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Stupid question: what’s up with trucks in urban areas? I understand the utility of a truck in rural/farm setting but never figured why folks want to lug around
by sytelus 7y ago
Stupid question: what’s up with trucks in urban areas? I understand the utility of a truck in rural/farm setting but never figured why folks want to lug around that pointless empty half while living in cities. Two of the folks I know who owns trucks have used empty halfs probably twice in a year when bringing home some furniture but that too could have delivered free by the store. Again, as I said, stupid question.
- GhettoChild 7y agoAs someone who has a truck in an urban area I have one just for the reason you listed. I dont use the bed often but when I need it I do not have to make special arrangements. While it is true that sometimes its possible to get free delivery for some larger items thats no guarantee and you have are dependent on their schedule versus being able to do it on yours. If you're going to have a vehicle the flexibility of a truck is second to none.
- adrianN 7y agoWhy not use a normal car and a trailer?
- GhettoChild 7y agostoring a trailer is even more complicated than just having a truck. Also, its extra steps.
- unicornporn 7y agoBecause: murica. No seriously, trailer would be the sensible option if you only use the bed sporadically. Why ride around with lots of unused spaced and dead weight?
- GhettoChild 7y agoHow isn't that the case with just about every vehicle on the road? well, Unless you have a smart car.
- wongarsu 7y agoAdding more cargo space is easy with a trailer. Adding more passenger space isn't. And some permanent cargo space for weekly shopping is easier to justify than cargo space you need twice a year.
- kortilla 7y agoAnd where do you keep the trailer? That’s a lost garage spot and many HOAs don’t allow you to leave them parked wherever outside.
- wongarsu 7y agoOver here in (Western) Europe most people rent a trailer when they need it, unless you are living more rural. If you need it once in a blue moon then renting isn't really an issue. Many places that sell large things, like IKEA, also rent out large vans basically for free if you purchase from them.
- kortilla 7y agoRight, but if you’re willing to rent, might as well just rent a truck on demand. At this point you’ve shifted the goal posts to, “why do people buy things and underutilize them instead of renting on demand”? Why have a guest room when there are hotels you can send visitors to? Why have a 4 door car that incurs most of its mileage in a commute with 1 or 2 people?
- GordonS 7y agoOr just hire a van - I do this once a year or so when I need to move a lot of stuff. It's £30 for a day with a small van, £70 for a LWB transit (which is massive), or only £100 for a box van with a tail lift (basically a small lorry).
- lazyjones 7y agoWhere I live, you need separate insurance and in most cases a special license for a trailer. Also, in urban areas it's harder to find a place to park the trailer when you don't need it.
- Dig1t 7y ago1.) Hitching a trailer is a hassle, especially if you're trying to hook it up by yourself. 2.) Storing a trailer can be annoying, depending on style, and some HOA's or apartments don't like the idea of one sitting around in plain site. 3.) The shape of many trailers is not as conducive to some tasks. An example: a lot small/medium trailers are square or enclosed. If I want to haul some 8 foot (or 16 foot if you have an extended-bed truck) 2x4's home from Home Depot, I can throw them in the bed of my truck with relatively little difficulty. There are many trailers that don't work for something like this. In fact, I can't think of any trailers that would work with 16 foot boards..
- jorvi 7y agoYou don't buy a trailer, you rent it for €20 for a few hours (or a few more bucks for the entire day), move whatever stuff you needed to move and then bring it back. No storage or HOA issues.
- akvadrako 7y agoHe said "without further arrangements". You could rent a truck too but the extra hassle involved in renting anything is often not worth it, especially if you also have to coordinate a few other things or people.
- asynch8 7y agoNot worth the hassle? The last two moves I've done that involved renting have been supereasy, i pre-book the wagon online and then just flash my ID, then paying afterwards
- leetcrew 7y agotowing a trailer requires more skill than driving a pickup. there are some non-obvious but very dangerous mistakes you can make with a trailer that might not occur to you if you drive a small car most of the time. for example, if you load the trailer in a way where the center of gravity is behind the axle (or it shifts there while driving), you have just created an unstable system that will fishtail your car at speed. I really wouldn't recommend that the average American driver use a trailer. renting a pickup from home depot is a good option though.
