Conservative Owns the Libs by Paying $4,000 a Month for His Ford F-350
Conservative Owns the Libs by Paying $4,000 a Month for His Ford F-350 - The Hard Times
Pickups for non construction purposes are the dumbest shit ever. You literarily have half the car that is useless for transporting people.
What if you have to help a friend move a couch once every 5 years? What then?
lol right? Surely you couldn't just rent one by the hour from Home Depot or some crazy shit like that... Oh wait, you can and it's like $20. There really is no justification for the vast majority of personal truck ownership. It's just a status symbol for trashy jerks. Although I suppose that technically counts as hauling a lot of trash.
Rent a van
Dude real shit I work in construction and I can tell you that you don’t even really need a pickup for that either.
I mean it depends what you’re doing ofc but vans are what’s actually used as work vehicles for the most part. And those are generally company vehicles so for personal use you can drive whatever vehicle you want.
I have a crew cab pickup (half ton), and yeah it has come in handy numerous times over the years. But I do agree those larger, “more rugged”, trucks are not for the people who own them.
"The only thing better than owning a truck is having no fucking reason to own a truck"
It's a statement. You don't need to work; but you still could if you wanted to.
And even for construction purposes, most trucks nowadays are kinda pointless. A 4ft bed is good for hauling like 1 bike placed diagonally, much less a typical sized piece of lumber or plywood.
Can't beg a place to sell you a 6ft bed unless you want to wait for it to come off the manufacturing line.
Don't forget you have to lift that bike like 4ft to get to the tailgate on newer trucks! Can't imagine trying to load a four wheeler on a newer truck without like folding ramps at least 2x the length of the bed so it's not a vertical fucking climb.
Funny thing, you can put that bike into a BMW 3 Series no problems.
I believe it was in a not just bikes video, but he talked about how some large percentage of truck owners openly admitted they never use their beds for hauling.
Camping, hunting, dirt bike riding, moving, general utility and many other things done by most adults that don't like to rely on other people. I don't want to pay a moving company if I move, I don't want to ask someone else if I want to tow my trailer out to camp. I don't want to call some construction company everytime I need so much as a 2x4 to repair my home. Anyone who doesn't own a truck will at some point rely on someone who does. It is not dumb as shit to own a truck for everyone. Not everyone lives the same life you do. I live in a rural area, I spent 6 months at one point in my life without a truck, I will never do it again. Probably 95% of the time I don't need a truck, but when I need it, I need it. My daily driver is a beater car, most of the time, depending on logistics and weather. But if I had to only have one vehicle it would be a truck. A truck will haul 5 people, so will most cars but a truck can drive through weather and haul things when you need it. Although I am a middle aged dad in a rural area. 🤷♂️ I must be dumb.
Someone should open a rental place for that 5% and call it home depot or something catchy like that
"Probably 95% of the time I don't need a truck, but when I need it, I need it."
This was the exact rationale I used to justify not getting a truck. I liked the idea of having a truck and being able to use it to move etc. but the fact that a smaller more economical vehicle would suit my needs 95 percent (more like 98-99.5 for me realistically) of the time swayed me in the other direction. I paid a good 30 percent less for the vehicle I have now and it gets 40mpg so I'll save thousands in gas over the life of the vehicle.
You can rent a utility trailer for a day or weekend and tow quite a bit of weight with most vehicles. There's rental trucks for the rest. I have an F350 and it costs a fortune to keep up. $150 fills, 15L oil capacity, tires are 400 bucks a pop. It adds up quick. Gonna be replacing it with a micro car and some rentals here and there.
I ride a bicycle in a rural area and built a new office this spring. With a trailer, store delivery or a $20 rental I don't think I ever ran into any of the problems you describe. The bicycle has gone hunt camping rain or shine, I dirt bike, street bike and work a rugged job.
If I really needed it I have the wife's sedan which handles -40 winters and 50cm snow drifts just fine. Equipped with a roof rack and small trailer I can move myself just fine if the need is there.
