electric car for my next car purchase - for now, just a tiny Mazda stick-shift. Kinda having second thoughts after reading that comment about battery production though...
- xnyan 8y ago> "Texas Cadillac" Also known as the redneck cadillac.
- thoughtpalette 8y agoI just learned that the term "redneck" actually comes from an old coal miner union strike that showed solidarity by using red kerchiefs hanging around their necks. I can't use that term in the same way ever again, fwiw.
- SECProto 8y ago> I just learned that the term "redneck" actually comes from an old coal miner union strike that showed solidarity by using red kerchiefs hanging around their necks. Curious, I reasearched this. While that was indeed one use of the term (especially re: the West Virginia mine war in 1921), the etymology for the term as we use it is from 1900ish, 20 years earlier. And it refers, more generally, to farmers and working class folk whose necks would be red from sunburn (wikipedia, well cited in the article on redneck). Stereotyping rural or working class or poor people using the term "redneck" is bad in its own right, but I dont think it originates from the strike of a coal miner's union. But thanks for leading me to do some research, it was interesting!
- 4thaccount 8y agoI also live in the South and most people in my Suburb have zero use for a truck, but will gladly spend $90 to fill up their gas guzzler. Why? Because it is a symbol of masculinity in the South and many men would never ever drive a car. Their grandfather had a truck, father had a truck, and they were given a truck as their first vehicle. It would have made sense for the grandparent on the farm, but if you sit in front of a computer 8 hours a day and live in a suburban neighborhood...you probably don't need a truck. With that being said, there are folks down here that still need trucks for work and recreational activities like hunting and towing a boat.
- fyfy18 8y agoHow heavy is the boat? A Toyota Corolla can tow up to 1500lb.
- toomanybeersies 8y agoA 20 ft trailer sailer will generally weigh around 1000 kg, plus trailer and rigging. And just because a Corolla can technically tow 1500 lb doesn't mean it does it well. In my experience Corollas do not tow well. The combination of small engine and relatively high gearing means that it's not really suitable. You really need at least a 2 L engine for towing. That's not to mention all the other stuff you end up carrying around for the boat, such as fuel, tools, life jackets, etc.
- sunstone 8y agoThese days you also have to be careful about which kind of transmission a car has. The CVT's generally can't pull any where near as much load as the older geared transmissions.
- haloux 8y agoHonestly, as someone who worked for AAA at the roadside, the Corolla is an admirable car in its own respects. Ive seen late 90s models absolutely abused and make it to the 150k mile mark. ... With that being said, if you try to tow a boat with a corolla, you’re practically sentencing the poor thing to transmission trouble and differential difficulties. I’d say that you’d be lucky to get a boat from driveway to launch ramp 3 separate trips before the transmission fails. All of that is assuming you can find someone to frame weld a tow hitch for a boat to the corolla.
- NorthOf33rd 8y agoI'm in Utah. I have a small wagon that gets 30+ mpg and and f-250. Do I need the 250? No. I don't really need the wagon either, I can take transit to work every day, or bike. Or walk. But I like having the 250 so I can haul loads of dirt by the yard for my garden, stone fill for the driveway I'm diy'ing, the compactor to tamp it down, drywall sheets for my remodel, or my mountain bike along with those of six buddies. And if I had to pick just one car? It'd be a truck.
- JohnJamesRambo 8y agoDo you need to fly in planes?
- geggam 8y agoHere in AZ the unimproved roads require truck level clearance
- JoeAltmaier 8y agoHaul my tractor on an 18-ft trailer. Make regular dump trips. Live on a 200ft driveway 2 miles from the paved road and have harsh winters, so the 4WD is very welcome. Bought it used, around $20K with 4 years / 80K miles on it. Lined the bed, replaced the transfer case motor and voila a pretty good truck that looks good! The $90/tank is because its a 36 gallon tank. Range around 600 miles full. With every advantage on the highway I've gotten > 20mpg but that's rare.