Quote:
Originally Posted by skyking
none of the solo figures matter to me, at least. I am concerned about towing performance, and there an I-6 diesel simply smashes the gassers. Nobody with a gas truck talks about much more than 10 MPG towing. The diesels get significantly better MPG towing equivalent trailers.
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Agree 100%. I had an F150 and a smaller Honda both for a while. It wasn't terribly important what fuel economy the F150 got as a solo commuter, as when I was commuting, it was the vehicle left sitting in the driveway. The F150 was only used to move things around I couldn't fit in my car, and it was far better at moving those things around more safely, quickly and easily.
Eventually I got a trailer to pull behind my car, and it allowed my car to do 98% of what I might use a pickup truck for. Not 98% of what a pickup is capable of, mind you, but I didn't need a truck sitting in my driveway anymore. For those who move thousands of pounds of bricks, horse trailers, farm equipment and large quantities of construction materials, a pickup truck is a no-brainer, but it's very seldom I ever need to move something I can't comfortably pull behind my car so I have no business owning a pickup.
As for the "pickups are safer because they're heavier", it irks me that it's true, but it's only true to an extent. Hit a tractor trailer or immovable barrier and a pickup fares no better than a car. Hit someone else in a smaller vehicle and you're likely safer in a pickup. So, unfortunately, there's a lot of incentive for people to buy bigger and heavier vehicles, to out-compete in mass for accident safety. If there weren't so many people commuting in trucks, there would be less reason to buy a truck, at least from a safety perspective.