No. No. No.
A better truck would be a hybrid small truck, that small business folk could afford to purchase for $23,000 or less (preferably under $20,000, but understandably more if hybrid). It would not have plastic crap all over it, because small business folks can not afford to fix busted plastic crap that is just there to "look daring."
(How many years did my broken plastic air scoop hang from a cable-tie off the front of my truck until a deer did me the favor of destroying the whole front of my truck and insurance helped fix the whole thing?) Who has $400 - $600 to fix a crack in a piece of plastic? Because, oh yes, you have to replace the entire panel!
A good truck would have a bed big enough to hold a 4x8 sheet of plywood (OK, it can hang out the back, but it needs to fit in there above the wheel wells!). And it would get at least the 30 mpg that my 1998 extended cab Chevy S-10 gets. If hybrid, it should get considerably more.
But no. We tell the public that some huge gas hog covered with futuristic plastic molding is the future of trucks, and laud the fact that new huge hybrids get you a few more miles to the gallon when in fact most buyers don't even need a truck that large. All they are trying to do is to KEEP people buy huge trucks by telling them "they'll get better mileage." Well, they'd get GREAT mileage if there were a SMALL hybrid truck with a gas tank a working man or woman could afford to fill.
How about a hybrid work truck from the independent business person whose whole house may cost as much as one of these monster trucks?
It's gotten so you hardly have a choice among small trucks. Mileage on new trucks seems to be worse than it was in 1998 when I bought my last new Chevy, not better. They'll blame this on new emission standards, but I'm sorry. Many years ago, friends of mine were tooling around in small new affordable cars that got well over 40 mpg (back when I was buying older used cars). Now you are expected to be happy if you get over 30 in a car (let alone a truck). What's up with that?
Dear Detroit. I swore once I would only buy new vehicles because I needed those 5-7 payment-free years once it was paid off--as well as the 5 maintenance-free years in the beginning. But frankly, your trucks are irresponsible. I'll be buying a used S-10 when the catmobile finally treks to the litterbox in the sky.
One thing I will approve of is overall quality. My first S-10 only lasted about 100,000 miles before it really started to rattle apart. I put a few exhaust systems on my first S-10. I have yet to replace the exhaust on my 1998. My current S-10 made it to $150,000 before bits and pieces started wearing out, and the bits that are wearing are affordable bits. (That said, she's still immobile in the yard due to a tiny gas leak, and I'm driving Mark's vehicles, but thats basically because I've been routing my cash toward cats instead of cars...which is very bad of me and I must stop this month). I'm hoping the new "small" trucks have similar high quality.
Rant over.
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