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Not 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

Not 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 ago
I 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 ago
  I rent trailers from U-Haul for that, it's only $15/day.
  - secabeen 8y ago
    Plus 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 ago
      Trailers 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 ago
        Untrained 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 ago
        Isn’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 ago
        Trailers 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 ago
        This 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.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - bluedino 8y ago
    You can rent a truck from any of the big home improvement store chains fairly cheap as well.
- fpoling 8y ago
  In 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 ago
      I 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 ago
        In 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 ago
        Interesting 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 ago
I 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.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- winrid 8y ago
  Not sure why you're getting down voted...
- slededit 8y ago
  I’m guessing your not happy with Ford and GM’s all new aluminum beds then?
farmerjoe_eatat 8y ago
As 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.

MisterOctober 8y ago

I 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 ago
I rent trailers from U-Haul for that, it's only $15/day.
- secabeen 8y ago
  Plus 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 ago
    Trailers 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 ago
      Untrained 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 ago
        Isn’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 ago
      Trailers 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 ago
        This 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.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- bluedino 8y ago
  You can rent a truck from any of the big home improvement store chains fairly cheap as well.
fpoling 8y ago
In 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 ago
    I 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 ago
      In 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 ago
      Interesting 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 ago

I 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.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
winrid 8y ago
Not sure why you're getting down voted...
slededit 8y ago
I’m guessing your not happy with Ford and GM’s all new aluminum beds then?

farmerjoe_eatat 8y ago

As 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.