Originally Posted By: meep
I think it's more the dislike of image. Nobody fusses over a, '02 2wd F150 with 110,000 miles on it. Or trucks that are obviously worked. It's the mammoth miles of bed and chrome and lifts with not a single spot of mud beneath. the lifted trucks here that actually look they someone plays in them--- I think they are probably looked at "ok" too -- yes they put their time and money into it... but it's not necessarily for looks--- they are using it for their hobby. But if it's got all the bells and whistles, yet the bed is spotless and the bottom is all shiny black, (and it gets worse with HID and straight pipes) then it just goes downhill, because it starts to look like an image thing, and that's where folks get turned off.
A conservative truck buyer today is kinda doomed from the beginning too, thanks to some way over-masculine styling. Huge big-rig like grills on pretty much all of them, threatening front stance, drive-over-it looks-- no good for a guy that just wants a truck to drive to work during the week, tow a toy or two on the weekend, and enjoy the utility of being able to move things around for the family, bring lumber home, etc..
I have wondered if I sometimes get smirked at, as a truck owner. You'd never know I use it hard as a truck on the weekend, as I don't drive with the hitch ball in unless I'm pulling something. It's also a hobby, so I do little mods here and there. I'm also the guy who all the family members call if something needs to be moved, and it's ok. I do pay for it at the pump, every week. And after towing, I pay double at the pump. But a second car for commuting is even more costly, either in payments if it's new, or upkeep if it's older.
But yeah, even I look at the "shiny waste" I see often, sort of shaking my head, wishing trucks could be built and designed as tools rather than things that LOOK like they want to be seen.
I do get a little concerned about fuel waste. Our money spent on that stuff doesn't stay in the US, and that bugs me. But we all have to make our own decisions; I can't make the decision for the next guy -- just myself.
Well put.
I am a bit conflicted on this. On one hand, I am all for driving what you want to drive as long as you can afford it. It does bother me a little when people single out pickups as being wasteful when they won't make the leap to a micro-car, riding a bike, etc. Seems like they are deflecting their share of the blame for finite resource use on to someone else. I suppose most anti-truck people are not as offended by something like my Ranger due to its size relative to a car, but the "why would you drive that when you could drive a car?" or "are you a contractor or something?" stuff gets old. I can't remember any BITOGers buying a particularly flashy truck, but there's always those types of posts when someone buys one. I guess we should start asking anyone who buys a car with any sort of performance image if they will track the thing? In addition, the notion that a truck handles SO much worse than a car is a joke...like FWD cars are handling champions. Please. Driving any pickup built in the last 25 years is not like driving an F-1 with a three on the tree.
But on the other hand, I hate pickups as a trend, because you can't just get a normal freaking pickup anymore. Most of them are blinged out crew cabs with tons of gadgetry to break and be cost prohibitive to fix. I wish pickups were less trendy so the focus would be more on being excellent, but affordable work vehicles. The market will demand what the market wants, but I also think the power of marketing is stronger than people realize, and of course manufacturers are going to push people towards something more profitable.
I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too, at least not anymore. Personally, I think light trucks were at their best in the mid 1990s. That's just me though. They were very utilitarian then, but had enough features to make them comfortable as daily drivers without the price getting astronomical. And non-pickup people weren't all up in arms about them then either.