- imgabe 7y agoIf you live in an apartment in an urban area, where are you going to store a trailer when you're not using it?
- tiglionabbit 7y agoI have a Toyota Matrix. It's a hatchback with a back seat that folds down into a flat bed. It's big enough for me to fit a bike without removing the wheels. Works for appliances and furniture as well.
- foobarian 7y agoDoes it fit 4x8 sheets of plywood/drywall?
- tiglionabbit 7y agoDunno. Maybe if you also pushed the passenger side seat forward enough?
- voidmain0001 7y agoYES! I had a 2003 Pontiac Vibe, same car - different cladding, and the best feature of the hatchback was that the glass also flipped up independent of the hatch. I once stuck a massive snowblower in it that was only possible because the glass was up and the handles were hanging out. I really like station wagons / hatchbacks, but their killer utility feature is a rear window that flips open or rolls down into the hatch. Sadly no cars are made with that feature anymore.
- jaaron 7y agoChiming in as another one. I live in Los Angeles. Four years ago, I bought a pick up truck. In my case, I don't have a long commute. I can bike to work. So when I need a vehicle, it's to take my kids around, haul something I can't carry with my bike, or head out of the city for camping/adventuring/etc. The truck has been perfect. As it is, I use the bed of the truck at least once a week. I use it like all the other SUVs on the road, only I much prefer the flexibility of a proper truck, let alone the real offroad and towing capabilities. Moreover, I know it's going to last pretty much forever and should I get a second, electric vehicle, there really won't ever be a time when having a truck on hand won't be useful.
- wongarsu 7y agoTrucks in urban settings are an exclusively American thing. Because of the chicken tax [1], a 20% import duty on trucks, foreign trucks are unprofitable in the US. This lack of competition incentivizes American auto makers to create as much domestic demand for trucks as possible. 1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax
- laurent123456 7y agoI'd expect the lack of competition, especially from Japan, would make the American trucks more expensive and less reliable.
- FractalParadigm 7y agoAdd to that the hardcore brand loyalty a lot of truck owners seem to have, it really is surprising. What else is really surprising to me is their resale value, especially when they are optioned with desirables such as 4x4 or a diesel powertrain; 10-15 year old Dodge Rams with the Cummins are still selling in the $10k+ range, with some of the nicer 10-year-old examples fetching closer to $20k, roughly half the original MSRP
- Dig1t 7y agoThere is actually a fair amount of competition from Japan. The Toyota Tundra/Tacoma, Nissan Titan/Frontier, and Honda Ridgeline are all popular and in some ways better trucks than their American counterparts. I think many "truck people" are also people who tend to prefer domestically-made goods; in the same way that people shopping at Home Depot are more likely to buy products with the "Made in the USA" sticker on them.
- maxwell 7y agoThe Tundra is the only full-size truck made in Texas. The Titan is made in Mississippi. The Ridgeline in Alabama. Those who identify as Republicans seem to indicate willingness to pay more for Made in USA than Democrats according to the polls I've seen. https://morningconsult.com/2017/11/21/poll-support-for-purchasing-made-in-usa-goods-jumps-but-dont-credit-trump/ https://morningconsult.com/2017/11/21/poll-support-for-purch... https://morningconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/171016_crosstabs_BRANDS_v2_AP-1.pdf https://morningconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/171016...
- caleblloyd 7y agoI found that once I owned a home, the utility for a truck doing "weekend warrior" tasks was great. Runs to the dump, transporting furniture, soil/mulch, firewood. Standard towing package for a boat or a rental trailer. Can also fit bikes, kayaks, skis, and camping equipment, no need for expensive roof rack accessories. We use my wife's crossover for all of the family trips, so it's usually just me in the truck. Before I owned a home I enjoyed driving a nicer sedan but now I would now I prefer the utility of a mid-size truck.
