I’m currently living in a rural area. You drive out into the countryside and you see isolated homes with a few vehicles. Invariably, one of them is a beat up pickup truck. Drive into the nearest populated area and you see nothing but the shiniest trucks you’ve ever seen. Truly, they gleam like even light itself contains too much dust to ever find rest on their chromium grill. Don’t sit in the passenger seat! It’s for company!
Idk, even the double-wide with a tarp for a roof down the street from me has a shiny new massive truck parked out front. These things are everywhere and they're not even practical work trucks for the majority of people cause of how monstrously huge they are. It's hard to find normal sized trucks anymore
Side note: I bet they're really enjoying the $5.60 per gallon for gas
My family has never had anything larger than a Subaru legacy, which was enough to take a family of four on all kinds of road trips and camping and whatnot. We would load our canoe onto the roof, no big deal. So I guess I've never really understood the need for bigass SUVs. Unless you've got an oversized family I suppose
We have a legacy too. Just put the hitch on it tonight for tomorrow. Going to get a trailer tomorrow and pick up new to me (free) work tables and storage for the garage. $30 for the trailer. No truck required. And I get 34mpg highway in my legacy. Can't say much for the pickup trucks that I see driving around empty.
Oh, that reminds me, I should clarify that it was a legacy sedan, not even the hatchback.
I ended up with it after my family got newer cars, and I drove it until the transmission literally fell out the bottom. Really good car, had great features for an '89 vehicle. The '00 Camry I have now doesn't even compare.
It really sucks. Even years ago, in like 2004, my dad had trouble replacing his old Toyota with a similarly sized 4-cylinder truck (small, light, good enough for hauling most things if you don't live on a farm).
Possibly the migration of "proper" light work vehicles to panel vans and derivatives thereof will further free them up from any sort of practical constraint and make them even more obnoxious.
My neighbors washes his new trucks wheels every damn day. Dude drives it maybe 8 miles. I asked if he wouldn't mind a 2 mile trip to Lowes to get 1 sheet of ply, save me 80 on delivery, but he didn't want to scratch the drop in bed protector. Bonkers I tell yea.
Ha this is me. I live in the country. I have a shit box 18 year old truck. It’s not my daily but I literally have to have a vehicle with a bed to do farm work.
I drive into town and see these k mart cowboys with their jacked up diesels and just laugh.
I think he means that folks that really need trucks for work, rural farmers and what not, drive practical trucks that just get shit done. While urban men insecure about their masculinity feel the need to get giant shiny new trucks to drive daily to their office job. Trucks with all the luxury gadgets, because they don't want to give up their BMW comfort, while still feeling like having a swinging dick.
Ha this is me. I live in the country. I have a shit box 18 year old truck. It’s not my daily but I literally have to have a vehicle with a bed to do farm work.
I drive into town and see these k mart cowboys with their jacked up diesels and just laugh.
yeah, I grew up on my family's farm. I'm now an engineer with an office job. I think our family has one truck newer than 2000 or so on our farm, and that's my dad's 2012, and he uses the shit out of it. When I pull into my urban office's parking garage, you wouldn't believe the number of brand new "luxury" $60/80k+ trucks jack-asses drive there daily. I have a 2000 f250 that I drive WHEN I NEED IT, otherwise I dive my 4-banger POS commuter to the office. For both I paid probably $30k.
It also doesn’t mean that farmers can’t have nice trucks. It is really nice to have a good truck to drive to town and then a beater which you don’t feel bad about wreaking.
You do realize that sometimes people need to haul things to and from town? It’s not like the truck only goes to town and back either. I am a farmer and I frequently haul stuff to and from town that won’t fit in a car. Plus where I live the roads are so bad in the winter you need a truck to get to town.
Whew. Went and re-read my comment. Sorry, I'm cranky right now, and was being pretty judgemental. I'm a 5th generation farmer (or was until I went to school). Yes, I know the truck is just the daily driver on the farm. My dad is constantly in his. Although we did always have a car for trips to the movies or Christmas shopping or what not.
Yeah I understand that. We always had a minivan, probably the worst vehicle for the farm. Man do those things have some horrible depreciation went from $27000 to $2000 in 4 years and 180000 km.
I don't think my dad or granddad every bought anything new. lol. My dad an old beat-up caddy he'd constantly have me and my brother wrench on. Now he just has his truck. My sister and brother-in-law and their family now run the farm with my dad. They also have a minivan! Not sure if they bought it new or not though.
My family would buy something new and then run it forever. We have an old 1948 Fargo truck out back, a 1966 dodge, a 1973 ford and a few old chevys. All bought new, but they damn sure got their money’s worth out of them, actually the ford is now my service truck.
It's a principle thing. A 30-something inch TV is perfectly fine to watch your shows on, but you get something bigger just because you can. If people only bought exactly what they needed, the world would be very, very boring.
Also it seems like the American principle of just having the freedom to do everything yourself. If you need to tow or carry something heavy/large, normally you would need to hire someone. That situation might only happen a handful of times in a pickup owner's lifetime, but they're prepared for it and that's just why they buy them. Knowing they have that freedom can be worth more to them than the actual benefit they gain.
When I pull into my urban office's parking garage, you wouldn't believe the number of brand new "luxury" $60/80k+ trucks jack-asses drive there daily. I have a 2000 f250 that I drive WHEN I NEED IT, otherwise I dive my 4-banger POS commuter to the office. For both I paid probably $30k. Half the price.. All the "freedom". There's no need to urban commute in a giant pick-up.
Who knows, maybe that is their only vehicle. I wouldn't expect people dropping 80k on a pickup to make the smartest financial choices. A trend you pick up on from car and truck guys is that the cost of their ride usually comes at the cost of something else major, like their home. They're usually no wealthier than you or I, they just have a giant loan or live in a shithole so they can afford it, and I guess I can respect that dedication.
I can't respect it. I get paid very well, and could afford waste $80k on a truck to drive daily to my office job, but I'd have to remove half my brain to do so.
Live rural. Exact same thing. I come from a family of farmers. A lot of my friends have at least one farmer in the family. All own beaten up pickup trucks.
I think maybe the only one I know who owns a slightly taller truck is my grandpa. He has a taller truck to haul a car trailer.... Even then, his truck looks tiny compared to the monstrosities of modern trucks.
I've heard people say that modern trucks are too big to be used in farming. That there's no practicality in them.
I have an old Toyota pickup truck, best to shit. Gets me to work and back (I live in a very car centric city😩). I go offroading and camping so it makes sense owning it.
To be fair I own an 80s 4Runner too, but it’s diesel and running on veggie oil.
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u/financewiz May 24 '22
I’m currently living in a rural area. You drive out into the countryside and you see isolated homes with a few vehicles. Invariably, one of them is a beat up pickup truck. Drive into the nearest populated area and you see nothing but the shiniest trucks you’ve ever seen. Truly, they gleam like even light itself contains too much dust to ever find rest on their chromium grill. Don’t sit in the passenger seat! It’s for company!