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It's called exercising my freedom of speech as guaranteed to every American by this wonderful document called the United States Constitution. You don't have to like what I say but you have to respect my right to say it. If you don't like it, then maybe you don't understand or respect what it truly means to be an American.
Did I miss something? Because I haven't seen where anyone has suggested that the OP or anyone who agrees with him or her be imprisoned or subject to a gag order as a result of their comments.
Juxtaposed opinions to those of the OP are protected by the same first amendment rights as his or her comments. If you don't like it, then maybe you don't understand or respect what in means to be an American.
Last edited by duster1979; 02-17-2014 at 08:58 AM..
Reason: spelling
I think it has a lot to do with image, which I've personally always found silly myself. I drive a minivan all day and could care less about the "image" vibe it gives off. Who cares what your vehicle LOOKS like? It's the most irrelevant thing in the world and a totally silly basis for how you spend thousands of dollars on a device whose purpose is to actually DO something, not look pretty in a bathing suit.
All of that said, yes, it's their money.
Because you drive a minivan and don't care about image, I'm surprised you're even on this forum. You don't really care about vehicles. You value their transportation value. Nothing wrong with that.
But people spend a lot of time in their vehicles. There is nothing wrong with people driving what makes them happy as long as it isn't a road hazard.
Modern pickups are super comfortable, smooth, and safe.
As for image - that matters to so many people with so many things. There are probably some things you are passionate about. Some women won't blink spending $500 on a pair of shoes she will wear a few times a year. Or $5000 on a hideous Louis Vitton purse. People spend $10K for watches. My total investment in home A/V is as much as a small car.
Did I miss something? Because I haven't seen where anyone has suggested that the OP or anyone who agrees with him or her be imprisoned or subject to a gag order as a result of their comments.
Juxtaposed opinions to hose of the OP are protected by the same first amendment rights as his or her comments. If you don't like it, then maybe you don't understand or respect what in means to be an American.
Even if they don't apply to a privately owned forum where comments can be deleted at anytime to the owners choice.
Right, so you drive a huge, thirsty industrial vehicle with a huge uncovered bed you don't use and poor handling on the road ....
Said the person who apparently hasn't driven a pickup built within the last 30 years.
Quote:
.........just because you're afraid if you don't women are going to think you're not a real man?
I personally hate those recent "country" songs that suggest that to be a real man one has to drive a jacked-up truck (specifically one with 35's). And there are a few crowd-followers who will be influenced to drive one based on that crap; but for myself and, I'd like to think, most truck buyers, the reasons for ownership go a little deeper than that.
Last edited by duster1979; 02-17-2014 at 09:05 AM..
[snip]...people spend a lot of time in their vehicles. There is nothing wrong with people driving what makes them happy as long as it isn't a road hazard.
I do not disagree with that, at all, but there is also nothing wrong with someone saying they think decisions based on looks or such frivolous matters is silly in their eyes, even while acknowledging that we have the bloody right to drive whatever we feel like for however silly of a reason.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano
Modern pickups are super comfortable, smooth, and safe.
I never said they weren't. For that matter, small cars aren't as cramped or slow as they were in the Ford Pinto days, vans are also super all of that, and for every wreck I hear of a collision between a car & a truck where the car "lost" as it were, I also hear of an equal number of fatalities where a truck or SUV rolled over or collided with a tree and "lost."
Quote:
Originally Posted by hoffdano
As for image - that matters to so many people with so many things. There are probably some things you are passionate about. Some women won't blink spending $500 on a pair of shoes she will wear a few times a year. Or $5000 on a hideous Louis Vitton purse. People spend $10K for watches. My total investment in home A/V is as much as a small car.
Again, I have the right to say that I think caring about image with a car is silly to me. I'm passionate about cameras, but I don't care what the camera LOOKS like, I care about if it has the tools necessary for me to have the chance at taking a high quality image. I value a smartphone, but I could care less what it looks like, I care that it FUNCTIONS properly. The only thing where looks matter to me is with the scenery I'm photographing when I'm photographing it, or a woman in a short dress, tank-top or bathing suit, and the latter is non-applicable anyway since I'm married and can't touch anyone else regardless of how they look.