- brnt 7y agoI drive a Fiat Panda and I do all of those things. I perhaps spend a bit more time fitting stuff in (kayaks/skis have to go on top obviously).
- fingerlocks 7y agoIt’s the first three items in OPs list that separate the truck from the crossover. It would not be feasible to carry a volume of garden soil, lumber, or furniture in your Panda.
- sgt 7y agoI believe the Fiat Panda is pretty roomy if you put the seats down. I think sometimes it helps to have a truck if you're transporting more rough and dirty stuff. You'll not just mess up your seats in the Panda, but also potentially the exterior and door seals/trims etc.
- caleblloyd 7y agoA lot of it is possible for sure. I used to do a lot these things in a Subaru WRX (minus the towing of course). Even drove home from Lowe's with an assembled grill on my roof rack once. Always hated filling a sedan with trash, yard garbage, or landscaping materials though.
- cpursley 7y agoThese are neat vehicles. Unfortunately not available in the US. Well, I think there might be a Jeep on the same platform.
- VvR-Ox 7y agoIt is absolutely no stupid question. That you ask this just shows you are a reasonable person :) 1. It is a status symbol (as in "my car is bigger than your car") 2. It is sturdier and has more weight so it will physically dominate the average car in an accident and provide more security to it's passengers.
- lambdadmitry 7y ago> physically dominate the average car in an accident This is just such an American way of putting it. Sounds so much nicer than "kill everyone in the other vehicle to provide a marginally higher chance for its owner" but it's basically the same thing
- theodric 7y agoAt a certain point tho, if everyone else is driving a truck, you either drive a compact out of pure moral-high-ground spite or you get a truck/full-size SUV as well to even your chances of survival. I'm not saying escalation is a Good Thing™, only that it's inevitable when people are culturally obsessed with driving absurd bullshit.
- mcv 7y agoOr you keep driving a sensible car because you don't want to give in to the stupid and prefer to spend your money elsewhere.
- walterstucco666 7y agoYeah, f*ck pedestrians or people who can't afford to waste 50k to buy a wannabe tank. What's next, people driving real tanks?
- braythwayt 7y agoOr you do the math and realize that with a modern, safe automobile, your chance of dying in an accident with a pickup is so small that upgrading your own vehicle to a pickup is a rounding error. To be clear, I agree that humans being humans, we do love to get into escalating arms races.
- tonyedgecombe 7y ago>Again, as I said, stupid question. People will come up with all sorts of justifications for what is really an emotional purchase. If you don't believe this take a look at the marketing for cars, the further upmarket you go the more it is laden with emotional triggers. Buy this car and your wife will become slim and attractive, your kids will love you, roads will become empty and smooth before you, that new speed boat will suddenly be within reach and trailerable. Never mind the reality of endless car payments, clogged up streets, increasing pedestrian deaths, kids not being able to play outside, particulate pollution and climate change.
- randcraw 7y agoIn the US, for many folks, their vehicle is an identity statement. Generally minivans, sedans, and econoboxes are the exceptions, but the marketing here for most other car models tries hard to sell some demographic that they can claim somehow to be special. And interesting. I suspect the majority of pickup owners want to make such a statement. For them, driving an SUV would send the wrong message.
- JeremyNT 7y agoIn some cases it seems like pure conspicuous consumption. The sheer impracticality of it is a badge of honor. This is not atypical for American consumerism. In fact, I wonder about the Tesla truck's appeal. I feel like the oversized truck's negative ecological impact is one part of its appeal, do does an electric truck actually end up selling? Here in the South, some pickup drivers modify their exhausts to spew toxic smoke ("rolling coal") which is clearly not an option with the Tesla...
