For the same reason kids drive Honda Civics with fake race car parts on them - they’re looking for the image.
I’m not saying there’s no market for junk like that, but only having that stuff leaves the people who want a useful small truck out in the cold.
Some of us live in the suburbs. We don’t want a giant behemoth in the driveway or stuffing our garages, but we do want to haul stuff for landscaping and other projects. Small trucks are ideal and right now, if you want a small useful truck at all you pretty much have to buy used.
This is one reason I switched to a truck based SUV and landscaping trailer. I can detach the “bed” when not being used and have more seating area inside the cabin for passengers like when we go boating. Part of me still wants a pickup truck but it’s probably a 40-60 split in favor of the current arrangement. I also have room to store the trailer so that is a factor for some…
If I would stop accumulating tools and cars, I would probably have room for a trailer. As it is, the small pickup sits on the driveway because there’s no room for it in the garage. I’m even planning on getting a 4-post lift just so I can loft the old CRX that’s in storage right now and park the MR2 underneath it. That will give me 4 parking spots in a 3 car garage, and the truck will still have to sit outside because there won’t be room.
Sometimes I think life would be simpler if I wasn’t into cars. I’m just glad my wife puts up with it instead of trying to get that Hoarder’s show to film an episode in my garage.
You have to be good at Tetris or one of those slide puzzle games in order to store/liberate stuff from my garages. The trailer, multiple boats and two vehicles are outside 24/7. I’m way back off the road and it’s all neatly parked but nonetheless, more stuff than can fit in the existing garages…
My next door neighbor built the 4 bay garage mahal to augment his main house garage. He has a 4 poster in one bay and does what you plan to do when it’s not being used to fix/restore cars.
This is a status symbol? I see a vehicle that lacks the seating of a sedan and the carrying capacity of a pickup. I expect it to be under-powered, too.
Yeah I’ve been a trailer fan for years and see them as a lot more convenient than a truck. I had to get some sheetrock yesterday and no problem. Easy loading and unloading. Plus when I get home I just hook the lawn mower to it and pull it around back to the door and work off the trailer. Saves a lot of work.
I dunno, I think maybe in the 60’s or so cars were a status symbol but I’m not so sure anymore. Really most of them look the same and its not like anyone cares anymore or even knows if you have a Mercury versus a Ford anymore. That wasn’t always the case. I think when they did away with annual styling changes and messed up their product line, unless you have an Escalade or something, no one really knows or cares anymore. As long as they aren’t a rusted up heap and look good.
When I see a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley on the road, I am always impressed, but… perhaps I impress easily.
A few weeks ago, I spied a new Maserati SUV in the parking lot of my local supermarket. I wasn’t impressed, but I was sort of intrigued by the concept of a “supercar” for off-roading. (Obviously, that vehicle will never be used for any off-roading )
@VDCdriver I never owned a status symbol car. I guess a lot of the cars I owned were reverse status symbols. I always thought Lt. Columbo had the right idea as he drove to crime scenes in his old.Puegeot convertible. When I retired in 2011 I was driving a car I bought 33.years earlier. I did overhear some of my faculty colleagues gossiping about why I drove.an old heap. That juat made me more determined to keep the car on the road.
There are some who desire to be modest and go to great lengths to portray that image. Maybe a primer grey Scion toaster would suit them or possibly an aging Saturn. But certainly the automakers have no desire to cater to that market. There is a great deal more profit in catering to the flamboyant and allowing the meek and modest to search among the used cars for whatever they can find that exudes self deprecation. Status has a great and varied range.
Buying a vehicle is not a financial improvement venture . So what is wrong with buying something that makes you feel like driving it or is just something that makes you feel better.
I believe it could be argued that the purchase of high-end vehicles in The US helps the US economy, especially at the local level where the purchase was made.
Nothing - as long as it doesn’t affect anyone else. I have a nephew that’s married with 3 young kids. He dumps THOUSANDS every year into toys he has fun driving. They live in a trailer…on food stamps. Many times my wife and her two sisters have taken their kids shopping just to give them the basics.
It wasn’t front page news. And unless you’ve never read a newspaper before EVERY SINGLE NEWS PAPER all over the world has puff articles like this almost every single day. Have always been that way for as long as there have been news papers.
