prj71

I love my V8 gas guzzling behemoth of a truck.

1.) I can haul 4 people and all their gear for a week long camping trip.

2.) I can haul 3 bikes, grill, cooler, tables etc. for a nice day long mtb ride.

3.) I love the 4 wheel drive in the winter and being able to go places that others can't because of low ground clearance or 2wd

4.) I can drive it on the lakes through the snow during ice fishing season.

5.) Due to the it's behemoth size, it's a safer vehicle to be in due to it size.

ThermionicScott 

Nope, just that not everyone is interested in adding up the costs of what they do. Smart and dumb people alike, no judgment implied. The "we" was a reference to the cost of car ownership being a popular topic here in LCF.

You latched onto my mention of 72-month financing, but it wasn't essential to my point that financing spreads out the cost burden of ownership significantly, even if the total cost is higher in the long run. I could have used 60-month or 0% down or anything.

I-Like-To-Bike

True. Some people keep detailed records of every penny they spend on car ownership (or bicycling activities or food expenditures or anything else they might choose) whether it serves any practical purpose or not; for some it may satisfy an OCD driven need, or perhaps for bragging rights.

Others keep track of every minute and mile they spend on bicycling activities or count every crack on the sidewalk as they stroll about; to each their own.

wolfchild

Great wealth is not an indication of a good credit score or credit rating...There are plenty of middle class and less wealthy people who can have perfect credit rating, it all about accountability of how you manage your money...And even if somebody does have a bad credit rating they can still get financing. There are plenty of car dealers out there who will give financing to people with bad credit.

tandempower

I've heard people talking about wanting to do this to environmentalists since the mid-2000s. The funny thing is that there's no backlash for it. It's like when developers plan the most nature-hostile land-clearing projects possible, what can you do to backlash them for cutting trees? Destroy things they care about? All that would do is launch a destructive competition and where would it end? Anti-environmentalists have us by the b*lls and all we can do is turn the other cheek, because doing anything else would do more harm than good; except maybe jail time. I wonder if we could start making laws against things like noise harassment and jailing people for revving loud motors when they pass us? Now that I think of it, it wouldn't be that different from laws protecting against other forms of harassment.

Mindless expenditures benefit certain businesses, while mindful shopping/spending benefits others. Even when you don't keep detailed records of every penny, it's not that hard to keep track of costs and prices in ways that make you mindful of the kinds of things that really drain people's accounts. It's sad that there's so much peer pressure to impoverish yourself by mindlessly letting money flow. Why do people destroy themselves financially to appease the business culture that just wants their money?

I-Like-To-Bike

Is this a new screenplay about The Attack of the Mindless Strawmen and how the Economic Zombie Apocalypse is being opposed by the Mindful Gallant Bicycling Warriors?

Perdido

It's called "rolling coal", google it. It's an adolescent hick thing. Some of those idiots actually go thru the trouble of installing a fuel injector after their catalytic converter so they can lay down a smoke screen with the flick of a switch. Other times they just mess with the trucks computer. Sad.

Roody

You find a couple people metaphorically rolling coal right here on this forum. It goes to show that "backward" has more than one definition.

tandempower

I get so used to seeing your 'screenplay' sarcasm that it seems bland and uncreative but maybe it is something originally and exclusively yours and you should try to patent or something before word gets out and everyone starts using to put each other's ideas down.

mconlonx

I love beating hulking 4WD trucks off the line at a stop in icy conditions with my 2wd/FWD subcompact coupe equipped with studded snow tires. And feeling bad for those who think themselves invincible in their 4WD, overweight vehicles when I see them off the road in such conditions as I drive by with more than adequate traction.

I've also seen the term "Bro-Dozer" applied to such vehicles, which makes me chuckle.

prj71

I love when those same people with 2wd/FWD subcompact sardine cans think they plow through a foot or higher of snow only to get stuck because they have no ground clearance and all of the snow gets caught on the frame underneath the car as I drive by with more than adequate traction and more than adequate ground clearance.