- erikig 7y agoThat’s so true, trucks and SUVs like the Mercedes G Wagon, the Ford Raptor (the F150’s rowdy cousin) and maybe even the Range Rover HSE are typical Veblen Goods. They do really well in urban areas specifically because they are over-engineered and are overkill for the purpose they are used for and are not afraid to show it off. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cybertruck does well for the exact same reason.
- andrepd 7y agoYou heard the man. He's going to buy one for "status symbol". God save us...
- JC5413789642675 7y agoBetter than the same person buying a gasoline or diesel engine pickup.
- leetcrew 7y agoI'm a small car kind of guy myself and generally consider trucks in the city to be silly. my last roommate had an f150 though and there are a couple of advantages. some of the roads in my area are simply awful, so jarring to drive on in my car that I have to go 10mph under the speed limit sometimes. there are also poorly designed intersections where you can easily hop the curb if you're not careful. driving a big truck means you don't have to care about this stuff. you don't feel the bumps at speed and you can just drive right over the curb with no problem. people don't cut you off or pull other aggressive moves on you nearly as often. my roommate has driven away (after exchanging info!) from two accidents where the other car was totaled. I don't want one myself, but I can understand the appeal.
- syshum 7y agoAside from the Hauling and Towing. The primary reason I prefer Trucks and Full Size SUV's is the Ride Height. I am 6' 2", Climbing in and out of a Car that sits 6in's off the ground is not fun for me, and I do not want to do that every day. I prefer lateral movements, and a Truck or Full Size SUV's standard Height is just about perfect for me
- ptaipale 7y agoA thing like VW Touran or Renault Scenic will do that for you with much smaller fuel consumption, better ride, and also easier parking in tight places. (I'm 6'2" = 188 cm and >100 kg and VW Golf Sportsvan is very convenient, no need to step much up or down). (And they will tow the things that most people tow, like a trailer that weighs a ton).
- syshum 7y agoRenault does not exist in the US at all (or at least not in my part of the US) VW Touran has a ground clearance of 156MM or 6.14 Inches and to total height of 1659mm or 65in , my Truck as a ground clearance of ~10in and a total height of 77in, that may seem like a small amount but is huge difference to me. a VW Touran is exactly the type of vehicle I avoid Further while available are not practical because there are very few mechanics that can work on them or have parts for them it has to go to the dealer which is $$$$$$ I tend to Stick to American Manufactured vehicles from Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc.
- ptaipale 7y agoGround clearance is good if you drive off-road or on very bad roads - you didn't mention that. If you drive on regular roads, 6 inch ground clearance is just fine, and you experience of the height at which you go to the car is not about ground clearance, it's about the height of the seat from the ground. For me, Touran class is very nice: I don't need to sit down or step up. If you are 98 % of time driving on good roads, the generally lower center of mass makes things like a Touran or Toyota Verso safer and better to drive than a truck. If you really need some more ground clearance, then there are things ranging from Honda CR-V (a very nice drive but a ground clearance closer to 8 inches) to Suzuki Jimny (a vehicle with actual off-road capability, but driveable on roads and small). Of course there are people who actually do need a truck, but very often the cited reasons sound more like excuses. Buying American, when you are yourself American, is of course a thing for many.
- om3n 7y agoI live in a northern Midwest suburb, in a region that receives a lot of snow in the winter. I have driven older trucks my whole life, in part because of of the 4x4 capability for winter driving. I also enjoy being the guy who keeps a tow strap in the toolbox and hauls people out of ditches. Hard to do that without a heavy 4x4 vehicle. When you have the bed, you realize there are a lot more uses for it than you might otherwise think. Other than just hauling stuff, the tailgate acts as a bench to sit on- I used to have lunch with my wife every day in the summer like this. At an outdoor event (like fireworks, outdoor concert in a park, etc.) I've lined the bed with blankets and lounged at comfortable height with 3 friends and great view of whatever is going on. For me, the real key is to own an older truck that you don't mind dinging or using to its potential. I buy used, with cash, and I don't spend more than $15K or so. I don't understand spending $65-75K on a brand new mall-crawling status symbol that will only start being used like a truck in 15 years by a guy like me. Although admittedly, I really like the look and presumed potential of the new Tesla truck. It's the first vehicle that I'd actually consider buying new. I wonder how well the stainless steel will hold up the salty roads- the bane of vehicles around here.
