Have Pick Ups Always Been this Expensive?

ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:

I own a Miata and an F-250. I wish somebody would have warned me before I bought TWO useless vehicles. ;)

If you put the Miata in the bed of the F250 then you can get approval for having a truck. 

ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:

I own a Miata and an F-250. I wish somebody would have warned me before I bought TWO useless vehicles. ;)

Don't you also have a race car that you can't modify; that really makes 3 useless vehicles.

yupididit said:

When are we going to get to truck bed height, rolling coal, and being blinded at night from behind by tall pickups? 

Bed Height?  Yuk? Why does it need to be so tall?   I had a 1930 Ford pick up. You could easily step into the bed.   You set stuff down in the bed.  Sat down in the bed.  Hey, it even had 19" wheels!!!! 

For years I wanted a truck and a while back I bought a 2006 Tundra. After owning it I realized I didn't need a truck at all so I got rid of it.

A newer and highly optioned one like SV Rex described as the "sweet spot" would be nice though just to use as a car. If gas prices continue to spike and used car prices continue to come down... I may go ahead and get another one (and re-learn my lesson that I don't need a truck at all).
 

parker said:

Driven5 said:

parker said:

I am claiming that the vast majority of trucks don't use 4wd, carry oversize cargo or tow >3500. 

A claim that, along with trucks not needing more than 2 seats, is being made with zero objective evidence that backs it up. Equating how something is appearing to be used for when you happen to be seeing it, with it not being used at in a way you didn't, is a logical fallacy. The fact that the vast majority of trucks spend the vast majority of their time doing not-truck-stuff, doesn't mean they aren't being used to do truck-stuff often enough to justify owning a truck.

Keep telling yourself that. 

You are correct, I don't have data for every owner in the country.  But the owners that I do know coupled with the sheer number of trucks (with pristine unscratched beds) sold in this country tell me that I'm right.  

I mean, by your own admission me owning the Rio is "too much car, no one needs that". Right? All you need is a miata. Tell me... how well can you sleep in a miata atthe track? That seat recline comfortably almost flat and keep enough room inside to store your things while it rains? 

Opinions are like shiny happy people. Everybody has one and no one wants to see yours.

Yikes, when did we go from playful ribbing to outright derision and snark.

Maybe we all need a timeout.  

I do agree with SvRex on this, if I could have only one vehicle for whatever reason, I'd likely get a truck.

z31maniac said:

I do agree with SvRex on this, if I could have only one vehicle for whatever reason, I'd likely get a truck.

Ignoring money questions, if I could only have one vehicle it would be an Audi RS6 Avant.  I love my F-250 but the only reason I own a truck is to support the race car, so if I didn't have a race car I wouldn't have a truck either.  An RS6 handles well enough to be fun, has tons of power, plenty of room for people, and it's a wagon so it can haul a decent amount of stuff too.

Tom1200 said:

ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:

I own a Miata and an F-250. I wish somebody would have warned me before I bought TWO useless vehicles. ;)

Don't you also have a race car that you can't modify; that really makes 3 useless vehicles.

True story.

I want an early '80s VW rabbit pick up truck, with a TDI engine swap, AC, Mk2 recaro interior, scirocco 16v brakes front/rear and the Mk1 snowflake wheels.  It'll actually fit in my garage is  plenty big enough to haul my motorcycle, lawn/snow blower and do yard projects.  Too bad I can't ever find one like that...

In reply to docwyte :

I joke about how fullsize trucks are seriously cramped if you are tall - like if you want to be able to reach the center stack, you have to drive with your knees wedged into the dash and the seatback forward and your neck hunched down turtle-like to clear the roof - but I don't think one could drive a Caddy unless they were 5'9 or shorter.  Or have legs like Cotton Hill.

As a home owner I understand the need for a truck for picking up large things from the hardware store, or hauling dirty things that I would not want in the back of a car.  I am also a motorcycle owner so the ability to put a bike in the bed & not have to pull a trailer is a plus.  I use a old s10 myself, it could use replacement as it has over 300000 miles on it.  But the options for a midsized truck with a full sized bed are very limited.  Plus they have all gotten so tall that loading a bike in the bed is a pain.  I have said in another thread that the perfect replacement for me may be the smyth ute kit for a dodge charger.