Aside from hauling large trailers or campers I fail to see the utility of a pickup as described. Even when hauling plywood or construction supplies I've opted for the home depot van before even considering a pickup. If I wanted a 2*4 sticking out of the end I would have taken the Sedan anyway.
I think a lot of the truck owner mentality comes down to mental gymnastics or "What if?". Aside from rare use cases it just doesn't seem like the play. Even for yourself you mentioned the pickup is an edge case.
These are all things people consider when talking about truck owners. The rest of the world can see life without pickups, can justify life without pickups and even prefers life without pickups but for some reason... Pickup drivers can't stop talking about them as if they need to justify it to themselves more than to the world.
We'll see but I solved that with a crossover and a trailer. I can tow up to 3500 lbs which covers all of that and I'm more efficient literally any other time.
I did seriously consider a pickup but it just makes no sense day to day
Pickups today are huge monstrosities but I swear their beds are about as long as the one I had in my 1987 Ranger. When I did get a full sized truck, it had a longer bed because if you can’t carry standard sized plywood, sheetrock, and lumber, I’m not sure I’d want it.
for real. had a friend with a big relatively-new truck with a stubby bed try to have me help him move. I show up with my 2003 ford ranger, made before trucks primarily became male fashion accessories. he'd teased me about it before because it's apparently a "small truck". yet somehow barely anything fit in his toy truck and my "small" truck handled his couches and mattresses fine. teased him about his truck in return, used the ol "not the size it's how you use it" line, and have never heard him talk shit about my little truck again.
Blame CAFE, the EPA (I like most of the EPA), and the Chicken Tax. Those three have basically made it to where the US can’t get the smaller trucks the rest of the world gets, has a fuel economy loop-hole for larger vehicles, and basically makes it incentivized for companies to make boxier, bigger vehicles in order to lower their average fuel economy standards. Most people I talk to want the ford Ranger from the 2000s brought back in size, but we literally cannot. The closest we got was the maverick (still too big comparatively) and that’s because they gave us a hybrid option and based it off the escape.
I’d probably blame regulatory capture as a whole than individual regs and agencies, but I agree. My feeling is that if you’re going to make a fuel efficiency regulation and then allow exceptions, they should be exceptions based on use, not based on class of vehicle. There should probably be additional fees/taxes, maybe applied annually.
Otherwise, yeah, the incentives point in the wrong direction.
I had an Isuzu mini-truck that had nearly the same wheel base as my old mustang. That thing was sweet. I miss mini trucks.
Didn't the maverick only come in a shortbed? Or was that the lightning?
I swear their beds are about as long as the one I had in my 1987 Ranger.
So I asked my aunt for help hauling things back and forth to a convention this past spring. She has an enormous Ram pickup, I have a tiny little xB. A lot of the stuff I was bringing was stored in 45 gallon totes, and I knew from past experience that I could fit three in my car with the back seats folded down, and have room for thinner containers on top.
Imagine my surprise when we go to load up the truck and find that it fit the same number of totes in the bed, and they just barely cleared the bed cover. The cavernous back seat helped make up for it thankfully, but I was floored that the cargo areas were comparable.
My son has a Mazda 3 hatchback and is often bringing stuff to work sites because the guy with the big truck and the bed cover can't fit tall boxes in the bed
I've had trucks and now I have a mini cargo van.
90% of the time the van is better, but that last 10% can be a big deal.
Yeah but you can just rent a truck for that last 10% with the savings from not buying the truck, and still have cash left over.
Ya, I was very close to getting a transit van but it was more expensive than a truck with the features that I need (awd and 4 seats). Truck gets better mpg too surprisingly. The truck just made a lot of sense for me, even though I think most people with trucks or SUVs would be better off with a minivan. I'm not going to bash truck owners though, buy what you want or need, but if you are worried about scratching the bed or your stuff getting stolen or wet you probably should have just gotten a minivan.
Uhhh isn't the whole point of a bed that you can put things of whatever height you want in it because there isn't a roof or anything?
I absolutely do not believe this. Those bed covers role right up.
Some roll up. Others are hard tops.
“If someone is on the fence I’ll just tell them some unfettered shit like Pete Buttigieg wants to ban halogen headlights or mud flaps and they’ll throw their credit card at me. It’s like taking candy from a baby.”