- close04 7y ago> there are a lot more uses for it than you might otherwise think This looks like a solution in search of a problem. People are buying stuff they don't need then finding a good justification for it (from their perspective). But almost anything can be justified this way. Even driving an 18-wheeler will have advantages you never thought about but this doesn't negate the downsides. Mainly that you carry around 4000-5000lbs (over 2000Kg) of metal mainly just to move 1 or 2 people and nothing more. This is a lot of wasted fuel and a lot of space taken in the street. Coal also has advantages but few people would dare defend it with this argument.
- jiofih 7y agoNo wasted “fuel” for an electric car, especially if it comes from 100% solar power...
- 7y ago
- qzx_pierri 7y agoWhite people love boots and pickup trucks. That’s like asking my uncle why he has a $1k sound system in his $2k car (black folks love bass). I think it’s a cultural thing.
- boatzart 7y agoI played in a band for years in Los Angeles and I loved being able to fit all of our gear into my truck on the weekends. Everyone was bummed when I finally sold the truck and bought a Prius. The Prius is surprisingly spacious and I could still fit my small drum kit and an amp or two but not our whole setup. Admittedly _much_ better for the weekday commute though.
- grumple 7y agoUrban person here. Anything I go on a trip or go camping (many times a year), or have to move or help someone else move (unfortunately also many times a year), I wish I had a truck. I'm paying for a vehicle anyway, why not have one that does everything I need? They are also useful if you own your own business that requires moving things around. Note that I do not own a truck, I just wish I did.
- rhinoceraptor 7y agoThere are two types of people: those who have trucks, and those who get their friends with trucks to help them move.
- maest 7y agoEveryone I know just rents a moving van/movers. Weird reason to own truck if you only do it so your friends will call you over to help them move.
- skykooler 7y agoAnd those who don't have friends with trucks, so have to rent one instead.
- prestonh 7y agoMoving with a pickup truck sounds miserable. Why not just rent a uhaul?
- base698 7y agoAs I told an old co-worker with a new 5 series BMW when he asked the same question: differentiator, every douche bag in LA has a BMW.
- bchociej 7y agoI think you're making a decent point, honestly. I live in a close-in suburb of a midwestern city and I think quite a few of the trucks in my neighborhood are probably 99% unnecessary from a utility standpoint. Having a reasonably sized pickup truck is a godsend for me right now, as I'm renovating our house and landscaping the yard. But frankly, since I work remotely, I really want this truck to be the last vehicle I ever purchase for myself (wife still commutes), and ideally we'll be a one-car household in the next 5 years.
- criddell 7y agoA truck in an urban area doesn't seem any stupider than a sports car. It's just a fun vehicle that people like to drive.
- almost_usual 7y agoThere are a ton of contractors in cities, in the Bay Area they probably make more than tech workers. There are also construction workers _everywhere_. There are mosquito fleet trucks in SF whose whole purpose is to collect recycling and take it to the recycling center. In western cities there are off-road enthusiasts who camp at places you can’t get to without a modified vehicle and winch (no crowded campsites). Some people just like trucks and will buy them because why not?
- organsnyder 7y ago> In western cities there are off-road enthusiasts who camp at places you can’t get to without a modified vehicle and winch (no crowded campsites). Backpackers seem to manage just fine.
- almost_usual 7y agoRight and both methods of transit are a hobby. There are plenty of OHV vehicles people live out of as well.
