So those errands ended up completely taking my mind off of this thread. Apologies for not responding to your many suggestions.
All of the theories that I don’t really need a truck for our second vehicle finally penetrated. I have owned more than 10 vehicles in the past, and a truck didn’t enter the picture until #7. #8 was also a truck, but I think that was inertia ( “Dangit, my truck developed a gas tank leak! I need a truck to replace it!” ), and that inertia recently popped its head up again in this case. Renting a truck or having things delivered is the way to go and will serve me well for every scenario I’ve been able to dream up.
No truck, so now what do I want? I thought back over all the vehicles I’ve had or thought I wanted but never had, and one entry actually got me excited. It was hands down my favorite car of all I’ve owned; I lost it because a flash flood tore the engine apart. Why I didn’t turn around and get another one I’ll never know.
It was a '93 Ford Probe. You can laugh or roll your eyes; you can tell me everything that was wrong with it from a technical perspective. I know everything it had going for it could be beaten by other cars of that era. But I didn’t have those cars; I had this one. Nostalgia? Probably. I know it’s a really bad idea to buy a car made around 30 years ago, if I can find one. And there are a very few out there.One was up for sale recently that reported only 996 miles. Must’ve been sitting in some collector’s warehouse-garage. Another stated around 28 thousand miles.
Still, dry rot in hoses. Fluids turned to gunk. Rusty undercarriage. Anything I find will likely have something or other to tend to. And, should I actually pull the trigger and obtain one, I may well find that it’s not the same; I’m not that guy anymore, and I’ve had a lot of just all-around experience since then.
Thanks to all of you who helped me get the truck idea duly examined and put to bed. ( A truck pun? BANHAMMER )
When those first came out in the late 80s I remember them being fairly well reviewed, but then they kind of became a joke, probably more for the name than the actual merits of the car.
I think the thing to do is to think of it not as a particular car, but as a class of cars. So a small coupe or hatchback. Performance or economy oriented? Modern EV, hybrid, etc., or a throwback with a manual transmission?
Good for you @hooberly . My favorite car was probably my '89 Nissan 240SX. But I have to include my '76 Chevy 4x4 short bed in there. That truck lasted me for years.
Having a truck though means you get a lot of experience in the moving business. Especially when you and all your friends are going off to collage.
Many years ago, I established a hard and fast rule: Yes, I will use my truck to help you move, but my job is to get things onto the truck, get them off the truck, and make sure they stay on the truck in between.
But someone else is doing all the carrying shit in and out of the house. I don’t care who, but it ain’t going to be me.
In a lot of such places, though, friends with trucks are quite thick on the ground.
Admittedly, depending on who you know, what you can put into the pool of favor exchanges, and how often you need the use of the truck, this isn’t always an ideal solution.
Seriously, we may give good advice, and work to eliminate ignorance, but is it worth the needling on grammar, spelling/autocorrect errors, and the awful puns?
Wow. I’m shopping for a used car, and that comment floored me.
If I bought a small car (my nostalgic car was a manual Toyota Yaris, I drove that thing like it was a Cobra!), and rented something big (and labor to go with it?) when I needed it…
Wait, what if I bike/scooter everywhere, and then rent a truck when I need it… and something sporty (a convertible, even?) for an occasional fun weekend…? Bet I’d be rolling in dough, just from the savings on insurance!
ps, I had a friend who bought a truck, and said “I’ll never need this, but I’m from Way Up North where you’re not a ‘real guy’ if you don’t drive a truck.”
He got divorced a few months later. He tried some other stuff “real guys do”, like an affair…
Well, 7 points for originality, 8 for effort to work it back, 9 for keeping it in topic, but sadly only a 2 for the traditional “sackcloth and ashes” mea culpa. Bonus points though for not blaming autocorrect!
I have one and I love it! It was my 70th birthday present to myself. My husband calls it my “old lady gardening truck”, used to haul top soil, grass seed, flats of flowers, etc. When I do strictly highway driving, it usually gets around 31 mpg. It’s been averaging 26-27 mpg with combo city and highway driving. I was lucky to get 19 mpg on the GMC Terrain that it replaced.
