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Biden administration sets 50 miles per gallon fuel economy standard for 2031
(www.washingtonpost.com)
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this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
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You may live somewhere where people constantly tow travel trailers or large boats, but this isn't the case everywhere. Loads of people buy trucks with the idea the bed will be used every other weekend, then they end up commuting to an office job and getting groceries. If they were primarily used for hauling things around, the average truck wouldn't have a larger passenger cabin than its cargo bed.
Station wagons can just as easily go to the hardware store and pick up full sheets of plywood, load up the lawn mower and trimmer, and as much sporting equipment as a family could wear. What wagons don't have is the aggressive design that pick up trucks have come to be.
Most cars could tow a single axle utility trailer if you needed to move what I mentioned - even appliances or furniture. I know a couple that tow a two person caravan with a Mini Cooper. Even when someone does need larger weight or volume capacity on a regular basis, a van has most of the benefits of a pick up truck with better fuel efficiency.
Just to bolster your point, I rented a U-Haul trailer for all my stuff last time I moved, including an enormous 3 piece solid oak entertainment center, and pulled it with a vw Jetta wagon.
Couldn't put it on the roof? I saw a wagon once with a chest freezer strapped to the roof and couldn't stop laughing.
U-Haul is a titan of the moving industry, but it's still surprising how few people would consider an occasional rental, be it a trailer like you used or even a truck, as part of owning a regular car. You spent around $100 to rent that trailer for a day? Imagine spending quadruple that - every month for a decade - just to ensure you have 24/7 access to 24 square feet of cargo space. Not to mention double in fuel compared to your Jetta.
Even ignoring the renting aspect, pretty well everyone knows a couple people that already have a pick up truck. Just borrow it for a day or two when you do a project or buy a new stove, fill the tank, and buy them their beverage of choice. It's not complicated.
More people should be like you.
Last time I moved I rented a U-Haul. It was uneventful. Reserved it, picked it up, used it, returned it.
These people spend a years salary on oversized crap that gets terrible efficiency, kills pedestrians, blocks views, just on the off chance they can move something once a decade.
There was this lazy shit that worked at a place I was at once, fairly confident he has antisocial personality disorder. Guy makes a dollar over minimum wage per hour and bought a F250. Yes the person who works maybe 45 minutes a day is going out there moving lumber on the weekend
I agree. A truck can be a good option for some, but as you point out, most people aren't doing a DIY project each weekend. The F150 can be optioned out to a six figure price tag. It's inconceivable to me.
I'm acquainted with the owner of a middle sized plumbing company, and he had a close call with a dog that got loose one day. Not his fault, and he was able to stop in time, but nonetheless it bothered him. Couple months go by and he switched all his service trucks out for transit vans.
The newer style vans with the slanted front end gives far more visibility, twice the cargo space without having to climb up into the bed, they don't weigh as much, and are more fuel efficient. All at the same price point.
An unfortunate side effect of modern life is that many people see purchases like a vehicle or a house as these monthly costs that, on the face of them, they can afford. The trouble is they don't consider the overall cost of the purchase, let alone the ongoing cost in terms of routine maintenance and unexpected repairs.
It's a shame, but when something is marketed as though it'll make you the toughest in town, who wouldn't pay $181.50 ~weekly~ at 0% APR ~for the first three months~.
I am just going to point out that my in-laws (who live in the developing world) run their rental properties, farm, and general store with two motorcycles and a tractor. That tractor btw I want to shot with a gun and put it out of its misery since I am pretty sure it's diesal ass should have died in the 1980s. I am pretty confident that if two people in their mid-60s can do it the vast vast vast majority of people don't need an oversized pickup.
Also I have been involved with construction since my uni days and just about every contractor I have dealt with has a van.