- ubermonkey 7y agoI live in Houston, where there are LOTS of very very clean very very expensive pickups. Most are status symbols that rarely see any true use. However, in my immediate social group, there are LOTS of smaller trucks or smaller SUVs, mostly because of the practicality for bicycling trips. Sure, you can do a roof rack or a hitch rack, but if you want to go out to the hill country with you and your wife and both MTB and road bikes, you find yourself wishing for a truck bed pretty fast. There's lots of overlap in this group with other outdoor activities -- camping, hiking, some fishing, a very small amount of hunting -- that reward actual trucks. My friend J has a full-size (read: HUGE) Ford with back seats and a long bed, and uses the HELL out of it, since he travels back and forth to Colorado with bikes pretty frequently. But he and his wife also have a VW they use for most urban driving. ;)
- 663e1b 7y agoWhat about quick release wheels? You can easily fit a bike in a compact car or two if it's something like a Mazda 3 / Prius
- JC5413789642675 7y agoHard to hose out the trunk or interior of a sedan after a dirty day of mountain riding.
- jtuente 7y agoUntil you try to pack your camping gear between the bikes and you end up with a cargo rack or cargo hitch.
- jonfw 7y agoI only own a compact and I use it for camping, mountain biking, dog hauling, etc. very regularly. I have utterly destroyed the interior of this car. The carpets are coming off of the floor, the seats are a mess, the headliner is well past what I can clean with a vacuum. The tabs that the bumper mounts to no longer exist, the drip tray under my motor lost a couple of mount points, etc. Absolutely will be buying a truck in the near future for these purposes- and selling this compact to a high school student or somebody else willing to drive a ragged out hybrid.
- tootie 7y agoNYC is constantly choked for public parking and the rise of SUVs has made it so much worse. If every Ford Explorer owner bought a Mini Cooper we'd get 10,000 parking spaces back and less smog too.
- globular-toast 7y agoThe US is a very wasteful society. It makes sense that they'd want to burn twice as much fuel as necessary to get themselves around. Watch Wall-E again to see where we're heading. Those "SUVs" are quite literally obese versions of the cars of the past. Obese vehicles to carry around obese, useless bodies.
- dang 7y agoNationalistic slurs aren't ok. Would you please stick to the rules so we don't have to keep banning you? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- globular-toast 7y agoHow is that a "nationalistic slur"? It is well known that the per-capita consumption in the US is roughly twice that of the rest of the developed world. I'm sorry to inform you of this, since you are clearly American, but learn to face the facts instead of drawing one of your "-ist" cards.
- dang 7y agoA comment like "obese vehicles to carry around obese, useless bodies" is not neutrally discussing "per-capita consumption in the US" or any "facts". That was a slur. If you keep posting flamebait, we're going to have to ban you. Actually you did it again with this reply, but I'll consider that an offshoot of the GP. Really though, why not follow the rules at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the spirit of this site to heart instead of getting serially banned? It's in your interests for at least three reasons. First, those rules are what keep HN interesting and prevent it from burning to a crisp. Scorched earth is no good for anyone, and there aren't that many places like HN on the internet, which for all its faults is worth preserving. Second, if you just blast the things you dislike with a flamethrower, it only discredits your positions. Keeping your cool, staying neutral, and explaining your point of view in a positive way would be more effective and have more dignity. Third, following HN's rules takes discipline and self-control, classical virtues which we all profit from cultivating. Btw, I'm not an American. Normally I wouldn't say that because the rules don't depend on what I am, nor is "American" somehow a bad thing to be. I mention it because you said "clearly". A lot of things—maybe most—that people perceive "clearly" on the internet are actually untrue. This is what happens when users function in flamewar mode. If you switch to thoughtful mode you are more likely to get your facts right and to help other people do the same. Basically the idea is to learn from each other. Don't you think that's worth doing?
- drcode 7y agoPeople assume trucks are safer in accidents, even though that is by most measures a wrong assumption- Humans are irrational in that way. (the other big reasons for their popularity is status signalling, and perverse incentives created by regulation of "passenger cars" as a category that have negatively impacted the quality of "regular cars" in the US.)
- jacurtis 7y agoWe have a term for this: "Cuz 'Merica" Yep, Americans love to overcompensate. It is in our DNA.