Lmfao, I know it's satire, but this is so dead on it almost stings as well. The 90% Medicare reimbursement thing was the same way.
I don't understand why people buy pickup trucks. Unless you are a handyman or something.
I'm in a slightly more....redneck(?) area and the benefit to open bed trucks tends to be things more akin to landscaping, logging, wood and stone moving, and for those with hobbies; moving smaller vehicles (if they don't own a trailer attachment).
Basically the ability to throw dirty things into a hauling vehicle with good suspension on non-paved areas with easy cleaning capabilities.
It comes down to what you're doing is and what is required for a vehicle. HVAC, House work, some masonry or such you could use an enclosed vehicle for sure.
To your point, handymen and tradesmen will usually use a van or similar. And way more people own a truck than actually utilize it for the proper use cases. But there are valid reasons for open bed trucks too
This is the way
I'd love a cargo van like that, but I still need something to tow heavy trailers long distance, unfortunately.
These cargo vans are heavier and get worse fuel economy than a half ton with a similar engine. I'm not sure why lemmings hold them out as the more viable alternative to pickups. They're great if you have a bunch of stuff to protect from prying eyes but don't tow well and you can't put long, heavy or tall things in.
I read somewhere that farmers have started to buy very tiny Japanese pickup-trucks, because for most of the work they have to do during their day these small ones are much more practical. But American car manufacturers only make these oversized mob atrocities anymore, so the only solution is these Japanese ones. In size they're basically these little busses where there's no space between the two front seats.
Most vans have a greater payload than a lot of 4 door duel cabs, they offer more storage, more security，a lower loading floor height, more accessibility with side access and greater resale.
But yeah gotta get my Chevy.
I used to be a tradie, most of them don't need them either, and unsurprisingly, there are always tradies around whining their tools got stolen from the back of their Ute.
The funny thing is that the biggest badasses I met don't drive these kinds of cars. In fact, I can't recall any guy here in Australia who has demonstrated an ounce of courage who does drive a larger ute, and its generally a reliable indicator imho that they need fashion accessories to impress people.
Also yeah, they always suck at parking. Not because they can't, but simply because they don't care
When I was a teen, I think pickup looks super cool and would definitely buy one if I could.
Now as a more practical adult, I don't think I'll ever buy a pickup because I have no use for them and there's a lot more downsides to it (higher tax in my country, higher maintenance, bigger footprint, lower fuel efficiency). But I still think they look cool.
There are certainly practical reasons for them, like if you do a lot of ATVing, you can negate the need for hauling it in a trailer and just drive it up into the bed. It can definitely be nice to have a truck bed for certain things, but many people buy trucks for stuff they do once a month (if that), and not something they do every day, like commuting.
I ended up renting a brand new f150 lariat since it was the cheapest option available at the time and honestly I kind of get it. The thing was comically huge but I felt like a king in there. Super spacious interior too, my 7 yo nephew was standing up without his head even hitting the ceiling. I would never buy one since they're ridiculously expensive and too unnecessary, but man if I didn't like driving it.
That's fair, I have a truck but I also have a ladder rack on it that gets used often...
I bought one when I moved to a rural area. Since I worked from home I used it mainly to haul dirt, pig feed, yard equipment, and garbage a couple times a week. I spent about $12,000 on an older Chevy in relatively good shape and drove it until it rusted out from under me.
I bought a truck primarily for off- grid camping. Much easier to get a single vehicle into places.
I’ve found it extremely useful for truck stuff on nearly a weekly basis. One advantage it has over a van is the bed space is physically separate. I keep a porta potty in the back for my young kids. Never have to worry about it stinking up the cab.
I bought one to tow a 5th wheel RV. Since I sold the RV, I didn't need the truck so I sold that as well. Nothing wrong with owning a large truck.
No way, are they that much? Playing with vehicle customizers on car manufacturer websites is legit fun when they let you change and see every little thing. The prices do get outrageous fast! I had no idea trucks went over 100k.
Oh yeah, the base model F-350 starts at almost $50k and the top trim more than doubles that.
