Truckpocalypse
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https://www.battleswarmblog.com/?p=54317
Pickup truck prices have gotten absolutely insane.
Pickups used to be the steady, dependable, unglamorous vehicles of ordinary blue collar Americans. Lately, car makers seem to have turned them into cash cows by pricing them like luxury goods for rich people.
As the Ford F-series is the most popular pickup truck, I though I would look at the prices there. The average selling price for a 2023 Ford F-150 is an eye-watering $82,395. Given the rule of thumb that you should never pay more than a maximum of 35% of your yearly income for a new car, which means that buyers should be making $235,000 a year to afford a new F-150. That’s not “HVAC Repairman” money. Hell, it’s barely “guy who owns his own HVAC shop” money. And this despite Ford having such quality control problems that they’ve issued a slew of recalls.
Assuming I was insane enough to buy a new Ford F-150 at the average selling price, and no down payment, I would be looking at $1,521 in monthly payments, or more than I was paying for my home mortgage until a few years ago. (Thanks to rising tax valuations and insurance, now it’s just a little more than that. My car has long been paid off.)
Ford and other auto makers are pricing their traditional customers out of the market by making pickup trucks luxury goods. Just as in the 1970s, American car manufacturers are pricing themselves out of the market and are inviting foreign manufacturers to swoop in and snatch market share from them.
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I've never really understand the appeal of pickups.
Sure, I understand they're really handy if you're collecting a load of shit and taking it somewhere, but most people I know with one just drive it to work and back every day.
Maybe Ford figure if you can afford to pay that much for gas, you can probably stump up 80 grand for the truck.
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I've never really understand the appeal of pickups.
Sure, I understand they're really handy if you're collecting a load of shit and taking it somewhere, but most people I know with one just drive it to work and back every day.
Maybe Ford figure if you can afford to pay that much for gas, you can probably stump up 80 grand for the truck.
@Doctor-Phibes said in Truckpocalypse:
I've never really understand the appeal of pickups.
Nor have I.
Sure, I understand they're really handy if you're collecting a load of shit and taking it somewhere, but most people I know with one just drive it to work and back every day.
And, the deck is all exposed, unless you invest in some kind of topper. I mean, where are you going to put
the bodiesyour golf clubs? -
I've never really understood the appeal of golf clubs, either.
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If you'd ever had one you'd know. They're handy, comfortable and people in front of you tend to get out of the way. I miss both my pickups every day.
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If you'd ever had one you'd know. They're handy, comfortable and people in front of you tend to get out of the way. I miss both my pickups every day.
@Mik said in Truckpocalypse:
They're handy, comfortable and people in front of you tend to get out of the way.
You could say the same thing about a mankini.
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So long as I live in a detached house with a yard and do the majority of handyman work around the place and vacation in the summer in a tent, I will own a pickup truck of some sort.
At the moment I own two; one a ‘96 4x4 Chev 3/4 ton long box that is in winter storage and a 2013 Nissan Pro4X that is my primary vehicle.
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...and as long as I have a back yard, I will own a mankini of some sort.
It's so much more fun than yelling 'Get off my lawn!'
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...and as long as I have a back yard, I will own a mankini of some sort.
It's so much more fun than yelling 'Get off my lawn!'
Sure, go for it, but check with the HOA first.
