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I don't know much about the truck/SUV market so I cannot help you (sorry). Actually my guess about your husband/wife preferences for cars was way off. I was thinking maybe you would want a performance car of some sort (handling, acceleration) such as a Corvette and the wife would want something more pedestrian. Stereotyped thinking on my part, I admit.
I have a six-speed manual transmission turbo-charged Mazda with tricked out handling that would not be the cup of tea of the average woman, so that probably colored my thinking.
Edited to add: Speaking of the manual transmission, I just started a separate thread on that, since we older folks are part of a small minority who probably learned to drive on one.
Friend of mine recently bought a Corvette. Lovey car, but hard to get in and out of plus little room for all the golf stuff I carry. I like big, comfortable, roomy. More Cadilliac Escalade then a Corvette type.
More the plenty of room in the back seat for a young honey or two.......LOL
Are you (as a couple) planning on downsizing to a single vehicle when you retire?
Why or why not?
Great question. Single vehicle would be sensible and easily doable. But we can't get what we want in a single vehicle, and even two is tough. Gotta have a van, for wife's health reasons. Want 4 wheel drive or AWD for safety reasons when the roads are slick. Really want a convertible again.
So thinking about a late model Audi A4 Quattro convertible to go with the van, trading in my Chevy Equinox.
I presently drive a 2005 Ford Escape, bought new now with 90K miles on it. I debated between that and the Ford Sport Track 2 which is no longer made. She drives a 2009 Suzuki Grand Vitara, bought new and 32K (yes 32K) miles on it. She debated between that and a Honda CRV but we cut a much, much better deal on the Suzuki. Granted Suzuki automobiles are gone in the US market.
What I would buy today in a heartbeat, is the Ford Sport Track 2 (her liking or not). She would go along with something like. I want a full, 4 door, small bed body truckish thing that drives like a car, not a truck. The Ford F150 is to big and the Ford Ranger is (was) to small. As you can see, I best know Ford products.
I did look at a Nissan something but I thought the price was high. Dodge Ram is also to big like the F150. I have not paid much attention to Toyota which I will look at.
I recently read that Chevy is wanting to take Ford on in the truck business. They say they can match the F150 and beat it on price, but they see a "hole" between the Ranger and F150 and they think they can win that segment upgrading a few present models. While I am a Ford guy (as you can see...LOL), I have no issues buying others that meet my needs.
Back to the wife. She will basically go along with what I want as long as she does not have to crawl up nor climb a ladder to get into it.
Hope this answered your question. Any suggestions?
Suggestions when it comes to pick-up trucks? We owned pick-up trucks for about 15-20 years (up until about 8 years ago). Two Toyota Tacomas. Good vehicles (although they were smaller then than they are now). Main question with a pick-up truck is what you want to do with it (we used to haul stuff around in ours - now that we can't load/unload - we pay people to haul stuff for us ). I looked up pictures of that Ford Sport Truck you mentioned. And - to me - it doesn't look like a very good vehicle for anything in particular (bed even looks too small for 2 bicycles - one of the things we used to haul around). Perhaps you plan to use it for something I haven't thought of?
BTW - pick-up trucks tend to have fewer safety and comfort features than regular vehicles. So there's no reason to get one unless you have a use for the "pick-up" feature (or perhaps the towing capabilities). Unless you're just trying to tell the world that you're a redneck . Robyn
What I would buy today in a heartbeat, is the Ford Sport Track 2
Hope this answered your question. Any suggestions?
The last truck the husband had up until 3 seasons ago,was a Sport Trac. Man, he loved that thing....sure was a pretty hunk of metal.
Also only got about 16mph.
(I'll ignore the redneck remark.....even with the wink)
I expect if I do anything, it will be another 4 door SUV. I do like the Ford feature of being able to lift the back window without lifting the whole back hatch. I dislike my wife's Suzuki rear swing out door.
Not quite ready to downsize to one car yet--but I tell ya what, the day of the mini van is OVAH! No way Jose. The torch has been passed and it's now the kids' job to drive a vehicle big enough to pick up the troop of brownies. The only brownies Grandma is picking up are on a plate!
We are keeping our SUV until we downsize to a smaller place. We plan to move to a local 55+ and want to be able to move small items like lamps, china, and photo albums ourselves. After the move, we are going to sell the SUV and lease a new car, but will still have 2 cars.
After nearly 100 posts in this thread, it is interesting to me that so many posters have expressed little or no interest in downsizing to one car. For one thing, that bespeaks a certain level of financial security among many posters in this Retirement Forum - congratulations to you. For another thing, it bepeaks a reluctance to give up a convenience and flexibility (i.e., independence of movement for each person in the marriage) once we have become used to it.
Of course if people have to downsize to one car for financial reasons they will bite the bullet and do it. Others have said they mostly go places together and don't miss the second car.
Back when I was a kid in the 1950's, one-car families were the norm and people adjusted and made do. Of course as a nation we are not really willing to "adjust and make do" with a lot of things from the 1950's - like houses with one bathroom for a family with two parents and kids! Whether something is a need or a want depends mostly on our attitude towards it. Personally, I'd rather adjust to one car in a family than one bathroom, if that choice were forced on me.
I'd love to downsize to one car. We drive the other one (an elderly 1987 Accord) so seldom that we have to keep a battery charger on hand for those few times we do need to use it. However, living on a very steep hill, it wouldn't be practical to walk the one mile to and from the gas station whenever the one car needed service. I could manage, but my 72-year-old husband couldn't.
That said, I would gladly trade two cars for two bathrooms!
I'd love to downsize to one car. We drive the other one (an elderly 1987 Accord) so seldom that we have to keep a battery charger on hand for those few times we do need to use it. However, living on a very steep hill, it wouldn't be practical to walk the one mile to and from the gas station whenever the one car needed service. I could manage, but my 72-year-old husband couldn't.
That said, I would gladly trade two cars for two bathrooms!
You could mount a trickle charger to the firewall. Amazon has one for about $25. It works perfectly for the tractor.
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). I looked up pictures of that Ford Sport Truck you mentioned. And - to me - it doesn't look like a very good vehicle for anything in particular (bed even looks too small for 2 bicycles - one of the things we used to haul around). Perhaps you plan to use it for something I haven't thought of?
. Robyn
Keeping the SUV for Now
