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Old 10-28-2018, 09:25 AM   #7 (permalink)
slowmover
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Posts: 2,442

2004 CTD - '04 DODGE RAM 2500 SLT
Team Cummins
90 day: 19.36 mpg (US)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee View Post
If he's carrying and towing so much, that makes his fe performance more respectable.
Yes.

A pickup is a vehicle designed to do work. And if that man had business miles that were tax deductible, then his operating/ownership costs are different from Joe Commuter.

A truck is something where the miles are planned.

In reverse of the majority here who believe they need never change their use of a vehicle, just reduce the fuel burn. AND in a vehicle which can’t carry their family plus luggage. Or that won’t survive crashes where a better choice would have. There are minimums MUCH more important than the last tenth. Hard to imagine a less-responsible approach, but misunderstanding “virtue” is common today. Cut off ones nose to spite his face. Roams freely around here.

The first line of some of these stories SHOULD be: “I’ve reduced my annual miles by X-percent and still achieve the same ends as before”. But it isn’t. (Not much need to read the rest).

Entirely possible that pickup MADE money for the owner. Covered it’s costs, and generated a surplus.

Half-tons aren’t really freight-haulers. But judging by that contractor cap and small cab configuration, he could been a distributor. The short truck is easy to park & maneuver, but the windowless cap makes it more difficult in traffic (needed to keep UV and prying eyes to a minimum; as with vehicle color). A manufacturer rep. Where calling on customers to deliver valuable items is a win-win.

Or, you tell me that man’s a partner in an engineering firm specializing in work for major area manufacturers, that pic is a dead-on fit.

The truck is now old. Kept well-past a depreciating asset schedule. May have paid for itself twice over. Age now brings up reliability issues not worth risking.

Or maybe he just liked it. Joe Commuter after all. Nothing wrong with 15-mpg average. We’d have killed for that forty years ago with a V8 car.

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