- everdrive 7y agoYou know the answer to this. People like status, image, and power.
- eximius 7y agoFor many, it is unneeded. For some, they only want the large vehicle, stability, and power for status or offroading. For some, they want to storage capacity for rare incidents. Some actually have use of it, just more rarely (say, a woodworking hobby). Then, certainly some professionals in construction have daily use of it. Hard to judge which demographic you're looking at while driving around.
- abawany 7y agoFrom my anecdotal experience, here are the main purposes: * Hauling stuff from the home improvement and warehouse stores. Single family houses are a bit of work depending on age and when they are not, HGTV is the devil's workshop that invents the work. * Safety: the feeling that regardless of who is at fault, you will live in a car crash. I have seen plenty of sad news reports where in a truck+car collision, the people in the car paid for it with their lives while the truck driver walked away. * Status: possible - just don't have enough social understanding to know whether this is still a thing. I can imagine a jacked-up F350 or Silverado may be a status symbol.
- dragontamer 7y agoPractical answer: the people who actually need to move furniture, or other large items, in a city environment use vans. Look at businesses and what their fleet vehicles are. No one uses an F150 in the city. Why? Because thieves very often steal stuff from the flatbed. If you actually want to transport large, bulky items in a city environment, you need to close off the back so that no one can look in and see the cargo. 2020 Ford Transit-350 Cargo is $35k. ------ F150 comes more in handy in rural areas, where there aren't thieves around. The flatbed is useful for hauling very large, oversized items, such as mountains of topsoil / compost, or rocks for your garden, or bundles of hay for stuff. But when it comes to "city items" like furniture (often valuable furniture, so thieves want it), or large equipment like computer racks and servers... a van wins.
- coryfklein 7y agoI'm a married father of 3 with 1/4 acre of property. I did fine without a truck for years, but I bought an old pickup for $5k last year as our second family vehicle. You can certainly make do with a smaller vehicle, but there are these occasional things that make having a truck suuuuper convenient. Some personal examples from the last year: * Needed to top dress my lawn and it only takes 3 loads of soil from IFA to cover my 1/4 acre * My father (who lives very close) bought a boat knowing he could use my truck to haul it when necessary. And yes, he talked to me about it first, and my family gets to use it whenever we want. * I built a treehouse in this giant willow in my front yard and could not have hauled the lumber or fireman's pole without a truck * With 5 people in the family we get huge Costco runs regularly, these are moderately easier to haul in the back of the truck. * I get social capital when bringing my truck to any family or friend moving parties * Used it to haul lumber, tools, and people when the extended family participated in our family cabin area's work day * Hauled my father inlaw's motorcycle+ATV trailer on a family outing IMO not everyone needs one, but in a community or geographically close family it is always nice to have that person you can call to borrow their truck, and if you're the one that has the truck then you get social capital when lending it and you also don't have to borrow one yourself. For us since it's a second vehicle it does sit idle most of the time while we use the minivan for typical travel needs. But I have space to park it, and the truck obviously isn't wasting gas when we're not using it. And since we paid cash and it was cheap, there's just not much of a downside to keeping it around.
- tunesmith 7y agoBack in the late 90's, for me anyway, buying a Ford Ranger strictly dominated just about any other choice. I didn't have a family/girlfriend so I didn't need the extra seats. 20mpg was pretty darn good compared to most trucks. The smaller cab meant I could heat/ac the interior pretty quickly. Easy to drive and maintain, and finally I had all that utility for when I needed it, which was rare but often enough to solve a lot of infrequent problems. It just seemed like the most practical choice. (I still have that truck, my family's other vehicle is a CRV.)
- eyegor 7y agoHere in the southern US, it's mostly a status symbol that people delude themselves into thinking they have a utility need for. Typically people here will have at most 5-6 true needs for one each year, and deal with horrible gas economy (and blinding folks in sedans) since gas is cheap. Around here there's a lot of towing (boats, trailers, etc) but it's rare to see anyone make use of the bed.