Besides...when did we start drag racing off the line in town with our cars? Sounds like a recipe for an accident to me.

I-Like-To-Bike

Must be an "LCF thing", just like this thread.

mconlonx

Meh, we know better than to drive in such conditions. Last time I tried that, snow was coming over the hood -- talk about whiteout conditions...

Not talking about drag racing, just motoring away from a stoplight while the 4WDtruck/SUV next to me spins 2 or 4 wheels.

It's like being on a bike with studded tires, too -- motorists think they can do any kind of jackass thing they want since, "heck, even that cyclist is out riding around."

Or a motorcycle... (me, much younger...)

prj71

Sometimes you just have to get to work.

Roody

That's right. I love riding my bike past motorists stuck in snow or scraping ice off their windows. Sometimes I can't help yelling out, "Boy, I'd sure hate to be driving in this weather!"

Walter S

Your epitaph will read "He was a reliable employee"

Zedoo

After one post stating the obvious, this thread mostly serves to bring out the trolls so I can edit my ignore list.

350htrr

In my mind the real fail with these "behemoth Trucks" is they usually are used as cars, and IMO are a total fail as a truck because most of them are a "short box" as even the "standard box" is a short box as IMO 8' is/was the standard not 6' which has become the standard because now the 4' box is the short box and wouldn't sell if they called it a useless box... and neither could even haul my 8' camper if one wanted to actually use it as a truck was meant to be used...

RidesaJapanese

Meanwhile, in Germany....

Stucky

I drive an Excursion. I like to maximize my chances of coming out on top. Anyone concerned with their own safety is free to do likewise. It sucks that virtually the whole world has become a car culture, but since that's the world we currently live in, it's better to be a dog than a flea. I was car-free for the first half of my life, as when i was a child, we did not have a car; and when i lived in NYC as a teen/young man, i didn't have one- but now, living in a very rural area, such is not an option.

The real "backwards' aspect of the time we live in, is the destruction of local economies and downtowns and small businesses. There was a time, when you could get most things you needed in the little town 3.5 miles down the road from where I live. Now all that's left is a gas station, Post Office and a couple of churches..... Most people now go to the bigger towns every day to work, and since stay-at-home housewives are now a rarity, no one's around to patronize small local businesses- and without small local businesses, there are few local jobs/business opportunities. it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Stucky

I concur. I never understood the appeal of the shortbed- A big engine; a crew cab; and a little useless bed. Put a toolbox in it, and then it's really useless! It's like having a locomotive to pull around just a caboose. I was considering selling my F250 Superduty because of rust and clear coat issues...but it's so rare to find a longbed, which mine is (Especially in 4x4 with a supercab) I think I'm just going to keep it.

(((Now you guys can have a ball with me! I'm a bachelor, with a 7,000 lb and 8,000 lb vehicles! -But i do have to haul stuff once in a while..... And quite frankly, even just to go shopping for my myself, and my elderly mother who lives on my property, i don't know how people do it with these little cars with tiny or no trunks! -But then again, i guess they go to the stores much more often than i do. I may go to town 3 times a month. Most of my neighbors go every day- some several times a day.)

350htrr

Now That is even a bigger step backwards than more vehicle's IMO But, in a round about way, if we really went backwards in that sense of how it used to be, it would be a step ahead...

loky1179

Fixed it for you.

Mobile 155

I hope you know that ploy never works. People will put monster steel brush guards and steel bumpers on a truck or SUV to mount 200k off road lights. Biggest after market item is big rims and bigger than stock mud and snow tires. And that is for Southern California where we don't get that much mud or snow.

It is like saying people should give cyclists at least three feet when passing. It my state it is the law, but that doesn't seem to cross some people's mind.

cooker

Is it really safer? Sure, in a direct collision with a smaller vehicle. But maybe not if they can brake faster or steer more nimbly than you, and avoid a crash you can't, or if you roll it.