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I totally agree. When I lived in NM and Colorado I had a 4x4 truck because I liked to go out the mountains on forest roads and I also had a boat to tow. The old mid-80s single-cab F150 4x4 I had in Grand Junction Colorado was the best-handling vehicle on snow that I'd ever had. Looked a mess but handled great.
I brought a 4x4 truck with me when I moved to Silicon Valley, thinking I would use it to go out to the Sierras. But after a couple years of not doing that, and of always trying to find parking and trying to make U-turns on city streets, I got rid of it and replaced it with a small sedan which is ideally suited to commuting around here. I'm a firm believer in utility and getting what's suitable for the task at hand.
I also don't see the point of getting a two-wheel drive truck. If I get a truck, it's gotta be 4x4. Maybe that's based on my experiences growing up in snowy/mountain conditions. I suppose if you never go on dirt and if you live in some flat place that never snows, then I guess a 2x4 truck would be okay.
And plenty of people live in such areas where 4x4 is a want not a need . The problem is some people tend to think: I don't need this nobody needs it either and it's stupid and worthless or pointless or a waste of money.
Which is simply not the case.
I think that's one of the most stupid buys ever, just to buy a truck when you are never going to haul or tow with it. But if you use the flatbed for the deer you just killed, that's ok. If you're just buying a Ford F150 Platinum 4x4 to look good and not use it, I guess that's your style but man is that a waste of @#$%
So why else would you have a truck if you don't use it for the reasons stated?
Back when I didn't know much about trucks, I was really shocked that the Ford F150 was America's best selling vehicle! Is that because many people live in situations like rural America [e.g. KY] where it's better to have a 4x4 truck?
I tell you, I laugh seeing these tricked out lifted PU that are gleaming bright and parked with many similar vehicles. They're the "Toy crowd" who buys them and tricks them out to show off...
I tell you, I laugh seeing these tricked out lifted PU that are gleaming bright and parked with many similar vehicles. They're the "Toy crowd" who buys them and tricks them out to show off...
My truck could potentially fall into that group in some people's eyes. But if you glance over into the bed, you'll quickly notice all of the hauling scars and the gooseneck hitch hidden between the bed sides. To an unassuming person it looks like I don't do anything with it. That doesn't mean it isn't used for work at times. Just because people prefer to take care of their vehicles doesn't mean they are garage queens or mall crawlers.
It's like people who drive cars that have 8 seats, but only person is using it. Not a big deal. I feel like people just like driving the car. It has nothing to do with what you do with the car. Why shouldn't you drive the car that you like? How is it any different from driving a sports car that can go really fast that's meant to be driven on a test track, but you only ever drive it slowly in neighborhood roads? I feel like it's the same thing. Sometimes people just want to drive something, because they like the feel that they get from that car, even if you're not using it in a functional way. At the end of the day they all accomplish the same thing, which is to transport people to and fro.
People claiming some sort of moral high ground because they drive a hybrid compared to anything else with 4 wheels and an engine are just being silly and uninformed. Building Priuses is just as bad for the environment and an equally wasteful use of materials and manufacturing capacity as building F-350's is
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nlambert
Exactly. No one wants to talk about the elephant in the room when discussing hybrids and electric cars... (the environmental effect of disposing of the batteries) Neither vehicle are environmentally friendly. Nothing that is driven by a motor is going to save the environment and people who think they are seem to be fooled into believing they are doing something good. Hint.... electricity is produced mainly by coal, fuel oil, or natural gas. So your decrease of using fuel to pollute the environment directly is offset by the need for more electricity to charge the car which increases the amount of fuel needed to produce electricity for you.
Here's an honest question that I'd like a truck hater to answer.
I know of quite a few hybrid owners who live in very large homes (3k sq.ft+). If I follow the logic of the OP, they don't really need those right? They should live in small homes because they don't really need that third and fourth bedroom, or that pool, or that 70" flat screen TV, or that huge kitchen with commercial appliances that consume a lot more energy.
That sounds silly, right? They should be able to live in a home that meets their needs and wants, and is comfortable correct? Why isn't that the same mentality for vehicles?
UrbanAdventurer and Naimbert, while it is true that fossil fuels are used to produce the majority of electricity in the country, the real question is why they are used in such abundance.
We could easily have the capability to produce all the electricity we need now and in the foreseeable future and eliminate the need to burn fossil fuels through the use of alternative sources (solar, wind, geo-thermal, and tidal/hydro) but the fossil fuel industries block the development through the buying of lawmakers who impose limits on the growth of alternative fuel industries or ban the use of such alternatives outright.
The truth is operating any vehicle (gas-powered or hybrid) is not good for the environment but operating a hybrid vehicle is better for the environment, in the long term.
Pick-up trucks are useful for snowy environments, rough terrain, and for rural work but for a city gentleman, they compensate for his inadequacy.
That's an interesting statement because 80% of the vehicles that I see in the ditches along the Glenn Highway during my winter commutes between The Valley and Anchorager are trucks.
When I moved down to Raleigh, NC from the suburbs of New York City two years ago, one of the first things I noticed was how many people here drive around in pickup trucks. Where I had come from, people who owned pickups usually had them because they needed them for their job - they were some sort of tradesman, contractor, etc. that used a truck in their daily work. Here in Raleigh though, it's more of a lifestyle choice. People just seem to like the image that a pickup truck presents, I think: rugged, casual and country. It's also seen as a more masculine choice than many of the unisex vehicles available today.
Personally, I think pickup trucks today are way overpriced and as you said, if you're not going to use it for towing something or frequently use the bed to carry large items, then you're paying $$ for a lot of wasted space in the back. Plus, the darned things are so big and bulky that it can't be easy parking them when you go out anywhere.
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