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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cowboyxjon
I drive a Ram. While I admit that I don't NEED it, I use it to tow a camper, occasionally haul things, and it serves as a daily driver as well. It has a lot of power, the ride is smooth, and I like the technology package. I bought one of the higher level trim packages, but I also negotiated about 23% off of MSRP (which is fairly common according to other forums), so I paid only slightly more than the Tacoma it replaced, and my Ram is a lot nicer.
With that said, does anyone really want a buzzy little 4-cylinder SUV-wannabe? I know people buy them, but after having a few as a rental, they are not fun to drive, and I can't understand why anyone would want to fork over hard earned money for those. They might be slightly better on gas, but most of them have no power, offer a terrible ride quality, loud buzzy engine noise, feel like they are going to fall apart within a year, and some have that annoying eco engine on/off feature that you can't turn off (at least, couldn't do that in the POS Chevy Equinox that was my 'SUV' rental this past weekend). I'd rather pay more (both through purchase price and maintenance costs) to ultimately drive a vehicle I enjoy.
It's a matter of taste. While I love the sound and power of the 5.0 V8 in my truck, my wife is perfectly happy with the little ecoboost 1.6L 4 banger in her Escape. For some, the improved mileage is probably not as important as being a lot easier to park and to get in and out of when doing a lot of errands.
I drive around a higher end model of 2005 GMC 3/4 diesel all day for work. The best part of my day is getting out of it and getting into my Cayenne turbo. I’ve driven my brother’s 2015 Chevy 1/2 loaded truck a decent amount of time. I’d never own a truck for daily driver, makes zero sense to me. My suv does everything my truck does, but it’s thousand times more fun, and just steps above any truck. It also pulls my loaded trailer as well, or better then my diesel.
After checking out new F150's they really are for the rich and famous at least those are the ones that can afford them.
In 02 I worked at a dealer and built and ordered my 02 Supercrew Lariat with every option but the DVD player. The MSRP sticker price was $38,000. Today that same truck with the same options is $60,000. Add the Platinum package and it is pushing $70,000 ! My wife likes to remind me when I'm dreaming that $60,000 is the price of a vacation house. Yes dear but we need a cool truck to get us to that house....
I'm dreaming.
In reality a $60,000 dollar truck discounted and rebated down to maybe $50,000 with my good credit, no money down and using the $20 per thousand example I would be looking at $1000 per month for 60 months. YIKES ! My wife is right that is a mortgage payment.
Yep only the rich and famous can afford these things.
Ironically you can go to any trailer park anywhere in the US and see at least one brand new $45k+ pickup. Some of these trucks are worth more than the owner’s home. Poor decisions and priorities are sometimes the reasons why people are in the financial shape they’re in.
Though it was before my time, I prefer a pickup truck to be strictly a utility vehicle instead of a family hauler. I have always felt this way but for some reason went out and bought a brand new GMC Sierra last year. I quickly realized I found myself not using it how it was intended because I did not want to scratch or dent a $56k truck and what is the point of owning a pickup if you aren't going to use it? I got rid of it, but in the future it would be nice to just own a cheap pickup truck on the side to keep it for its intended purpose without worrying.
The growth of the pick up market is related to the disappearance of the 230 inch station wagons of the 1960s to the 1980s. My parents had a 1973 Buick Estate Wagon and it was 230 inches long. A Ford F150 Supercab with a short bed is 232 inches long. People still need to carry big items. Today, the only choices are vans and pickups and pickups can be configured like cars now.
I have a 3/4 ton Ram 2500 that I use for daily driving duty. It's powerful, well mannered, and comfortable. It gets 18.5 mpg mixed driving with 600+ HP/1000+ ft.lb torque. I like it because I can pull my 5th wheel camper today, drive it to work tomorrow and stop on the way home at the home center, grocery store, or anywhere else I need to stop. I can also haul my kids to ball practice (crew cab) without feeling cramped.
In the absence of a need to tow something really heavy or for work purposes, I wouldn't want to drive one everyday. 1/2 ton? Yes, my dream vehicle is a new F150.
My experience in every 3/4 ton I've ever driven (and I've rented, borrowed, driven, owned them) is that they aren't particularly comfortable (from a ride perspective) until you get a lot of weight in the bed or a heavy load to tow. That said, I wouldn't want to tow a 5th wheel with a 1/2 ton.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cowboyxjon
With that said, does anyone really want a buzzy little 4-cylinder SUV-wannabe? I know people buy them, but after having a few as a rental, they are not fun to drive, and I can't understand why anyone would want to fork over hard earned money for those. They might be slightly better on gas, but most of them have no power, offer a terrible ride quality, loud buzzy engine noise, feel like they are going to fall apart within a year, and some have that annoying eco engine on/off feature that you can't turn off (at least, couldn't do that in the POS Chevy Equinox that was my 'SUV' rental this past weekend). I'd rather pay more (both through purchase price and maintenance costs) to ultimately drive a vehicle I enjoy.
Some are a lot better than others. The Rav-4's were always zippy. When they made them with a 6 cylinder, they were downright fast. The GM products are especially poor in that market segment.
The tradeoff of course is maneuverability. Having a SFH with a driveway and large garage will change the way you think about it compared to parking on the street in the city or in a parking garage, etc...
Most of the cars here are small SUVs like the Ford Escape, Nissan Rogue, Honda CRV or Toyota Rav4 or small and midsized sedans like Honda Civic Nissan Altima, Toyota Corolla and Ford Focus,
In our part of the country, go to any parking lot this time of the year, and see that about 3/4 of all vehicles are either Pickups or medium or larger SUVs. Pickups are nearly all 4 door better pickups.
So, you live in an area with lots of rich and famous people-where is that?
Around here no one is rich or famous and there's a broad mix of vehicles seen on the roads, including the gigantic pickups you speak of.
Lots of electric cars too. Nissan Leafs are sprouting up everywhere. I think it's because the limited range models are not favored "down south" so they're sold cheap as used cars here, where not much range is needed.
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