Scientific Proof that Americans are Completely Addicted to Trucks

ebonyandivory wrote: In reply to wae: Don't trucks already contribute increased revenue in the form of buying more taxed fuel? And Diesel is taxed higher than gasoline so there's that.

I don't know how that winds up working in reality. I keep hearing that we need to go to a per-mile road tax since there isn't enough money from gasoline tax. Truly I don't have enough information to have an opinion one way or another other than knowing that the roads are in bad shape and I do not want my car to be GPS-tracked because of the potential for abuse. Maybe that whole line of thinking is just flirting with a flounder.

LOL.

I mean at the whole thread, not any one particular person or post. I certainly don't want to get dragged into this E36 M3-storm.

Did anyone else read the title of this thread and see, "Scientific Proof that Americans are Complete Idiots"?

HiTempguy wrote: Maybe if you live in the boonies on gravel roads I could buy into it, but small trucks just serve no purpose.

We used to have a Ranger and it was a really decent compromise vehicle. I could get a couple scoops of mulch dropped in the back and then drive it around the yard for distribution, plus it was just easier to drive and park and fit in more places than a full size truck. When I started towing regularly, it didn't cut it any more, and I was limited to carrying a single passenger since it was a regular cab, but it was good for running to LowDespot on the weekends and driving downtown for work on Monday. I actually wish that they had a little more towing capacity -- the shorter wheelbase makes it so much easier to maneuver the trailer into the garage.

Many of the opponents of trucks in this thread are mentioning needs. It goes both ways, I don't need a corvette or sticky tires, or loud exhaust, but I want one and I like driving it so I bought

I like trucks and for the first 300k miles of my trucks life it was used as a truck regularly. Now it barely even gets driven. I don't need it very often, but it was free, and it worth pretty much nothing because of the miles, and its pretty clean so I keep it.

Here in tx pretty much everyone has a truck and in the hick town I live in diesel trucks are super popular. A very small percentage of the owners use them as trucks, and most of the people that drive them can't afford to maintain them, but they like them so they buy them.

The only people I hate for it are the idiots who have a huge truck and can't drive it, and proceed to back into everything and run people off the road.

I like this thread. Full of life! You guys rock (even the ones that don't agree with me!) truck you!

stuart in mn wrote:

Feedyurhed wrote: Bigger is better. It's our culture. When I go to the gym I can barely find my Miata when I come out with all the rows of giant pick ups and SUVs everywhere.

It's getting difficult to drive a regular size car these days - trying to pull out in traffic, or even backing out of a parking spot is tough when you can't see past the fenders of the giant pickup/SUV next to you.

Always back into parking spots. Preferably at full speed, to assert to those behind you that no, they may not have that spot; it is yours.

I don't mind people driving trucks. My DD is a truck. This morning I put my 30" ZTR mower in the back to take it for repairs.

But I hate those who don't know how to drive the ones they have. The ones who can't fit it in a single parking space or have to drive down the middle of a narrow street because they don't know/can't tell how big it is.

Forget the road use tax idea. Just make the registration fees $100/year for vehicles under 2000# and increase by $100 for every 500# over that.

In reply to ebonyandivory:I have nothing people who are morbidly obese. Especially if they have medical issues other that choosing to overeat. Nor even vehicles that are morbidly obese for no reason other than stroking the owners' egos.

But I can assure I don't like being pinned into a parking spot between morbidly obese vehicles. Or worse yet pinned into a 17" wide plane seat between two morbidly obese people!

We live on a huge continent. But much of it is empty & most of us have to put up with a crammed together life. Why make it worse if we have practical and doable options?

I'll listen to the idea of paying more when it makes more sense.

I'm one of those that need proof. Proof that MY truck does more damage to the roadways on my 15 minute ride to work than my coworkers Mustang does driving almost an hour to the same place.

Got it. Since people should only buy based on "needs", everyone should immediately sell every vehicle they have and buy one of these:

It's compact, practical, reliable, and it gets good fuel economy. It's all anyone NEEDS. Oh, and they should all be beige. Wouldn't want any bright colors, they might offend someone.

for what it is worth.. I love my Rover, even if the disco did recently cost me 10 grand (between engine, parts, and labour) and I have no intention on getting rid of it any time soon. It does most everything a car can do (and then some after watching most cars on the road) tows my boat, and can take me off into the woods on that rare day off

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

SkinnyG wrote:

Feedyurhed wrote: It used to be who had the fastest car, now it's who has the biggest truck.

I make up for my small car in other areas.

Giant liver?

Why, yes! Good guess!

I don't care what anyone drives....as long as they can drive it competently. My issue with these large vehicles is the folks who can't judge where the sides of their trucks are. I live around 3 schools and going out at 2:30-3:30 is always an adventure. Parents picking up the kids and driving down the center of the bridge over the creek, which has full lane width in both lanes. Or, the one that is a real laugh is seeing them dodging the rough pavement in their 5000 lb vehicles while I charge through in my Miata. Too many drivers couldn't put the right side of their vehicle within 2 feet of an obstacle. I was actually told that I should drive a bigger car by a woman who changed lanes in a Tahoe and didn't even see my Miata in the right lane. I suggested she use the mirror on the right side and turn it down a little.

