You don’t need me to tell you that Americans love pickup trucks. And the bigger the truck, the more it seemed to be seen as an object of covetousness. The monthly and yearly sales charts are something of a broken record; follow one is Ford F-Seriesnext is Chevy Silverado, Ram’s ruler line, and somewhere not far away, GMC Sierra. The major Japanese players are in a slightly lower position – there’s nothing wrong with a hundred thousand Toyota Tundra sales – and smaller one-size trucks like Toyota Tacoma, Ford Ranger and Chevy Colorado has also proven to be very popular.
Along with sales, the average cost of new trucks is increasing similarly.
Now, I don’t pretend to have the right to tell people what they should or shouldn’t buy with my own money. But I can’t understand why more and more Americans are choosing to spend huge sums of money on super luxury pickup trucks.
First let me say that I understand the appeal. People like good things, after all. I know I do. I myself am willing to spend more than the average American on all sorts of discretionary things, from wine and liquor to cameras and lenses. I have even spent my own money on means that I don’t need but still want. A certain classic VW camping truck definitely qualified. I also currently own a large, inefficient SUV with a massive 454-inch V8.
So, if your answer to the question I’m asking here is that you’re willing to pay a hundredth of a thousand better for a chrome and leather pickup simply because you want to, then by all means way – that’s not it you need my permission – buy one.
The part I don’t understand is: Why don’t you, as a rational person, split your garage in half? On one side will be a beautiful, quiet car that drives and handles equally well and has above-average fuel economy. Maybe it has a few hundred horsepower on gasoline, or heck, maybe it’s on electricity. On the other side (or even outside) was parked a decent pickup. One can drag 10,000 pounds, holds something close to a ton in bed, and has all the conveniences most Americans want in their cars, like cruise control, power windows and locks, and no need for entry. key and rich infotainment screen.
If you are only interested in buying brand new, check it out Ford‘s online configurator F-150 proves that it’s not hard to value a nice-looking F-150 XLT 4×4 with rear seats and an EcoBoost engine for around $49,000. A loaded F-150 Limited costs about $86,000. Both are perfectly capable of doing heavy stuff, but one is almost $40,000 more expensive than the other because it’s made of leather, wood, and tech.
I don’t choose Ford. It’s a similar story in Ram, Toyota and Synthetic engine. Recently we ran a segment where We’ve picked out the best and worst vehicles the automaker is selling right now, and I chose a large truck, full size for both categories. About Chevy Silverado 3500 The HD I chose is GMbest, i said:
“For less than $58,000, buyers can get a Silverado four-door, all-wheel drive, dual rear wheels, and a 6.6-liter turbodiesel engine mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission. Skip the creature comforts (of which there are plenty available) and you’ll be left with a truck that boasts 910 pound-feet of torque and a pack powerful enough to tow up to 36,000 pounds or carry up to 7,400 pounds in bed. ”
Regarding the GMC Sierra Denali, which I chose as GM’s worst car, I said:
“I just went to GMC.com and used their online configurator to build a 2023 Sierra Denali for $86,360. Naturally, I’ve picked all the best ones, including a gorgeous pearl white triple coat and 22-inch bright chrome wheels. It really is a gorgeous pickup truck, but one that I would absolutely never do any work on an actual truck.”
And that’s the problem as I see it. Trucks serve a very important purpose in modern society. Everyone needs to move things, whether it’s John and Jane Homeowners who enjoy tending to their gardens on the weekends or construction workers who arrive at their work site every morning with Full tools in a locked box on the bed. We buy campers and tow them hundreds of miles. We towed our boats to the lake, our dirt bikes and race cars to the track, and sometimes we even dumped piles of rocks and gravel on our beds.
We need trucks. Trucks are good. They are great tools when used for the right purpose. In fact, they could be best vehicle America built. But we don’t need to use all these trucks as our daily drivers. There are better tools for that job.
Before you think, I’ll tell you to buy one tram (not that it’s the worst idea in the world), check it out previous opinion articles I wrote. No matter what you want to power it with, you can buy a very nice one gently old car for the $40,000 price difference between the F-150 XLT and the previously mentioned F-150 Limited.
If I were spending my own money, I’d look at a certified pre-owned F-150 with a 5.0-liter V8 for under $35,000. There are more than a dozen near me with insurance for sale right now (remember how many of these Ford sells?). It’s not a small amount, but it’s not so much that I dread having to fill its bed with construction supplies. Or, you know, any other type of task the truck does well. You can choose to go really cheap and get something like a used old Dodge Dakota or Toyota Tundra.
Either way, you’ll have plenty of money left over to put another nice car in the garage, one that’s more luxurious, quieter, more comfortable, fun to drive, easier to park and, yes, efficient. significantly more. The two tools and their purpose are each built for their specific job.
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