I've never owned a truck myself, and i've never owned a new vehicle EVER-i'd rather buy used and do a little maintenance here and there than make payments, and i've always kept an eye to fuel efficiency.
Having said that, many is the time i've wished for a truck. And my faithful '93 Festiva, which has carried:
-600 lbs of Quickcrete without so much as a brake squeal
-several 10' poles (arcing from the passenger foot well to the tip-top of the driver's side hatch, it is JUST possible)
-a 6'X4' board splitting the car in half visually and leading to some...creative mirror use to maintain legal visual fields
-an entire writing desk once the hatch brakelight was temporarily removed
......has ALSO wished I had a truck.
Sadly, the type of small truck I desire-say, the old Datsun trucks my Dad once owned and routinely achived 28-30 MPG with, or the VW Rabbit Diesel pick-ups getting the same or more-have apparently gone the way of the Wooly Mammoth. Now that I have a little in the bank from selling my overly-large home and purchasing a Travel Trailer, I wouldn't mind finding a nice, SMALL and fuel-efficient truck and see what Eco-mods I could add to it...maybe even finding someone who would care enough about my little red car to give it the attention she deserves and put another 300,000+ miles on her, seeing as I find ownership of multiple vehicles a waste for one single guy like myself...
I could even consider an SUV-
(GASP!!!)
-as long as A) it had 4-wheel drive and B) I lived in a location I needed 4-wheel drive.I'm sure I could Eco-mod SOME efficiency out of the beast, right?
As far as 'showing off wealth'... that is a completely alien mindset to me as I have never HAD any to show off...in the improbable event that I should somehow accquire a vast fortune, I would most likely continue to buy used when possible and live the way I do now...maybe eat a bit fancier now and again. The only exception to this might be if I decide to travel, and get something capable of towing a 2006 29' Jayco Travel Trailer-but these days a decent used F-150 might have the horsies for that...