With the price of cars & trucks & the higher resale value of trucks I can understand why people are making the choice.  I just wish they were not so large but still only have a 5 foot bed.

i just love the complains of trucks not being used 'properly' by the majority of their owners.

As if supercars are - or basically any vehicle besides a minivan filled to brim with children

I really like having an old beater truck around. Admittedly, there are only a handful of times per year its capabilities are actually NEEDED, but it's enough of a convenience to be worth keeping around. Personally, I wouldn't want to daily one because they're not all that interesting to drive IMO, but if I just piled on interstate miles most of the time I might feel differently. With the comfort and efficiency modern trucks offer though, I don't see a huge downside for your average consumer. 

If Ford offered the Maverick with a manual, I'd be on it like on a cheap suit.!

Piguin said:

i just love the complains of trucks not being used 'properly' by the majority of their owners.

As if supercars are - or basically any vehicle besides a minivan filled to brim with children

 

Exactly!!  
 Besides, who appointed them as judge?   

If you aren't driving your Miata 10/10th-EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME, is it useless?

I just ran my 2019 Canyon through the KBB estimator for giggles. If it is to be believed, I've lost about $300 in four years. If I were to trade vehicles it would be for a small CUV and no dealer would give me that value anyway.

Totally agree about supercars. 

There is a pretty big difference between all the time and none of the time.  Of course trucks aren't used as trucks 100% of the time.  I'm referring to 0-1% usage.  I never said that people can't buy what they want.  I just don't get it.

Everyone has a different opinion obviously, but to me cars like the miata and FR-S are fun everytime I drive them. Whether tooling along or ripping around a racetrack.  I just enjoy the experience.  As someone who has always hated SUV's I now own three of them.  We need 4wd 8 months of the the year to go to town and back.  They are a tool, but except when 4wheeling the 4Runner on interesting trails I don't enjoy driving them.  The FR-S is a blast and I'm always reminded of how much I enjoy a good handling car whenever I get the chance to drive it.

Anyway, the OP's question and my original point are that since pickups are now the default family car and loaded with a bunch of stuff that consumers apparently want, it has driven the prices up.  

I'm really surprised at how many people freaked out on this thread.  If any group would get it I thought it would be this one.  I know the general public doesn't understand the fun of driving but I thought you guys did.

In reply to parker :

It's because you are making blanket statements with no data to to support them except your very limited observations with a small sample size. As others mentioned earlier, one could use their truck for truck stuff every day and still have an empty bed 50% of the time. If you went to a Home Depot parking lot today and looked in the beds doing a very unscientific survey, you would probably gather data that shows 90% are empty, "proving" your theory. But if you waited until the owners left the store and loaded the trucks, that empty percentage would drop substantially. Same trucks, same place, vastly different result depending on when and how you do your sampling. 
 

And also- it doesn't matter. People can buy what they want. I wish there were more color options with cars. But most people want white, gray, or black, so that is what they make the most of. I could could provide convincing arguments on why black is a poor choice, but it doesn't matter either. 

So today I was talking to a friend who bought a 2022 F150 loaded up.

He doesn't like the price (63K) but he loves the truck. He said he drives it everywhere (he has multiple cars) and prefers that to any of his other cars.

I'm still blown away by the prices (can't state enough how cheap I am) but I get people are willing to pay a lot more for nicer stuff.

In reply to Tom1200 :

Minor confession time...

I love Miatae and hated the rental V8 F150 I drove a few years back... But it turns out I actually enjoy driving my 2.7TT F150 around town better than my 128i.  The F150 is the only vehicle I've owned that never feels rushed, pain that feeling on to me in traffic and reducing my stress level. The 128i isn't much fun on the street without driving like a douche, which combined with all the traffic largely has the opposite effect on me.

Tom1200 said:

...

I'm still blown away by the prices (can't state enough how cheap I am) but I get people are willing to pay a lot more for nicer stuff.

Totally agree. 

I simply can't wrap my head around $35k Honda civics and $50k pickup trucks. 

I must like to live a lot further from the edge than a lot of people. I feel like I should call my parents and thank them for brainwashing me to be frugal. 

Appleseed said:

If you aren't driving your Miata 10/10th-EVERYWHERE, ALL THE TIME, is it useless?

Yes, because you're holding up traffic and about to get run over otherwise (I kid, I kid)