111–120 of 143 posts
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agree. The small pickups of the late 80s/early 90s were perfect. Just make one electric and id buy it in a heartbeat
Start lobbying your congress critter(s) to repeal the chicken tax. Otherwise it will never happen :(
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> renting a car is not cheap U-Haul pickups are $19.95 + mileage. For me personally, I think that'd come to something like $50 for a single hardware store trip, plus inconvenience. So far I haven't had to do that, so I can't vouch for that number to be accurate.
There’s the subject of availability, however. Pickup trucks tend to move quickly on weekends especially. The last time I needed to rent one on a Saturday, for example, it took eight or nine phone calls and driving to three different Home Depots (which rent out trucks on a first-come, first-serve basis). Just getting the truck took half a day. More planning would’ve helped on my part, but damn, what a hassle.
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FWIW, I have a Ridgeline with a 5'4" bed. My 10'6" surfboards are fine with the tailgate down (total flat length just shy of 7') and a red flag on the end. Edit - I would have considered a Santa Cruz or Maverick, had they been available when I bought the RL. But, they're beds are smaller yet and one of the big selling points of the RL was the under-bed trunk, which is massive (about the same as the trunk on my wife's…
The Santa Cruz has a lot of storage under the bed. I was shocked that Ford completely seemed to miss the boat with that in the Maverick. I finally saw a Santa Cruz in person - the bed is quite a bit higher than I was expecting; then again that's how they get the storage :p
My trunk always contains a small toolbox, bicycle pump, electric SUP pump, several camp chairs and a folding table, PFDs, SUP/kayak paddles, water shoes/flip-flops, tie-downs, and some other odds/ends, with room to spare.
I have heard that VW suffers in the USA because of extremely poor and predatory dealership experiences
The luxury brand dealerships have generally been mountains better, though I'm sure you can find people who've had bad experiences at them too.
The experience in dealerships between brands under the same corporate umbrella are night and day too. For example, say, Toyota vs Lexus.
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Pickup trucks aren't for carrying a family around. The whole point is to have a large open cargo space for building materials, equipment, etc... If you want to haul a family use a sedan or minivan. Those back seats in crew cabs are always cramped and uncomfortable anyway. They are a terrible tradeoff, and yet the entire automotive industry has gone all in on them.
What if you need to haul things while simultaneously carrying a family around? I don't find them to be a terrible tradeoff at all, and I expect that the reason the entire automotive industry has gone all in on them is because I'm not an outlier in that regard.
Have one partner drive a sedan/wagon with the kids and another partner haul. A lot more economical too.
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Ya it’s insane and unfortunate how the chicken tax wrecked trucks. Was it really directed towards VW though? I thought it was more against Japanese auto makes.
Nope, VW around WWII (I think just before - need to go re-read) EDIT: It was post WWII. And VW Type 2 is profiled in the wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax
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Or you could just drive a much smaller cheaper and easier to park car most of the year and rent a truck once a year when you need it
As mentioned in another subthread, rental contracts for pickup trucks often prohibit towing, and the trucks aren't even fitted with a tow hitch. If you want to tow with a rented truck, you'll need to rent from a "commercial" rental company and you'll be paying a lot more.
I hope this ends up being smaller than the F150. I get the popularity of that form factor, but I simply don't believe that many people are hauling yards of soil or towing boats. 2 Seats + 6 Foot bed seems like a winning combination in practicality, but is quite rare in the US.
I get the sense that the pickup truck market in the U.S. particularly in suburbs is driven by brand marketing rather than consumer needs. People are paying a premium, in the cost of purchasing as well as in the cost of insuring, maintaining, and fueling, for the image of the rugged individualistic American ready for any terrain, weather, or load that needs hauling, and maximally armored to "win" should they ever hit…
If I could have gotten a cargo van for an equivalent price when I bought the (used) truck I have now, I would have. But they were starting at 4x the price. I use it to haul tools and materials and a cargo van would have been so much easier.
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If you need a truck even 5% of the time it is overall cheapest to just own a truck. Insurance, car payments, and other fixed costs are too high to make a second car worth it, and renting a car is not cheap, not to mention rental rules often mean you can't use the truck as a truck. (I've been looking for a place to rent a truck so I can replace mine, a couple times a year I do something that no rental truck will let m…
Is your need expedition based; ie, rugged backcountry vacation? or work based, need to haul some dirt, lumber, random material? If so what about renting a truck form Uhaul?
As mentioned elsewhere, uhaul is often sold out when i'm likely to do this.
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About 2/3rds of truck owners don't use the bed much at all. https://www.thedrive.com/news/26907/you-dont-need-a-full-siz...
Probably all the trucks I see driving in cities. Come out to the country and see how much trucks get used.