Price Increases and Inflation

[razz]

Some some who consider trucks with tall hoods and blunt front ends and overt expression of masculinity there's always the electric Cybertruck due out next year. Comparable to the F-150. I use my truck routinely, but there are big city trucks that are as much an expression of character as any functionality much like big SUVs, sports cars, or luxury cars are excesses for others.

Attachment 3716

The perfect camping model. I like this one! Probably out of my budget range though.

I am hoping that my next car will be one of the self-driving models where I can simply say, "Home, James".

[Alan]

people who actually cut grass etc. do not use vehicles like that, trucks sure, but that stuff is strictly for pretense, they aren't actual work vehicles. People who cut grass couldn't afford them either, which may be why one doesn't actually see it, again pretense.

About half the occupants of homes on my street hire their lawn maintenance out and from April through October my street is filled with high end 3/4 ton trucks towing trailers with multiple zero turn mowers, trimmers, etc.
All this week I've been holed up in an RV Park in Tennessee where I'm surrounded by 3/4 and 1 ton trucks towing campers. I wouldn't consider any one of them pretentious, they're designed to do things smaller vehicles can't. It's funny how different people perceive things.

[iris lilies]

About half the occupants of homes on my street hire their lawn maintenance out and from April through October my street is filled with high end 3/4 ton trucks towing trailers with multiple zero turn mowers, trimmers, etc.
All this week I've been holed up in an RV Park in Tennessee where I'm surrounded by 3/4 and 1 ton trucks towing campers. I wouldn't consider any one of them pretentious, they're designed to do things smaller vehicles can't. It's funny how different people perceive things.

”I don’t need it therefore no one else does” is pretty universal in our human reactions.

But as an alternative view, DH does not want a bigger truck. I have asked him, especially since they’ve stopped making the small Rangers, does he want a bigger truck one step up? He says no because he likes the low measurement of the Ranger truck bed. it’s easier to get stuff in to it.

[Rogar]

The perfect camping model. I like this one! Probably out of my budget range though.

I am hoping that my next car will be one of the self-driving models where I can simply say, "Home, James".

Base price is supposed to be $39k for the basic 2-wheel drive version before any electric vehicle incentives, plus gas savings and any real or perceived environmental benefits. Like the gas trucks the price can get very expense with upgrades. It's too big for me, but fun to think about. They have 500,000 preorders.

[rosarugosa]

The perfect camping model. I like this one! Probably out of my budget range though.

I am hoping that my next car will be one of the self-driving models where I can simply say, "Home, James".

Yes! I want a "Home, James" car!

[varrs]

I create a lot of my own products at home. And since covid I haven't been out much so I really havent seen the price increase a lot of people have been seeing. And I am one that if the price seems to "shock" me... it sits on the shelf - there are some things I just have to buy - like milk, sugar etc. So far things are going good around where I live for the basic necessities. And as far as Gas goes for my car..... I don't drive no where near as much so a price increase there is just something I have to live with. Even with a price increase - I am spending a lot less than I ever have before.

[jp1]

I question whether these bigger modern trucks are any better at towing or hauling than a similarly rated truck from a decade ago with a lower body style. And of course there are people who need a big bedded, powerful truck, even in suburbia. Our handyman has one. I have no idea if he wanted such a big bodied truck or just bought it because that's what the market has available. Perhaps I'll ask him next week.

In the meantime, though, these trucks are causing increased death to pedestrians unlucky enough to encounter them at speeds over 20 mph compared to people who encounter normal cars at those speeds.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...d-pickup-truck

https://www.iihs.org/news/detail/new...ians-than-cars

Analyzing a sample of 79 crashes from three urban areas in Michigan, the researchers found greater risk to pedestrians from SUVs. Because the sample size is small and limited to one geographic region, more research will be required to see whether all of the findings hold up in a larger study.

In the Michigan crashes, SUVs caused more serious injuries than cars when impacts occurred at greater than 19 miles per hour. At speeds of 20-39 mph, 3 out of 10 crashes with SUVs (30 percent) resulted in a pedestrian fatality, compared with 5 out of 22 for cars (23 percent). At 40 mph and higher, all three crashes with SUVs killed the pedestrian (100 percent), compared with 7 out of 13 crashes involving cars (54 percent). Below 20 miles per hour there was little difference between the outcomes, with pedestrians struck by either vehicle type tending to sustain minor injuries.

[SteveinMN]

I question whether these bigger modern trucks are any better at towing or hauling than a similarly rated truck from a decade ago with a lower body style. And of course there are people who need a big bedded, powerful truck, even in suburbia.

I've been seeing more and more of the smaller commercial vans being used by tradespeople around here, trucks like the Ford Transit Connect and the Ram Promaster City. They carry around 1500-2000 pounds and can tow about 2000 pounds. They can be custom-outfitted with racks and shelves for specific businesses. And they're a lot less expensive than the big pickups. Not the kind of vehicle you take off-road, but most plumbers I know don't do that intentionally....

[GeorgeParker]

Some people in this thread are overlooking the fact that "big pickup" is not the same thing as "tall pickup". All of the real work trucks I've seen are big pickups with normal or close-to-normal ground clearance. The stupid trucks that you need a ladder to get into are virtually all just for show. The extra ground clearance makes them top-heavy, more prone to tip over in turns, and it's harder to load stuff into the bed from ground level. The only tall open-bed work trucks I commonly see are traditional stake-body trucks, like this Ford F-450:

F-450 Stakebody.jpg

[GeorgeParker]

As an example of recent pickups being only a little taller than they used to be: The stock 2021 Ford F-150 pickup is 6 ft 6 inches tall. I'm guessing the top of the cab is 24 inches higher than the top of the hood, which makes the hood 4 ft 6 inches high. Is the hood higher than pickup hoods used to be? Yes! But not significantly higher. The 1980 F-150 was 6 ft 1 inch tall, meaning the current stock F-150 is only 5 inches taller than it was 30 years ago. IOW pickups have always been tall, but the stupidly tall ones have been altered to make them that tall by adding a lot of extra ground clearance.