I agree with deadskunk, having a miata as a dd for the past 8 years I have had many similar encounters

I'm happy that my wife drives our SUV (Sequoia). It's a nice vehicle, and absolutely boring and cumbersome to drive. I would kill myself if it (or any other large truck/SUV) was my daily driver. Only reason we own it is because we needed three rows and something that can pull my 16-foot car hauler for the racecars. If not for the latter, I'd drive an Odyssey in a heartbeat over any SUV. Plus the Odyssey looks better than almost every SUV out there, drives better, carries more, etc. If Honda would make one with a beefed-up tranny and brakes and 5-6k towing, I'd trade in the SUV in a second.

My complaint with SUVs and trucks has nothing to do with fuel economy or size, and everything to do with the fact that most of them just suck to drive.

Wants vs needs.... Is there really a difference. A jackass is a jackass no mater what they drive.

As for the guy who said what about Aussies. We love our Ute's, but they are small compared to american trucks. That said I saw a guy trying to back a 2000's model f250 dual cab into a spot at my local shops the on the weekend. First thought was, berkeley that things huge, dont see them often. second was "he's never getting that thing into a single spot" and he didn't.

In reply to daeman:

I was speaking about a particular Aussie, one that has a proclivity towards extremely laaaarge Fords. And, apparently Porsche 911 Turbos.

The title of the article is misleading at best. There was no science and no discussion of "addiction" to trucks. Just data, and not very convincing data at that. They lumped crossovers, which are very popular, in with traditional trucks, which have very little in common. Crossovers are much closer in function to wagons. That said, modern trucks are great-leaps ahead of even 20 years ago. A half ton crew cab truck is a remarkably versatile vehicle. Performance wise, they will out accelerate and out brake performance cars of not long ago. The handling isn't as bad as you would think either. I've been daily driving my Nissan Titan lately, and I really enjoy it. It's big and comfortable, and I can throw a pallet of materials in the bed for work when needed. On the weekend, my fun cars often sit when I take my family out. The five of us fit easily, and five bikes drop right into the bed. I could probably make that work with my Subaru wagon or Sienna, but it wouldn't be so easy and painless.

In reply to Nick_Comstock:

Haha, fair enough then. Most times when you talk about trucks with Aussies they're talking about semi trailers. Macks, kenworths, western stars, that sorta thing.

That said, I do have quite a soft spot for large american trucks (utes), I'd love one for the purposes of making a car hauler. In particular a 50's dodge Fargo retrofitted with a late model large capacity Mopar diesel... But that's another dream for another day.

In reply to Nick_Comstock:And??!! Do you or I or almost anyone else who actually lives in North America live where something like that vehicle/s isn't a hazard to life or at the very least a huge hazard to a normal commute to parking spot??!!

99+% of us don't live in the Yukon, and we're probably not in Nebraska or even Minnesota either. We want to live and be where most other people choose to live so we can earn a living without fighting bears or other wild creatures and also where we can know the name/s of our neighbors! Please reread my post concerning North America being a really huge continent, but where people hugely live close together because of jobs and other normally desired human relationships.

In fact, I've spent enough time in Australia that I know the same is true there probably by a factor of 4 or 5 as well. I loved flying choppers in Australia, no one around no rules in the outback. But I didn't encounter anyone living in the outback who didn't need a plane of some kind to go to market or even check out their fence rows. And their children went to school from home because schools were too far away.

Most Australians including most children who had to grow up in the outback, like the rest of the world, choose to congregate where other people live! Even this example has nothing to do with the choices of a huge majority who live in the U.S. and Canada. Not to mention Mexico!

Crocodile Dundy is a great myth in Australia. But like Babe The Blue Ox, he really doesn't apply in the real world in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, or anywhere else in the world where people actually choose to live today.

We are all living together, exactly like the people in the UK and Japan. They learned centuries ago to get along because they lived on an island. It's time we actually learn to live together without trampling on each other! We're on a bigger island than they. But in today's world and the realities of that world our island, North America, or Australia isn't really that much bigger than theirs!

Trackmouse wrote: One word-smithed word: brodozer. I'm glad I'm not alone in this thought. I hate all big trucks. If I were king, trucks would be sold only if you had a license for a job requiring them. Like a carpenter, or repair guy. And SUV's and not-so-minivans would require a certificate that shows just how many kids you have and what cumulate you live in. Seven kids and a house in Montana? Tahoe for you. Two kids and live in the city of portland? Kei car for you. Also- no studded snow tires unless there is solid ice on the ground. That make all those wimps that can't swing a tire iron learn how to. (Yes, my vision of automotive paradise is more like automotive soviet Russia)

yeah no kidding, what ever happened to freedom, King Putin?

moot point for me though, my trucks are for work.

In reply to Rupert:

Speak for yourself! I so wanna be out fighting bears and other wild creatures where I only know someone else by name because he flies the mail plane.

And I park my berkeleying truck right were he has to land. Because... 'murica! berkeley Yeah!

I think I figured out why Americans love trucks. (Cue patriotic music) Americans love freedom. The the truck represents freedom. Freedom to fill the bed with dirt bikes, DIY projects or two carts full of Costco purchases. Freedom to pull a boat to the lake, a race car to the track, a horse trailer to the park.

"But most truck owners don't do any of those things!" you counter.

True. (Patriotic music gets louder) But America is the land of dreams. And buying a truck is but one step towards those dreams. "The bigger the truck, the bigger the dream" (Copy writed by me. Let the bidding begin.) (Patriotic music fades away.)

In reply to Boost_Crazy:

I'd buy that. At it's roots the American Dream was always a marketing campaign. Trucks are how you buy Freedom™. In reality we should have been a little smarter and all gone in together to buy Congress™ before someone else did. But... trucks are nice