I understand that this article is satire, but people should stop using "liberal" as a pejorative. It really doesn't make sense within the contexts that it's most often used, and only creates linguistic confusion by messing with previously understood definitions.
In Australia the "Liberals" are the centre right capitalist centric party. We do have better terms like social progressives, socialists and social-democrats, but even with this, it's all relative terms. Everyone's different in their own ways.
In Australia the "Liberals" are the centre right capitalist centric party
In America too; they just don't know they are until they meet an actual leftist, and even then most of them don't figure it out.
Do take note of the lowercase L in the term that I used. I am not referring to the name of any particular political party that happens to have the name "Liberal". I am specifically referring to "liberal" as in reference to the political science concept of "liberalism".
I hate the lack of field of view in modern trucks
So does everyone else in the road.
Seriously, ever since I drove alongside one of the new 2024 GMC Sierra Denali trucks and realized its hood was as tall as my entire car, I've been utterly terrified of being anywhere near them. You probably can't see anything less than 10-15 feet in front of you, which is absolutely bonkers for a noncommercial vehicle. To say nothing of how getting hit by one is going to be like getting smacked directly in the face like a brick wall, because there's no way you'll be knocked up onto the roof to dissipate the force of the impact.
Car companies have absolutely lost the plot with this whole arms race of BIGGER BOXIER TALLER MANLIER trucks ever since Ford got made fun of around 2000 or so for making a car that was too "feminine" because it dared to have a more rounded exterior. The next generation refresh made it bigger and boxier, slapped a 12" Ford badge that was 2-3x the size of the badge on the previous generation, and it's been all downhill ever since.
I just wish modern pickups were built for hauling rather than towing. Nobody is hauling anything in a bed that sits at shoulder height!!
it's not just light trucks
They kind of have to do that.
Safety rules frown upon vehicles that crush everyone inside in an accident, so a modern vehicle's roof is required to be able to support the entire weight of the vehicle. If it's a big vehicle, that means very chunky pillars.
I get the pillars. They also have curtain airbags, electrical lines etc. Most newer vehicles will have that.
I mean the engine and hood itself. So square and chunky that you can hardly see the road, and that's without lift kits or anything
I mean... therapy can be expensive, yeah:-P
waiting for the inevitable "liberal owns conservative by dailying an ex military truck just to spite republicans"
I genuinely have more respect for people dailying industrial trucks, rather than pickups. I don't care how silly it is, i can respect it to some degree. (i may be biased)
How is own the cons not a thing. I need politicians to own the cons
because they're fragile, or something idk im not a con.
I really don’t get the appeal of fancy new cars… If I see someone in a new car then I usually assume they’re in debt tbh.
I always find it funny driving through posh areas and you usually see a Corsa on the driveway of a 1 mil+ house.
All new cars are trash, ask what your mechanic drives and it's gonna be like 20 years old
I mean, I'm a computer guy and some of the computers I use daily I wouldn't tell other people to use, I just use them because I know what's broken and what incantations to get it working well enough and its dirt cheap to keep using a half broken and dying machine. I assume many mechanics cars are similar
It's not reliability the mechanic is picking older cars for. It's the ability to work on it themselves.
Most people would be paying more to have somebody work on an older car over and over again because the parts aren't made anymore.
I really feel sorry for them :( They could do things that would make them happy with that money, like go to therapy or hike in the woods or whatever.
Oh boy another fun Lemmy thread where every commenter says the same thing about vehicles
Whichever one permits me to have the tiniest dick
Ya these threads might as well be AI generated
I already blocked fuckcars to avoid this brainless discussion. As someone who lives in the middle of nowhere it makes me think all city people are morons lol
I live in the country and my next door neighbor has two trucks that he alternates commuting 40 minutes into the city for a job that doesn't require a truck. Never see them used for anything else. That just oozes smart to me.
"Everyone's use case is perfectly identical and can be addressed by high-density urban living and public transportation" seems to be a common one as well.
Fuck cars was the first thing I banned coming to this site. I swear that whole community is just brain dead people who are terminally online.