I can understand, say, if two vehicles are identical in price, performance, capacity, reliability, fuel economy, ergonomics of the controls, etc, and a decision is made between the two of them based on looks. But when you buy a truck instead of a van or an SUV instead of a station wagon based almost exclusively on its looks, even if maybe the minivan or station wagon is actually better functionality-wise for the tasks it will be handling, to me that's just silly. It is their right to do it, and it SHOULD be their right to do it, and it's not like they're doing something like flipping out the Queen of England or publicly urinating in a theater etc, but it's still silly to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by duster1979
[snip] I personally hate those recent "country" songs that suggest that to be a real man one has to drive a jacked-up truck....
Exactly. So much of that macho stuff is just beyond stupid, and I say this as a person who is very heterosexual and who lives out in the woods and likes it that way.
I think it has a lot to do with image, which I've personally always found silly myself. I drive a minivan all day and could care less about the "image" vibe it gives off. Who cares what your vehicle LOOKS like? It's the most irrelevant thing in the world and a totally silly basis for how you spend thousands of dollars on a device whose purpose is to actually DO something, not look pretty in a bathing suit.
Auto makers spend collectively hundreds of millions of dollars a year for image. Many industries collectively spend billions of dollars a year for image. This fact shows that image is a very important item to most of the world's population.
While you may find only utility purpose in the car you drive, you in fact are rare to do so. You most likely also find something beyond utility in other areas of your life. Even with horses, people in the past found reasons past utility to own them.
Ford made the mistake thinking people only wanted a car for utility purposes, the loss of market share caused Ford to come out with the Model A; this along with any other area of history shows humans have value in things past utility purposes.
By the way, a truck does do something, and does it quite well.
I think she's sexy. When I go to the mall I can fill the cab and the bed if there are good deals. Garage sales fear me, I can take anything home. With eight inches of snow I still take the mountain road to the doctor.
It's comfortable, rides nice, and high enough to see over traffic. I have plenty of shoulder room so I'm not touching the door or any other passenger while driving. I can stretch my arm out ahead of me and not come anywhere near touching the windshield. I have plenty of leg room and can stretch out. I have plenty of head room so I'm not anywhere near hitting the top of the front windshield if I lean forward. I like having plenty of room.
This is what all the women who drive SUVs say too. What no one seems to realize is that when everyone is driving gargantuan vehicles, you still won't be able to see over/around traffic, because all the other 'traffic' will be just as high as you (plus it has black glass so you can't even see through the other vehicles to traffic/lights ahead). In the more 'conservative' parts of the country this is already the case. Zero-sum game.
And the redneck trucks with all the big smokestacks and what not spewing black smoke???
It would seem someone is just a little biased about truck owners.
Anyways, to answer the question... I have a a Ford F150 XLT and used it as my primary vehicle from the day I drove it off the lot in August 2002 until December of 2013 when my wife and I bought our Jeep Wrangler. I love the F150 for many reasons. First of all, I am 6'8" and cannot fit behind the wheel of smaller vehicles. The F150 allows me the luxury of feeling relaxed behind the wheel - something you likely take for granted. Additionally, it is built on a solid frame which increases the safety rating considerably over a smaller vehicle with unibody construction. The truck also has the power to tow my quad and my boat, as well as the room to haul all my gear up north for my annual deer hunting trip. I still have the F150, but we bought the Jeep so we'd have a vehicle capable of taking me, the wife and 130 lbs dog along with all our gear on any excursion we desire. The Jeep is also build on a frame, has loads of power, plenty of room and the capability to transport us quite literally anywhere we want to go.
The question I ask is why wouldn't you want either of these vehicles?
Quote:
Originally Posted by h_curtis
It is all about advertising really. Hey look at me look at me, I drive a pickup and am a big man. Look everyone, look! Then of course Sam Elliott's voice is herd on a commercial. That is how I sound! Won't anyone LOOK!?!
Same goes with loud Harley's. Look at me, look at me! Can't you hear that roar! That is ME! I NEED ATTENTION!
While there is plenty of attention whoring going on among the Harley crowd, the worst owners I have seen are the guys driving their four-banger rice rockets complete with the 'angry mosquito' exhaust mod, insanely bright headlights and a crappy sounding bass cannon pumping out migraine-inducing noise. It would appear to me most of these clowns desperately wish they were rolling along in an American pickup, but simply can't afford one. So instead, they try to draw attention to themselves in some of the most annoying ways possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfect Stranger
I'm not against trucks; I only laugh about people who buy one as compensation for their micropenis. It's getting so bad that Chrysler had to start the Ram brand as a niche for normal people who actually need industrial vehicles, since the pick-up market is by dominated penis enhancements.
You never have got over being bullied daily back in high school, have you?
Last edited by Annuvin; 02-17-2014 at 12:32 PM..
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